Mining Post Namibia

B2Gold has reported that its Otjikoto Mine in Namibia concluded 2022 with a production of 161,614 ounces of gold, slightly below the revised guidance range of 165,000 to 175,000 ounces. According to B2Gold's fourth quarter and full-year 2022 results, released on February 22, the company initially set a guidance range of 175,000 to 185,000 ounces for its Otjikoto Mine in Namibia.  However, due to a delay at the Wolfshag underground mine, the company revised its guidance to 165,000 to 175,000 ounces. During the fourth quarter of 2022, the Otjikoto Mine in Namibia produced 60,068 ounces of gold, including a new monthly production record of 30,493 ounces in December 2022. The Otjikoto Mine achieved a mill throughput of 3.41 million tonnes and an average gold recovery rate of 98.5% for the year ended December 31, 2022. B2Gold has provided guidance for its Otjikoto Mine, stating that it expects to produce between 190,000 and 210,000 ounces of gold in the upcoming period.  The compan...

  Impact Oil & Gas Limited says it will start drilling four wells off the Namibian coast in the Orange Basin on Block 2913B and 2912 by the end of February. The UK-based company holds a 20% working interest in Block 2913B under petroleum exploration licence 56, operated by TotalEnergies EP Namibia B.V (40%), QatarEnergy (30%) and NAMCOR (10%). It also holds an 18.89% working interest in the adjacent Block 2912 under petroleum exploring licence 91 with TotalEnergies (37.78%), QatarEnergy (28.33%) and NAMCOR (15%). Block 2912B is where TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy announced the Venus well discovery in early 2022. The Venus discovery is a world-class light oil and associated gas field, approximately 290 kilometres off southern Namibia's coast and in a water depth of roughly 3,000 metres.  The well was drilled to a total depth of 6,296 metres by the Maersk Voyager drillship and encountered a high-quality light oil-bearing sandstone reservoir of Lower Cretaceous age. The multi...

Deep-South Resources says they will only renew the Haib copper mine technical report once the Namibia High Court rules on the mines ministry's refusal to renew the mining licence. According to Deep South, the current technical report filed on Feb. 1, 2021, should not be relied on. The Canadian company dragged the mines minister Tom Alweendo to court after he refused to renew the Haib licence. The high court is expected to make a ruling on Feb. 23. Alweendo refused to renew the Haib licence in June 2021, citing the company’s inability to advance the licence to pre-feasibility and complete the proposed drilling program as planned.  Deep South is supposed to submit a revised technical report as part of the British Columbia Securities Commission's continuous disclosure review. The British Columbia Securities Commission, Deep South said, noted during its recent continuous disclosure audit that the company needed to amend the technical report. "However, as the verdict of the Hig...

  Dundee Precious Metals is forecasting to smelt anything between 200 000 and 230 000 of complex concentrate copper at the Tsumeb Smelter per year for the next three years. The Canadian company says this reflects a consistent throughput rate after resolving the water leak issue in the off-gas system by April 2023. Dundee has contracted more than 90% of concentrate feed until the end of 2023. The remaining feed in 2023 and additional feed after that are expected to be contracted in the normal course. Sustaining capital expenditures are expected to be between US$14 million and US$17 million for each of 2023 and 2025. For 2024, capital expenditure is expected to be between US$10 million and US$13 million, reflecting the timing of scheduled maintenance shutdowns based on an expected 18-month operating cycle for the Ausmelt furnace. The company that announced its 2022 Financial Results and Improved Three-Year Outlook says Tsumeb smelted 174 122 tonnes of complex concentrate copper, 6% b...

Northern Graphite Corporation, which owns the Okanjande graphite mine in Namibia, has agreed to acquire 50,1% of NeoGraf Solutions. The Canadian-based company announced on Feb. 13 that it had signed the agreement with Edgewater Capital Partners to complete the transaction. According to Northern Graphite, NeoGraf specialises in value-added products manufactured from natural graphite and has a robust intellectual property portfolio and a blue-chip customer base. Cleveland-based Edgewater Capital Partners is a private equity firm that invests in lower middle-market performance materials and service businesses. Sprott Capital Partners LP will act as Northern Graphite’s financial. The agreement gives Northern Graphite an option of six months to acquire an effective 50.1% voting interest and a 33.3% equity interest in NeoGraf. Northern Graphite also has the option to increase its interest up to 100% at a later date, subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement. Northern Graphite said...

The ASX-listed lithium miner Lepidico Ltd has updated its ore reserve estimate at its 80% owned Karibib Project in Namibia to a further 1.16 million tonnes (Mt) @ 0.62% lithium oxide (Li2O). The Australian-based company is an innovative developer of sustainable lithium hydroxide and other critical minerals and the global leader in lithium mica processing. Lepidico completed a series of work programs in 2022 at the Helikon 4 pegmatite and over-the-surface stockpiles at the historical Rubicon mine to enable the reclassification of Inferred Resources as Indicated Resources. Of the 1.31M t grading 0.46% Li2O in Indicated Mineral Resource at Helikon 4, just over 62% of the tonnes fall within the current pit design and convert into Probable Ore Reserves.  The company says it will start a resource development drilling program targeting down-dip extensions to the mineralisation and provide geotechnical data to expand the Indicated Resource base and increase conversion to probable reserves....

Monaco-based Mauritian businessman Jean-Raymond Boulle's company now owns three mining licences in Namibia after buying out DFR Gold. DFR Gold was, until Jan. 27, known as Diamond Fields Resources Inc.  Jean-Raymond Boulle has a 39.1% stake in the TSXV-listed DFR Gold through Spirit Resources SARL. DFR Gold announced on Feb. 8 that they had finally sealed the deal to sell off all its Namibian diamond assets to Jean Boulle Diamond Mines Ltd for cash payment of US$150,000, annual US$100,000 cash payments and a 1% royalty of net sales from the assets. Jean Bulle Diamond Mines now owns mining licence 111, previously under DFR Diamond's Namibian subsidiary Diamond Fields.  Licence 111, which lies within Luderitz Bay between Diaz Point in the south and Marshall Forks in the north, has a 10-year lifespan that ends on Dec. 4 2025. The second diamond asset is licence 139, whose term expires in November 2029. This asset was under DFR Gold's subsidiary, Namibia Diamond Company, in whi...

  The updated total mineral resource estimate for Andrada Mining Uis mine in Namibia, including mining depletion, has increased to 81 million tonnes from 72 million tonnes in 2019 . Andrada Mining Limited announced the updated mineral resource for lithium, tin, tantalum and rubidium on Jan. 6. The company, formerly known as Afritin, says an exploration drilling programme to upgrade the resource classification for lithium and tantalum over the V1/V2 deposit to align with the existing classification for tin started in Jan. 2022. According to the results, the average lithium grade has increased to 0.73% from 0.63% declared in 2019. The contained total lithium oxide tonnes have increased by 30% to 587 000 tonnes. This gives a lithium carbonate equivalent of 1.45 million tonnes, with the measured and indicated lithium resources rising by 47% to 38 million tonnes. The average tin grade increased to 0.15% from a previous average of 0.134%, resulting in contained tin metal content of 120 0...

Askari Metals Limited says the samples collected at its Uis project in the Erongo region of Namibia show positive results for tin, tantalum, lithium and rubidium. The ASX-listed company said on Feb. 6 that 162 rock chip samples were collected and showed evidence of mineralization, including spodumene, lepidolite, and cassiterite.  According to Askari, which owns the exclusive prospecting licence 8535 covering 308.12 km2, the samples also contained coloured tourmalines. Five samples showed lithium content greater than 3%, and eight showed more than 1%.  Results for tin mineralization were also excellent, with one sample containing 3.2% tin and ten samples containing more than 0.24%.  Results for tantalum were highly positive, with 42 samples showing more than 100 parts per million (ppm) tantalum and two samples over 1,000 ppm.  Results for rubidium were also strong, with some samples containing up to 7,980ppm Rb.  Askari vice president for geology and exploration...

Eight reputable institutions from Europe, North America and Africa want to fund the construction of Canadian company Osino Resources' Twin Hills Project in Namibia. In a statement dated Feb. 3, Osino said it appointed Terrafranca Capital Partners Ltd to advise on and progress the debt financing workstream.  Terrafranca is a leading independent financial advisor working mainly with junior African mining companies. The Vancouver-based gold explorer says it will select its preferred financing partners in the next few months while working on the completion of the definitive feasibility study expected by June 2023.  Osino Resources co-founder and chief executive officer Heye Daun said choosing the appropriate financing partners is an important next step for Osino.  The Amended and Restated Pre-Feasibility Study dated effective Sept. 6, 2022, signed Oct. 25, 2022, shows that the Twin Hills Gold Project has 2.15 Moz in reserves and a 13-year open-pit mine life. The average annua...

Graphite miner Gratomic Inc. has raised US$6m for general working and operating capital for its Aukam Project in Namibia. The TSXV-listed company announced the closure of the first tranche of a non-brokered private placement offering of up to 20 million working capital units or short-term capital at US$0,30 each. Initially, Gratomic offered 4,348,984 working units and raised US$1,304,695.20.  A working unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Shareholders are entitled to buy more for US$0.45 until Feb. 1, 2025. Gratomic chief executive officer Arno Brand said the placement is designed to compensate for minor cost overruns experienced during Covid and supply chain volatility that continues to trouble the world.  "With the successful completion of this offering, we foresee a smooth transition into production at the Aukam Graphite project in Namibia," Brand said. The Aukam Project is in the Karas region and has been operating since 1940 until 1956...

De Beers Group says Namibia diamond production in 2022 increased by 51% to 0.6 million carats. The leading diamond company released its production report for the 2022 fourth quarter on Feb. 2. The report covers operations in Botswana, Canada, South Africa and Namibia. De Beers is in a 50/50 joint venture in Namibia with the government in Namdeb Holdings. There are two companies in Namdeb Holdings, an offshore entity, Debmarine, and Namdeb, an inland diamond miner. According to De Beers, the increase in diamond production in Namibia was driven by the continued strong performance of the Benguela Gem vessel and the treatment of higher-grade ore at the land operations. Debmarine acquired the US$420m custom-built Benguela Gem in early 2022. At the time, the company announced that the Bengeula Gem would add about 500 000 carats, an increase of 45%. The report also said De Beers produced 8,2 million carats of rough diamonds. This was an increase of 6%. In Botswana, De Beers partners with the ...

Namibia's Hyphen Hydrogen has so far signed offtake agreements to supply 1 050 000 tons of green ammonia annually. The latest agreements signed on Feb. 2 involve the South Korean hydrogen producer, Approtium, and Industrial group. Approtium wants to buy 500 000 tons while Industrial Group seeks to buy 250 000 tons per year. On Dec. 2, 2022, Hyphen Hydrogen signed the first agreement with the German green energy company RWE to supply 300 000 tonnes of green ammonia annually starting in 2027.  Hyphen Hydrogen targets to produce one million tonnes annually by 2027 and increase it to two million tonnes by 2029.  The company aims to supply the produced green ammonia domestically in Namibia and southern Africa and export it to international markets, with the goal of decarbonizing energy. The Namibian government chose Hyphen Hydrogen Energy as the preferred bidder in the US$10 billion green hydrogen project that targets 300 000 metric tons of green Hydrogen production a year from 5-6...

ASX-listed Deep Yellow says the Tumas project in Namibia can produce approximately 2.4 million pounds of uranium per annum over a 20-year mine life, with an average production cost of US$25.21/lb over the life of the mine. Deep Yellow released its definitive feasibility study (DFS) on Feb. 2, estimating theTumas Project's pre-tax net present value at US$386 million and an internal rate return of 21.6%.  The Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) has improved upon the outcome of the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) by increasing the production capacity of the plant from 3 million pounds to 3.6 million pounds of U3O8 and the throughput from 3.75 million to 4.15 million, despite a 26% increase in initial capital due to inflation and COVID impacts. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been completed in compliance with Namibian government regulations by a third party and after consulting with government and community stakeholders. Further consultation with stakeholders in three towns wil...

Askari Metals has started a mapping and sampling program at its Uis Lithium Project in Namibia.  The Uis Lithium Project is near Uis town and the Uis Tin-Tantalum-Lithium mine.  The project covers 308.12 km2 and has more than 150 mapped pegmatites, many of which have been mined historically for tin and semi-precious stones. The company has engaged Earthlab Technical, a professional mining and exploration geological consulting firm, to complete the mapping and sampling program.  The mapping program on exclusive prospecting licence 7345 is the first phase of Askari Metals' exploration plan for the project. After the completion of the mapping, the geological team will move to exclusive prospecting licence 8535, a few kilometres to the west, to apply the same scope of work to the second mapping program.  The project aims to identify various pegmatites, their mineralization tenor, and the relationship between the host lithology, pegmatite type, and mineralization.  C...

  ASX-listed miner Golden Deeps Limited has reported the results of their quarter ended December 31, 2022. During the quarter, the company completed 8 diamond drillholes at their Khusib Springs project in Namibia. The drilling was done to test for extensions and repeats of the high-grade Khusib Springs copper-silver orebody. The initial results of the drilling program were outstanding, including a 90m copper-silver intersection, a second footwall zone of high-grade zinc mineralization, and a shallow high-grade zinc-silver intersection. The company also conducted a moving loop electromagnetics and a natural source audio-magnetotelluric survey. In addition, the company made significant progress on their two-stage study into the development of their near surface, high-grade vanadium with copper, lead, zinc, and silver deposits. Gravity test work on a bulk sample produced exceptionally high-grade vanadium-zinc-lead concentrate grades, and a high-grade composite sample was generated for...