Canada-based gold exploration and development company, Osino Resources, has completed the acquisition of two farms that encompass the full extent of the mining area for its Twin Hills gold project and all related plant infrastructure in Namibia.
Osino acquired the Klein Okawayo farm (3,000 hectares) and the Okawayo farm (7,000 hectares) for an aggregate purchase price of nearly N$100 million.
The Okawayo farmland was acquired directly by Osino’s Namibian subsidiary, Osino Farming Investments (Proprietary) Limited from Siegfried Strzelecki pursuant to an agreement dated August 2, 2021.
The Klein Okawayo farm was acquired indirectly from Adriann van der Walt and Roselett van der Walt by Osino’s Namibian subsidiary, Osino Property Holdings (Proprietary) Limited.
The Okawayo farm acquisition was done by acquiring 100% ownership of the Namibian company, Klein Okawayo Farming (Proprietary) Limited, which owns the Klein Okawayo farm lands free of liabilities pursuant to an agreement dated May 11, 2021 for cash consideration totalling N$26 million.
Osino Holdings became the registered owner of 100% of Farm Holdco effective as of May 22, 2023, subject to securing the required Namibian regulatory approvals which have now been obtained.
“To complete the farm acquisitions, Osino complied with all regulatory and ministerial requirements including the granting of a Status of Investment Certificate, merger approvals by the Competition Commission of Namibia and the mandatory waivers for the acquisition of agricultural land in Namibia. In addition, all land taxes, duties, and encumbrances on the properties were fully settled prior to closing,” the dual-listed gold exploration company said.
Osino’s President and CEO Heye Daun said the ownership of the land (the surface rights) covering the project area is a major de-risking factor in the development of that project.
“The acquisition of these highly strategic surface rights covering the full extent of the Twin Hills project area is a significant achievement which we have been working on for well over 18 months,” Daun said.
“Being the private, registered landowners of the Twin Hills project area now not only substantially improves our security of tenure, but it also significantly improves the predictability of the expected timeline to full construction permitting.
“Other important benefits of being the project landowners are the ease of access to utilities (water and power) and various additional practical logistical, environmental and social considerations which come with ownership of the land, such as ease of construction camp development, access control and the benefit of not having any competing land tenants,” he added.
Osino plans to start construction of the Twin Hills gold mine by the end of this year and go into production towards the end of 2025 or early 2026.
To bring the Twin Hills mining project to life, Osino will need to invest N$6.8 billion (US$365 million), according to the recently released definitive feasibility study results.
Osino is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the fast-tracked development of our wholly-owned, Twin Hills Gold Project in central Namibia.
