Adolf Kaure
KARIBIB – QKR Navachab Gold Mine’s managing director, George Botshiwe, revealed that the mine’s future growth plans will require estimated expansion capital valued at N$6.6 billion (US$400 million), excluding the mining fleet.
Botshiwe revealed this during a recent media day held at the mine to update news reporters on Navachab’s current developments.
“The expansion is aimed at increasing gold production, improving recovery and unlocking additional resources from future pushbacks and underground opportunities. Our history has brought us this far. Our next chapter will depend on careful technical work and sound decisions,” Botshiwe stated.
While Navachab remains an open-pit operation, mineral resources extend beyond the ultimate open-pit limit, and an underground trial mine in 2022 and 2023 produced encouraging results.
The underground portal entrance recorded its first blast on 15 September 2025, while underground development and exploration activities are continuing.
The present phase is primarily about creating platforms for further exploration and geotechnical drilling.
Feasibility work
According to Botshiwe, future underground production remains subject to the outcome of the necessary feasibility work.
“Mineral resources extend beyond the ultimate open-pit limit, which is why we are examining the underground opportunity.
We are also studying a proposed
1 000-tonne-per-hour flotation project within the broader Navachab Plant Expansion Study,” he added.
The Class 1 expansion study indicates potential to increase recovered ounces from approximately 1.6 million to 3.5 million ounces, annual production from around 140–150 thousand ounces to 220–230 thousand ounces, and mining rates from around 30 million tonnes a year to 60–65 million tonnes a year.
The target upgrade is approximately 350 000 ounces of inferred material into the indicated category through approximately 22 kilometres of exploration drilling and 4 kilometres of geotechnical drilling.
“These possibilities give us reason to be optimistic. They also call for discipline – the technical and feasibility work must guide any investment decision.
The current underground development and exploration should not be interpreted as a final decision to proceed with full-scale underground production,” he said.
The final decision on full-scale underground production will be taken by the end of 2027. Furthermore, the mine aspires to continue investing in infrastructure, technology, water management and energy solutions that support safe, efficient and sustainable production. As a key player in Namibia’s gold sector, QKR Navachab Gold Mine’s initiatives are designed to extend the mine’s operational life beyond 2030.
-akaure@nepc.com.na
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