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 not be any 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 Resources has reported that the legal counsel of Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has failed to file its defence affidavit in the refusal of a licence for the Haib copper project, as ordered by the High Court of Namibia on November 25, 2021.

The renewal of the exclusive prospecting licence (EPL) 3140 covering Deep-South’s southern Namibia-based Haib copper project was refused by Namibia Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo on June 16, 2021.

At the time, the Ministry cited Deep-South’s inability to advance the licence to prefeasibility stage and complete the proposed drilling programme as planned.

However, at the time, Deep-South said it was convinced the issue was a misunderstanding, that the Namibia Mines and Energy Ministry was informed, with no objection, of a proposed change from the PFS to an upgraded preliminary economic assessment and the start of a full feasibility study.

In addition, the company stated in July 2021 that the Ministry had issued all permits required for the drilling programme and was well aware that the drilling programme had been completed.

Deep-South has said that the Ministry’s counsel stated that it had discovered new documents, which were not part of the record of proceedings, and consequently requested an extension to file those documents. The legal counsel filed a joint status report with the court on February 28.

Deep-South’s legal counsel recorded in this status report that the Namibia Mines and Energy Ministry’s counsel previously indicated a complete record having been filed.

Deep-South has noted that, since the start of procedures, the Namibia Mines and Energy Ministry has failed to provide any evidence supporting the decision of Alweendo to not renew the Haib copper EPL 3140.

The company intends to “vigorously contest” this decision by all means necessary and available, including under the Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act and other applicable laws of Namibia.

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.