Orion gets additional prospecting rights for its Okiep Copper Project
Tawanda Karombo and Edward West
JSE- and Australia-listed mining exploration company Orion Minerals has added to its growth pipeline with the granting of additional prospecting rights for its Okiep Copper Project, in Northern Province, South Africa.
These rights encircle the existing Flat Mines Mining Right on which Orion is finalising its Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) for Flat Mine North, Flat Mine East and Flat Mine South, the company said in a statement.
The prospecting rights, referred to as the “SAFTA PR”, are for the same geographic area, but also provide rights to different commodities, and surround the Orion Flat Mines Mining Right.
The SAFTA PR covers seven historical copper mines and seven additional unmined prospects, where previous owners Goldfields and Newmont carried out high density drilling to delineate highly mineralised bodies.
The mining right that covers Flat Mine East, Flat Mine North and Flat Mine South – where Orion has reported JORC (Australasia code for reporting mining exploration results) mineral resources of 9.4Mt at 1.3% Cu, was currently the subject of a BFS set for completion later this year.
“The newly prospecting rights encircle the Flat Mines Mining Right, where Orion is finalising a BFS that includes the proposed establishment of a central concentrator plant,” the company said.
The new prospecting rights contained existing JORC mineral resources of 1.5Mt at 1.3% Cu, with near-term potential for inclusion into the Flat Mines Life-of-Mine Plan.
Several deposits with high density drilling by previous owners Goldfields and Newmont awaited confirmation drilling by Orion, before estimating the mineral resource reserves.
Errol Smart, Orion’s CEO and managing director, said the firm was thrilled to have secured the the prospecting rights following a three-year administrative process.
“Orion’s recent purchase of surface rights over some of the area covering these prospecting rights finally resolved the impasse for surface access and environmental approvals. This now allows Orion to finally access this highly prospective ground, where we have already used high-quality historical Gold Fields and Newmont drill data to estimate and declare JORC compliant mineral resources,” he said in a statement.
New mineralisation identified within the new prospecting rights is expected to have low barriers for economic development given the close proximity to the proposed Flat Mines and central concentrator plant, said the company. There is also the advantage of an existing road network linking the deposits to the plant site.
Orion was now speedily mobilising to undertake detailed ground geophysics and diamond drilling on the new prospecting rights. It will pivot this on a strategy to re-evaluate the known and previously mined deposits for residual mineral resources and to evaluate new and untested mineralisation.
He said several additional deposits on the prospecting rights that were also drilled by the previous owners require minor in-fill drilling before resource estimation could be completed to JORC compliance.
“These prospects can be considered advanced stage projects that have near-term potential to add feed to our planned Flat Mines Central concentrator.”
The BFS for Flat Mines was nearing completion and included the planned construction of a new modern concentrator plant and tailings storage facility to replace the historical facilities.
The new central plant presented a compelling case for both expansion and extension of the life-of- mine plan for Flat Mines and to unlock the potential of some of the known deposits where internal waste dilution had previously been problematic, the miner said.
Last month, South African shareholders underpinned Orion Minerals’ R44 million share purchase plan, which closed last week, the company said.
Eligible shareholders were entitled “to apply for parcels of new fully-paid ordinary shares from a minimum parcel of A$165, or R2 000, up to a maximum of A$30000 or R365000” without incurring brokerage or transaction costs.
“The share purchase plan attracted strong support from shareholders, particularly those in South Africa, where a total of R33.6m was raised. The highly successful share purchase plan follows the capital raising completed earlier this month by way of placement of new Shares to sophisticated and professional investors to raise R92.3m,” explained Orion.
Orion Minerals chairman, Denis Waddell, said the participation of the South African shareholders in the company’s share purchase plan “reflect Orion’s positive standing” in the local community.
“The proceeds of the SPP take the total amount of the recent capital raising to $11.3 million – a fantastic outcome particularly considering the current volatile conditions in global markets,” said Waddell.
BUSINESS REPORT