Celsius Resources says it is pursuing an active delisting from the Namibia Securities Exchange (NSX) as it progresses a divestment process for its 95%-owned Opuwo cobalt-copper project in the Kunene Region.
The company said several groups have been running due diligence, and it has received multiple non-binding offers, with three proposals now being advanced on a non-exclusive basis as parties arrange site visits and further technical and commercial review.
The planned exit comes against the backdrop of Celsius’s long-running presence on the NSX, where it dual-listed under the share code CER in April 2018, with the company and market reports indicating its first day of trading on the NSX was planned for 25 April 2018.
Opuwo has been one of Namibia’s best-known battery-metal exploration stories because it was promoted as a rare large-scale, “primary” cobalt system rather than a by-product credit from a copper or PGM mine.
That positioning was anchored by an updated Mineral Resource Estimate released in July 2021, which reported a total resource of 225.5 million tonnes grading 0.12% cobalt, 0.43% copper and 0.54% zinc, with industry reporting also flagging contained cobalt of about 259,000 tonnes.
The scale of the resource was underpinned by years of exploration work and licence continuity.
The core project is held under EPL 4346, covering about 683 km², and the two-year renewal issued by Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy on 11 October 2023 kept the project in good standing while the company evaluated options.
Drilling and technical work over the past decade consistently identified broad mineralised zones containing cobalt, accompanied by copper, supporting the narrative of a large, continuous system.
Publicly reported drill intercepts from earlier exploration include results such as 4.37 m at 0.17% cobalt and 0.46% copper, and 7 m at 0.12% cobalt and 0.46% copper, cited at the time as evidence of depth extension and continuity in parts of the mineralised corridor.
Despite that scale, Celsius has increasingly signalled that Opuwo is non-core as it restructures and preserves cash, using equity-based mechanisms in other parts of its business while it seeks an exit pathway for Namibia. Namibian business reporting last year also noted an impairment of the asset due to weaker cobalt market conditions and uncertainty around timelines, reinforcing why the company is now prioritising a sale rather than continued funding of early-stage work.
Celsius has not yet named preferred bidders, but it has indicated the three non-binding offers being progressed are moving through site visits and deeper due diligence, with further announcements to follow as outcomes become clearer.
The NSX delisting, expected to be completed in March, is being advanced in parallel, signalling that the company is preparing for a clean break from the Namibian bourse as ownership of the Opuwo asset is negotiated.
