Orion Minerals shares nearly double in a month as nears deal on copper-zinc project

SHARES in the JSE’s Orion Minerals have nearly doubled in value since the start of August which may reflect the firm’s advanced stage discussions with potential equity financiers for its Prieska Copper-Zinc project.

This followed the grant of a mining permit over the remainder of Orion’s Northern Cape property which Errol Smart, CEO of the company, said has been delivered in double-quick time. It is a reminder that when minded, South Africa’s mining regulatory environment can be a force for good, not frustration.

“My biggest fear, the one thing that kept me awake at night, was that it would take six to nine months to get the permit,” he told Miningmx in an interview recently. Now is the time to be financing and building mines in South Africa with infrastructure development fresh in the collective mine of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic cluster.

Smart said the Northern Cape licensing office of the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy has been responsive and efficient, and quite unlike some offices in Australia where Orion Minerals also has exploration properties.

“We criticise South Africa all the time but you can go months on end without hearing from any (official) one in Australia,” said Smart.

Expect, then, more upward momentum to Orion shares when the financing is in place and assuming economic recovery post Covid-19 remains supportive of base metal prices which feed industrial growth.

Smart wants the mine, proposed to do 22,000 tons of copper and 70,000 tons of zinc annually over 12 years, to start construction in the first quarter.