The Karibib Lithium Project, 25km east‐southeast of the town of Karibib, ranks number seven among Africa’s top ten mines with the most significant deposits, according to Energy Capital & Power.
This is also the first mine in Africa to export 30,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate to the Chinese company Jiangxi Jinhui Lithium in July 2018.
Lepidico now owns 80% of the mine and holds licence 204, granted to Desert Lion Energy on 19 June 2018, which will remain current in the name of Lepidico Chemicals Namibia until 18 June 2028.
Karibib Lithium Project has 6.7 million tonnes of ore reserves grading at 0.46% lithium oxide, 2.26% rubidium and 320 parts per million caesium, a 60% conversion from mineral resources of 11.24 million tonnes. Its total production over a 14-year life-of-mine is 773.000t.
The project could be the first known lithium reserve discovered in Namibia in the 1930s, with mining activities started at the Rubikon Mine by the Klochner Group of Germany around 1950.
Project tenure includes the historic Rubikon, Helicon and Fricke’s lithium-tantalum-caesium mines, which operated intermittently from 1930 to 1994.
The Rubikon mine reportedly produced some 17,000t of lithium mineral concentrates from small-scale open pit and underground mining between 1980 and 1994.
Helikon 1, located 750 m south of Helikon 2 – 5, is the largest exposed pegmatite at the project with a strike length of 350 m, an average thickness of 65 m and dips 70° to the north.
The Helikon 2 – 5 pegmatites define a discontinuous strike length of 1,700 m with variable dips and thicknesses.
The project is on Farm Okongava 72, owned by the Namibian Government.
Ownership
The Klochner Group owned the project through its subsidiary, Metramco of South Africa. The direct management of the project was under SWA Lithium, a subsidiary of Metramco of South Africa.
The Group worked on the Rubikon and Helikon mines until 1990 when they sold to Namibia Lithium Mines, a subsidiary of South Africa Afmin.
The next owner of the Karibib Lithium Project was Sunrise Minerals, an Australian company. It is not clear what work Sunrise Minerals did to the project before it was acquired by another Australian company, Black Fire Minerals, in 2009.
When Black Fire Minerals acquired the Karibib Lithium project, a Namibian-registered company, Starting Right Investments 94 held the Karibib Lithium Project EPLs 3750 and 3751.
Desert Lion Energy bought the project from Black Fire Minerals, which had bought it from another Australian company called Sunrise Minerals in 2009.
When Desert Energy acquired the property in 2017, there were stockpiles of about 500,000 tons of lithium-bearing material at the Rubicon and Helicon mines.
Desert Lion Energy mined 30,000 tons of the stockpiled material in 2018 and shipped them to Jiangxi Jinhui Lithium Co.
The mines ministry granted Desert Lion Energy a full mining licence in August 2018 to mine in-situ material for ten years.
The company said the shipment was the largest ever made from Africa. The agreement was that Desert Lion would ship 30,000 tons every six weeks.
Then, the price of lithium dropped, and the shipment stopped. Desert Lion Energy had to seek financial help.
In December 2018, Desert Lion signed up for a loan with Toronto-based fund AIP Asset Management through a convertible facility and a private placement led by Pella Resources/ Adonis Pouroulis.
Lepidico Limited acquired an 80% interest in Desert Lion Energy (Pty) Ltd through a plan of arrangement in July 2019.
In January 2020 the Namibian entity’s name was changed from Desert Lion Energy to Lepidico Chemical Namibia (Pty) Ltd.
Current ownership of the project is 80% to Lepidico Chemicals (Pty) Ltd and 20% to Huni-Urib Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
Management
Julian Walsh (Managing Director – Executive)
Walsh is a resources industry executive, mining engineer and geophysicist with over 30 years of experience working for mining and exploration companies and investment banks in related mining roles. Joe joined Lepidico as Managing Director in 2016. Before this, he was the General Manager of Corporate Development with Pan Aust and was instrumental in the evolution of PanAust from an explorer in 2004 to a US$2+billion, ASX 100 multi-mine copper and gold company. Joe has extensive equity market experience and has been involved with the technical and economic evaluation of many mining assets and companies worldwide.
Timo Ipangelwa (General Manager Operations – Namibia)
Timotheus Ipangelwa is an experienced mining engineer and company executive. An alumnus of the University of the Witwatersrand, he is pursuing a Master of Business Administration with the University of the Stellenbosch Business School. Before joining Lepidico, Timo served for eight years as Mining Head for the Husab open pit mine operated by Swakop Uranium, where he was responsible for operational readiness for project start-up, recruitment, commissioning, ramp-up to design capacity and operational improvement. Before this, Timo worked in various technical, operational and management roles for Namdeb Diamond Corporation (Pty) Ltd, Navachab Gold Mine (AngloGold Ashanti Limited) and Vedanta’s Skorpion Zinc Mine. His interest in the people of Namibia, safety and the overall improvement of the mining industry in the country has transcended his mining career Roles. Timo serves as a Commissioner for the Mineral Ancillary Rights in Namibia, as Deputy Chairperson – National Steering Committee Meeting for Centre for Mining Metallurgical Research and Training (CMMRT) and on the Curriculum advisory board of the Mining Engineering Department at Namibia University of Science and Technology.
