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Drilling underway at the Omitiomire Copper Project in central Namibia.
heap leach process and solvent-extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW). The project has been focused on securing a strategic partner for funding purposes, following the completion of its Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) in late 2024, and is now positioned for implementation. According to the project manager, Mike Stuart from Omico Mining, the project has a storied history. The original deposit was discovered by General Mining (Genmin) in the 1970s, and significant work was then undertaken by Anglo-American in the 1990s. International Base Metals Limited (IBML) became involved in 2008, which led to extensive drilling, with some 85 000 metres completed between 2008 and 2014, and a pre-feasibility study into producing copper concentrate by flotation. However, he says, IBML eventually mothballed the project as, at the time, the economic feasibility of a large-scale flotation operation was not viable due to low copper prices. “Greenstone then became involved in late 2019, as a private equity group that was seeking copper projects to invest in at a bankable feasibility study (BFS) level. When it was unable to identify a sufficient number of these, it sought out projects that could be brought up to this level, which is when they looked at Omitiomire,” he explains. “With this project, they found a method that would allow it to be a viable deposit economically, notably through a change of the metallurgical processing route, by using chloride heap leaching and SXEW to produce pure copper cathode, as opposed to the previous process route of flotation.” Stuart joined as project manager in 2020 and explains that although time was lost due to the
Omitiomire Copper Project aims for full production by 2028 Building on the depth of mining expertise in West Africa, developed over more than a century of mining in countries like Ghana, the region is needing to foster local skill sets in response to changing standards and requirements both from government and clients. W ith a unique-to-Africa chloride heap leaching process, the Omitiomire copper mine will support the just energy transition, while adding significantly to the Namibian economy. The Omitiomire Copper Project in central Namibia, currently being developed by Greenstone Resources, with Omico Mining Corp, is a fully de-risked, open-pit copper mine, designed to produce 25 000-30 000 tonnes of high-purity copper cathode annually for approximately 15 years, using a chloride
20 MODERN MINING www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | DECEMBER 2025 - JANUARY 2026
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