Koryx Copper will release its new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in September 2025, marking a major reset for the company’s Haib Copper Project in southern Namibia.
The study, completed as part of Koryx’s Mining Licence Application process, is based on the October 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate and therefore excludes the most recent drilling.
Even so, it incorporates significant advances in metallurgical testwork, process flowsheet development, and infrastructure planning carried out by the company’s strengthened technical team.
Drilling reveals encouraging assays
In parallel with the economic work, Koryx has reported new assay results from seven drill holes totalling 2,986 metres under its 2025 exploration and project development programme.
The campaign forms part of Phases 2, 3 and 4 of a broader drill strategy aimed at expanding the resource, improving geological confidence, and guiding future mine planning.
President and CEO Heye Daun said the approach is already delivering results.
“We continue to be highly encouraged by the outcome of our drill programme. Close-spaced and deeper holes are proving that mineralisation extends down dip and along strike into areas previously classified as waste.
“Our re-logging of historical drill core, using Koryx’s standardised procedures, is also helping us build a stronger geo-metallurgical model that will de-risk the project and highlight higher-grade zones,” he explained.
At Target 1, hole HM85 drilled north of the Volstruis River intersected mineralisation extending 20 metres deeper than previously modelled.
Copper grades exceeded earlier estimates, reaching a peak of 0.6% in one interval. At Target 2, hole HM72 averaged more than 0.24% copper over its entire 695-metre length, with a high-grade 14-metre interval grading 0.91% copper at approximately 400 metres depth.
HM75 also averaged above 0.24% copper across 927 metres, with consistent molybdenum values from the surface to 870 metres.
At Targets 3 and 4, drilling confirmed the presence of mineralisation mapped by earlier explorers Teck and RTZ, providing new structural and lithological data.
Hole HM88, for example, correlated well with the existing copper model and confirmed mineralisation within a historically identified high-grade zone.
Assays also show that molybdenum is consistently present throughout the system, with peak grades of up to 0.56 per cent.
Gold occurs at low background levels of around 0.025 g/t, but in some intervals reaches double that amount. The company plans to integrate both molybdenum and gold into future resource estimates as potential by-products.
From PEA to pre-feasibility
The September 2025 PEA will be based on last year’s resource model, but the ongoing drilling and geological work will feed into a new Mineral Resource Estimate scheduled for completion in the first half of 2026.
A Pre-Feasibility Study will then follow in the second half of 2026, incorporating the new MRE and metallurgical testwork.
“The increased drill density should lead to a tighter geological interpretation and a much-improved resource update,” Daun said. “Combined with the conventional milling and flotation flowsheet, Haib has the potential to evolve into a large, low-risk copper development project with serious scale.”
A strategic reset
The decision to move away from bacterial heap leaching toward a conventional flowsheet marks a fundamental repositioning of Haib.
The updated design reflects lessons learned from testwork, infrastructure trade-offs, and pre-concentration studies.
Koryx believes this transition will not only reduce operational risks but also broaden the project’s appeal to financiers and strategic partners looking for scalable, technically proven operations.
The company acknowledges that the September PEA will be an interim step, based on a resource model that predates its recent drilling.
However, the real transformation is expected in 2026, when the new MRE and PFS are released.
By then, the geological model should incorporate the latest drilling, improving grade confidence and providing the basis for a stronger project case.
Outlook
Koryx Copper will complete the current drilling and geological modelling by mid-2026 and then deliver a robust Pre-Feasibility Study before the end of the year.
“Our work over the next 18 months is about turning Haib from a high-risk concept into a world-class, low-risk copper development. Every metre drilled is de-risking the project and bringing us closer to that goal,” Daun said.
