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 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 a 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 reported that the Namibia Ministry of Mines and Energy’s legal counsel submitted its last filing with regard to the Minister’s decision to deny the renewal of the Haib copper licence, on November 17, 2021. The Namibia High Court ordered the Ministry on November 3 to file documents supporting the decision of the Minister.

The filing did not include any documents supporting the decision of the Minister to deny the renewal of the Haib copper licence.

At the court hearing on November, 25, 2021, in the absence of the judge, Deep-South’s legal counsel and the legal counsel of the Ministry agreed to request the court to issue an order to approve the following schedule: Deep-South will file additional documents to support its original affidavit by December 15, 2021. The documents will include expert advice covering the exploration work undertaken by Deep-South on the project and the work programme proposed for the renewal of the Haib Copper licence, as well as an update of the funds invested in the project’s development.

The court will be closed for annual recess between mid-December 2021 and mid-January 2022, so the Ministry will have until February 14, 2022, to file its defence affidavit. Deep-South will have until February 28, 2022, to reply with its last affidavit.

The court will hold another hearing on March 3, 2022, to define the further procedures with regard to the review of the decision of the Minister.

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.