Prior presentation just went a little bit over, so I just would like to say good afternoon to everybody. I would like to welcome everybody to our conference stream, and I would like to welcome my next guest from Ivanhoe Mines. I have Marna Cloete, who is the President, and I look forward to sitting down and discussing the company with you, Marna. You're going to say words.
Yeah, just a quick presentation and just a correction on that first slide. We do like promoting our sister companies, so I do work for Ivanhoe Mines and not Ivanhoe Electric. But if you're interested in copper produced here right here in the U.S. or soon to be produced right here in the U.S., they are the guys to speak to. So it's always nice to watch Robert do our company presentations, and unfortunately, he couldn't be here this year, and it's sort of time for him to hand over the reins to some of his understudies. So I'm going to try my best to keep you entertained today. Matt, I think you got a presentation wrong because that's usually how Robert starts his presentation, with the pale blue dot. Now, look at that dot.
Jokes aside, I think we as copper producers have a crucial role to play in saving the planet. The first couple of slides I'm going to show is just to reiterate to everybody again. I'm sure I'm speaking to a very educated audience, about the absolute intensity of copper in renewables as we grow towards our pathway to net zero. A typical electric car requires 6 times the minerals of a conventional car, and an onshore wind farm 9 times more minerals than a gas power plant with a similar output. Just think about that, and as I go through the deck, you'll see what that means for copper and how we have underestimated the supply of copper that the world will need just to maintain current growth profiles.
So we have a date with disaster, and net zero is pulling the plug on America's electrical life support system. We've seen the Texas grid go down. It doesn't just happen in Africa. We also have emerging economies that would like to electrify. What does that mean? Our global net zero will require $21 trillion investment in power grids. That is quite a big purchase order being written for miners like ourselves, and estimate that 80 million kilometers in grid growth between 2022 and 2050 is needed. Then let's talk about the AI boom. I mean, that's the buzzword: megafactories that will require copper. Unfortunately, the world also went through a lot of change over the past three years, negative change, but armory, that's also very copper-intensive. Here's what it all means if we translate it to what copper the world will need.
Since the inception of mankind, 4000 B.C., we've mined 700 million metric tons throughout history. We're going to need the same amount of copper over the next 22 years. So I don't know where that copper's going to come from. We just built a copper mine. It took us 26-27 years to become an overnight success, and it's quite a tough task to deliver. So when we talk about real estate, it's all about location, location, location when you go and buy your new house. When it comes to finding copper, we believe that Africa is really the address to be in. It's underexplored, and it's home to 30% of the world's mineral endowment. The neighborhoods we operate in have proven to provide the copper supply that the world will need to achieve net zero.
So this is me with President Félix Tshisekedi, and I've been speaking to Matt about this photo because it's a bad angle. But things are really changing in the jurisdictions where we operate. Stability's setting in. There's a level of sophistication setting in in the different mining jurisdictions where we operate. And Africa realized the critical role that it can play in the transition that the world needs. So just a little bit about Ivanhoe Mines. For those of you who's not familiar with our portfolio, we basically touch on everything through exploration straight through to production. So when it comes to exploration, we own about six times the land size of Kamoa-Kakula, right next to Kamoa-Kakula. And we've made two discoveries to three discoveries to date on the Western Forelands.
It's a land package of about 21 licenses, and we're also adding to that land package and actively exploring this year with 10 drill rigs, currently drilling on the Western Forelands. We are scheduled to complete Platreef, our Phase 1 project, a PGM project with nickel and copper byproducts by next year. Then we are also bringing Kipushi online. It's currently being commissioned, and we will produce first ore in June. Then our flagship project, Kamoa-Kakula, will be the third largest copper producer in the world in the next two years, a fully integrated mining complex, and I will speak a bit more about it soon. What's this photo? It could be Duncan last night in a boardroom somewhere. No, just joking. The phase of mining have really changed over the past couple of years.
At Ivanhoe Mines, we are extremely proud of the type of culture that we've achieved. We've got a very integrated team, a diverse team, and it's not just about female diversity. It's also about ethnic diversity. We believe different perspectives bring a different approach to how you do your business. We believe we're quite a modern mining company, changing the face of mining and how we do business in the different jurisdictions in which we operate. Kamoa-Kakula, our flagship, what you see there's Phase 3. That's the plant that we're currently commissioning. We will start producing all from this plant by the end of this month. It's a 5 million TPA concentrator, and we're doing a fully integrated solution, bringing a smelter online in December and also a large hydropower refurbishment of 178 MW that we are doing at Inga II Turbine Farm.
So what makes it so special? Extremely high grade, recognised, a wonderful, easily minable ore body in a great jurisdiction. We don't have extreme weather conditions. We've got a keen Congolese workforce working for us, and we employ over 90% local people working at our mine. It's powered by green hydropower electricity. This is really what sets our support in how we do business in a jurisdiction like the DRC. Last year, we contributed 6% to the DRC GDP. That really changed the landscape for a country like the DRC, and it was a greenfield discovery, so we don't have any legacy issues where we operate. We invested $2.8 billion in local businesses. As I mentioned, we employ over 90% locals in our business where we operate, and we do a lot of community projects.
We've just published our seventh sustainability report, and you can read the wonderful things we do in that report. There's also a lot of videos about the projects that we run within our communities. When it comes to contributing to payroll, close to $400 million in local payroll, changing one household's life, they can have an impact on up to 50 people. So we are really touching our footprint in a significant way. So the DRC is an emerging copper superpower. It's the fastest growing copper producer over the past decade, and it's now the second largest producer worldwide of copper. And that's a significant feat if you look at where they come from over the past decade, out of a war to becoming the second largest producer in the world of copper. So why do we stand out? We all talk about copper.
We all look at what copper's doing today. It went over $5. We were extremely excited, and then it quickly went back into the high $4s, which still makes us very excited. But look at what we've achieved at Kamoa-Kakula in terms of adding additional tons of copper over the past from 2021- 2026. And I would say that the industry's been sort of slow at catching up on what we would need to supply the world with the copper they need. And we've listed our peers here in terms of copper production that will be added over the next five years. And you can see we are at the forefront of bringing more copper tons online. So this is what Kamoa-Kakula looked like when I started working at Ivanhoe Mines 18 years ago. It was bush. No people around us, no roads.
Today, it's a mining complex, a district, an integrated mine with a smelter, as I mentioned. This is a picture of what it looks like today. If you take that we've discovered Kakula in 2016 and that we've basically built it during COVID, from first discovery of our drill hole at Kakula to today is a story of less than 10 years to build an integrated mine. I think that is something we are, I think, I know that is something we are extremely proud of, and we did it mostly ahead of schedule and on budget. That's no small task. It's not something one person do on their own. It's a team of people from across the world that came together and did something great. One of the exciting developments in the region is the Lobito Corridor.
We've shipped the first 10,000 tons of trial shipment. That's been completed. We're currently busy with another 10,000 tons. We've reserved capacity between 120,000 and 240,000 tons of capacity on the Lobito Corridor. It's not the only solution we will look at. We will always do a first diversified logistics strategy between rail and road. There's also talks of the Dar es Salaam being developed, and that will open another avenue for us on our logistical map to bring our copper to the world. Then just a quick reminder, Kipushi, our zinc mine, also busy commissioning Kipushi as we speak. First ore will be in June. The plant's currently being commissioned. We will put out guidance for Kipushi within the next couple of weeks, and then we will put out cash cost guidance as soon as we've completed the first quarter of production at Kipushi.
We will throw off quite significant cash flows at Kipushi, so I think the market is underestimating what Kipushi will bring to the table for Ivanhoe Mines. And that's just an aerial photo of what Kipushi looks like. Neat little mine, an easy mine, small plant, easy to commission. So I've had a very successful partnership with Gécamines at Kipushi. And then just quickly about Platreef, we've taken the decision to defer bringing Platreef into production this year to next year. And that's just really as a result of hoisting capacity constraints. We're planning on producing 4 million TPA at Platreef within the next couple of years. That's just under 500,000 ounces. There's significant copper and nickel byproduct at Platreef, and we think this project will be a disruptor in the platinum space. And there you can see what the projections are for Platreef.
Platreef will definitely be, if not the largest single PGM producer, the second largest single PGM producer in the near future. Yeah, I think what sets it apart is the fact that it's at the bottom of the cash cost curve. So it's very forgiving with good margins. So that's it from me. Merci beaucoup, as they say in the DRC. I will now go and chat with Lawson. Thank you.
Thanks very much. Not quite over for you. I still have a few questions for you. I wanted to start just on strategy. First of all, primary objectives for 2024, the long-term view of Ivanhoe. Then finally, when you think about your motto, mining with greater purpose, what does that mean to the folks at Ivanhoe?
Thanks, Lawson. So it's a very busy year for us. We're bringing Phase 3 online as we speak at Kamoa-Kakula. So that's commissioning a 5 million TPA plant. We're also busy with an optimization study called Project 95. We like to give names to things, where we're trying to get our recoveries up from 88%-95%. That would entail a few tweaks to our circuit at both Plant 1, Plant 2, and now the new plant, Plant 3, as well as potential tailings retreatment using some of the Phase 4 infrastructure that could come into play. Also planning to publish a study, a revised study on Phase 4, and sort of accelerating our development plan for Kamoa-Kakula by the end of this year. So quite exciting. Smelter, power projects. We've broken the back of power. We're going to see a record quarter in the second quarter.
Fingers crossed. So we've been very active in country trying to set everything up. Then Western Forelands, that remains a priority. I always joke, it reminds me of that Britney Spears song, "Oops, we did it again." I think we're going to, "Oops, we did it again," in Western Forelands. It might take a little bit of time, but we're hopeful to see some development within the next 3-5 years on the Western Forelands. And talking about sort of our vision, Ivanhoe Mines has a vision of growth. We see ourselves as a major copper producer in the future. And when we evaluate projects that come across our desk, we really find projects that would add the same value to our shareholders than what Western Forelands could potentially add to our shareholders.
That's why, sort of from a capital intensity point of view, we think we can add that value through the drawbit, and news flow will come out as we move along. We're also busy with license consolidation and adding a little bit more licenses to our land package. Then, as I mentioned, Kipushi, it will be the first year of production for Kipushi. Very excited about that. That will start next month, finalizing offtake as we speak. Yeah, there's always learnings when you go through sort of bringing a project online. We've set up our own logistics company to handle the logistics for Kipushi. So we've been quite active planning for the volumes because we're bringing Phase 3 as well as Kipushi online at the same time. So that took a bit of planning.
Yeah, Platreef, as I mentioned, prioritizing sort of the development of Shaft 3 that will ultimately allow us to go up to 4 million TPA. That should start producing sort of mid-next year. It's going to be a very busy couple of months for us. Then longer term, we're looking at all sorts of opportunities. We're going to try and surprise you, hopefully pleasantly.
I look forward to it. Would you mind commenting on the motto, mining with greater purpose?
Yeah. So we came up with mining with a greater purpose as part of sort of our branding and our vision strategy. And I think for every person, it means something different. For me personally, when you operate in Africa, there's a big social focus. If you sort of tend to speak more to your North American market, there's a big environmental focus. For me personally, I sleep well every night because I can see the impact that we are making on people's lives in the areas where we operate and how we uplift the communities that live next to our mine. There's one lady I've employed many years ago, and every year, Christmas, I get a WhatsApp message that tells me, "Thank you. You're the reason my family can eat, and you're the reason my family can have Christmas gifts this year." And that's sort of what motivates me.
So when we talk about mining with a greater purpose, yes, we mine. The commodities we mine because it will help us transition to net zero. It will save the planet, going back to my first slide. But for me personally, I think on a micro level, we really do change people's lives with bringing these sort of mega projects online.
Yeah, that's fantastic. So you kind of touched on this in your response about project evaluation, but I'm going to just ask it directly, particularly given how predominant the conversation has been at the conference, and that is on M&A. So does Ivanhoe look at corporate M&A? And probably more interestingly, does Ivanhoe consider itself an M&A target?
We do not consider ourselves a target, but we do look at M&A, and we do consider ourselves a potential acquirer. I think the companies grow significantly. With that comes currency in your shares. We evaluate opportunities on an ongoing basis. As I mentioned as well, we think we could add significant value to our shareholders through what we are doing in the Western Forelands in terms of expanding our copper production.
I just wanted to say to tell you folks here that if you have a question, we're more than happy to take it. Just put up your hand, and we'll make sure to get you a microphone. There's actually one at the back of the room.
Can you talk a little bit about working with the Chinese as partners and as shareholders? And does the evolving relationship in the U..S change your approach to the preferred approach for Western Foreland? Put another way, do you need a non-Chinese partner for Western Foreland?
Thank you. So I would say we've had a very successful partnership at Kamoa-Kakula with the Zijin. We do approach things differently. The Chinese tend to be very they take big risks. They want to go big quickly. When we originally scoped Kamoa and what the size of Phase 1 would be, there were heated arguments with Chen and Jing about what that right size would be. We were the more conservative counterparts, wanting to sort of study things, wanting to start with smaller phases, get our feet in, de-risk it completely. And I think we landed somewhere in the middle that basically made us successful and also helped make the project successful in terms of just taking a smaller step. For us, it was a bigger step. For Zijin, it was a smaller step, but we landed in the right spot.
The Chinese also brought a lot of procurement capability to the project as well as construction capability. So that's something that we've leveraged off. It's strange because originally, when we did form the Chinese partnership, we thought in a jurisdiction like the DRC, it would be good to have political support from China. It sort of ended up being the other way around in terms of our joint venture agreement. Ivanhoe Mines deals with government relations in the DRC. We're seen as Western by the DRC government. And it's really because of how we conduct ourselves in terms of our environmental and social standards. We do everything towards best practice. We have finance facilities with the Swedish government in place. We get audited on a quarterly basis. And as I mentioned in my presentation, we've got this integrated model. And Zijin really fully supports that model.
But when it comes to geopolitical influence, I think the DRC government is at a stage where they realize the important role they can play in the future of strategic supply to both the West and the East. I don't think they necessarily prefer the one over the other, but I think they would like a balance. And in this case, we have to give credit to the Chinese. They were willing to take the risk very early on and into jurisdictions like the DRC, and they managed to secure strategic metals. So the West is playing catch-up to a large degree. When it comes to partnerships, so I see we're out of time, but when it comes to partnerships, I think Ivanhoe Mines has changed as a company. We don't necessarily need a partner to develop the Western Forelands.
If we do bring in a partner, there should be a strategic imperative to it. It will probably be sort of a different jurisdiction if we bring in a strategic partner based on geopolitical reasons, which there needs to be a business rationale for it. But I can see us developing Western Forelands on our own even because we have the capital firepower now, and we've got access to financing. It's a bit of a different company compared to when we developed Kamoa-Kakula.
That was fantastic. Thank you very much, Marna.
Thank you. Thanks, Lawson.
Thanks, everyone.