In 2019, Greenstone Resources LP and International Base Metals Ltd entered into a strategic partnership to advance the Omitiomire Copper Project in Namibia through an earn-in agreement over Craton Mining and Exploration (Pty) Ltd.
The terms of the agreement include the requirement to complete a Bankable Feasibility Study (published 2024) with a minimum spend of USD 5m.
Total spend by Greenstone of USD10m to date, including USD5m on engineering studies for chloride heap leach and SXEW technology and USD1.3m on infill drilling.
Key Outputs
Technical
- Production: 23-32ktpa Cu cathode (average over LOM 26,800tpa)
- Life of Mine: 15 years
- Preproduction capital: US$364m
- Ave LOM opex: US$5,5,36/tonne copper
- Plant Capacity: 7.2 Mtpa
- Metallurgical recoveries: 73.5%
- Acid consumption: 9kg/tonne
- Leach cycle time: 115 days
- Mining Strip ratio: 5.0:1
- Based on Contractor Mining
Financial
- Post-Tax NPV8: US$224 (100%)
- Post-Tax IRR: 18%
- Capital Intensity: 12,480/t Cu
- Key assumptions:
- Cu price $4.50 /lb LT
- FX: USD/ZAR 19:1
Geology
The Omitiomire Copper Deposit lies within the Kalahari Copperbelt. Geophysics and regional work have suggested an along-strike correlation of geology between Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. Some of the major copper deposits of northern Zambia, including Lumwana and Sentinel/Kalumbila, are associated with geological formations that share similarities with Omitiomire in the Damara Belt and other deposits in the Ghanzi-Chobe Belt such as Sandfire’s Motheo mine..
Deposit geology comprises two main rock packages:
- Mafic rocks, hosting the Cu mineralisation, mainly of quartz, plagioclase, dark biotite and amphibole. Mineralised banding up to 100m thick;
- Surrounding leuco-gneisses usually unmineralized, quartz, plagioclase, variable amounts of biotite and trace amounts of garnet and sphene.
Orebody strike length of 3.5km, open at depth
In 2024, Omico engaged the MSA Group to update the previous 2022 MSA resource to include the infill drilling undertaken by Omico in late 2022. The revised CIM Measured and Indicated resource is 123 million tonnes (‘Mt’) with 663 thousand tonnes contained copper at an average grade of 0.51% Total Copper, at a cut-off grade of 0.15% Cu. The resources are reported in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Best Practice Guidelines.