JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Discussions with the Namibian Ministry of Mines regarding the mining licence application for the 1.25-million-ton Namib lead-zinc project were advancing, Aim-listed North River Resources said on Friday.

The company in October said it would review its short-term operational strategy to ensure it benefited from the $4-million raised during that month for use when the mining licence was issued.

The funds were initially intended to be applied to a work plan to advance the Namib project towards a construction decision. This work plan was nominally based on an assumed receipt of the licence by the end of October.

Depending on the timing of the receipt of the mining licence and project funding, the company now expected it would need to fund corporate overheads in addition to the project development costs, over a longer period of time and would need to raise further funding before a construction decision could be reached.

"I would like to thank shareholders for their patience while we have closely analysed and streamlined the activities planned at Namib following receipt of the capital.

“Our focus is to ensure we pursue workstreams that advance the project towards a construction decision and facilitate effective construction funding negotiations. With this in mind, we see the front-end engineering and design (Feed) process and resource and reserve drilling as top priorities,” CEO James Beams said.

The company believed an increase in reserves and the mine life would be a major positive in securing an appropriate funding package for the construction of the mine and, ultimately, to deliver enhanced value.

Preparations for project financing and construction decisions were also ongoing.
 
"The revised work plan will lead to an increased level of operational news flow over the next six months, with initial results from exploration and resource and reserve drilling expected in the first quarter of 2016, ahead of a resource upgrade towards the end of the second quarter. Results of the Feed process are also expected to be available in the first quarter,” Beams said.