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 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
After pleading with the Namibian government, represented by Namibia Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo, to get its exploration and prospecting licence (EPL) renewed, the Ministry has again refused to renew it.

Deep-South Resources met with the Namibia Mines and Energy Minister  and other officials of the (Ministry of Mines and Energy) department on June 25 to voice its objections to Alweendo’s refusal to renew the company’s Haib copper licence.

Earlier in the month, Deep-South received notice from the Ministry that its application for the renewal of its exploration and prospecting licence (EPL) was denied on the grounds that Deep-South had been unable to advance the EPL to prefeasibility study (PFS) stage and complete the proposed drilling programme as planned.

However, in a statement, Deep-South says the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy was kept well apprised, with no objection on its part, of a proposed change from the PFS to an upgraded preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and the start of a full feasibility study.

Further, the company states that the Ministry had issued all permits required for the drilling programme and was aware that Deep-South had completed the drilling programme.

Deep-South has declared the Ministry’s refusal to renew its EPL is “unreasonable and unjustified”.

Nonetheless, as a result of Alweendo’s refusal to renew the EPL, Deep-South has suspended all work on site and has started with retrenchment proceedings.

Deep-South says it intends to “vigorously contest” the Ministry’s decision “by all means necessary and available” under the Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act and other applicable laws of Namibia.

In its application for renewal and subsequent representations made to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Deep-South maintains that it “clearly demonstrated” that it met all the criteria under the Act to justify the renewal of its licence.

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.