Mining Post Namibia

Northern Graphite Corporation says delays in the shipment of equipment from China caused by Covid-19 affected progress at the Okanjande mine and the Okorusu processing plant operations in Namibia. The Canadian company acquired the mines near Otjiwarongo town in the Otjozondjupa region from the Imerys Group in April 2022. As a result of the delays, Northern Graphite said in its third-quarter Interim Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis results on 30 November 2022 that it plans to slow down the retrofit at the two operations. Northern Graphite said it would slow down the retrofit of its Namibian operations and not make any new commitments to match capital requirements with cash flows from the drawdown in liability-driven investments inventories and to secure offtake agreements. However, the company said it would take the opportunity caused by the delays to evaluate a possible sustainable and economically attractive development scenario, such as installing the...

HeBei Xinjian Construction CC is seeking to expand its offtake deals in the Tantalite Valley in Namibia after offering a letter of intent to Arcadia Minerals Ltd to negotiate sales for tantalum pentoxide and lithium oxide from the Swanson Tantalum/ Lithium project. The Swanson mine under licence 223 is in the Tantalite Valley area, about 30 km south of Warmbad settlement, Karasburg East, in Karas region.  There are two farms - Umeis Farm 110 and Kinderzitt Farm 132 - measuring about 50 square kilometres. HeBei Xinjian Construction CC was established in August 2013 in Namibia, but its parent company HeBei Xinjian Construction Group, was founded in July 1952. The companies' core business has been housing construction, decoration, industrial and civil equipment installation, plumbing, electrical and instrument installation, real estate development, overseas project contracting, labour export, import and export trading.  Arcadia Minerals Ltd is an Australian company with explorati...

Namibia and Angola have agreed to cooperate in the petroleum and natural gas sectors and on other economic and social matters of mutual interest. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on 29 November 2022 during the ongoing Angola Oil and Gas 2022 Conference in Luanda. The Angola Oil and Gas 2022 Conference's theme is Promoting an Inclusive, Attractive, and Innovative Oil and Gas Industry in Angola. Mines minister Tom Alweendo signed on behalf of Namibia while minister of mineral resources, petroleum and gas Diamantino Azevedo represented Angola. Under the bilateral agreement, the two countries will establish an institutional framework for information exchange, data management and project partnerships. The agreement will also look into energy transition and capacity building between Namibia and Angola.  Alweendo said Angolans and Namibians could share knowledge and expertise.  "We can learn a lot from Angola's successes in the industry. It is important for ...

The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company Diamond Fields Resources is selling its mining interests in Namibia to Jean-Boulle Diamond Mines. Diamond Fields owns 100% stakes in mining licences 111 and 139 in Luderitz, Karas region.  The Boulle Diamond Mines belongs to the Monaco-based Mauritian businessman Jean-Raymond Boulle, whose other company, Spirit Resources SARL, holds a 39.1% interest in Diamond Field Resources. Since its foundation in 1995, the group has signed more than US$5 trillion in transactions and is listed on London, Toronto, Sydney and Mauritius stock exchanges. Mining licence 111 is 31 175ha. The company applied for the licence on 29 September 2000, and the mines ministry granted it on 4 December 2015 for 10 years. Diamond Fields applied for licence 139 on 12 January 2005, which was granted from 5 November 2007 until 4 November 2029. It is 13 587ha. The company also has a 70% stake in its Namibian subsidiary, Namibian Diamond Company Pty, which owns mining licence ...

The Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has begun a public tender process to invite Japanese industrial partner(s) to participate in the Lofdal Heavy Rare Earth Joint Venture, as per the joint venture agreement with Namibia Critical Metals Inc. The closing date for the public tender process is 13 March 2023. JOGMEC, a Japanese government independent administrative agency, partners with Namibia Critical Metals Inc. on the work being done at the Lofdal Dysprosium-Terbium Project in the Kunene region. The agency facilitates opportunities with Japanese private companies to secure natural resources supplies for the country's economic development. Namibia Critical Metals Inc, a Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture Exchange, has a diversified portfolio of critical metal projects within Namibia, including the Epembe Tantalum-Niobium project, Grootfontein nickel-copper, lead-zinc-vanadium, gold, the Otjiwarongo Rare Earths and Gold project, and t...

  The European Union has been engaging African governments on lithium and other mineral resources. The reason could be that Portugal is the only European country in the top 10 list of biggest lithium-producing countries for 2022. In South America, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile make up the Lithium Triangle, while in Africa, Zimbabwe is in the top 10.  The United States declined to reveal production figures. The full list Australia - 55,000 metric tonnes (mt ) Australia produced 55,000mt in 2021, up from 39,700mt in 2020. GlobalData forecasts that Australia's lithium production will increase by 24.5% in 2022 as mines expand production to meet demand. Australia also holds over 3.8 million metric tonnes of identified JORC-compliant lithium reserves, according to the US Geological Survey, which puts it behind Chile. It is worth noting that most of the country's lithium supply is exported to China as spodumene. Chile - 26,000mt Chile was another top lithium producer in 2021, with it...

Ambassador Clemens Handuukeme Kashuupulwa says Namibia has no problems with the Russian state-owned company Rosatom which is exploring uranium in the country's southeast. Rosatom has been exploring uranium in Namibia for more than 12 years before it applied for a licence in October 2022.  Rosatom's subsidiary, Uranium One, has been operating in Namibia through Headspring Investments Ltd since 2010. The company calls its uranium project in Namibia Wings and focuses on Stampriet areas and parts of Omaheke. The RIA Novosti of 27 November 2022 quotes Kashuupulwa saying there appear to be trust issues between the Russian company and the local population that lives in the exploration area. "They are concerned about the possible groundwater pollution in the future due to the proposed method of developing the field," Kashuupulwa said. The ambassador also told RIA Novosti that preliminary data had shown that the leaching method Rosatom wants to use is being used for the first ...

  Lepidico Ltd, which partly owns the Karibib Lithium Project, says they received a capital cost estimate of US$63m for the concentrator at the Erongo mine. The company said they also received another capital cost estimate of US$203m for the chemical plant planned for Abu Dhabi. The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company acquired an 80% stake from Desert Lion Energy Namibia. Five shareholders own the other 20% under the name !Huni. A 2012 mineral resource estimate for the Karibib Project is 11.24 Mt @ 0.43% Li2O.  Karibib Lithium Project, about 220km from Walvis bay, was touted as Namibia's first large-scale lithium mine in 2018 when Desert Lion Energy filed a technical report with plans for a concentrator. Desert Lion also envisaged setting up a plant to produce about 20 000t of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year. The concentrator processes 333,000tpa ((tonnes per hour on a dry basis) of the ore for the first four years and 541,000tpa (dry basis) from the fifth year o...

  The World Nuclear Association says Namibia was the second biggest producer of uranium in 2021.  The association promotes a broader understanding of nuclear energy and contributes to the debate around uranium. Namibia produced 5 753 tonnes of uranium (11,90% of the world's total of 48,332 tonnes), coming second to Kazakhstan, which had 21 819 tonnes (45%). Canada was third with 4,693 (9,1%), while Australia sitting at number four, produced 4 193 tonnes (8,67%), Uzbekistan had 3 500 tonnes (7,24%), and Russia was number five with 2 635 (5,45%). The other African countries in the top 20 are Niger (2 248 tonnes, 4,65%) and South Africa (385 tonnes, 0,80%). In 2018, Namibia was at number four with 5 525 tonnes (10,33%), Kazakhstan at number one with 21 705 (40,57%), Canada at number two (7 001 tonnes, 13,09%), Australia was number three (6 517 tonnes (12,18%) and Niger was fifth with 2 9 11 tonnes (5,44%). Uranium companies are Rossing Uranium, Swakop Uranium, Langer Heinrich, Or...

Another Chinese mining company Yahua Industrial Group has eyed lithium in Namibia and plans to invest US$145m (N$2,5b) in company acquisitions. Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group is an industrial group headquartered in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. In October 2022, following Canada's shutdown of Chinese lithium mining companies, Yahua Industrial Group pulled out of a deal with Ultra Lithium. Yahua manufactures professional civil blasting materials and offers blasting services. The company has more than RMB3b of assets and more than 3 000 employees, 1 000 of which are professionals and technicians.  It has 14 manufacturing bases in Sichuan Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Guizhou Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region in China, and South Island and North Island of New Zealand. Although it is still being determined which companies have been targeted for acquisition, Yahua announced last week that it wants about 720 square kilometres in Nami...

                                                      B2Gold says the Otjikoto Mine produced 35,068 ounces in the third quarter of 2022, lower than planned, mainly due to delays in bringing the Wolfshag underground mine into production.  In the first quarter of 2022, Otjikoto produced 35,061 ounces, while 31,417 ounces were produced in the second quarter of 2022. The TSX-listed company blamed the second and third quarters' reduced gold production on a slower-than-planned ramp-up in the development of the Wolfshag underground mine. The company said to resolve the issue; they appointed a new development contractor in April 2022. B2Gold revealed that its total gold production in the third quarter of 2022 was 227,016 ounces, including 12,113 ounces of the attributable output from Calibre Mining Corp. in Nicaragua. B2Gold signed...