The Botswana side of the Kalahari Copper Belt is busy, and there is little action across Namibia’s border.
The Kalahari Copper Belt stretches 1,000 km from northeast Botswana into Namibia and has become a focal point for discovering sediment-hosted copper deposits.
Equivest Capital says the Kalahari Copper Belt is regarded as a future hot spot for significant copper discoveries.
According to Equivest Capital, the Kalahari Copper Belt is underexplored and could rival the copper-cobalt belt of Zambia and DRC, producing 11% of the world’s copper and cobalt.
The company like the Kalahari Copper Belt to the Central African Copper Belt, which annually contributes to over 10% of the world’s copper and cobalt supply.
Equivest says the early exploration in the region took place from 1960 to 2000 and was led by majors such as Anglo-American, Rio Tinto, and US Steel.
During that time, boreholes were drilled using an incorrect geological model. This, combined with less advanced remote sensing technologies, resulted in limited success for the belt.
The exploration game changed at the start of the last decade when junior miners discovered Tier 2 deposits in the region.
Unfortunately, the mining crash delayed the progress of exploration in the area.
The hunt for Tier 1 deposits starts again on a renewed commodity cycle.
Furthermore, Rio Tino silently amassed close to 10,000 km2 in the belt in eastern Namibia.
Namibia and Botswana, Africa’s top mining jurisdictions, offer a new copper mining camp that is just emerging after being hidden under the cover of the Kalahari Desert.
Namibia and Botswana currently produce a fraction of Zambia and DRC’s annual copper supply.
In 2019, Namibia and Botswana combined copper production was 14 KT, equivalent to 0.07% of the world’s copper production. Kalahari Copper Belt is currently not contributing to production.
In Botswana, the Kalahari Copper Belt hosts the world-class Khoemacau Copper-Silver Project.
Khoemacau is a long-life copper-silver mine in Botswana, one of Africa’s most prospective mining regions, the Kalahari Copper Belt.
Khoemacau employs around 1800 people, with 95% local employment from Botswana and has an estimated mine life of 20+ years.
The mine’s annual production is expected to be around 40,000 and 50,000 tonnes of copper in copper concentrate.
The Sandfire Resources’ Motheo project also centres on developing and mining the T3 and A4 Open Pit mines.
The open pit mine is about 600km from where Noronex is exploring for copper on the Namibian side of the Kalahari Copper Belt.
The project has 49.6 million tons of copper reserves and a life span of 10 years. Sandfire has invested US$397.4 million.
The Botswana government granted Sandfire a license in 2021. The project can create about 1,000 jobs during construction and 600 full-time jobs during production.
On the Namibian side of the Kalahari Copper Belt, the Australian company Noronex is expanding its landholdings and carrying out exploration work.
Kopore Metals in 2018
Kopore Metals applied for eight EPLs on the Namibian side of the Kalahari Copper Belt in July 2018.
Although Kopore Metals had two tenements in Ghanzi West and Senyetse Group in Botswana, the 2018 move was the first in Namibia.
The licences covered 5705sq km, and together with those in Botswana, Kopore Metals would have had a consolidated 14,363sq km project area.
By May 15, 2019, Kopore Metals’ subsidiary Trans Kalahari Copper Namibia held nine EPLs 7049 (936.33), 7050 (435.85), 7051 (992.18), 7052 (942.31), 7053 (285.32), 7054 (904.31), 7055 (996.98), 7056 (211.87) and 7264 (982.43).
In May 2020, Kopore Metals sold its 100% interest in the Trans Kalahari Copper to Sandfire Resources for $1 million cash and $1 million in Sandfire shares.
Noronex amassing a large land package
In July 2020, Noronex, known then as Lustrum Minerals, acquired 80% of Larchmont Investments shares and an option to acquire up to a 95% interest in three exclusive prospecting licences that are prospective for sedimentary copper and silver mineralisation along the prolific Kalahari Copper Belt in Namibia.
Larchmont Investment had a portfolio of high-grade copper claims in Canada.
The package includes a large claim area of 310 km2 in Canada and 780 km2 in Namibia.
The Namibian projects comprise three EPLs in the Witvlei and Dordabis areas, covering 78,000ha. The projects had seen over 150,000m of reverse circulation and diamond drilling.
The Witvlei EPLs are 7028 and 7029) while the Dordabis EPL 7030 is on the Kalahari Copper Belt in central Namibia.
White Metal Resources’ subsidiary Aloe Investment 287 held 95% of the EPLs, with the remaining 5% held by a local Namibian partner.
As part of the acquisition, Larchmont was assigned an option to acquire up to a 95% interest in Aloe 237, which RZJ Capital Management LLC currently holds.
The Witvlei Project had six key project areas – Malachite Pan, Okasewa, Christiadore North & South, Witvlei Pos and Gemsbockvley.
The Dordabis project includes several deposits, including Koperberg, RK, RK West, Swartberg, Balfour and Onverwacht.
Lustrum Minerals Limited proposed to change its name to Noronex Limited after the acquisition.
RZJ gave White Metal an option to acquire up to 95% of Aloe Investment 237 on October 15, 2019.
Aloe 237 holds a 100% legal and beneficial interest in the Namibian Projects.
In March 2021, Noronex reported that the mineral resources for four deposits – Malachite Pan, Okasewa, Christiadore, and Koperberg – was 10 Mt @ 1.3 % copper. The average silver grade at Malachite Pan and Okasewa is 6 g/t.
Noronex announced in September 2021 that it had entered into a joint venture transaction to earn 80% with an option to acquire up to 100% of the 2,000 km2 Snowball Project in Namibia.
Snowball is 30 km northeast of Noronex’s flagship Witvlei Project, which recently commenced a 10,000m drilling program.
Noronex’s tenure on the highly prospective Kalahari Copper Belt expanded by over 250% to over 2,700 km2.
On March 7, 2023, the mines ministry granted Noronex new EPLs totalling 3,269km2, with the total granted licence area increasing 138% from 2,368km2 to 5,637km2.
The newly granted Humpback and Damara EPLs 8655, 8656, 8664, 8671 and 8672 are 100% held through Noronex’s Namibian subsidiary.
Noronex applied for new licenses on July 27, 2023, for ~1,650 km2. The latest applications had been explored historically by Kopore and Sandfire Resources.
Before this time, EISEB exploration in Joint Venture with Cupric Canyon and Antofagasta had explored the ground.
Noronex Limited proposed selling the Dordabis project from its copper projects in Namibia in August 2023 for A$1.2 million.
The Dordabis project, covering EPLs 7028,7029 and 7030, was held under a joint venture vehicle, Aloe Investments 237.
The Dordabis represented about 4% of Noronex’s total licence area in Namibia.
The project holds about 10% (1.19mt at 1.09% Cu or 13,000 tons of contained copper) of the JORC (2012) resource of the Company’s total current resource of 9.97mt at 1.26% Cu (or 125,600 tons of contained copper).
The Dordabis project under EPL 7030 is 30,000 ha of Noronex’s 850,000ha exploration package.
The project contains the Koperberg deposit, which has a JORC (2012) resource of 1.19mt at 1.09% Cu (@0.5% cut-off).
In February 2024, Noronex acquired the remaining 25% interest in the Witvlei project held by the joint venture partner Aloe Investment 237. This saw Noronex’s shareholding increase from 70% to 95%.
South32 entered an earn-in agreement and strategic alliance with Noronex’s subsidiary, Noronex Exploration and Mining Company.
South32 committed A$15 million of exploration expenditure over five years at Noronex’s Humpback-Damara Project for a 60% interest.
The deal signed in July 2024 involves EPLs 8655, 8656, 8664, 8671, 8672, 8964, 8964 and applications 9551, 9952, 9932 and 9971, held by Noronex Exploration and Mining Company.
What is Noronex’s strategy?
In 2021, Noronex brought in two senior people who had experience with mines on the Kalahari Copper Belt.
One is Bruce Hooper, who was involved with Sandfire Resources when the company discovered the Motheo copper project.
Most recently, he was the Chief Exploration and Business Development Officer at Sandfire Resources, where he was a crucial part of Sandfire’s successful 2019 takeover of MOD Resources in Botswana. During this period, he was also seconded to the Chief Executive Officer of Tintina Resources based in Montana, USA.
Before 2012, Hooper worked in several senior exploration, operational and business development roles for various companies, including British Petroleum, Rio Tinto Limited, North Limited, Straits Resources Limited, Perilya Ltd, Ivernia Inc., and private and public board roles.
The company also recruited Robert Klug, an experienced resources executive with a career spanning over 20 years in corporate development, legal and commercial roles. Klug has worked in small to mid-cap mining and exploration companies in his most recent role as Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel of Sandfire Resources.
He oversaw copper sales and marketing at Sandfire, which was crucial to Sandfire’s successful acquisition of MOD Resources in Botswana.
