Southwest of Windhoek, where the Khomas highlands roll toward Rehoboth and the hills open into dry riverbeds, lies a copper story that has slept for nearly half a century.
The Hope Copper-Gold Project, along with its sister deposit, Gorob, occupies a stretch of the Matchless Amphibolite Belt, the same geological corridor that hosts the historic Matchless and Otjihase mines, located closer to the capital.
Today, Hope stands as one of Namibia’s largest undeveloped base-metal deposits — a reminder that beneath the scrub and silence, the ground still holds the promise that first drew geologists here in the 1970s.
The Hope deposit was first mapped and drilled by Gold Fields Namibia (Pty) Ltd between 1976 and 1980. According to archival records lodged with the Geological Survey of Namibia, the company identified a series of copper-gold-bearing sulphide lenses hosted within metamorphosed volcanic rocks of the Kuiseb Formation. The discovery was part of Gold Fields’ broader programme to locate a successor to the waning Matchless and Otjihase mines.
Extensive trenching, geophysical surveys, and diamond drilling confirmed that Hope contained a wide zone of disseminated and massive sulphides, predominantly chalcopyrite and pyrite, with traces of gold and silver.
The deposit lies approximately 70 kilometres southwest of Windhoek, and its accessibility to both the capital and the coast made it one of the most strategically located exploration projects in the country.
Reports from Gold Fields’ 1980 feasibility summary estimated an indicated resource of more than 4 million tonnes grading 1.5% copper and 0.3 g/t gold, with mineralisation extending along strike and down dip.
Ore samples were shipped to Tsumeb and South Africa for metallurgical testing, which confirmed that the copper was readily recoverable through flotation.
Despite promising results, the project stalled in the early 1980s. Political uncertainty, low copper prices, and the impending era of independence led Gold Fields to withdraw from Namibia, transferring its exploration data and rights back to the state.
For nearly two decades, the Hope area lay idle, its core samples stored in wooden crates at the Geological Survey in Windhoek.
Modern exploration resumed in the 2000s, when the licences were reissued under EPL 3140 to a series of Namibian entities before being acquired by Bezant Resources plc.
The company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, now controls both the Hope and Gorob deposits through its Namibian subsidiaries Hope and Gorob Mining (Pty) Ltd, which holds EPL 5796 / ML 246, and Hope Namibia Mineral Exploration (Pty) Ltd, which holds EPL 6605 and EPL 7170. Bezant owns 70% of Hope and Gorob Mining and 80% of Hope Namibia Mineral Exploration. Mining Licence ML 246 was granted in 2025 and remains valid until 31 March 2040.
Bezant has undertaken an extensive re-evaluation using 3D geological modelling and modern geophysical imaging.
According to the company’s 2023 Mineral Resource Statement, the combined Hope-Gorob Project hosts 10.2 million tonnes grading 1.9% copper and 0.3 g/t gold, containing approximately 193,000 tonnes of copper and 3 tonnes of gold under JORC 2012 classification. Within that total, the Hope deposit itself accounts for roughly 5.7 million tonnes at 1.8% copper, with higher grades in the central zones.
The geology of Hope is textbook volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) — layers of copper-bearing sulphides trapped between folded metamorphic rocks laid down by volcanic activity over 500 million years ago during the Damara Orogeny.
The ore occurs as disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite, often forming thick lenses with widths of up to 20 metres. According to geologist André Olivier’s technical paper for the Geological Survey of Namibia (2021), the deposit’s structure and orientation suggest potential for additional parallel shoots to the west and north, which remain largely untested.
The site’s proximity to the national grid, the Trans-Kalahari Highway, and Walvis Bay port makes it one of the most infrastructure-ready copper assets in Namibia. The project area also benefits from its closeness to Rehoboth and Windhoek, allowing access to a trained workforce and established logistics.
Historically, local Nama and Baster communities from the Rehoboth Reserve were among the first to assist Gold Fields’ early survey teams.
Oral accounts preserved in regional archives at the National Museum of Namibia describe how residents helped clear roads, dig trenches, and transport drilling supplies by donkey wagon.
As mining activity expanded elsewhere, many families moved north to work at Otjihase and Matchless, creating an unbroken social link across the entire Khomas Copper Belt.
As of 2025, the Hope project remains in the advanced exploration and feasibility stage. Bezant has completed updated metallurgical testing, confirming recovery rates exceeding 90% through conventional flotation, and has initiated an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in consultation with the Ministry of Mines and Energy. The company’s development plan envisions an initial open-pit operation transitioning to underground mining, supported by a modular concentrator.
Bezant Resources Executive Chairman Colin Bird said in 2024 that Hope and Gorob represent one of the most significant undeveloped copper-gold assets in Namibia, strategically located near Windhoek and Rehoboth with ready access to infrastructure, power, and people. When the deposits eventually enter production, they are expected to deliver between 8,000 and 10,000 tonnes of copper per year, positioning the southern Khomas region as a mid-tier producer that will feed into Namibia’s green industrialisation drive.
For now, the old trenches and weathered drill collars are the only signs of the copper-rich horizons below. But to geologists and investors alike, Hope represents more than just another mineral deposit — it is a bridge between the early discoveries of the 1970s and Namibia’s modern quest for sustainable mineral development.
From the first Gold Fields geologists who drilled into the Damara schists nearly fifty years ago to today’s digital mapping and ESG-led feasibility studies, Hope remains aptly named: a sleeping copper giant whose time may soon come again.
