Staff Writer
The money spent on exploration of minerals in the country increased to N$806 million in 2021 from N$548 million the previous year, figures released by the Chamber of Mines of Namibia revealed. This indicates that Namibia has continued to be an attractive investment destination for mining companies.
Gold
The exploration projects include the Antler’s Erongo Gold Project is located in central Namibia, about 130 km northwest of Windhoek, near the towns of Usakos, Karibib and Omaruru. The project covers areas of the Navachab- Damara Belt, which is prospective for gold, and overlies similar lithologies and structures to the known Namibian Gold mines (QKR’s Navachab and B2 Golds’ Otjikoto) as well as the recent Twin Hills discovery.
Osino Resources Corp is a Canadian company, which is focused on the fast-tracked development of its Twin Hills Gold Project near Karibib in central Namibia, with the vision to turn Twin Hills into Namibia’s next operating gold mine.
Uranium
Bannerman Mining Resources Namibia’s Etango-8 Project, which provides an initial 8 million tonnes per annum throughput was taken to a prefeasibility study level indicating robust economics that provides a Net Present Value (NPV) of US$222 million, with an assumed uranium price of US$ 65 per pound and a cash operating cost of US$ 39.5 per pound. The investment required for this project is US$ 273 million, and it presents potential for further life of mine extension and expansion.
Elevate Uranium’s projects are the Koppies, Hirabeb, Namib IV and Marenica, which are included in 11 active tenements covering 3,089 square kilometres and contains 61 million pounds of uranium oxide resources.
Reptile Mineral Resources and Exploration is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deep Yellow Limited, a company incorporated in Australia and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, OTC Markets Group in the USA and the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX). RMR is the manager and operator of the DYL group’s Namibian projects. Reptile completed a highly positive Pre-Feasibility Study on the Tumas Project in January 2021. The study focused on a pit mining operation utilising a purpose built processing facility with a design capacity of 3 million pounds of uranium oxide per pound.
Lithium
Lepidico is a global lithium exploration and development company that is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Lepidico’s unique point of difference in the lithium space is its proprietary processing technology, which focuses on lepidolite and other lithium micas. These are the dominant minerals at the Rubicon and Helikon pegmatites in the Karibib region of Namibia.
Rare earth
Namibia Critical Metals Inc is a public company, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company holds a diversified portfolio of exploration and advanced stage projects in Namibia focused on the development of sustainable and ethical sources of high-tech metals for the electric vehicle, renewable energy and associated industries.
