Namibia’s Okanjande Mine has moved closer to restarting after owner Northern Graphite Corporation eliminated about US$22 million in secured debt and accrued interest, removing a major financial obstacle hanging over the project.
Northern said approximately US$16 million in senior secured debt that matured on 29 April 2026, together with about US$6 million in accrued interest, will be settled through a restructuring agreement with Sprott Streaming. The package includes the issue of 12.5 million common shares, making Sprott the company’s largest shareholder with a 9.9% stake.
Chief executive officer Hugues Jacquemin said the deal had materially improved the company’s position.
“By extinguishing our senior secured debt plus accrued interest, we have strengthened our balance sheet, removed a near-term overhang, and positioned the Company to move forward with greater clarity and momentum,” Jacquemin said.
He said Northern would now focus on the next phase of its strategy, including the restart of the Lac des Iles mine in Quebec and the Okanjande mine in Namibia to supply feedstock for the company’s planned Battery Anode Material facility in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
The latest statement does not provide a specific restart date for Okanjande, but it is the clearest indication in months that the Namibian operation remains central to Northern’s growth plans.
The restructuring also expands Sprott’s exposure to the Namibian mine. Northern said the previous streaming agreement on Okanjande, which had been capped at 350,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate, will now be extended to cover all future production. The investor also retains an option to convert the stream into a 1% royalty.
Northern said the transaction removes immediate repayment pressure, significantly reduces near-term financial obligations and should improve the company’s ability to access capital markets and pursue financing initiatives for the next growth phase.
That matters for Namibia because Okanjande is one of the country’s most advanced graphite assets and has long been viewed as a potential supplier into global battery supply chains as demand rises for electric vehicles and energy storage materials.
Northern describes Okanjande as fully permitted and capable of substantially increasing graphite production at lower cost and with a shorter time-to-market than many competing projects. The mine has been on care and maintenance while the company reviewed financing and downstream development options.
If restarted, Okanjande would strengthen Namibia’s push to diversify beyond uranium and diamonds into battery minerals, while linking the country’s graphite resources to emerging downstream processing markets in the Middle East.
