Osino Resources will need to invest N$6.8 billion (US$365 million) towards the development of its Twin Hills mining project in Namibia, the company’s definitive feasibility study (DFS) results released on Monday show.
The Canadian gold mining firm is projecting the mine to go into production towards the end of 2025 or early 2026.
The mine which will have a life of mine of 13 years and five million tonnes per annum design processing capacity, according to the study, will have a Net Present Value (NPV) of N$13.8 billion (US$742 million) pre-tax at a US$1750/oz gold price and N$8.9 billion (US$480 million) post-tax at a US$1750/oz gold price.
The DFS which was prepared by Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd, expects a low-risk, technically simple open-pit mine utilising contract mining and feeding a conventional carbon-in-leach metallurgical plant processing 5mtpa of mineralized material.
“We are very pleased with the results of this DFS which confirms Twin Hills as a technically simple, long-life and low-cost gold project with very strong economics and plenty of upside,” Osino’s co-founder, President and CEO Heye Daun said.
“Now that the DFS has been completed, we will immediately commence with detailed engineering and our vision is to reach a fully financed construction decision by the end of 2023. The results of this DFS demonstrate that Twin Hills is a very robust, cash generative project which will deliver outstanding returns to shareholders once it goes into production, hopefully towards the end of 2025 or early 2026.”
Osino Resources which has received a provisional confirmation from the Ministry of Mines and Energy for a 20-year mining license for its Twin Hills gold project, expects the mining project to employ about 750 people at the mine, most of whom will be Namibian and many of whom will be from local communities.
Since its discovery by Osino in August 2019, the company has completed more than 220,000m of drilling and advanced technical studies on the project.
In July last year, Osino Resources Corp completed the acquisition of Ondundu gold exploration property from B2Gold for a total consideration of N$257.3 million in a deal where B2Gold Mining Investments Limited agreed to receive Osino Resources Corporation shares in lieu of cash.
B2Gold invested N$157.5 million (US$10 million) in exploration expenditure between 2015 and 2021, according to the deal announcement.
The Twin Hills project is located within the prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt and in close proximity to the producing Navachab and Otjikoto gold mines.
