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, through its subsidiary Haib Minerals.

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
The High Court of Namibia has rendered its judgment in a court case brought by Deep-South to renew its licence to explore the Haib copper project, consequently reviewing the case and setting aside the decision of the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Namibia not to renew the licence.

The court has instructed Namibia Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo to restart Deep-South’s EPL 3140 licence renewal application procedure and arrive at a new decision.

The court has also ordered the Ministry to pay the legal costs of Deep-South subsidiary Haib Minerals.

The court noted that the facts presented by Haib Minerals should not have been ignored in the evaluation process.

The judgment mentions that Alweendo and Mining Commissioner Isabella Kandjii-Chirchir did not consider the large investments by Deep-South to develop a low-grade deposit.

The court also states that Alweendo and Kandjii-Chirchir did not take into consideration that the Covid-19 pandemic impacted on the exploration programme.

Deep-South will now consult its legal advisers to prepare the way forward and pursue the licence renewal procedure.

Alweendo and Kandjii-Chirchir have the right to appeal the judgment in the Supreme Court of Namibia, but will need to file such a request within 21 court days from the date of the judgment.

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.