It looks like Namibia has a new cobalt province on its hands in the country’s northeast with Celsius Resources delivering a better-than-expected maiden resource at Opuwo cobalt project and Cazaly Resources recently picking up the neighbouring Kaoko Kobalt project also highly prospective for cobalt-copper riches.
Celsius has delivered an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 112.4 million tonnes, grading 0.11% cobalt, 0.41% copper and 0.43% zinc, at a cut-off grade of 0.06% cobalt.
The Mineral Resource estimate – which covers a zone of approximately 10 km – represents contained cobalt of 126,100 tonnes consisting of 72Mt at a grade of 0.11% cobalt, 0.42% copper and 0.41% zinc in the Indicated category, and a further 40.5Mt at a grade of 0.12% cobalt, 0.41% copper and 0.46% zinc in the inferred category.
Mineralisation, and grade continuity, has already been confirmed over a total of more than 15 km of strike, with over 100 km of total prospective strike identified within cobalt-copper bearing Dolomite Ore Formation (DOF) horizon.
The mineralised zones comprising the resource are open in all directions, with Celsius saying there was considerable scope for resource expansion with further drilling.
This bodes well for the prospectivity of Cazaly Resources’ recently acquired Kaoko Kobalt project which abuts Opuwo and covers around 27 kilometres of the postulated continuation of the Co-Cu bearing DOF horizon.
In addition, Kaoko includes a prime target for cobalt-copper mineralisation over a 20km by 5km area at the Kamwe prospect, a very large target that positions Cazaly as more than just a ‘nearology’ play in the region.
Celsius Managing Director, Brendan Borg said the maiden JORC Mineral Resource for the Opuwo project exceeded the company’s expectations.
This is an important milestone that has defined a globally significant potential future cobalt source at Opuwo. The results of the external resource modelling and estimation confirm the consistent and expansive scale of the Project.
“We are confident that further drilling, which is already underway, will enable future upgrades to the maiden JORC Mineral Resource.”
The resource will form the basis of the project scoping study for Opuwo which is expected late in Q2, 2018.
Known for primarily for its deserts, Namibia is fast becoming a region for battery minerals discoveries. It is also well recognised by the investment community as having political and economic stability, good infrastructure and clear mining codes, placing it well above its African neighbours as an investor destination.
Shares in Celsius were up 2.5c to 18.5c while Cazaly gained 0.3c to 5.3c in morning trade.
