Osino Receives 20-Year Mining License and Positive Environmental Permitting Review for Its Twin Hills Gold Project, Namibia
- Osino receives "Preparedness to Grant" confirmation from Namibian Ministry of Mines & Energy for 20-year mining license for Osino's Twin Hills gold project.
- Positive review of Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) received, confirming no fatal project flaws.
- The mining license is subject to fulfilment of a number of customary conditions which include adherence to an agreed work program, conclusion of environmental authorization, implementation of a 5% carried interest for local shareholders and the submission of a strategy for adherence to the Namibian government's poverty alleviation and socio-economic upliftment strategy of especially disadvantaged population groups.
- Granting of the conditional mining license and progress with environmental authorization de-risks the permitting timeline and confirms Namibian regulatory support for the rapid advancement of Osino's Twin Hills Gold Project into the development phase.
VANCOUVER, Oct. 31, 2022 - Osino Resources Corp. (TSXV:OSI) (FSE:RSR1) (OTCQX:OSIIF) ("Osino" or "the Company") is pleased to report on significant progress achieved to-date on the permitting process for its wholly owned Twin Hills Gold Project ("Twin Hills" or "the Project") in Namibia.
Osino recently released a pre-feasibility ("PFS") study for Twin Hills based on 2.15 Moz in reserves, outlining a 13-year open-pit mine life with an average annual gold production rate of 169koz per annum at all-in sustaining costs of US$930/oz in the 10 years of operation. The granting of the mining license confirms Twin Hills' position as a rapidly advancing, partially permitted, top-tier project in a premier jurisdiction.
Heye Daun, Osino's co-founder, President & CEO commented: "We are very pleased to have received confirmation from Namibia's Ministry of Mines and Energy for the Preparedness to Grant of a 20-year mining license for the Twin Hills Gold Project subject to the fulfilment of some remaining conditions which are customary under Namibia's regulatory regime. Receipt of the mining license is a major endorsement of the progress Osino has made with the advancement of the Twin Hills Gold Project and confirms the support of the Namibian government for the ongoing development of the project. Twin Hills's stature as one of Namibia's most exciting mining development projects continues to grow and we are very appreciative of the partnership shown by all Namibian permitting authorities throughout this process."
Mining License
The Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy ("MME") has now completed their review of the Mining License application, which was submitted in August 2021, and subsequently issued a Mining License for Twin Hills subject to certain customary conditions.
These conditions include (i) fulfilling an employment quota for certain disadvantaged Namibian groups, (ii) making available a 5% carried interest (not free-carried interest) by certain disadvantaged Namibian groups, (iii) issuance of the Environmental Clearance Certificate ("ECC") by the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Fisheries and Tourism ("MEFT"), and (iv) obtaining the remaining secondary permits to operate the mine.
Osino is very pleased with the partnership shown by various Namibian permitting authorities to-date and is confident that it will fulfil the remaining conditions for the full grant of the Mining License in conjunction with the ongoing advancement of the project.
Environmental Approvals
In conjunction with the Mining License application process, an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ("ESIA") was completed. The ESIA included full baseline specialist studies and extensive stakeholder engagement which took place during most of 2021 and early in 2022. The completed ESIA and Environmental Management Plan ("EMP") were submitted to the MEFT in March 2022, who reviewed the full impact assessment documentation and have found no fatal flaws.
The review and issuance of the ECC is in its final stages. One of the outstanding aspects is the conclusion of an appropriate engagement, documentation, and management process for the relocation of historic graves at the Twin Hills project site. Stakeholders have agreed to the relocation of the graves to a new site to be agreed upon. Osino is currently preparing to submit a final report to Namibia's National Heritage Council ("NHC") including recently completed stakeholder engagements and mitigation measures. Following this, the NHC is expected to submit its recommendation to the MEFT with respect to the issuance of the ECC for the Twin Hills project.
Now that Twin Hills is rapidly progressing into the development phase, Osino's Project team is also engaging with relevant Namibian line ministries for the necessary secondary site-specific licenses which the Company needs to conclude, prior to entering the construction and operating phase. These include the following approvals:
- Accessory works permit
- Bulk fuel storage permit
- License for explosives magazine
- License to use explosives and burn packaging
- Borehole water abstraction permit
- Tailings waste disposal permit
- Wastewater discharge permit
- River diversion permit
- Land clearing permit
- Emission stacks and towers permit
Osino continues to adhere to Namibian due process and is working with all the relevant Namibian authorities forTwin Hills to be fully permitted as soon as possible, and well within the Project's development timeframe.
Qualified Person's Statement
David Underwood, BSc. (Hons) is Vice President Exploration of Osino Resources Corp. and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No.400323/11) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
About Osino Resources
Osino is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the fast-tracked advancement of our wholly owned Twin Hills Gold Project ("Twin Hills") in central Namibia. Since its grassroots discovery by Osino in August 2019 the Company has completed more than 220,000m of drilling and advanced technical studies on the Project, culminating in the recently published Twin Hills PFS.
Osino has a commanding ground position of approximately 6,900km2 located within Namibia's prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto Gold Mines. The Company is actively exploring a range of gold prospects and targets along the belt by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery, targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model.
Our core projects are favorably located north and north-west of Namibia's capital city Windhoek. By virtue of their location, the projects benefit significantly from Namibia's well-established infrastructure with paved highways, railway, power and water in close proximity.
Namibia is mining-friendly and lauded as one of the continent's most politically and socially stable jurisdictions. Osino continues to evaluate new ground with a view to expanding our Namibian portfolio.
Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/.
On Behalf of The Board of Directors
Heye Daun
Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director
CONTACT INFORMATION
Osino Resources Corp.
Julia Becker: Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +1 (604) 785 0850
jbecker@osinoresources.com
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company's future plans or prospects of the Company, including prospects for economic recoverability of mineral resources. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake to update any forward- looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
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