Namibia’s oldest gold mine, Navachab, is expanding and moving from contractor-based drilling to owner-based operations.
The mine is about 10 km southwest of Karibib and 170 km west-northwest of the Namibian capital of Windhoek.
Navachab Gold Mine covers mining licences 31 and 180, the accessory works area in mining licence 31, and the exclusive prospecting licences 999 and 3275.
From its inception in 1989, mining was done by a contractor, Karibib Mining and Construction Company, until January 2004, when it went into owner-mining.
A mining contractor, Lewcor, did most of the mining operations between 2011 and 2017.
EVS Mining Contractors (Pty) Ltd came for Anomaly 16 in 2018, while the central pit and Gecko satellite operations are owned mines.
Anglo-American geologists discovered the gold deposit on farm Navachab in 1984 after two other companies had prospected the same area and found nothing.
The geologists were prospecting for carbonate-hosted gold when they stumbled upon the deposit.
After the discovery, Anglo-American conducted a geochemical exploration programme.
The company started exploration in 1985 and carried out an appraisal study in 1986.
Anglo-Americans undertook a complete feasibility study to establish whether it was economically viable to operate an open-cast mine.
Mine construction started in 1988, and in December 1989, Navachab poured its first gold bar.
Namibia’s founding president, Sam Nujoma, officially opened the mine in June 1990.
Navachab is a conventional open-pit mine with the current Carbon-In-Pulp (CIP) plant production capacity of 160,000 tonnes per month (TPM).
During the ramp-up to a production level of 3 million tonnes per annum, this plant’s production capacity will be increased to 25,000 pm.
Project Khaima
The 36-year-old mine launched Project Khaima in 2021 when it conducted a trial underground mining project, following the positive outcomes of a conceptual study conducted in 2020.
This trial, which cost more than N$160 million, targeted 90 jobs and ran until the end of 2021.
Navachab ordered a Vertical Power Mill 10 (VPM10) from Swiss Tower Mills around that time. The VPM mill is a vertical stirred mill using ceramic grinding media, complete with its user-friendly control system and 1,600 kW drive system. It grinds 140 t/h of gold concentrate from 2 mm to P70 of 75 µm.
Swiss Tower Mills delivered the mill during the third quarter of 2021, and its setup was planned for the fourth quarter of 2022.
Navachab hired South Africa’s ADP Group to install a comminution circuit capable of treating 1.19 Mtpa of gold-bearing ore and to add six new leach tanks to the existing leach circuit.
ADP undertook the project between November 2020 and December 2022. It included tie-ins to existing facilities and electrical and instrumentation installations throughout.
An optimisation study Navachab, conducted in the third quarter of 2023, advised the mine to take over drilling operations from contractors.
Navachab has been an open-cast operation since its inception in 1989. The mine owners, QKR Namibia, plan to go underground and extend its life beyond 2030.
Taking back drilling operations requires Navachab to spend money on equipment to sustain the mine’s future.
Navachab Minerals Holdings ordered six FelxiROC D65 drilling machines from Epiroc South Africa in March of this year.
Epiroc has been a contractor at Navachab since 2014.
The company provided maintenance and cost-per-metre on-site contract support.
Navachab is upgrading from a mono-to-multi-sensor sorting solution. The mine has already ordered two new KSS ore sorters from Steinert to replace the XSS-T X-sorting systems installed seven years ago.
According to the company, the multi-sensor option has proven to improve process results and significantly increase gold recovery.
Steinert said the dry sensor-based sorting technology has proven highly effective in improving ESG aspects, especially water savings, over the years of production.
Financing operations
In September 2020, Navachab managing director George Botshiwe told the media that the mine’s financial position had improved since 2018 when a negative cash flow threatened sustainability.
Botshiwe said the company’s processing plant expansion will cost over N$400 million, and the underground mine will cost over N$500 million.
“This strategic project has the potential to increase the production of Navachab mine by between 40% and 50% and increase the lifespan of the mine to 20 years,” Botshiwe said when he inaugurated the COVID-19 quarantine facility at the mine.
According to Botshiwe, the mine can now finance these projects with its funds, adding that it is buying mining equipment worth over N$600 million.
Last week, Navachab appointed RMB Namibia as the initial lead arranger, underwriter, and coordinator of a syndicated loan from Namibian and South African banks.
The N$3 billion is for the mine’s recently announced expansion programme.
RMB in Namibia’s head of investment banking, Jason Shikalepo, said the deal stands out as one of the most significant resource transactions structured and executed by a Namibian financial institution.
Shikalepo also said the deal underscores RMB’s ability to deliver complex, market-leading solutions, bringing together stakeholders across the financial ecosystem.
“By participating in such opportunities, RMB demonstrates its commitment to developing Namibia’s capital markets and fostering shared prosperity for our clients and the communities in which they operate,” Shikalepo said.
In a statement, RMB said the multifaceted solution is crucial for the critical ramp-up of mining and processing activities.
“This expansion will significantly scale up the mine’s gold output, substantially contributing to Namibia’s economic sustainability.
“In addition to the funding, RMB and the banking syndicate will provide risk management solutions to optimise the mine’s exposure to commodity prices, currency, and major operating expenses,” RMB said.
Original ownership
Navachab was a joint venture between Erongo Mining & Exploration Company Limited (70%), Metall Mining Corporation of Canada (20%), and Rand Mines Windhoek (Pty) Ltd (10%).
Anglo American Corporation owned two-thirds of Erongo Mining & Exploration, and Consolidated Diamond Mines owned the other third.
In 1998, AngloGold Ashanti, created by Anglo American, took over the majority shareholding. AngloGold Ashanti created AngloGold Ashanti Namibia to take over the 100% shareholding in Erongo Mining in Namibia.
In 2014, AngloGold Ashanti sold its shares to QKR Corporation for US$110 million. QKR, founded by former JP Morgan gold analyst Lloyd Pengilly and Roger Kennedy in 2012, took up 92.5%, while Epengelo Mining’s subsidiary JG Investment Two has the other 7.5%
Qatar Holdings and Kulczyk Investments, which owns KI Mining, are investors in QKR.
This takeover gave birth to QKR Namibia and QKR Navachab
Sole shareholder
KI Mining has since increased its shareholding in QKR to become the sole shareholder.
The Namibian Competition Commission ruled in May 2023 that the proposed transaction from joint control to sole control will not result in an accretion in market share or market power, nor will it result in either.
KI Mining Ltd. holds most of the shares in QKR, thus exercising sole control over QKR.
QKR is an investment vehicle holding shares in QKR Namibia and QKR Navachab.
The shareholders of QKR are KI Mining (Cyprus) Limited, Qatar Holding LLC, and Leganes Limited.
QKR Navachab primarily prospects for and exploits commercially viable deposits of precious metals and associated base metals in the Karibib Area and operates the Navachab gold mine that produces gold bullion in Karibib, Erongo Region, Namibia.
The commission said this is a conglomerate merger, and, on the international market, the merging parties are insignificant competitors and compete with larger gold producers.
“The proposed transaction does not raise horizontal overlap and vertical integration in the activities of the merging parties in Namibia,” the commission said.
