Namibia is positioning itself as a new copper supplier in the Copperbelt region as global demand looks set to outstrip supply.“Copper is by far the most abundant mineral commodity in Namibia,” according to the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board. Archaeological evidence, it says, shows that copper has been mined in Namibia for centuries, first by Indigenous people and later by colonial companies. At present, the only major copper mine in operation is Tschudi mine in the northern Oshikoto region, which is reaching the end of its life.Another 20 mines are either dormant or under care and maintenance. The potential is attracting new investors. The Omitiomire Copper Project, located on a 2 890-hectare mining licence 120 kilometres north of Windhoek, is nearing bankability, according to the company.Internal economic and technical studies have identified significant potential for the project to be a viable long-life and low capital-intensive copper cathode producer in central Namibia, it says in its report for the fourth quarter of 2023.Both NamPower and an independent power producer will provide power. Koryx Copper is in the process of evaluating the potential of the Haib deposit, which was first identified by German prospectors in the late 1800s.The area has continued to attract prospectors, but promising results did not translate into investment. In 2004, Koryx Copper (formerly Deep-South Resources) was granted an exclusive prospecting licence over an area of 75 000 hectares. It is now actively pursuing the option after a number of extensions.Koryx Copper CEO Pierre Léveillé told investors in March that drilling had identified promising high-grade deposits. This would put the Namibian operation at an advantage as most existing mines around the world were having to process lower grades.Koryx Copper also holds the option to acquire up to 80% of three Large Scale Exploration Licences covering 752 square kilometres in the heart of the Zambian Copperbelt. Neighbouring Angola is also attracting attention, with Ivanhoe Mines having acquired prospecting rights over an area the size of Switzerland. For miners, there is processing capacity in Namibia. In March Chinese company Sinomine Resource Group purchased the Dundee Precious Metals plant in the northern town of Tsumeb, which processes copper ores from South America and Europe and exports its blister copper product via the Walvis Bay port. Its by-product, sulphuric acid, is used in the uranium and copper mining industries in Namibia.
