Namibia Rare Earths expands portfolio

Namibia Rare Earths will be expanding its area of focus and will move away from being a miner of only lithium to also include cobalt, gold, graphite, nickel, copper and zinc.

Namibia Rare Earths will also issue 64 000 000 common shares which will be acquired by Gecko Namibia through a yet-to-be finalised private placement.

The new deal, Namibia Rare Earths said, would give it buy-in into exciting planned future mining projects.

“The transaction dramatically increases the Namibia Rare Earths' exposure to a wide variety of critical metals and minerals at various stages of development, providing a pipeline of projects spanning the spectrum from near-term discovery to preliminary economic assessment,” Namibia Rare Earths said.

The company also said it would help accelerate the planned development of its projects from feasibility stage to full production.

“This diversification will provide Namibia Rare Earths with considerable flexibility in targeting those commodities which can provide immediate shareholder value.

“The strategic partnership with Gecko Namibia will allow for fast tracking to mine development as projects mature to feasibility stage,” Namibia Rare Earths said.

The initial focus will be on a yet to be developed cobalt project in the Kunene Region.

“In terms of commodity interest, the Kunene cobalt-copper project will be assigned highest priority given the high level of investor interest in cobalt and current high cobalt prices,” Namibia Rare Earths said.

Operations in Namibia for all projects will continue under Namibia Rare Earths (Pty) Ltd., the Namibian operating company of Namibia Rare Earths. Project management will be streamlined through utilisation of Gecko Namibia's in-country administrative and service and the appointment of Pine van Wyk as CEO.

Gecko was instrumental in bringing the 500 000 tonnes per year run-of-mine Okanjande graphite mine into commercial production earlier this year, through a joint venture partnership with Imerys, a global leader in the production of mineral-based, high-value specialty products. Gecko Namibia redesigned a portion of the crushing, milling and flotation facilities at the Okorusu mine for graphite processing of up to 20 000 tonnes per year of graphite concentrate.

Gecko also acquired the entire mine and processing facility assets of the Okorusu fluorspar mine from Solvay, in 2016. A comprehensive test programme has been developed with the objective of re-opening the fluorspar operations at Okorusu.

Further, Gecko Salt, a subsidiary of Gecko, operates a small-scale salt production plant located about 120 km north of Swakopmund. The project is currently operating at a rate of 200 000 tonnes per year and targeting to increase to one-million tonnes a year. The first shipment of 25 000 tonnes of salt for the North American market was exported in August.