Tschudi Copper Mine

The Tschudi copper deposit is hosted in a northern carbonate platform sequence of the Neoproterozoic Damara Belt in Northern Namibia.

The Damara orogenic belt in Namibia is one of the Pan-African orogenic belts that formed during the breakup of Gondwana. The Damara orogen is in Central Namibia and it splits into a north-trending coastal branch (Kaoko belt) and a north-east-trending intracontinental branch (Damara belt). The Damara belt is then subdivided into tectonostratigraphic zones according to the stratigraphy and structural-metamorphic characteristics. Tschudi is hosted at the contact of the Northern Platform and Northern Marginal Zone.

Regional Geology

The Tschudi orebody is stratiform, dipping c.30° north, with a strike length of c.3.9km, and mineralisation extending below 500m. The mineralisation is disseminated through sandstone and intermittent basal conglomerate unit of the Tschudi Formation, hosting oxide, secondary and primary sulphides.

The Tschudi formation lies unconformably on the dolomitic carbonate sediments of the Huttenberg Formation and the orebody thickens in areas where there are drag folds that overlies (upper orebody) the continuous lower orebody.

The Tschudi orebody is open ended to the east, west and downdip.

Tschudi Local Geology

The Tschudi resource is supported by an extensive historical drillhole database, comprising 1,127 holes and c.180km of drilling, including c.21km of diamond drilling.

Prior to CCC ownership, the pre-existing resource estimate at Tschudi was largely based on 26km drilling undertaken in 2006-07 by its previous owner. Between the commencement of mining in July 2015 and CCC taking ownership, all drilling undertaken was infill drilling of production areas. In 2023, CCC undertook the mine’s first exploration drilling program in 15 years and to date, have completed c.50km of drilling, increasing the mineral resource estimate from 38.0Mt at 0.82% Cu in 2021, to 109.5Mt at 0.75% Cu as of June 2026 (unconstrained resources of 109.5Mt and constrained resources (within RPEEE shell) of 46.3Mt; unconstrained and constrained resources are inclusive of reserves).

Historical Drillhole Database

Recent R&R Upgrades

¹ Unconstrained resources of 109.5Mt and constrained resources (within RPEEE shell) of 46.3Mt; unconstrained and constrained resources are inclusive of reserves

Map of Historical Drilling

CCC will complete a heap leach restart DFS by September 2026, delivering run-rate cathode production of >14ktpa copper, with a 10-year mine life.

The restart involves open pit mining recommencing in early 2027 with a staged approach utilising 90t rigid dump trucks and 200t class excavators. Material is drilled and blasted before hauling with blasting a done in 12m benches and ore mined in 3m flitches to minimise dilution. Waste is hauled to waste rock dumps south and north-east of the open pit.

Development capital for the heap leach restart is $30-40m, making the Tschudi one of the lowest capital-intensity restarts globally (c.$3,000/t).

Restart capital is utilised for dewatering, mining mobilisation and demobilisation, a mobile crushing plant and a leach pad. The restart capital cost benefits from the good condition of existing surface infrastructure, including the 2.88Mtpa SX/EW plant, offices, workshops, a wash bay, laydown area, fuel storage facility and grid power connections. Tschudi benefits from a direct connection to the national energy grid in Namibia by a 13km 66kV transmission line to the Otjikoto substation, which is then stepped down to 11kV at the Tschudi substation supplying up to 10MVA. 11kV reticulation distributes power to the processing / refinery plant, acid plant, crushing plant, boreholes and other infrastructure via dedicated feeders. 11kV/400V transformers provide low-voltage power for plant equipment, MCCs and auxiliary services.

In parallel with the heap leach restart DFS, CCC is concurrently progressing study work on an expansion targeting sulphide ore to increase open pit mining rates to 45Mtpa in conjunction with the construction of 3Mtpa flotation plant that will operate alongside SX/EW refining to increase average annual production to c.30kt CuEq per annum over 10+ years.

Tschudi Copper mine: Origins

Construction of the Tsumeb smelter during the 1960’s provided impetus for regional exploration to accelerate in an effort to diversify the plant’s sources of ore feed. Tschudi was first subject to exploration drilling in the 1970’s. Development initially took place as a small underground operation from 1980 but remained limited by capacity and financial constraints of the Tsumeb smelter which was subject to common ownership.

Divestment of the Tsumeb smelter in 2010 by Tschudi’s former parent company – Weatherly International Plc provided a catalyst for development of the modern Tschudi open pit, processing and supporting infrastructure. The Weatherly mine plan targeted shallow oxide ores with processing via an on-site heap leach.

At a capital cost exceeding $80m, construction of the modern Tschudi mine took place between 2013-14 providing state of the art infrastructure, including:

• Power line, substations and power supply
• Borefield and pipelines for water supply
• Access roads from the highway• Security fencing and gates
• Workshops and offices for the mine and plant
• Heap leach pads and waste storage facilities
• Solvent extraction/electro winning (SX/EW) plant

The processing facilities developed at Tschudi allowed production of pure refined copper on-site for the first time on a commercial scale in Namibia. Production of copper cathode commenced in 2015 and continued at a rate of around 15ktpa until 2020. Whilst in operation, Tschudi provided its host community with abundant employment opportunities, such that 98 percent of its 850-person workforce were Namibian citizens. The mine also commanded an excellent safety record, achieving over 1,110 days and 6 million hours worked free of LTI incidents.

Its historical financial performance under Weatherly’s management was impacted by lower- than-expected metallurgical recoveries throughout the life of mine, and a flooding event during 2018 which culminated in its former parent company being placed into administration.

Members of the CCC team were subsequently appointed by Tschudi’s administrators to responsibly manage the mine, overseeing its care and maintenance from 2020 whilst developing a sustainable long term restart plan.

Proactively Mitigating Historical Risk Factors

A foundation of CCC’s restart planning for Tschudi was to comprehensively study and understand risk factors that impacted its historical financial performance and develop bankable mitigation strategies to support future production.

Initial due diligence undertaken by the CCC team at its inception did not identify any ‘red flags’ that could impede development of a sustainable long-life restart at Tschudi. Several risk factors requiring mitigation were identified and the major ones included water
management and metallurgy.

Lower than forecast metallurgical recoveries remained an issue throughout Weatherly’s mining campaign at Tschudi. Compared to a forecast of 85% in Weatherly’s original 2012 Feasibility Study, CCC estimates that actual recoveries were in the order of 63%. This was
due to inadequate distinction and separation of ore types during the mining phase.

CCC has addressed this risk within its mine plan and processing strategy. Ore of different mineral types will be mined selectively and stockpiled separately on the Run-of-Mine (ROM) pad to ensure the processing circuit is fed appropriate ore types.

To further improve the processing recovery, CCC has undertaken extensive metallurgical test work focused on optimising recoveries from the existing heap leach plant and potential expansions of the plant to accommodate additional ore types. CCC’s restart strategy is thus initially focused on better utilising Tschudi’s existing proven heap leach facilities whilst accommodating future upgrades to support long term production from its deeper sulphide ores.

Restart Planning Process

After overseeing a safe and successful period of care and maintenance at Tschudi since 2020, CCC was established by the current team to develop, finance and execute a sustainable long term restart plan for the mine.

CCC’s restart planning has focused on exploration and metallurgy to understand the scale of the deposit at Tschudi and optimal methods for processing its ores. At CCC’s point of inception, Tschudi’s existing reserves were only sufficient to support a mine life of under three years. This was due to the size of the existing mineral resource estimate as well as significant levels of unrecovered copper remaining in the ores.

The pre-existing resource estimate at Tschudi was largely based on 26km drilling undertaken in 2006-07 by its previous owner. During 2023, CCC undertook the mine’s first exploration drilling program in 15 years. This ‘phase 1’, 20km program confirmed extensions of the orebody along strike and at depth, significantly increasing the mineral resource estimate at Tschudi. With the deposit remaining open along strike and depth, there remains considerable further scope to grow the Tschudi resource.

In parallel to demonstrating the deposit’s scale, CCC has also undertaken extensive metallurgical test work programs to identify the optimal processing method for Tschudi. These studies have confirmed that existing processing infrastructure remains in excellent condition and capable of processing the majority of ores identified to date at Tschudi.

Together, these initiatives were intended to support a restart of the mine to transform Tschudi into a sustainable large-scale, long-life operation.

Supported by over $80m invested at Tschudi to date establishing the existing pit and heap leach processing facilities, CCC restarted the processing facilities at the mine in 2024. To date, over 7.6kt of copper cathode conforming to LME Grade A specifications has been produced by CCC leveraging the significant stockpiles within the licence.

A DFS is to be completed by September 2026 for the restart of heap leach mining operations, with mining operations expected to recommence in early 2027. In parallel, CCC is progressing study work on an expansion to increase mining rates at the Tschudi open pit operations to enable the construction of flotation plant that will operate alongside SX/EW refining. Access to the pit following its initial dewatering will also enable CCC to undertake exploration drilling focused on depth extensions of the resource. Many analogous deposits from the Central African Belt host “feeder pipes” of high-grade mineralisation below disseminated near surface material such as that encountered so far at Tschudi.