Osino boss joins copper company

After overseeing the recent sale of Osino Resources to Shanjin, chief executive Heye Daun has joined Koryx Copper.
This was announced by Canadian company Koryx in a statement issued by its president, Pierre Léveillé, last Wednesday.

Daun’s appointment as executive chairman is with immediate effect, it says.

Joining Daun is Alan Friedman as lead independent director.

Koryx Copper Inc is a copper development company focused on advancing the Haib Copper Project in Namibia, while also building a portfolio of copper exploration licences in Zambia.

The Haib project is a large copper-molybdenum deposit located in the //Kharas region.

Haib has a long history of exploration and project development by multiple companies, including Falconbridge (1964), Rio Tinto (1975) and Teck (2014).

Teck remains a strategic and supportive shareholder.

Mineralisation at Haib is typical of a porphyry copper deposit, a major global source of copper and the deposit remains intact.

Haib is one of the few examples of a paleoproterozoic porphyry copper deposit in the world and one of only two in southern Africa – both in Namibia.

According to the statement, pending the conclusion of their technical review of Koryx activities, Daun and Friedman will lead the repositioning of Koryx Copper as a successful African copper developer.

“After investing our own capital into Koryx earlier in 2024, we are delighted to now be joining the board of directors and to be taking a leading role in repositioning Koryx as a successful Namibian copper developer with very significant scale potential,” Daun, a Namibian-born engineer, says.

“Our track record and experience, particularly in Namibia, in founding Osino and leading its rapid advancement from discovery to construction, is a great example of our vision for Koryx Copper. That vision is to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the Haib Copper Project as the next great copper development asset in Africa.

“We plan to achieve this by financing the company, assembling a quality management team, and then to permit and advance the project to construction readiness in as short a time frame as possible,” he says.

Léveillé says the appointment of Daun and Friedman to the Koryx board is a significant addition to the company.

“They bring a wealth of technical and capital market knowledge and project development experience to the company. They have been very successful at founding resource companies, making discoveries and advancing such companies through public listings, significant financings, mergers and acquisitions and ultimately exiting.

“This addition comes on the heels of their most recent success, the sale of Namibia gold developer Osino Resources to Shanjin International Gold Co. Ltd for around C$368m (N$5.5 billion).

“Their vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa, more specifically, Namibia, will add considerable value to Koryx as we develop our mineral assets in Namibia and Zambia,” Léveillé says.
– matthew@namibian.com.na