Koryx Copper says the redesign of the Haib Copper Project has strengthened the commercial and financing case for the proposed US$1.6 billion development, with the company targeting completion of a pre-feasibility study before the end of 2026 while advancing infrastructure, land-access and permitting requirements.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Namibia Mining Expo and Conference on Wednesday, Koryx Copper country manager Lionel Coetzee said the project near Noordoewer in the ǁKaras Region could have a significant regional impact through upgrades to water, electricity and transport infrastructure, while creating employment and contributing revenue to the national fiscus.
Coetzee, who joined Koryx about three months ago, said the company was frequently asked why Haib could now advance after decades of exploration and previous development attempts.
“Whenever I talk to people, the first question I often get is, ‘We’ve known about Haib for 15 years. So what’s different?’” he said.
He said the first change was a stronger global outlook for copper, supported by digitalisation, artificial intelligence, decarbonisation and electrification.
“The first step is probably the macro environment for copper. Copper prices have appreciated significantly because of digitalisation, the rise of AI, decarbonisation and electrification. So that has made the macro environment better,” he said.
The more important change, Coetzee said, was the project redesign undertaken since a new leadership and technical team assumed responsibility for advancing Haib towards development at the end of 2024.
Koryx inherited decades of geological, drilling and metallurgical information produced by previous operators, including Falconbridge, Rio Tinto and Teck. Coetzee said those companies had completed valuable technical work but had not converted it into a development plan capable of attracting investment.
“They did a lot of good methodological work, 80,000 metres of drilling, but they weren’t able to put a credible project plan together,” he said.
Koryx’s corporate information refers to more than 70,000 metres of historical drilling, while its current project material states that drilling completed at Haib has since increased to approximately 120,000 metres as the company continues to expand and upgrade the resource.
Coetzee said the team advancing Haib includes mining professionals with experience at Osino Resources and the Twin Hills gold project, bringing established Namibian expertise in exploration, feasibility, permitting, and project development to Koryx.
The redesign replaced the earlier reliance on sulphide heap leaching with conventional milling and flotation for all sulphide material, reducing technical risk and simplifying the proposed processing route. Heap leaching remains under consideration only for oxide and transitional material.
“From a high-risk sulphide heap leach, which is not done anywhere in the world, to a conventional milling flotation at scale … it de-risked the project significantly,” Coetzee said.
Koryx’s September 2025 preliminary economic assessment proposed processing about 35 million tonnes of material annually, comprising 28 million tonnes through milling and flotation and seven million tonnes through heap leaching.
Further optimisation announced in June 2026 could increase total processing capacity to about 40 million tonnes annually, while coarse-particle flotation could reject low-value waste before fine grinding, improve feed grade and reduce water and energy requirements.
Coetzee said the redesign involved accepting a higher initial capital requirement in exchange for a larger project that uses more conventional technology and carries substantially lower technical risk.
He said the work had transformed Haib from a high-risk project with a low probability of development into “a credible business case” and “something that investors can actually buy into”.
The September 2025 PEA estimated initial construction capital of US$1.559 billion, including contingency, supporting Coetzee’s description of Haib as an approximately US$1.6 billion development.
The study envisaged average payable copper production of about 92,000 tonnes annually during the first 10 years of a 23-year mine life, although those estimates remain preliminary and are expected to change as Koryx incorporates new drilling, metallurgy and engineering into the pre-feasibility study.
The redesigned processing route is also expected to generate by-product credits for molybdenum and gold, with copper and gold contained in the primary concentrate and molybdenum in a secondary concentrate.
Beyond the processing changes, Koryx is advancing plans to obtain power from the Namibian grid, supplemented by solar photovoltaic generation and battery storage. Its water strategy is based principally on abstraction from the Orange River and the construction of storage infrastructure to manage seasonal availability.
Coetzee said infrastructure and permitting were central to financing a project of Haib’s scale.
“This is going to be a US$1.6 billion mine, so we will need partners to help us,” he said.
Potential financiers, he added, would need evidence that all major development requirements were being addressed.
“They’re going to ask us, ‘Are you permitted? Do you have water? Do you have power? Do you have access to the land?’” he said.
Two environmental clearance processes are currently underway. Haib Minerals has applied for clearance of the proposed open-pit mine and associated processing and infrastructure, while NamWater has submitted a separate application for Orange River water abstraction works and associated pipelines.
Koryx said in June that 13 environmental specialist studies had been completed and environmental approval was being targeted for the first half of 2027.
Coetzee said the company was also engaging the Ministry of Agriculture on land-access rights, while its mining-licence application had already been submitted and would be supplemented after completion of the pre-feasibility study.
He said engagement with government institutions had so far been constructive but warned that delays could weaken the project’s ability to secure financing within the required timeframe.
“But it’s critical that we actually get those quickly over the line,” he said.
“The longer you stay in there, you lose the validity to finance and actually bring this project, which is a transformative project for the ǁKaras Region and Namibia, to fruition.”
