Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Orion Minerals (ORN) expands its flagship Okiep copper project in South Africa by acquiring neighbouring prospecting rights
- Two of the new areas awarded are highly prospective for both copper and tungsten
- The company won regulatory approval to also explore for gold and silver on a third prospecting right
- The company’s new areas also include the Nigramoep Mine, with historical production of 7Mt at two per cent copper
- ORN shares last traded at 1.9 cents
Orion Minerals (ORN) has expanded its flagship Okiep copper project in South Africa by acquiring neighbouring prospecting rights.
The company secured rights to five additional areas in the Okiep Copper District, including rights to minerals within the Flat Mines Mining Right and access to the adjoining Nigramoep Mine, which is considered “highly prospective”.
These new rights, obtained from the Nababeep Copper Company (NaCC), expand Orion’s holdings by 15,400 hectares.
One of the key areas acquired, covering the Nigramoep mine, is seen as having significant potential for commercial quantities and grades of copper mineralisation by Orion’s geotech team.
Additionally, Orion has approval to drill test for gold and silver in areas covering both copper and tungsten prospects.
Orion Minerals is listed on both the Australian and South African stock exchanges and views these acquisitions as a significant step toward its long-term vision.
“Our vision for the acquisition of mineral rights and the consolidation of the majority of the most prospective areas … has taken a major step forward, with the recent granting of mineral rights, some of which have been under application for several years,” ORN CEO Errol Smart said.
“When Orion decided to invest in the Okiep Copper District in 2021, we recognised achieving future large-scale production would be in reconsolidating mineral rights … history shows Newmont, and later Goldfields, had succeeded in producing more than 15,000tpa of copper for 50 years from 1948 from a cluster of mines … combined production peaked at over 40,000tpa of copper in 1965.”
Mr Smart also outlined the company’s plans for the new targets, emphasising the potential for economies of scale and flexibility in its operations.
“The ability to operate several individual mines within a 20-kilometre radius under a central management hub brings economies of scale for operations and also lends flexibility with multiple production sites, each accessible via a well-established network of roads. As brownfields sites – with the benefit of existing primary infrastructure,” he said.
ORN shares last traded at 1.9 cents.
