Namibia Critical Metals Inc. has updated its mineral resource estimate for the large-scale Lofdal 2B-4 heavy rare earth project.
The Lofdal Project is fully permitted, has a 25-year Mining License, and is under a Joint Venture Agreement with the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security.
The company filed a robust updated pre-feasibility study for Lofdal 2B-4 on November 14, 2022, with a post-tax NPV of US$391 million and an annual IRR of 28% with a capital expenditure of US$207 million.
The project is projected to generate a life of mine nominal cash flow of US$698 million post-tax over a 16-year mine life.
Namibia Critical Metals conducted a two-stage infill drilling campaign for the subprojects Area 4 and Area 2B to increase confidence in the resources for the planned open pits of Area 4 and Area 2B.
The highlights of the mineral resource update include 4,503 tonnes of dysprosium oxide and 693 tonnes of terbium oxide in the combined measured and indicated resource categories, which represents an increase of 11% and 12% compared to the previous mineral resource statement filed on June 30 2021.
Inferred resources for the combined Area 4 and Area 2B deposits are
38% increase in contained dysprosium oxide and 39% increase in contained terbium oxide.
There was also a 31% increase in contained total rare earth oxide (TREO) tonnage in the combined measured and indicated resource categories from 72,680 to 93,731 tonnes.
The combined Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increased from 44.8 million tonnes at 0.17% TREO to 58.5 million tonnes at 0.16% TREO for the combined Area 4 and Area 2B deposits based on the same cut-off of 0.1 % TREO as in the previous pre-feasibility study.
Namibia Critical Metals CEO Darrin Campbell said with just under 11,000 metres of drilling last year, they have increased the overall contained rare earth tonnage by an impressive 37%.
He said the measured and indicated resource shells at Lofdal 2B and 4 contain over 4,500 tonnes of Dysprosium oxide and over 690 tonnes of Terbium oxide, which clearly establishes Lofdal as a globally significant heavy rare earth deposit.
Campbell also said the updated resource will be incorporated into our Pre-Feasibility Study for Lofdal 2B-4, which is currently underway and expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024.
