Golden Deeps doubles down in Namibia with critical metals play

Golden Deeps has doubled down on its hunt for world-class base metals at the company’s Otavi project in Namibia by buying up to 80 per cent of four neighbouring leases that are highly prospective for zinc, copper, lead, silver and vanadium.

The newly secured Central Otavi critical metals project is also shaping up as a hotbed of opportunity for critical metals by hosting the potential for high-value gallium and germanium.

The Otavi Mountain Land in the distance where Golden Deeps has expanded its Namibian footprint by picking up several nearby exploration leases highly prospective for base metals, vanadium, germanium and gallium.

These two rare metals have shot up in price and demand since China slapped a sweeping export ban on the metals in December, sending shockwaves through the industry. China controls 98 per cent of the global gallium and 83 per cent of the germanium markets.

Under the terms of the agreement completed yesterday, Golden Deeps will pick up the neighbouring and highly mineralised leases from a private vendor.

In return for the assets and subject to shareholder approval, the vendor will bank 23.1 million Golden Deeps shares and $250,000 in cash.

‘The acquisition of the Central Otavi critical metals project provides the company with exciting opportunities...’

Golden Deeps chief executive officer Jon Dugdale

A further 48M shares may be offered to the seller as staged payments based on Golden Deeps reaching various milestones, including an updated JORC resource of either 20,000 tonnes of contained copper equivalent or 40,000t of contained zinc.

Of the three new prospects picked up in the deal, the Border deposit is the most advanced.

Hosted in thick dolomite lenses that dip gently below surface, the orebody has already been hit with 58 drill holes, which defined mineralisation stretching across 2.4 kilometres of strike. Historical metallurgical work also proved up an 87 per cent recovery for lead and 82 per cent for zinc, hinting at a simple processing cycle.

The best intercept recorded at site was 101 metres grading 2.12 per cent zinc and lead equivalent starting at 18m depth.

Almost 15 kilometres to the southwest, the Driehoek prospect has historical trenching records of outcropping sulphides at surface.

Best results at Driehoek include a 103m trench grading 5.96 per cent zinc equivalent and containing 4.5 per cent zinc, 1.46 per cent lead and 5.85g/t silver. Another trench measured a massive 201m and ran at 2.71 per cent zinc equivalent.

Neighbouring Driehoek, the Kaskara prospect is a vanadium-rich breccia target with punchy intervals, including 2.7m grading 4.31 per cent vanadium, 10.45 per cent lead, 3.4 per cent zinc and 0.69 per cent copper together with germanium grades peaking at 333g/t.

An IP survey conducted previously at Kaskara has also identified deeper sulphides, which the company says are begging to be drilled.

Golden Deeps chief executive officer Jon Dugdale said: “The acquisition of the Central Otavi critical metals project provides the company with exciting opportunities ranging from near-term resource expansion and development options to multiple targets for copper-lead-zinc-silver discovery with antimony, germanium and gallium potential.”

The acquisition of a majority stake in the Central Otavi project increases Golden Deeps’ land holding in the Otavi Mountain Land area by almost 800 per cent to 440 square kilometres and gives the company a massive footprint in the world-class Otavi Belt.

Notably, the new grounds are endowed with large areas of Otavi Group carbonate rocks that host some of the biggest polymetallic deposits in the world.

Often regarded as elephant country, the Otavi Belt is probably best known for the Kombat mine that contains a 12.5Mt copper resource grading at 2.6 per cent. It is also home to the massive Tsumeb mine, 40km to the west of Golden Deeps’ grounds.

Tsumeb famously churned out 27Mt at a mouth-watering 4.3 per cent copper, 10 per cent lead, 3.5 per cent zinc, silver grading at 95g/t and 50g/t germanium.

The legendary site, discovered in 1907, is a true geological treasure trove. It is rich in copper, lead, zinc and silver as well as an astonishing 240 different minerals, including 55 never found anywhere else on Earth.

Golden Deeps’ existing portfolio in Namibia’s Otavi Mountain Land includes the high-grade Khusib Springs copper-silver mine, which has a silver equivalent resource of 1.9M ounces grading at 116g/t.

The company is additionally working to expand its Nosib’s copper-vanadium-lead-silver resource where it has had sniffs of highly prized gallium. The project has a current resource of 707,660t grading at 1.06 per cent copper equivalent for 7500t of contained metal.

Golden Deeps says it will not waste any time getting stuck into its new grounds. An exploration program will kick off immediately to hunt for Tsumeb-style copper-lead-zinc-silver deposits with the added bonus of gallium and germanium upside.

Initial work will include rock chip and channel sampling, followed by a geophysical survey to refine targets ahead of drilling.

Its strategic acquisition appears to position Golden Deeps as a serious contender in the global critical metals game just as the demand starts to heat up for copper, vanadium and exotic metals, such as gallium and germanium.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: [e-mail]