HeBei Construction CC has spent about N$40 million (A$3,245,000) ordering equipment for the Swanson Tantalum Mining Project.
The project is expected to be in production by the first quarter of 2025.
Arcadia Metals owns the project, which has a license number of 223, and HeBei wants to acquire 49% of it.
The Swanson Tantalum Project, under EPL 5047, is about 15km north of the Orange River.
Arcadia announced on November 28, 2022, that HeBei had agreed to invest US$7,5 million into the Swanson Tantalum Project in return for a 49% interest in the offtake of lithium produced as a secondary stream of product following the production of Tantalum concentrate.
The investment comprised cash, machinery, road construction and services.
Hebei started the construction of the road between the Swanson Mine Site and the Plant Site in July 2023 to allow for the carriage and installation of plant and equipment—jaw crusher, cone crusher, feeder, screen and conveyors—currently sourced from Namibia, the Republic of China, and the United Kingdom.
Arcadia Metals says HeBei has completed constructing the access road from the nearest traversable to the Swanson processing site and is now working on the ore supply road.
Additionally, HeBei will start installing a power line and constructing the service road this May.
HeBei has also started the process of appointing a project manager to coordinate project readiness and construction.
The processing equipment, including multi-gravity separators and a spiral circuit, has been ordered and deposits paid, and it is expected to arrive on-site during October 2024.
A May 2023 definitive feasibility study into the Swanson tantalum/lithium project estimates that the mine will produce an average of 12,500 tonnes a month over a life of eight years.
