By: Ecofin agency

In Namibia, junior miner Koryx Copper has released an updated mineral resource estimate for its Haib copper project, now including gold as a byproduct for the first time. The update, announced on March 25, is expected to improve the project’s overall economics.

The company said the new estimate builds on previous exploration work and adds to the September 2025 resource base. Haib now hosts 2.09 million tons of copper in indicated resources and 1.38 million tons in inferred resources. It also includes 487,900 ounces of gold in indicated resources, along with 103.6 million pounds of molybdenum, another byproduct used in steel alloys.

For Koryx, the inclusion of these byproducts highlights the scale of Haib’s potential and opens new paths to significantly improve profitability and extend the project’s lifespan. Until now, the company had planned a copper-only operation, targeting annual output of 88,000 tons over 23 years, with an estimated capital cost of $1.55 billion.

These assumptions are expected to be revised in a prefeasibility study due by the fourth quarter of 2026, which will incorporate both gold and molybdenum. In the meantime, Koryx plans to accelerate exploration work and publish another resource update in the coming months.

Despite these advances, the company still needs to carry out further work to convert resources into mineable reserves, a key step before moving toward development. In late January, Koryx announced it had raised C$46 million (about $33 million) to fund the next phases of the project in 2026.