North River Resources completes acquisition of Kalahari Minerals’ Copper and Zinc interests in Namibia

North River Resources (‘North River’) (AIM: NRRP) and Kalahari Minerals (‘Kalahari’) (AIM: KAH) confirmed this afternoon that they had completed a transaction which will see North River acquire all of Kalahari’s gold, zinc, lead and copper projects in Namabia.  North River issued shares to Kalahari to finance the transaction, and as a result, Kalahari is now the largest shareholder in North River with a 44.9% stake.

The deal effectively turns Kalahari into an investment company with just over a 40% stake in Extract Resources (ASX & TSX: EXT), and a 44.9% stake in North River Resources.

Mark Hohnen, Chairman of Kalahari and Glyn Tonge, Non-executive director of Kalahari, have joined the board of North River as Chairman and Non-executive director respectively.  David Steinepreis will retain his role as Managing Director at North River.

"This agreement has paved the way for the next phase of development at our gold and base metal assets, following the extensive exploration programme completed by Kalahari between 2006 to 2008 totalling circa £8 million of investment,” Kalahari and North River Chairman, Mark Hohnen, said. “The pool of expertise and corporate support amassed through the two companies' relationship through this agreement has created a strong platform which is now capable of fast tracking our key assets forwards towards production to the benefit of North River and Kalahari shareholders alike."

North River recently raised £7 million in an oversubscribed fundraising. The cash raised will be used to advance the company’s newly acquired copper interests, including the Koperberg Project which currently hosts a JORC interred resource of 1.74 million tonnes grading 0.9% copper, and the RK and RK West Projects which host additional non-JORC resources of 0.55 million tonnes @ 1.25% copper and 0.77 million tonnes @ 0.9% copper respectively. 

North River stated that it would be appraising the projects with a view to put them into production “as soon as practicable”.

The other principal asset now in North River ownership is the Namib Lead-Zinc Project which operated from almost 30 years until the mine was shut down in 1992. North River and Kalahari are looking to define an initial resource of 1 million tonnes below the existing mined areas.  Previous non-JORC mine studies at the Namib Lead-Zinc Project indicated surface tailings and in-situ underground reserves of 1.65 million tonnes @ 5.7% zinc, 1.6% lead, 40.2 grams per tonne silver.

The company also confirmed that it had submitted a bid for a “significant” gold deposit in the country.

North River's Managing Director, David Steinepreis, said, "This is a milestone agreement for North River, and one that will transform the Company into a multi-commodity resource company with a focus in sub-Saharan Africa. Of additional importance is the financial, corporate and operational support that we will benefit from moving forward through our close working relationship with Kalahari, our major shareholder, in addition to the invaluable experience of Mark and Glyn through their appointment to our Board.