Two Australian juniors, Golden Deeps Ltd and Midas Minerals Ltd, are spearheading the revival of Namibia’s Otavi Mountainland, one of southern Africa’s most storied mining regions.
The limestone hills that once hosted the legendary Tsumeb Mine — famous for its spectacular grades of copper, lead, zinc, and silver — are again echoing with exploration activity.
Of the two companies, however, Midas Minerals has moved fastest, securing regulatory clearance, funding, and a concrete plan to bring new life to Otavi’s copper belt.
In October 2025, the Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC) granted unconditional merger control clearance for Midas’s acquisition of the Otavi Copper Project, marking the final step before the deal’s completion.
The company now expects to formally close the transaction in November 2025, paving the way for an aggressive exploration campaign that could redefine Namibia’s copper landscape.
Midas signed the acquisition agreement with Nexa Resources S.A., one of Latin America’s largest base-metal producers, in May 2025.
The deal covers ten Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) spanning 1,776 square kilometres in the Otavi Fold Belt, a globally recognised geological domain located roughly 360 kilometres northeast of Windhoek.
Nexa’s exit was strategic, allowing Midas to acquire the ground for a relatively modest price of about A$3.5 million, including an upfront cash payment and performance-based tranches linked to future milestones. Nexa also retains a 1% gross production royalty, ensuring it remains tied to any future success.
To finance both the purchase and early fieldwork, Midas raised A$11.5 million through a well-supported placement in September 2025, giving it a cash balance of A$15.3 million, or roughly N$150 million, at quarter-end.
This strong position will enable the company to deploy four rigs — one reverse circulation and three diamond — once final ownership transfers.
The Otavi Mountainland is part of Namibia’s Central African Copperbelt extension, a folded carbonate sequence famous for its rich, structurally controlled copper deposits.
Historically, this region supplied some of the highest-grade copper ore ever mined in Africa.
The Tsumeb Mine, about 50 kilometres west of Midas’s project, produced more than 30 million tonnes at an average grade of 4.3 per cent copper, 10 per cent lead, and 3.5 per cent zinc over its life. This benchmark still inspires explorers today.
Midas’s Otavi Copper Project and its nearby South Otavi Project lie along the same geological corridor, with old workings and drillholes hinting at untapped potential. Historical drilling by previous operators, including Nexa and the now-defunct Tsumeb Corporation, returned exceptional copper and silver grades, including 17.2 metres at 7.24 per cent copper and 144 grams per tonne silver at the T13 prospect, and 6 metres at 16.65 per cent copper and 370 grams per tonne silver at Deblin.
Such grades are rarely seen in today’s copper exploration landscape.
Yet despite the richness of individual intercepts, only about 36 per cent of the total project area has ever been explored with modern methods.
Midas has already begun geophysical surveying, surface mapping, and soil-grid sampling to refine targets. The company plans both resource verification drilling — to confirm historical intersections and establish a JORC 2012-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate — and exploration drilling across untested magnetic and structural anomalies.
At the nearby South Otavi Project, covering 195 square kilometres and located about 25 kilometres north of B2Gold’s Otjikoto gold mine, Midas launched a 3,000-metre, 100-hole drill programme in September 2025. Early trenching and chip sampling have already returned encouraging results, including 2 metres grading 2.41 per cent copper and 28.5 grams per tonne silver, validating the presence of near-surface copper mineralisation.
The company expects its first assays from the initial drilling phase before the end of the first quarter of 2026, with a maiden resource update to follow later in the year.
Midas’s immediate focus is copper and silver, with gold as a secondary target.
The Otavi Fold Belt hosts carbonate-replacement and structurally controlled systems where copper sulphides and oxides occur together, offering both open-pit and underground potential.
Early mineralogical studies also show trace zinc and lead, which could add by-product value as development advances.
Managing Director Mark Calderwood, a seasoned geologist with prior success at Perseus Mining and Rox Resources, has framed Otavi as “a classic underexplored copper district hiding in plain sight.”
The company’s acquisition was deliberately timed, as copper prices remain strong amid global energy-transition demand, while Namibia offers one of Africa’s most stable mining jurisdictions.
With government approval now secured, Midas can move directly into its next phase.
Contractors have been shortlisted, drill pads are being prepared, and engagement with local communities, including the Resettlement Committee and traditional authorities, is underway.
The Midas deal fits into a broader revival of the Otavi Mountainland, once the industrial heart of colonial-era mining in Namibia.
While Golden Deeps continues to advance its Abenab and Khusib Springs projects nearby, Midas’s acquisition injects new capital, technology, and momentum into the region.
The following 12 months will determine whether Midas can convert its exploration ground into the Otavi region’s first new copper resource in decades. With rich geology, historic grades, regulatory backing, and financial muscle, the stage is set for one of Namibia’s most promising new mining chapters.
