Going for gold – and copper, and tin, and …

Namibia is going for gold this year, with the opening of the R4.6 billion Twin Hills Gold Project. Construction of the mine, situated in the central Erongo region, is currently in progress. Once operational, Twin Hills will be among Namibia’s largest gold mines, processing up to five million tons of ore annually. According to the developer, Osino Resources, the open-pit mine has proven reserves of 2.94 million ounces over a 13-year lifespan. One of Namibia’s two existing gold mines is Otjikoto, situated in the north-central Otjozondjupa region. It produced 199 139 ounces of gold in 2025, its final year of open-pit mining. Production is expected to tail off to between 70 000 and 90 000 ounces as the mine transitions to underground operations, which have an estimated five-year lifespan producing around 327 000 ounces. Navachab, Namibia’s oldest gold mine, produces about 70 000 ounces a year, and is also situated in the Erongo region. It, too, is in the process of going underground, having exhausted the open-pit deposit. In March 2026, the Bank of Namibia signed an agreement to purchase gold bullion from Navachab. “This agreement represents an important step in advancing the bank’s reserve diversification strategy,” said Ebson Uanguta, Governor of the Bank of Namibia. “By partnering with domestic producers, we are not only strengthening our reserves but also supporting local value creation and economic development.” With the global move to renewables, copper has taken on a fresh shine, with a number of projects under way. It is seen as the biggest long-term opportunity for Namibian mining. Production at the open-pit Kombat mine is due to resume and expand following the acquisition of the operation by the Horizon Corporation. Opened in 1962, production was halted in 2008. Open-pit operations recommenced in 2023 and underground operations in 2024. All operations were halted in January 2025 due to pump failure. As mentioned, Kombat has been purchased from Trigon Metals by the Horizon Corporation, which has announced substantial investment plans to revive production. Prospecting and mapping are under way for a large-scale copper and molybdenum mine, situated in the Haib Copper Project in southern Namibia, about 6km from the South African border. A preliminary economic assessment, published in September 2025, projects that the asset will operate for 23 years, producing an average of 92 kilotons of payable copper annually during its first decade. Another major development is the Kalahari Copperbelt Project, an 800km-long region spanning Botswana and Namibia. Silver deposits add more shine According to Galileo Resources, several advanced and producing projects are already under way in the area, including Sandfire’s Motheo Mine, which has a resource estimate of over 64 million metric tons (Mt) of ore, and the high-grade Khoemacau Copper-Silver Mine, which has over 110 Mt of ore. Khoemacau is expected to produce between 43 000 and 53 000 tonnes of copper concentrate a year. In other developments, Vedanta Zinc International is to restart the Skorpion Zinc sulphuric acid plant, and prospectors are also on the hunt for lithium deposits. A trenching programme by Australia-registered exploration company Askari Metals, at its Uis project in the Erongo region of Namibia, has identified significant deposits of uranium, tin, tantalum, lithium and rubidium potential. Tin is used in electronics and alloys; lithium powers batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage; tantalum is vital for capacitors in advanced electronics; and rubidium is found in specialty electronics and atomic clocks. ER