Through the development of its extensive, high-quality mineral resources base located in South Africa’s Northern Cape, junior miner Orion Minerals aims to be a next-generation Australian-South African base metals producer supplying future-facing metals for the global transition to a lower carbon future.
Orion, with a primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange and a secondary listing on the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is advancing from an explorer to a developer, prioritising near-term development of its portfolio of high-quality assets in South Africa’s Northern Cape.
Trial mining and dewatering have begun at Orion’s flagship Prieska Copper-Zinc Mine (PCZM), one of the world’s top 30 volcanogenic massive sulphide base metal deposits, as part of its early production strategy. Copper ore is already being stockpiled on the surface while accessing and establishing underground mine development into the 31-million ton Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) 2012-compliant mineral resource with grades of 1.2% Cu and 3.6% Zn. PCZM is fully permitted with access to significant local and regional infrastructure.
Orion’s second emerging production hub is its near-term Okiep Copper Project (OCP), 450 km west of PCZM. With permitting processes at an advanced stage, Orion aims to commence near-term production, while continuing to validate and confirm the
historic owners’ estimates of significant drilled mineralisation. Orion has defined an initial JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate for six deposits at OCP totalling 11.5-million tons grading 1.4% copper for 159 000 tonnes of contained copper. Orion is undertaking studies to develop a proof-of-concept for scaled mining at OCP with a draft bankable feasibility study completed and submitted for independent expert review. In consultation with the lender’s expert review team, Orion is drilling additional diamond drill holes into the flat mines deposits to validate the legacy exploration data to a standard which would be satisfactory to potential debt financiers.
Orion’s Jacomynspan Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGE sulphide (JMP) project located 70 km north of PCZM offers the potential for a Class-1 nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE-gold underground mine that could feed South Africa’s first high purity metal powder refinery, producing specialist ultrafine powders for use in the electronics and chemical industries. Orion has secured an agreement with Stratega Metals to develop a specialist high-value product refining facility.
In Australia, Orion has a free-carried exploration joint venture with IGO Limited on exploration rights in the world-class Fraser range, which is geologically analogous to the Areachap belt in South Africa where the PCZM and Jacomynspan deposits are located.
With award-winning innovative environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies, Orion has adopted next-generation technology and work practices to deliver enhanced workplace outcomes and best-in-class environmental performance while striving to deliver ESG-certified metals.
The company was recognised for its leadership in ESG, winning the Emerging ESG Leader Award at the 2020 AAMEG Africa Awards, the Junior ESG Award for Enhanced Labour Standards at the 2022 Investing in African Mining Indaba and the AAMEG’s Emerging ESG Leader Award at the Africa Down Under conference in 2023.