QKR Navachab Gold Mine spends nearly N$500 million (US$30.3 million) annually on fuel, with a 30% increase in fuel costs adding pressure to operations as the company seeks to improve efficiency and extend the mine’s operating life.
Navachab Managing Director George Botshiwe said rising fuel and electricity costs were affecting the profitability of processing low-grade gold ore, forcing the mine to invest in technologies that reduce operating expenses.
“Because of that, operational efficiency is one of the key things. With this low-grade mine and costs going up, fuel alone this year went up by about 30% for us. We spend almost half a billion on fuel per year. A 30% increase in that is significant,” Botshiwe said.
He said the mine had introduced a pre-concentration plant, dense media separation and X-ray transmission sorting technologies to separate gold-bearing ore from waste before processing.
Navachab has also invested in high-pressure grinding technology to improve processing efficiency and reduce costs.
“We have to find ways of making this low-grade ore profitable. The biggest driver for us to invest in this equipment has been water, number one, and secondly, the cost of power,” Botshiwe said.
The mine has reduced reported water consumption from approximately 1.3 litres to 0.4 litres per tonne of material processed through improvements in processing methods and water-recovery systems.
Botshiwe said water supply interruptions had previously affected production, prompting the mine to construct storage dams capable of maintaining several days of supply.
The company has also introduced systems to recover and reuse water from its tailings facilities.
Meanwhile, Navachab is investing approximately N$150 million (US$9.1 million) in underground exploration to identify an additional 2.5 million ounces of gold that could extend the mine’s operating life by eight to 10 years.
Botshiwe said the company began developing an underground access tunnel in November 2025 and had completed more than two kilometres of development.
The mine is preparing an extensive underground drilling programme expected to take approximately six months, followed by a feasibility assessment to determine whether full-scale underground mining is commercially viable.
“By the fourth quarter of next year, we will be making a decision whether we are proceeding with full underground operations or not. We have got another 2.5 million ounces that we are trying to find,” Botshiwe said.
A decision on underground mining is expected in the fourth quarter of 2027, depending on exploration results and the outcome of the feasibility assessment.
Botshiwe said the mine was also undertaking rehabilitation of unused tailings storage facilities and updating its closure plan annually to account for changes in operations and associated costs.
Navachab operates around the clock using four rotating work panels on eight-hour shifts and has introduced fatigue-monitoring systems to improve worker safety.
