Name of the Project
Haib copper project.

Location
The project is partially located in the Namaqua-Natal province, in Namibia, called the Richtersveld geological subprovince.

Project Owner/s
Mineral explorer and developer Deep-South Resources.

Project Description
An updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has shown the Haib project to be amenable to bioheap leaching.

The PEA envisages a life-of-mine of 24 years and a throughput of 20-million tonnes a year, with copper recovery estimated at 80% and production estimated at 35 332 t/y of copper cathode and 51 081 t/y of copper sulphate.

The mine design is based on openpit methods. As the deposit basically comprises hard-rock material, the mining operations will involve the drill and blast of all excavated material, which will be segregated by cutoff grade.

The mining fleet will consist of appropriately sized hydraulic excavators and off-highway dump trucks, supported by standard opencut drilling and auxiliary equipment.

There will be no tailings. The spent heaps will be rehabilitated and left in place. Owing to environmental reasons and water resources, the tailings from the pH adjustment process and the iron removal process will be disposed onto the spent heaps using filtered dry-stacked tailings.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has pretax net present value, at a discount 7.5% rate, of $977-million and an internal rate of return 30.1%, with a payback of 4.22 years.

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure is estimated at $341-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Deep-South has appointed engineering and environmental consulting firm Knight Piésold Consulting to conduct scoping studies and assessments on the Haib copper project.

The scoping studies include a water supply scoping study, in which Knight Piésold will undertake a high-level assessment of the various water options available to the Haib project from surface and groundwater sources.

The water supply study will include the costs, reliability and environmental processes required, with a special focus on gaps and recommendations for future studies.

Knight Piésold will also undertake an alternative power supply scoping study, whereby it will assess various power options available to the Haib project, including renewable power, and will preliminarily size the required infrastructure.

For this study, the firm will consider technical requirements, costs and reliability, as well as the environmental and permitting processes required.

Knight Piésold will also conduct an environmental reconnaissance and roadmap to the environmental- and social-impact assessment (ESIA), in which it will assess the various parameters and conditions needed to complete an ESIA and will deliver a roadmap to ESIA, and recommendations, particularly in terms of project schedule and key milestones to be achieved.

The firm will also conduct a heap-leach pad conceptual assessment, which requires a review of previously completed work, the conceptual sizing and design of the heap-leach pad, ponds and irrigation system, as well as recommendations for future studies.

For this assessment, Knight Piésold will review leach column tests, conceptual sizing of the heap-leach pad and ponds and dynamic water balance; review alternatives; conduct gap analysis; identify project risks; and make recommendations.

Further,  Deep-South Resources has appointed the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Csiro) to conduct bio-assisted heap-leaching column testwork, which is part of the company’s recently announced metallurgical testwork for the project.

METS Engineering Group of Australia has been appointed to supervise and overview the testwork.

The main aim of this testwork is to improve copper recoveries and thereby improve the Haib copper project's robust economics, Deep-South president and CEO Pierre Leveille has said.

The goals of the bio-assisted heap-leaching testwork include the evaluation of the performance of promising solvent extraction reagents for extraction and separation of copper and molybdenum and monitor and evaluate the adaptation of bacterial strains for improved ore processing.

The testwork will also monitor and evaluate percolation performance. The testwork will mainly serve to optimise the bio-assisted heap-leaching processes with the ore at Haib. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
METS Engineering Group (updated PEA); Knight Piésold Consulting (scoping studies and assessments); Csiro (conduct bio-assisted heap-leaching column testwork); and METS Engineering Group of Australia (testwork supervision).

Contact Details for Project Information
Deep-South Resources (Namibia), tel +264 61 435 8267 or email info@deepsouthresources.com.