Name of the Project
Haib copper project.

Location
Near Noordover, in the south of Namibia. 

Project Owner/s
Copper exploration and development company Koryx Copper, formerly Deep-South Resources.

Project Description
An updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has shown the 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
As at June 2025, Koryx included more than 50 staff.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a discount 7.5% rate, of $2.26-billion, and an internal rate of return 52.2%, with a payback of 2.4 years.

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

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Koryx Copper has completed a further six diamond drill holes for 1 808 m out of a planned 37 holes as part of the Phase 2 drill programme for its 2025 exploration and project development strategy on the project.

The assay results received from these six holes have generally showed higher copper grades than the average mineral resource estimate (MRE) over large intercepts, the company reported on July 7.

Meanwhile, the company has indicated that assaying for molybdenum and gold continue to show by-product credits. These credits will be incorporated into the next MRE update and are expected to contribute to a higher average copper-equivalent grade.

Extensive surface mapping and drill-core relogging are ongoing with the assistance of a highly credible international porphyry consultant. These activities are aimed at improving geological understanding and core logging consistency, which will assist in improved drill targeting and mineral resource modelling.

Drilling operations are reportedly progressing well, with two quality drill contractors on site. Each contractor is operating two track-mounted drill rigs. In addition, four man-portable drill rigs are being mobilised to enable safe drilling in the deep valleys and steep terrain of the project area.

Two of these man-portable rigs are expected to be on site by the end of July, with the remaining two expected to arrive in October.

To date, Koryx has completed 11 100 m of the planned 28 000 m drill target for this year.

"Our geological understanding keeps improving and, with the aid of [consultant] Dr Warren Pratt . . . we are very encouraged by what we are seeing . . . not only confirmation of the previously identified higher-grade zones, but also indications of additional higher-grade mineralisation along previously unappreciated east-west and nortwest-southeast structures related to breccias and shear zones,” Koryx president and CEO Heye Daun has said.

Daun has noted that these near-surface, higher-grade intersections are important as they may not only improve the grade of the overall MRE, but also have the potential to serve as a shallow, higher-grade starter pit along this structure.

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); METS Engineering Group of Australia (testwork supervision); MSA Group (National Instrument 43-101-compliant MRE); Knight Piésold Consulting (environmental and social impact assessment) and Ferrodrill Namibia (drilling contract).

Contact Details for Project Information
Koryx Copper (Namibia), tel +264 61 435 8267 or email info@koryxcopper.com.