WIA Gold’s Kokoseb in Namibia is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week

WIA Gold’s Kokoseb in Namibia is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week

ASX listed WIA Gold will deliver a scoping study in 2025

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine

ASX listed WIA Gold will deliver a scoping study in 2025 as the Kokoseb Gold Project in Namibia moves into its next development phase.

At the same time WIA will maintain a firm focus on exploration. According to a recent statement, the company is in the process of appointing consultants focused on mine scheduling and design, additional metallurgical test work, environmental studies, hydrology studies, process plant engineering, non-process site infrastructure, tailings disposal, energy and power supply, and capital and operating costs.

Location and tenements

The Kokoseb Gold Project is located in north-west Namibia about 320km by road from the capital city of Windhoek. Kokoseb lies within the Okombahe Exploration Licence, which is held under joint venture by WIA (80%) and the Namibian state-owed mining company, Epangelo.

The Okombahe EL is part of WIA’s broader Damaran Belt tenure in Namibia, which consists of 12 tenements across a total area of over 2,700km².

Discovery and drilling

Preliminary soil sampling and trenching programs identified a large, coherent +100ppb gold anomaly at Kokoseb in late 2021.

Initial testing of this anomaly was undertaken via a small-scale reconnaissance diamond drilling program during Q2 2022, consisting of 12 holes for 1,747 metres drilled. The return of multiple thick, shallow, high-grade intercepts from this program demonstrated the potential for a major gold deposit to exist at Kokoseb.

Successive reverse circulation and diamond drilling programs have progressively expanded the known extents of the Kokoseb deposit over the past two years.

Geology and mineralisation

The Kokoseb gold deposit lies within the Northern Central Zone of the Pan-African Damaran Orogenic Belt.

The Project area is underlain by neo-Proterozoic metasediments of the Arandis, Karibib and Kuiseb Formations of the Swakop Group.

Gold mineralisation is found in the Kuiseb Formation metasediments which are extensively intruded by both late syn-tectonic and post tectonic granites, and minor N-S to NNE-SSW trending mafic dykes.

There is generally moderately to good exposure throughout the licence area though, the Kuiseb formation tends to only sub-outcrop and is commonly covered by thin soil, colluvium or pisolitic calcrete up to 2m thick.

Positive initial metallurgy and growth potential

Preliminary metallurgical test results have returned excellent gold recoveries above 91% via gravity and standard direct leach process, confirming the clear development potential of Kokoseb. The Kokoseb mineralisation remains open in every direction and at depth.

WIA Gold’s Kokoseb in Namibia is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week