One of the high-grade rare earth elements found at the Nosib Polymetallic prospect in the Otavi Mountain Land near Tsumeb is vanadium used in treating diabetes, low blood sugar, high cholesterol, heart disease, tuberculosis, syphilis, anaemia, and water retention.
Vanadium is also used to improve athletic performance in weight training, prevents cancer, and makes essential parts for aircraft engines.
Golden Deeps announced on Monday that it intersected high-grade copper, vanadium, lead, molybdenum, antimony, and gallium at the Nosib Polymetallic prospect in the Otavi Mountain Land Copper Belt.
Molybdenum is used to manufacture steel and alloys, lubricants, core wires, lead wire and hook filaments to prevent tumours and animal husbandry and improve plant resistance to drought, cold and disease.
Antimony is for making lead shots, bullets, electrical cables, and solders.
It is used as a catalyst in industrial processes, removing bubbles from glass, especially in TV and laptop screens.
Antimony is also used in some drugs and veterinary medications; hardening leads to increased durability and in making flame-proofing materials and in some paints, glass, and batteries.
Gallium is used in nuclear weapons, telescopes, solar panels, thermometers, barometers and pharmaceuticals.
The Australian company is exploring and developing copper and vanadium projects in Namibia’s world-class Otavi Mountain Land copper district and advancing the exploration of copper and gold projects in the Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW, Australia.
The Nosib Block prospect under EPL 3543 is within a shallow, high-grade, vanadium-copper-lead-silver mineralisation zone.
According to Golden Deeps, the new, large-diameter metallurgical hole, NSBDD0014, which tested the central part of the Nosib prospect, is part of a 10-hole program designed to extend the Nosib polymetallic deposit.
The new drilling results include an exceptional intersection of critical elements, rare metals and rare-earth elements, including 71.5m @ 3.0% copper equivalent (CuEq) and 1.0% copper (Cu), 0.25% vanadium (V2O5), 3.1% lead (Pb), 4.7g/t silver (Ag), 8.4 g/t antimony (Sb), 434g/t molybdenum (Mo) and 83g/t total rare earth oxides (TREO).
