Namibia Critical Metals has received the renewal of its environmental clearance certificate for mining activities on mining license 200 covering the Lofdal Heavy Rare Earth Project.
Namibia Critical Metals owns a 95% interest in the Lofdal project, with the remaining 5% held for the benefit of historically disadvantaged Namibians.
The Lofdal Project is fully permitted with a 25-year mining license and is under a joint venture agreement with the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security.
The environmental clearance certificate allows the company to conduct exploration, processing, and mining activities on its Lofdal tenement and is valid until September 2027.
The company is pleased to announce significant progress in its prefeasibility study for the expanded “Lofdal 2B-4” project.
The scope of the pre-feasibility study was extended to undertake sorting test work with recently advanced XRF and XRT sorting to upgrade lower-grade run-of-mine material.
Further, trade-offs between electricity supply studies with variable proportions of photovoltaic, battery and diesel backups, grid connection, and electricity generation in an acid plant are currently being assessed to optimally supply the mining operation with a sustainable mix of power.
The completion of this pre-feasibility study is scheduled for Q1 2025.
Namibia Critical Metals president Darrin Campbell said the environmental clearance certificate as the pre-feasibility study for the new large mine project “Lofdal 2B-4” is near completion, followed by increasing ground activities at Lofdal.
“I am also very excited about the opportunities we see with the significantly advanced sorting technologies, which have recently improved due to the introduction of AI applications.
“These technologies may bring lower-grade material back into the processing stream. This is important from a sustainability point, as the currently regarded ‘stockpile’ material below the cut-off point for the planned flotation plant makes up about a third of the mined mineralised material,” Campbell said.
