Wrap Text
IDC to become a strategic partner with Orion in the development of the Okiep Copper Project
Orion Minerals Limited
Incorporated in the Commonwealth of Australia
Australian Company Number 098 939 274
ASX share code: ORN
JSE share code: ORN
ISIN: AU000000ORN1
South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation to become a strategic partner with Orion in
the development of the Okiep Copper Project, Northern Cape
SA's leading national development finance institution signals its intention to partner with Orion, as the Company
completes the restructured acquisition of a potential second base metals production hub
- South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has signalled its intention to become a key
strategic partner along with Orion in the development of New Okiep Mining Co (a subsidiary of Orion)
and the Okiep Copper Project (OCP), located 570km north of Cape Town in the Northern Cape Province.
- The IDC is a national development finance institution mandated to promote economic growth and
industrial development and develop domestic industrial capacity in South Africa.
- The IDC is a 43.75% shareholder in Southern African Tantalum Mining (Pty) Ltd (SAFTA), one of the entities
subject to Orion's original option agreement over the OCP announced in February this year.
- The IDC has now approved the SAFTA shareholder resolution regarding the sale of SAFTA's OCP assets
to New Okiep Mining Co.
- The IDC has agreed to become a party to the SAFTA Asset Acquisition Agreement and the Transaction
Cooperation Agreement, satisfying one of the key suspensive conditions required for Orion to complete
the transaction.
- The IDC will remain a shareholder and development partner in the OCP, which supports and de-risks
the project's future funding pathway.
- Prospecting Rights on New Okiep Mining Co neighbour BCC are notarially executed, allowing drilling to
immediately commence on high priority targets.
Orion's Managing Director and CEO, Errol Smart, said:
"Orion is delighted that South Africa's leading national development finance institution, IDC, will maintain its
interest in the Okiep Copper Project and become a strategic partner alongside Orion in the ongoing
development of this exceptional base metal asset.
"The IDC has had a long involvement with the OCP through its significant shareholding in SAFTA, one of the original
project vendors. IDC's decision to maintain this involvement following Orion's acquisition of the project is a vote
of confidence in the work we have completed to date and our future development strategy.
"The IDC's decision means that New Okiep Mining Co, the new holding company of mineral rights over the SAFTA
tenements, will initially be held 56.3% by Orion and 43.7% by IDC, de-risking the project's future development
pathway and strengthening potential future funding opportunities. The shareholding in New Okiep Mining Co will
in future include empowerment partners in compliance with the requirements of the Mining Charter 2018, which
will include a 30% holding by historically disadvantaged groups including a 5% community interest and 5%
employee interest. New Okiep Mining Co will remain a subsidiary of Orion.
"We are grateful for the IDC's ongoing support and look forward to working with them as a development partner
at the OCP."
Orion Minerals Limited (ASX/JSE: ORN) (Orion or the Company) is pleased to announce that its development
strategy for the recently-acquired Okiep Copper Project (OCP), located approximately 570km north of Cape
Town in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa (Figure 1), has received a significant boost after the Industrial
Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (IDC) signalled its intention to become a key strategic partner
in the OCP's future development.
As part of this, it is envisaged that the IDC will be a strategic shareholder in the New Okiep Mining Company (Pty)
Ltd (New Okiep Mining Co). This newly-created Orion subsidiary that will hold the SAFTA assets and be responsible
for advancing its development as a potential second base metals production hub for the Company in the
Northern Cape region. The shareholding in New Okiep Mining Co will in the future, include empowerment
partners in compliance with the requirements of the Mining Charter 2018.
Orion is planning to develop the OCP alongside its flagship Prieska Copper-Zinc Project in the Northern Cape as
part of its strategy to become a leading diversified producer of future-facing metals in the Northern Cape region.
On 2 August 2021, Orion exercised its restructured option (OCP Option) to acquire a controlling interest in the
majority of the properties that make up the OCP. In addition to the OCP Option acquisition, Orion has also
applied for additional Prospecting Rights to supplement the OCP mineral rights.
The OCP Option was granted to Orion by each of Southern African Tantalum Mining (Pty) Ltd (SAFTA), Nababeep
Copper Company (Pty) Ltd (NCC) and Bulletrap Copper Co (Pty) Ltd (BCC). These entities hold the majority of
the large, historical mines in this significant copper-producing district, which has produced more than 2Mt of
copper metal over a 150-year period to 2003. The mineral rights include numerous existing drilled copper
orebodies with decline mine access and services in place.
In terms of the OCP acquisition, New Okiep Mining Co will acquire, amongst other things, the assets owned by
SAFTA, including its mineral rights and data relating to SAFTA (SAFTA Transaction).
With the IDC currently being a 43.75% shareholder in SAFTA, one of the suspensive conditions to the SAFTA
Transaction was that the IDC was required to approve the SAFTA shareholder resolution regarding the SAFTA
Transaction as well as become a party to the relevant transaction agreements relating to the SAFTA Transaction,
being the SAFTA Asset Acquisition Agreement and the Transaction Cooperation Agreement.
These suspensive conditions have now been satisfied. The IDC has approved the SAFTA shareholder resolution
regarding the SAFTA Transaction and becoming a party to the SAFTA Asset Acquisition Agreement and the
Transaction Cooperation Agreement. In doing so, the IDC has signalled its intention to become a key strategic
partner along with Orion in developing New Okiep Mining Co and the OCP.
There remain various other suspensive conditions to implementing the OCP Option, as set out in Orion's ASX/JSE
announcement released on 2 August 2021, which Orion and the other transaction parties are making good
progress towards completing.
For the key terms of the Okiep transaction agreements, refer to Orion's ASX / JSE announcement, released on 2
August 2021.
The OCP is a significant growth opportunity for Orion, with the potential to become a second base metal
production hub for the Company in the Northern Cape, alongside its flagship Prieska Copper-Zinc Project (Prieska
Project), located 450km east of the OCP (Figure 1 and Figure 2).
Figure 1: Location of the Okiep Copper Project (Okiep Project) in relation to Orion's existing Areachap projects.
Figure 2: Location of the Okiep Copper Project (Okiep Project) Mineral rights.
Since signing the OCP Option Agreement, Orion has undertaken extensive due diligence work at the OCP,
including the completion of JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimates for an initial six deposits totalling 11.5 million
tonnes grading 1.4% copper for 159,000 tonnes of contained copper (refer ASX / JSE release 29 March 2021).
In addition, the Company also completed a positive Scoping Study (refer ASX / JSE release 3 May 2021), which
demonstrated the economic merit of developing a foundation phase mining operation at the OCP while Orion
conducts the required work and engineering studies to support its aspiration for achieving a larger mining
operation with production at a similar scale to past owners Newmont and Goldfields who produced 30,000 -
40,000 tonnes per annum of copper.
Orion's objective of rapidly expanding the Mineral Resource base at the OCP is supported by the exercise of a
separate option agreement to acquire the extensive historical mining and exploration database held by the
O'Okiep Copper Company (and its affiliates) (refer ASX / JSE release 2 August 2021), covering more than 60 years
of production and exploration history.
Drilling and geological information within this database has already supported the completion of the initial
Mineral Resource estimates outlined above, as well as enabling Orion to define a series of high-priority initial drill
targets within the OCP, particularly along the Carolusberg – Koperberg line (refer ASX / JSE release 21 May 2021).
Exploration targeting at the OCP is further supported by a recent agreement with the Council for Geoscience,
Republic of South Africa (CGS) to collaborate on exploration initiatives across the Northern Cape (refer ASX / JSE
release 1 June 2021). A major regional SkyTEMTM survey was recently completed, with data currently being
processed under this collaboration agreement, targeting copper sulphide mineralisation hosted in mafic intrusive
bodies within the OCP area.
On 1 September 2021, Orion announced that it had successfully completed the extensive SkyTEM™ helicopter-
borne electromagnetic geophysical (AEM) survey at the OCP. The regional survey covered a total area of
1,872km2 with approximately 1,073 line-kms flown at 1km line spacing in conjunction with the CGS and Orion's
high-priority area of 857km2 flown at 150m line spacing resulting in a total of 7,348 line-kms being flown. Preliminary
results have been received from first-pass processing of magnetic and AEM data. The initial results are very
encouraging, resulting in the identification of numerous new targets for follow-up and demonstrating the value
of applying modern exploration methods to the 1,872km² area (refer ASX / JSE release 1 September 2021).
Next Steps
Advanced feasibility studies upgrading the 2021 scoping feasibility study (refer ASX / JSE release 2 August 2021)
for the New Okiep Mining Co are underway, with targeted completion early 2022.
In addition, Prospecting Rights on the neighbouring BCC where Orion is acquiring a 100% interest, were notarially
executed on 14 September 2021, allowing drilling to immediately get underway to test high priority targets (refer
ASX / JSE release 2 August 2021). These targets have potential to eventually be jointly developed with the New
Okiep Mining Co assets, using a central processing facility.
About the IDC
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa Limited was established in 1940 by the Industrial
Development Corporation Act, 22 of 1940 and is wholly owned by the South African government. IDC priorities
are aligned with the national policy direction set out in the National Development Plan (NDP) and industry
masterplans. The IDC mandate is to maximise development impact through job-rich industrialisation while
contributing to an inclusive economy.
For and on behalf of the Board.
Errol Smart
Managing Director and CEO
16 September 2021
ENQUIRIES
Investors Media JSE Sponsor
Errol Smart – Managing Director & CEO Nicholas Read Monique Martinez
Denis Waddell – Chairman Read Corporate, Australia Merchantec Capital
T: +61 (0) 3 8080 7170 T: +61 (0) 419 929 046 T: +27 (0) 11 325 6363
E: info@orionminerals.com.au E: nicholas@readcorporate.com.au E: monique@merchantec.co.za
Disclaimer
This release may include forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may include, among other things,
statements regarding targets, estimates and assumptions in respect of metal production and prices, operating costs and
results, capital expenditures, mineral reserves and mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, and are or
may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other
conditions. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and beliefs concerning future
events. Forward-looking statements inherently involve subjective judgement and analysis and are necessarily subject to risks,
uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Orion. Actual results and developments may vary
materially from those expressed in this release. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on such forward-looking statements. Orion makes no undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking
statements made in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. All information in respect of
Exploration Results and other technical information should be read in conjunction with Competent Person Statements in this
release (where applicable). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Orion and any of its related bodies corporate and
affiliates and their officers, employees, agents, associates and advisers:
• disclaim any obligations or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to the information to reflect any change in
expectations or assumptions;
• do not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the
information in this release, or likelihood of fulfilment of any forward-looking statement or any event or results expressed or
implied in any forward-looking statement; and
• disclaim all responsibility and liability for these forward-looking statements (including, without limitation, liability for
negligence).
Date: 16-09-2021 08:05:00
Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
Sharenet Sites 
