Aldoro’s Phase I drilling at Kameelburg defined an Inferred Mineral Resource of 520.61 Mt at 2.49 % TREO equivalent (1.18 % TREO, 0.20 % niobium, 201 ppm molybdenum) at a 0.5 % TREO cut-off.
That includes a high-grade core of 271 Mt at 2.90 % TREO equivalent at a 1.0 % cut-off, and 231.6 Mt at 0.24 % Nb₂O₅ in the lower unit.
The resource contains more than one million tonnes each of NdPr and niobium pentoxide, placing Kameelburg among the rare elite of critical mineral deposits globally.
At current global market prices, the contained one million tonnes of niobium pentoxide could be worth around US$50 billion, while the NdPr content could fetch over US$150 billion.
Combined, this gives Kameelburg a notional in-situ value of about US$200 billion (roughly N$4 trillion), underscoring its strategic and economic weight for Namibia.
While realisable revenues will be reduced by mining, processing, refining, logistics and capital costs, the scale of the numbers highlights the project’s transformative potential.
Kameelburg’s history stretches back to the late 1960s, when AMCOR drilled eleven holes and conducted preliminary investigations that confirmed a vertically zoned carbonatite system.
Throughout the 2010s, limited reconnaissance followed, but it was not until 2023 that Aldoro secured control.
The company entered into a binding agreement to acquire an 85% interest in the Kameelburg and Omurango licences, with the remaining 15% retained by a Namibian partner.
The acquisition provided Aldoro with immediate exposure to a carbonatite complex that had been recognised for its geological significance but had never been advanced on a global scale.
To finance the transaction and early work programs, Aldoro sold A$3.3 million worth of Australian exploration assets, effectively repositioning itself around Kameelburg as its flagship.
The company also sought an additional N$4.5 million to fund Phase I drilling and metallurgical testwork.
Phase II drilling is scheduled to begin in October, targeting deeper zones and extensions westward, including a new high-grade niobium lens.
Preliminary metallurgical results report a 62.4 % niobium recovery. The project’s favourable logistics—rail, road, power lines and proximity to Walvis Bay—support its development viability.
Niobium is a strategic metal critical to high-strength, low-alloy steels, aerospace alloys and emerging energy storage systems, while NdPr underpins permanent magnet manufacture for EVs and wind turbines.
The dual-commodity nature gives Kameelburg differentiated value.
Chairperson Quinn Li called the discovery “world-class.” Aldoro’s rapid progression from acquisition to resource upgrade and market recognition has made Namibia a focal point in the global race for critical minerals.
Aldoro Resources is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker ARN.
Its stock is currently priced around AUD 0.51, representing more than a 500 % increase over the past year.
Its market capitalisation is approximately AUD 96–112 million.
For comparison, other companies active in rare earths and niobium exploration and production have much larger valuations.
Some leading rare earth names have market caps in the hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.
Aldoro’s valuation remains modest in this context, reflecting its exploration stage and the risks that still lie ahead.
The contrast is clear: while Aldoro is banking on the promise of Kameelburg, many larger peers already have operating mines or advanced processing capabilities.
As Aldoro progresses toward feasibility and production, its market position could shift dramatically—if it can manage technical risk, capital needs, and execution.
The geological potential of Kameelburg was first recognised more than half a century ago. Between 1967 and 1970, AMCOR conducted early exploration work that laid the foundation for today’s understanding of the deposit. Working with the National Institute of Metallurgy in South Africa, AMCOR carried out surface rock sampling, 11 shallow drill holes, and two bulk samples of the carbonatite.
Three technical reports were produced and are now held by the Council of Geosciences in South Africa.
AMCOR’s investigations revealed that Kameelburg is a vertically layered carbonatite body, elongated east-northeast and measuring 1,280 by 1,070 metres.
At its heart lay a phosphate- and ankerite-rich core, surrounded by micaceous carbonatite known as sovite. The intrusion displayed a distinctive alteration halo, encircled by concentric shells of magnetite- and pyrrhotite-rich carbonatite.
Within these “pipe fingers” were discontinuous ring dykes and plugs containing phosphate and rare earth elements. Nepheline syenite bordered the deposit to the south, while marble flanked its northern margin.
The key facies identified were sovite and beforsite, with the latter proving especially enriched in thorium, rare earths, strontium, niobium, and phosphorus.
Drilling and petrological analysis of 44 samples confirmed the presence of crucial rare earth and associated minerals, including ancylite (La, Ce), cerianite (Ce), strontianite (Sr), fluorapatite (Ce, P), pyrochlore (REE, Nb), and columbite (Nb).
A bulk sample taken from the phosphate-rich core yielded a concentrate of 31.8% phosphate (P₂O₅) and 1.6% total rare earth oxides (TREO) after magnetic separation. Another bulk sample from an iron-rich ring dyke produced 2.6% TREO, hinting at broader mineralisation across the structure.
Interest in Kameelburg resurfaced four decades later. Between 2012 and 2013, Kinloch Resources Pty Ltd conducted a renewed round of exploration.
This began with due diligence sampling — 29 rock and 34 soil samples collected at 100-metre intervals across the deposit.
The assays were promising, returning up to 1.81% TREO in rocks and 1.75% TREO in soils, confirming that parts of the carbonatite, particularly the beforsite, were rich in rare earths.
Kinloch then carried out a systematic grid-based rock and regolith sampling programme over the carbonatite and surrounding contacts.
A total of 678 rock and regolith samples were collected from 339 sites, revealing consistently high grades. Soil samples showed TREO values as high as 2.66%, averaging 1.3% across the carbonatite, while phosphate values reached 9.7%.
Rock chip samples yielded up to 5.56% TREO, averaging 1.0%, with phosphate grades of up to 17.25%. Significant, though sporadic, occurrences of strontianite (up to 13.2%) and niobium pentoxide (up to 4.75%) were also identified.
When contoured, Kinloch’s results confirmed a central zone of mineralisation exceeding 1% TREO over an area of 0.838 km², with average grades of 1.44% in soils and 1.27% in rock chips.
The findings reinforced what AMCOR’s earlier work had suggested: Kameelburg is a highly endowed carbonatite system with strong potential in rare earths, niobium, and phosphate.
