Cobre Limited plans to establish an in-situ copper recovery demonstration plant at its Ngami Copper Project in Botswana during the second half of 2027, with the facility intended to produce copper cathode on site as the company evaluates a route towards commercial production.
The timetable is outlined in Cobre’s investor presentation released on 11 November 2026, which also confirms that the company has completed construction of its pilot well-field and commenced commissioning activities.
The demonstration plant will use in-situ copper recovery (ISCR) technology, which involves circulating a solution through copper-bearing rock to recover the metal without conventional open-pit or underground mining.
Cobre said the planned facility would incorporate solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) technology to produce copper cathode.
The company’s development roadmap also provides for a resource drilling programme in Botswana during 2027, although it does not specify the planned drilling metres.
The Ngami project, which is wholly owned by Cobre, has an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 11.5 million tonnes grading 0.52% copper and 11 grams per tonne silver.
The resource estimate was originally announced on 4 August 2025 and is not a new resource declaration.
Cobre has also identified an exploration target of between 205 million and 308 million tonnes grading 0.31% to 0.46% copper and 5.5 to 8.3 grams per tonne silver.
The company cautioned that the exploration target remains conceptual and that further exploration is required before any additional mineral resources can be established.
The company’s September-quarter work at Ngami included completing six production and recovery wells and four monitoring wells, all equipped with sensors.
Infrastructure installed by Mitchell Group includes pipelines, a manifold, tank farm, control room and a supervisory control and data acquisition system.
Commissioning is underway, with water circulation tests being conducted to establish connectivity between the wells and assess parameters for the proposed acid-leaching process.
Cobre said its immediate priorities were completing hydrogeological testing and finalising the environmental impact assessment for the demonstration plant.
The company is also working with Equinor under a collaboration agreement signed on 23 July 2026 to evaluate in-situ copper recovery parameters at Ngami.
According to the presentation, approximately 20,000 metres of diamond drilling have tested 40 kilometres of mineralised strike at the project.
Cobre considers the geological characteristics favourable for in-situ recovery, although the technology has not yet been demonstrated at commercial scale at Ngami.
Elsewhere in Botswana, Cobre is continuing exploration at the Okavango Copper Project through its partnership with Sinomine International.
The project lies along strike from MMG’s Zone 5 copper operations.
Cobre reported that approximately 1.6 kilometres of a planned three-kilometre drilling programme had been completed, with native copper and copper sulphide mineralisation identified.
The presentation does not provide new laboratory assay results or confirm completion of the remaining drilling.
At Kitlanya, Cobre is pursuing exploration through an earn-in agreement with BHP that provides for up to US$25 million in exploration funding.
The company reported that seismic surveys had been completed across the basin margin, providing geological information to guide further exploration.
The arrangement allows Cobre to investigate large-scale copper targets while reducing the amount of capital it must contribute directly to exploration.
Cobre’s Botswana portfolio therefore combines the more advanced Ngami development programme with exploration activities at Okavango and Kitlanya.
The company’s immediate development milestone is the proposed Ngami demonstration plant in the second half of 2027, although construction remains dependent on further technical work and environmental assessment.
