ONE Orders 10 Ammonia/Methanol-Ready Boxships Continuing Expansion

ONE began fitting bow wind screens in the fall of 2022 and plans to include them on future new builds (ONE)

PUBLISHED MAR 15, 2023 1:51 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Ocean Network Express (ONE) reports it has placed an order for 10 large new containerships as the next step in its growth strategy. The company is also emphasizing the extent of the environmental measures planned for the vessels to make them state-of-the-art.

The containership line announced the new vessels, which will have a carrying capacity of over 13,700 TEU and will be delivered in 2025 and 2026, will be ready for methanol and ammonia in line with the company’s green strategy aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. ONE did not disclose the cost for each of the vessels or the yard that has been awarded the newbuild contract.

As part of the company’s environmental strategy, ONE said it is having discussions with the shipyard and equipment manufacturers to implement onboard carbon capture and storage on delivery of the vessels. The new ships will also be equipped with a bow cover and other energy-saving technologies. ONE began testing the bow wind shield concept late last year with two of its vessels, the ONE Trust and ONE Tradition. Both vessels are Ultra Large Container Vessels (20,000 TEU). ONE recently said it will continue to install the bow wind shield on our future newbuilds.

The orders are the latest step in a business strategy outlined by CEO Jeremy Nixon a year ago. At the time, he said the company had matured and was now in a phase where it would place construction orders and make strategic investment decisions.  The business strategy calls for a $20 billion investment in vessel and equipment fleet, management systems, and key terminal operations by 2030. Nixon said they would annually invest in 150,000 TEU of capacity.

Last May, ONE placed an order for 10 containerships to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Nihon Shipyard. Due for delivery in 2025, the vessels will have a capacity of 13,700 TEU. That follows a previous order in December 2020 for six 24,000 TEU vessels due to enter service in 2023 and 2024. According to Alphaliner’s rankings of the container carriers, ONE is currently seventh with approximately 200 vessels and a capacity above 1.5 million TEU.

“By ensuring a stable deployment of new, state-of-the-art container vessels without constrained by short-term fluctuations in the container market, the company aims to strengthen its fleet competitiveness and meet customer demand for building and maintaining an efficient and reliable supply chain,” said ONE in a statement.

The fleet investment comes when the commercial shipping industry is recording a slowdown in demand since August last year, a development that is impacting the industry’s near-term profitability. In late January, ONE reported a significant deterioration of third quarter profits that stood at $2.7 billion, down from the $5.5 billion reported in the second quarter, and $4.8 billion realized during the same period in 2021. For the full year, ONE is forecasting a four percent decline in profitability to $14.7 billion.

Having started operations in 2017 through the integration of three Japanese shipping companies, ONE has witnessed significant growth and today operates 156 weekly services to 120 countries with Asia-North America accounting for 32 percent of its business, followed by Asia-Europe at 23 percent and intra-Asia at 22 percent. The company has committed to achieving sustainable maritime transportation by investing in greener assets and technologies, alternative fuels, carbon management, operational efficiency, and clean ship recycling.

 

The Indian Navy's Aircraft Carrier Dilemma

The ski-jump carrier INS Vikrant, top, at the time of her delivery (Indian Navy)

PUBLISHED MAR 14, 2023 2:20 PM BY THE LOWY INTERPRETER

 

The late General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, took a dim view of aircraft carriers. He considered them expensive and unnecessary. In his telling, including with pointed remarks in June 2020, the Indian military was “not an expeditionary force” and had no need to deploy aircraft carriers in faraway places. Moreover, he felt such ships were vulnerable to sea-launched and shore-based missiles. The general rather seemed to favour submarines, which he noted were important for defence, and did not, unlike aircraft carriers, require a screen of battleships for protection.

The Indian Navy has traditionally been wary of such reasoning, seeing the aircraft carrier as a vital asset at the heart of maritime strategy. The flattop, Indian experts say, has the decisive ability to tilt the psychological balance in the littorals by ensuring a continuous and visible presence that complicates the cost-benefit calculus of the adversary. The large deck carrier, or supercarrier, with a catapult launch system is especially favoured for its ability to operate heavy, long-range multi-function aircraft. 

But the navy last year unexpectedly dropped its demand for a large carrier. Admiral R. Hari Kumar, the current naval chief, announced at the Navy Day press conference in December 2022 that the next flattop would be a small one. He confirmed the decision last month, disclosing that the navy was planning a repeat order for the 45,000-tonne Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, while still looking for a larger aircraft carrier design in future.

There are two ways to interpret this reversal. The first is that the navy is in a fiscal situation in which building a large aircraft carrier is no longer feasible. The Modi government’s guiding mantra today is Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) and naval planners are under growing pressure to indigenise by 2047. Capital allocations are also down (in relative terms) as a result of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, while the government has made a severe cut in the procurement of foreign systems. So aside from the time and resources required to develop a design for a large aircraft carrier, India’s naval planners are unsure whether the imports required to construct a large aircraft carrier will materialise. The option of a smaller carrier would also ensure that Cochin Shipyard’s experience in building the Vikrant will not be wasted.

The navy could begin inducting indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighters by the end of this decade. To operate these aircraft, which are intended to replace the MiG-29Ks, the navy will require at least two operational aircraft carriers. A large deck carrier is not in the navy’s plans because entering service would take over two decades.

Nonetheless, switching from a supercarrier to a small flattop creates a dilemma for the navy. The problem with a light carrier is that it isn’t fit for purpose in today’s complex and contested maritime environment. In wartime conditions, a small carrier is constrained in its operations, particularly when faced with the adversary’s anti-access, anti-denial systems. Since a small flattop does not operate heavy planes that require a catapult system for take-off but also typically have longer ranges, the ship has little option but to operate within the engagement envelope of the adversary’s shore-based missiles and air defence systems.

But small carriers are also less capable than large deck carriers in other critical respects. Unlike big carriers that are mostly nuclear-propelled and with sufficient power to manoeuvre continuously in the sensitive littorals, small flattops have conventional propulsion (gas-turbine or diesel), which offers less power. That translates into lower flexibility and less agile operations. While large aircraft carriers can serve as a floating base and deploy for extended periods of time, a small flattop has a shorter operational range, a lower sortie generation rate, and less endurance. Compared to a big carrier, small flattops also have less potent onboard defence systems and are particularly vulnerable to drone swarm attacks.

While small deck carriers are certainly useful in peacetime presence operations, their combat role is limited, unless their air wing comprises a powerful aircraft, such as the F-35B, with increased range, lethality and survivability. Notably, the fifth-generation carrier-based fighter is capable of deploying precision munitions at long ranges without risking the loss of aircraft or aircrews. The Indian Navy, which is likely to fly MiG-29Ks and Rafale Marines (or F/A-18 Super Hornets) from its small aircraft carriers over the next decade, may well succeed in deterring adversaries during a conflict. But it is hard to predict how Indian carriers with unproven aircraft will perform in a hostile environment.

The navy’s decision to replace the demand for a large deck flattop with a small aircraft carrier may appear driven by expediency, but it is really the result of dwindling options. Although no substitute for a large carrier, a small flattop is the Indian Navy’s only feasible choice. Notwithstanding the ship’s limitations, particularly its limited warfighting ability, a second Vikrant is all that the navy can hope to get in the current circumstances.

A former naval officer, Abhijit Singh, is a Senior Fellow at New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation and head of the Maritime Policy Initiative. A maritime professional with specialist and command experience in front-line Indian naval ships, he is a keen commentator on maritime matters and writes regularly on security and governance issues in the Indo Pacific region.

This article appears courtesy of The Lowy Interpreter and may be found in its original form here.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

 

First Hydrogen-Powered Ferry in the U.S. Prepares to Begin Service

Sea Change (SWITCH Maritime)

PUBLISHED MAR 14, 2023 9:36 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

After a year's delay, the hydrogen-powered ferry Sea Change has arrived in San Francisco and is preparing to begin operations. It will be the first vessel of its kind in the United States, and beginning this spring, it will demonstrate the use of a zero-onboard-emissions fuel in a practical maritime application. 

Sea Change was delivered in August 2021 and fueled for the first time in November 2021, and her owner predicted that her first commercial operations would begin in June 2022. She was towed into San Francisco this month and is on track to begin operation within weeks, once the crew has completed training, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Using 250 kilos of compressed hydrogen for fuel and hydrogen fuel cells to generate power, Sea Change will carry up to 75 passengers at speeds of about 16 knots. She will serve on San Francisco Bay Ferry's network, which connects the downtown waterfront with Alameda, Oakland, Richmond and Vallejo. 

The vessel's development was underwritten by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which provided $3 million in funding for R&D, procurement and construction in 2018. With support from the  Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and the California Infrastructure Economic Development Bank, the project also qualified for a loan guarantee for a $5 million construction loan from Key Bank. Hydrogen fuel will be provided by West Coast Clean Fuels, a joint venture between Pasha, World Fuel Services and Clean Marine Energy.

A handful of hydrogen-powered ferries are already in limited operation in Japan and Norway, including one vessel powered by a hydrogen-fueled diesel cycle engine. In Belgium, the CMB shipping dynasty has introduced the world's first hydrogen-powered tug, which began operations last year. 

 NOBODY GOES TO WORK TO DIE

OSHA Fines Alabama Stevedoring Firm for Fatal Cargo Accident

The small freighter Weserborg (file image courtesy Kees Torn / CC BY SA 2.0)

PUBLISHED MAR 14, 2023 8:32 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have faulted a stevedoring firm in connection with a fatal cargo-handling accident aboard a bulker in Florida last year. 

On September 11, 2022, three dockers from contractor Premier Bulk Stevedoring were loading rolls of paper aboard the general cargo ship Weserborg. The team was moving seven-foot-tall rolls of paper about five rolls at a time, each load weighing about two tons. During one hoisting evolution, the ship rolled, and the load crushed a 28-year-old stevedore against the bulkhead of the cargo bay. The victim did not survive. 

OSHA found that the crew's crane operator did not have a clear view of the stevedores in the hold below. Its inspectors had already cited Premier Bulk Stevedoring once before in 2020 for a similar crane-operations violation, though the citation was deleted after a civil settlement.

For the second violation, OSHA has proposed a penalty of more than $40,000 for exposing employees to "struck-by and caught-between hazards from swinging loads," as well as failing to ensure that supervisors had accident-prevention training. The agency recommended keeping dockers away from hazards by establishing safety zones around the hoisting area. 

“Less than two years ago, OSHA cited Premier Bulk Stevedoring for unsafe loading operations and our investigation into this tragic September 2022 fatality found the company again operating in a dangerous manner,” said OSHA Area Office Director Jose Gonzalez in Mobile, Alabama. “Their failure to follow established safety procedures caused a young worker to needlessly lose their life.”

 

Sailboat Attacked and Disabled by Orcas in Strait of Gibraltar

Orcas off Spain (file image courtesy MITMA)

PUBLISHED MAR 14, 2023 11:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The Strait of Gibraltar's notorious orcas are back. This week, another sailboat was disabled off Cape Spartel by killer whales who attacked it until they had broken its rudder - a pattern all too familiar to sailors in the region. 

Early on Monday, the crew of the sailboat Larios made a distress call and reported that they had lost their rudder. They had come into contact with three orcas and had lost their rudder. Salvamar Maritimo dispatched the rescue boat Salvamar Arcturus from the port of Tarifa to give them assistance, and the Arcturus towed them all the way to Barbate for repairs. 

There has never been a documented fatal attack on a human by an orca in the wild, but orcas have been knocking into sailboats off the Strait of Gibraltar and the coast of Galicia for years. Between July and October of 2020 alone, there were at least 40 reported orca incidents involving sailboats off Spain and Portugal. The attacks have a specific pattern: the orcas always target the rudder, and often cause the boat to swing through a wide arc. The vessels targeted are always sailboats under 15 meters in length. 

From reviewing video footage from the sailboat incidents and analyzing the scars on the orca's bodies, marine scientists with research center CIRCE determined that three specific individuals are involved, all teenage males. Identified from research surveys as  Gladis Black, Gladis White and Gladis Gray, they all belong to the same family pod, and they appear to be engaging with sailboats as a form of entertainment. 

“From what I’m seeing, it’s mainly two of those guys [the Gladises] in particular that are just going crazy,” marine biologist Dr. Renaud de Stephanis told the BBC. “They just play, play and play. . . . It just seems to be something they really like and that’s it.”

The interactions continued last year: in July 2022, two boats were disabled with rudder damage in quick succession off Galicia, and one had to call for a tow from Salvamento Maritimo. 

Rio Tinto should expect more friction over Oyu Tolgoi

Bloomberg News | March 14, 2023 | 

Oyu Tolgoi is Rio Tinto’s biggest copper growth project. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.)

Mongolia will keep fighting for maximum benefit from a giant copper mine run by Rio Tinto Group, the country’s prime minister said, after a major expansion of the project got underway following many years of fraught negotiations.


Rio Tinto announced Monday it had finally begun production at the underground portion of its Oyu Tolgoi operation, which it expects to be the world’s fourth-biggest copper mine by 2030. That capped more than a decade of delays, cost blowouts and disputes between Rio and Mongolia’s government.

Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai said he was confident that progress at Oyu Tolgoi would be smoother than in the past, but there were still sources of potential tensions — including issues from taxation to power supplies and environmental impact.

“As the democratic system is present in Mongolia, there is always debate and I do believe that there will be debate in the future too,” the country’s leader since early 2021 said in an interview in Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday.
Demand wave

The Mongolian government owns a 34% stake in Oyu Tolgoi — with Rio holding the balance — and sees the mine as key to its goal of doubling the economy’s size by the end of this decade. The project gives Rio and Mongolia exposure to an expected wave of new demand for copper from clean-energy technologies.

A 2021 deal under which Rio agreed to forgive about $2.4 billion of government debt was pivotal in restarting stalled progress on the underground project.

“The issue now is how we can make the revenue from this project more equitable to the people of Mongolia,” he said. The government is still in live negotiations with Rio over tax arrangements and on the construction of a new power plant, he said.

Oyun-Erdene said Mongolia had made mistakes in the early years of talks with Rio due to being “inexperienced in reaching this kind of agreement.” Oyu Tolgoi is by far the single biggest foreign investment in Mongolia.

On Monday, the official opening day of the underground project, Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jakob Stausholm admitted the company hadn’t had a “smooth ride” in Mongolia so far. “We have learnt like you wouldn’t believe,” he said.

(By James Fernyhough, with assistance from Gina Turner)

enCore makes production decision on Alta Mesa, its second uranium facility

Staff Writer | March 15, 2023 |

The Alta Mesa facility has a total operating capacity of 1.5 million pounds of uranium per year. 

Credit: enCore Energy Corp.

enCore Energy (NYSE American: EU) (TSXV: EU) has made a formal production decision for the resumption of uranium production from the Alta Mesa central processing plant in early 2024. This will be enCore’s second uranium-producing location after the Rosita processing plant, which is scheduled to restart in 2023.


Alta Mesa is a fully licensed and constructed ISR (in-situ recovery) uranium project and central processing facility currently on standby, located on over 821.5 square kilometres of private land in Texas. Its total operating capacity is estimated at 1.5 million lb. of U3O8 (uranium) per year. The facility historically produced nearly 5 million lb. of U3O8 between 2005 and 2013, after which full production was curtailed as a result of low uranium prices at the time.

Alta Mesa is the latest addition to enCore’s South Texas portfolio following its recent acquisition from Energy Fuels. The project provides a significant boost to the company’s South Texas resource base, adding 3.4 million lb. of uranium in the measured and indicated category and 16.7 million lb. in inferred.

Along with its existing Rosita and Kingsville Dome facilities, enCore now holds three fully licensed uranium production facilities in the state of Texas. At the moment, there are only 11 licensed and constructed uranium production facilities in all of the United States.

Work currently underway at the Alta Mesa plant includes the construction of equipment staging areas and drill pads in the fully permitted production authorization area (PAA), planned for initial production due to its proximal location adjacent to the plant. Development drilling, production and injection well installation will start this month.

Meanwhile, enCore’s technical staff are identifying equipment maintenance and limited repair needs at the Alta Mesa processing plant involving the ion exchange system, uranium precipitation, drying and packaging circuits in order to restart production after having been on standby since 2013.

According to enCore, the Alta Mesa processing plant can reach commercial production levels with limited required capital, from funds on hand, within an estimated 10 months of the announced production decision.

“The enCore team began initial assessment work in November 2022, preparing for the start of work immediately following the closing of the acquisition of the Alta Mesa processing plant and project,” CEO Paul Goranson said in a news release. “Our 2023 startup of production at Rosita and now, the decision to proceed at Alta Mesa, will bring a reliable domestic low carbon energy source to South Texas and the United States when it is most needed.”

Researchers find efficient way to turn vegetable oil industry waste into power

Staff Writer | March 15, 2023 | 

Vegetable oil. (Reference image from Pxhere).

Iran-based researchers have developed a novel and cost-effective anode catalyst that can improve and stabilize the power generation performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) treating vegetable oil industry wastewater.


In a paper published in the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, the scientists explain that MFCs convert the chemical energy stored in organic matter in wastewater into electricity using bacteria as a catalyst. For years now, the team has been investigating how the modification of the electrodes can improve the performance of this technology.

“Electrode design is the greatest challenge in making MFCs a cost-effective and scalable technology. The anode of MFCs plays a vital role in the extracellular electron transfer between the electroactive bacteria and the solid electrode surface,” Hossein Jafari Mansoorian, corresponding author of the study, said in a media statement. “In this regard, it is of crucial importance to develop a novel anode material with synergistic effects between the properties of the anode surface and microorganisms.”

In Mansoorian’s view, a desirable anode should offer good conductivity to speed up the electron transfer rate; excellent biocompatibility and low bio-toxicity for microbes; higher specific surface area to provide more microbe attachment and catalytic activity sites; chemical stability and anti-corrosion resistance, and flexibility and durability, as well as low cost to commercial application.

“In order to improve bacterial adhesion and efficient electron transfer between bacteria and the electrode surface, the electrode should be modified and its surface area increased to ensure efficient current collection and power yield through the decomposition of organic compounds in the wastewater,” the researcher explained. “Based on the results of this study, the TiO2-HX@MWCNT-COOH-Al2O3 structure of this composite is a suitable candidate for modifying the anode electrode and greatly enhances electroactivity.”

Bamboo instead of platinum

Mansoorian and his group also investigated the modification of the cathode to identify a cost-effective alternative to platinum. Carbon felt modified with powdered activated carbon (PAC) originating from Bambuseae (a family of bamboo plants) was found to be effective.

According to the researcher, the findings from this study are the latest in continuing efforts to improve MFC performance. “A tremendous breakthrough has been made regarding power output in MFCs from a few mW⋅cm-2 or mW⋅cm-3 to several W⋅cm-2 or W⋅cm-3, an improvement of three orders of magnitude, owing to continuous efforts of researchers,” he noted. “The use of fossil fuels, especially oil and gas, in recent years has accelerated and this is triggering a global energy crisis. Renewable bioenergy is viewed as one of the ways to alleviate the current global warming crisis.”

For Mansoorian, the large volumes of wastewater generated by the vegetable oil industry mean that the high energy requirements of conventional wastewater treatment are unsustainable.

“Since traditional wastewater treatment has various limitations, sustainable implementations of MFCs might be a feasible option in wastewater treatment as well as green electricity production, bio-hydrogen synthesis, carbon sequestration, and environmentally sustainable sewage treatment,” the scientist pointed out. “But for MFCs to be a viable option for wastewater treatment, they need to be scaled up to accommodate large volumes of incoming wastewater, which has proven challenging for several reasons, including minimizing the distance between the anode and cathode to reduce electrical losses and being cost-competitive with other treatment technologies.”

In addition, Mansoorian noted that the materials used for MFCs are expensing, as they include membranes to separate the electrodes, which are prone to fouling, and a catalyst to produce enough power.

“At last, after obtaining superior anode electrodes, it is necessary to examine their long-term performance in real wastewater treatment to investigate their stability, durability, mechanical properties and secondary pollution effects,” he said. “Nonetheless, MFCs undoubtedly have potential in terms of energy recovery during wastewater treatment, occupying a market niche in terms of a stand-alone power source and also in the direct treatment of wastewater.”

Miners need to learn how to navigate the political spectrum in Latin America, says Southern Pulse

Bruno Venditti | March 15, 2023 | 

Image courtesy of Federation of Copper Workers — FTC.

Scenario: A profitable gold mine operator in faces a threat of work stoppage as local political leaders square off with the local union leader.


The protests are not organized by the union but by the local community leader, who holds more influence over the local labor force.

To solve the problem, the miner decides to investigate who influences who in the community.

The company learns that the union leader’s position was not in line with his boss’ position (at the state level). It also learns that the local community leader and the mayor were related through marriage and would likely not turn on one another.

The miner executives decide to sit with the state-level union leader, present their case, and ask him to bring the local union leader into alignment.

As a result, the state-level union leader diffuses the conflict at the local level by removing the local union boss and replacing him with someone who was more loyal to the state-level structure.

The mine is no longer threatened by a work stoppage.

The real case described here is one of many handled by Southern Pulse, a company focused on local networks and strategic relationships that supports Canadian and American companies to navigate the Latin American market.

The company works with different sources and methods to produce what it calls a ‘3D map’ showing the stakeholders involved in the community.

“We bring a more nuanced and granular understanding of the most influential stakeholders in their immediate operating area,” Southern Pulse founder Sam Logan told MINING.COM.

According to Logan, mining in Latin America presents an excellent opportunity for foreign direct investment, but at the same time, it has risks because of corruption and lack of regulation.

“The biggest challenge that miners have is at the moment when they realize that they’ve broken ground, beginning construction. And then they get a knock at the door from some local, highly influential, perhaps politically connected or criminally connected individual that comes in and says, okay, we’re going to have to work together,” said Logan.

“A lot of times, it’s the person who supplies the diesel, or the person who supplies the food. If you are a junior mining company and have a large enough camp in that operation, that’s a big deal.”
Political influence

With the high demand for critical minerals for the energy transition, countries like Chile, Mexico and Brazil have sought to review regulations and permitting.

That comes with concerns about resource nationalism.

With the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Brazil’s presidency in January, Ecuador is now the only significant regional economy with a right-wing government.

Last week, representatives of the Argentinean delegation said at the annual PDAC convention that countries in the region are discussing the creation of a lithium cartel in South America.

For the Southern Pulse founder, miners need to learn how to navigate the political spectrum in the region.

“Mines, when operating successfully, represent the most stable and most important source of economic growth in the local environment compared to any other potential activity that could happen in that same place,” said Logan.


“This is where I think a lot of mining executives fall short of their potential. The political influence and the political voice that one has as a mining operator is, oftentimes, underutilized,”

Logan says it is possible for miners to have political influence in an ethical and lawful way.

“You don’t want to get into a situation where you are making agreements to give anyone money or do any sort of campaign financing,” he said. “But what you want to do is to be receptive, you want to let them (politics) come and tour your project. You want to have meetings with them where you go and you discuss the development of that community.”

Deep South Resources prospects improve in battle for Haib copper project licence in Namibia

Staff Writer | March 14, 2023 | 

The Haib copper deposit is in the extreme south of Namibia close to the border with South Africa, which is defined by the course of the Orange River. (Image courtesy of Deep-South Resources.)

The High Court of Namibia has rendered its judgment and set aside the decision of the Minister not to renew Deep-South Resources (TSX-V: DSM) licence for the Haib copper project.


The decision is a win for the Canadian miner in its battle to renew the company’s prospecting licence for the Haib project after the country’s mining and energy ministry missed a deadline to file the permit’s refusal.

Minister Tom Alweendo declined to renew Deep-South’s licence in June 2021 citing the Vancouver-based company’s inability to advance to a prefeasibility stage and complete the proposed drilling program as planned.

Deep-South took the case to Namibia’s High Court, which ruled that no permits could be granted over the same area until further notice.

From April 2017 to April 2021, Deep-South invested more than C$2 million ($1.6m) on the project, including an updated preliminary economic assessment. The miner has also proposed a C$7.1 million feasibility study and C$25.5 million pilot plant.

The company had acquired the remainder of the project in 2017 from Teck Resources, which is one of its major shareholders.

The updated PEA in December had put Haib’s after-tax NPV at $957 million and IRR at 29.7% using a $3 per pound copper price, envisaging a 24-year mine producing 35,332 tonnes per annum of copper cathodes and 51,080tpa copper sulphate.

The effect of the latest order is that the Minister must resume the licence renewal application procedure and arrive at a new decision. The court noted that the facts presented by Deep-South subsidiary Haib Minerals should not have been ignored in the evaluation process.

The judgment mentions that the Minister and Mining Commissioner did not consider the large investments carried out by Deep-South to develop a low grade deposit.

The court also stated that the Minister and Mining Commissioner did not take in consideration the fact that the covid 19 pandemic impacted the exploration program. The court also ordered the Ministry to pay the legal costs of Deep-South’ subsidiary Haib Minerals.

“This is a very positive verdict and we are confident to be able to create a new positive working relation with the Minister and the new Mining Commissioner,” Deep-South CEO Pierre Leveille said in the statement. “It is also an important decision for Namibia as it shows that the rule of law prevails in Namibia. Our Board of Directors would like to thank our shareholders for their strong support over all that difficult period.“

The Minister and the Mining Commissioner have the right to appeal the judgement in the Supreme Court of Namibia, Deep South said. If they decide to lodge an appeal, the request shall be filed within 21 court days from the date of the judgement — March 10.