PRIVATE equity investor Appian Capital Advisory said on Thursday it is planning to build a $400m copper mine in Namibia.
The UK-headquartered firm said the Omico Copper project, situated 140 kilometres from Namibia’s capital Windhoek, was scoped to produce 30,000 tons a year of copper over its 15-year life-of-mine, with potential to expand. Production is expected to come on stream in about three years.
Omico Copper had a measured and indicated resource of 123 million tons grading at 0.51% copper, supporting a mineable inventory of 102Mt at 0.51% of copper.
Michael Scherb, founder and CEO of Appian Capital described the project as providing “near term” production. Appian acquired a 95% stake in Omico Copper from Greenstone Resources, a UK fund, and IBML, an Australian mineral developer that started work on the project in 2008.
About 5% of the project will be owned by the Craton Foundation Trust, a Namibian community trust, Appian Capital said.
Early stage metal offtake discussions had been opened with potential partners. But the group remained flexible on its financing options.
Last year, it agreed a $1bn partnership with the World Bank’s IFC aimed at financing mining projects primarily in Africa and Latin America. In terms of the arrangement, the IFC would provide $100m to anchor the fund.
Appian has a track-record in Namibia having acquired its Rosh Pinah mine and processing facilities in 2023. An expansion of Rosh Pinah was to be completed by July, doubling output to about 75,000 tons of finished zinc metal annually.
“Namibia remains a trusted jurisdiction for Appian, and we look forward to delivering this project responsibly and efficiently for the benefit of all stakeholders,” it said.
“Half the world is chasing copper at the moment,” said Scherb in an interview with Bloomberg News. The metal, crucial to electrification, is trading near a record high above $14,000 a ton, the newswire said. A squeeze on Middle Eastern sulphur supplies is threatening some operations, compounding disruptions at major mines elsewhere around the world, it said.
Appian’s Scherb told Bloomberg the company “sees a lot of value in that sweet spot where multiple mid-tier size projects in aggregate deliver the same output as a big mine and you can deliver those with less hassle”.
