Heye Daun

THERE’S a bit of excitement around Heye Daun’s Osino Resources following the discovery of a new prospect appropriately called Eureka. Its development, which is by no means assured, could nonetheless herald the start of a new gold district in Namibia. That’s the view of Canadian bank BMO Capital Markets, which says Eureka’s development could boost Osino’s share price this year.

As a patriotic Namibian, Daun is not exactly playing all this down but he does acknowledge there’s some road to travel on Eureka. He calculates that if its resource can be built to two million ounces in tandem with Ondundu, a nearby, previously worked deposit bought from Canada’s B2Gold last year, a standalone mining complex could be established. It’s early days, especially as Osino’s priority is an investment decision on its flagship Twin Hills project. The results of a definitive feasibility study on Twin Hills in June were not as rosy as its prefeasibility study, but at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,100 per ounce it remains exciting, especially in the current gold market.

Capital of $365m will be required for the 13-year, 152,000oz/year project, but if clinched early next year, Osino will be on track for first production by the end of 2025 or early 2026. In other developments, Osino debuted on the Namibian Stock Exchange and completed its first bookbuild. Although a modest C$2.8m, it takes Osino some way to the 5% Namibian ownership it needs to fulfill permit requirements. An agreement to farm out Osino’s Omaruru lithium property with Prospect Resources passed the first phase. Once two more phases of drilling are completed, Prospect will own 85% of Omaruru and ‘free carry’ Osino to a definitive feasibility study.