The Ministry of Mines and Energy has granted an extension of the term for exclusive prospecting licence (EPL) 4346 of the Opuwo Cobalt Project, till March 2023.
The Opuwo Cobalt Project is 95 percent owned by Celsius Resources and located in northwestern, approximately 800 km by road from the Windhoek, and 750 km from the port at Walvis Bay.
The company made the license extension announcement in a company statement this week, the EPL 4346 hosts the entire DOF Mineral Resource at the Opuwo Cobalt Project, which currently comprises 112.4 million tonnes at a grade of 0.11 percent cobalt, 0.41 percent copper, and 0.43 percent zinc, at a cutoff grade of 0.06 percent (or 600 ppm) cobalt.
The expenditure commitment for the forthcoming two years for EPL 4346 is NAD 7,970,000. Celsius also holds EPLs 4351 and 4540 adjacent to EPL 4346. EPL 4540 has already been renewed until February 2023, with an expenditure commitment of NAD 1,595,000. A renewal application for EPL4351 was submitted to the authorities in March 2021.
Celsius according to their website is aiming to define a long life, reliable source of cobalt at Opuwo, stating that some of the advantages of the project are; large scale, favourable mineralogy: cobalt and copper sulphide minerals, low in deleterious elements: notably arsenic, cadmium and uranium, mining-friendly, politically stable and safe location with excellent infrastructure, and Cobalt, which is the best exposure to lithium-ion battery boom.
“The recent increase in value across the battery minerals spectrum has had a positive impact on the outlook for cobalt. The Opuwo Project offers significant potential for the Company, and to secure tenure for a further two years allows us to strategically assess ways to advance the project in parallel with our flagship assets in the Philippines. I’d like to thank Pine, Rainer and the entire Namibian team who continue to engage with the communities and Government of Namibia, on our behalf’’ said Celsius’ chairman, Martin Buckingham.
By GLENN-NORA TJIPURA