Africa Pioneer’s Ongombo mining activities greenlit in Namibia
Copper and gold exploration company African Pioneer has received approval for its Ongombo mining license from the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The company in a statement on Thursday said the ongoing shallow drilling has continued to define near-surface copper and gold mineralization for a possible open pit extraction.
Africa Pioneer said that is currently completing an environmental and social impact assessment, which will trigger the start of the mine development. The company’s current drill program has completed 26 holes to date and found copper and gold in 25 of them.
“Our near surface drilling programme has been very successful, providing good copper and gold results on a consistent basis. The effect of this drilling programme will be to provide an open cast opportunity for the first two years of operation, thus reducing the effect of onerous early capital on the DCF model and bringing the operation into cashflow very quickly,” said Colin Bird, Executive Chairman of African Pioneer.
Bird said they anticipate accessing the underground resource ex-open pit and this will reduce both capital and time in opening up the underground resource.
“We intend to move into project implementation which will include final plant design, open pit, and mine design and contractor appointments,” Bird added.
The company further intends to fast-track all its activities to meet what is anticipated to be a huge copper demand during the later part of 2023.
