Namibia Rare Earths Inc completes acquisition of Critical Metal Properties
Namibia Rare Earths Inc, a Canadian company with Namibian mining interests has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of critical metal properties from Gecko Namibia in consideration for the issuance of 64,000,000 common shares of Namibia Rare Earths.
The Company also announced that it had closed a $550,000private placement. Both of these transactions were announced in the Company's press release of November 10, 2017. The shares of the Company are expected to recommence trading on the TSXV immediately.
The transaction provides Namibia Rare Earths with a highly prospective, diversified portfolio of critical metals and at the same time has secured a highly experienced strategic partner.
Gecko Namibia and its subsidiaries are substantial participants in the Namibian resource sector with a proven track record in the mining industry.
The portfolio of properties acquired from Gecko Namibia will expand the Company's commodity base from solely heavy rare earths to a variety of highly critical commodities including cobalt, copper, zinc, lithium, graphite, tantalum, niobium, nickel, and gold. Ground holdings in Namibia will increase from 221 km2(Lofdal) to over 6,850 km2.
Proceeds from the Private Placement will fund the initial exploration program on the Kunene Cobalt-Copper Project in northern Namibia which is contiguous with a significant new discovery of stratabound cobalt mineralization that is being drilled off by Celsius Resources.
Namibia Rare Earths' exploration program on its properties will focus on confirming cobalt mineralization in areas of demonstrated potential from historic regional soil geochemical surveys to develop drill targets for subsequent follow-up.
The Company has immediate access to over 12,000 soil samples collected from previous work over 2,142 km2 which will be systematically analysed for cobalt. Provision has also been made for a rock sampling program on the Warmbad Lithium Project in southern Namibia.
The Kunene project area is contiguous with ground being actively explored for cobalt by ASX-listed Celsius Resources.
The recognition of stratabound cobalt mineralization associated with low grade copper and zinc mineralization in black shales in the Kunene region by Gecko Exploration has formed the cornerstone of Celsius Resources' current drilling program at Opuwo. Celsius is undertaking a 15,000 m drilling program to develop a JORC compliant mineral resource to support their stated "Initial Exploration Target of between 33 and 41 million tonnes, grading approximately 0.13% - 0.17% cobalt and 0.45% - 0.65% copper."
Fieldwork at Kunene will comprise focused geological mapping, rock sampling and detailed soil sampling over areas already identified with cobalt potential from historic work.
The historic database was collected during a previous exploration period with First Quantum Minerals which was focused on the discovery of large-scale, orogenic copper deposits and failed to undertake systematic analyses for cobalt in associated black shales.
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