Additional work on Opuwo shows it now hosts a resource twice the size of that which supported a disappointing scoping study in 2018: 225.5 million tonnes, grading 0.12% cobalt, 0.43% copper and 0.54% zinc for 970,000t contained copper and 259,000t cobalt.

 

The resource comprises 45Mt indicated, and 180Mt inferred.

 

Celsius' new chairman, Martin Buckingham, who came with the MCB project, said the junior was assessing ways to advance the project in parallel with its Philippines interests, given Opuwo has the potential to be a significant future supplier of cobalt into the battery market.

 

The economics would be enhanced by the sizeable copper resource, particularly given future pricing forecasts for the red metal.

 

Three-month LME cobalt is trading at US$48,580t, while copper was priced at $9405.50/t overnight.

 

The company is re-evaluating the technical and commercial potential of Opuwo, saying Namibia offers the potential to be a stable cobalt source from a non-conflict country.

 

Open pit and underground mining scenarios were run using a cobalt price of $45,200/t, copper of $10,159/t and zinc of $3054/t.

 

The resource covers a strike of 13.5km, and is open to the north, west and east. There is significant mapped but untested exploration upside, particularly in the NW Extension, Celsius said.

 

The 1094sq.km Opuwo project sits within the Neoproterozoic sediments of the Kaoko Belt, which is interpreted as a western extension of the copper belt that extends from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

 

The 2018 scoping study described, without hard numbers, a potentially large long-life operation with no show-stoppers, based on the maiden resource of 112.4Mt grading 0.11% cobalt, 0.41% copper and 0.43% zinc, however work slowed after the cobalt price crashed.

 

Celsius started work at Opuwo in 2016. The licences are valid until 2023.

 

Shares in the company have traded between A1.2-7.4c over the past year, and were last traded at 3.4c, valuing it at $35.6 million.

 

The stock was trading above 20c at the time of the scoping study.