Deep-South stock soars after Namibia renews copper project licence

Canada’s Deep-South Resources (TSX-V: DSM) can finally resume work at its Haib copper project in Namibia as the country’s government has renewed the miner’s prospecting licence for two years.

The awaited permit follows a long-running court battle with the country’s mining and energy ministry, which in 2021 declined to re-issue the project’s licence.

Minister Tom Alweendo said at the time that Deep-South had failed to advance to a prefeasibility stage and had also not completed the proposed drilling program as planned.

The Vancouver-based miner took the case to Namibia’s High Court, which in March this year ordered the Ministry to restart Deep-South’s licence renewal application procedure.

“This is very good news,” president and CEO Pierre Leveille said in the statement. “With the scarcity of major copper developments on the horizon, Haib [holds] promise as a significant undeveloped deposit.”

Deep-South said it had begun preparations to resume the project’s development as soon as possible.

Shares in the company skyrocketed on Monday after the announcement. They climbed as much as 69% in morning trading, closing more than 38% higher than Friday’s close at 9¢.

Haib Copper is a large copper-molybdenum deposit situated 40 kilometers from the southern border of Namibia. The licence covers 370 sq. km.

When the licence renewal was denied, in June 2021, Deep-South was underway to complete a 10,000-metre drilling program and further metallurgical test work. The company was also was starting an updated resource estimate for a $7.1 million (US$5.4 million) feasibility study and $25.5 million pilot plant.

From April 2017 to April 2021, Deep-South invested more than $2 million on the Haib project, including an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA). 

According to the PEA, the Haib copper mine has an estimated 24-year life, with production capacity of 35,332 tonnes of copper cathode and 51,080 tonnes of copper sulphate a year.