Wia Gold adds 800,000 ounces in latest Kokoseb upgrade, now pushing towards DFS

Wia Gold (ASX: WIA) has once again fattened its Kokoseb gold resource in Namibia, lifting the total to 2.93 million ounces following its third mineral resource update in as many years. It is a hefty 38 percent increase from the April 2024 estimate and further cements Kokoseb as one of the more significant undeveloped gold deposits on the African continent.

The new resource clocks in at 89 million tonnes grading 1.0 grams per tonne gold at a 0.5 gram cut-off. More than half of that sits in the higher confidence Indicated category, with 54.2 million tonnes at 1.04 grams, giving 1.81 million ounces. This is a key development for Wia, as the higher resource category lays the groundwork for its ongoing Scoping Study and planned Definitive Feasibility Study in 2026.

The upgrade is backed by a robust drilling effort. Wia has now clocked up over 121,000 metres of drilling at Kokoseb, including more than 90,000 metres of reverse circulation and close to 30,000 metres of diamond core. The company’s current drill fleet includes four diamond rigs and one RC rig, with a focus on both deep extensions and shallow infill drilling.

Executive chairman Josef El-Raghy said the scale and quality of the resource gave the company plenty of confidence going forward.

“Kokoseb continues to grow exponentially,” he said. “It is very pleasing to note that a significant amount of the increased resources now falls into the higher confidence Indicated category. With continued drilling, we are learning more about the continuity of mineralisation along strike and at depth, as well as the potential for large sections of high-grade material.”

The updated estimate includes a higher-grade subset of 2.07 million ounces at 1.4 grams per tonne, using a 0.8 gram cut-off. This gives Wia flexibility in how it slices and dices the project as it eyes open pit development scenarios.

Much of the recent growth has come from new shallow high-grade zones and deeper plunging shoots. A standout hole, KRC3314, returned 27 metres at 6.79 grams per tonne in the footwall, an area interpreted as a splay branching off the main structure. This is now baked into the resource but remains open along strike, suggesting there is still more to find.

At depth, hole KDD0555 struck 26 metres at 7.90 grams per tonne, while KDD0646 intercepted two rich zones including 9.7 metres at 4.66 grams and 5.7 metres at 5.82 grams. These results hint at a possible underground mining future beyond the pit shell.

The Kokoseb deposit itself spans a strike of about 6.8 kilometres, with mineralisation averaging 70 to 100 metres in width and extending to a depth of 480 metres. About 75 percent of the resource sits within the top 230 metres, which fits neatly into the company’s open pit focus.

The deposit lies in central Namibia and is part of Wia’s Damaran Project, held 80 percent by Wia in joint venture with state-owned Epangelo. The project enjoys good access to infrastructure, with sealed roads leading to within close range and a nearby workforce with mining experience.

Kokoseb is also backed by promising metallurgy. Test work returned gold recoveries of 92 percent using gravity and direct cyanidation leaching, with most gold leaching within two to four hours. This should bode well for future cost and processing assumptions in the feasibility stage.

This is the third major resource upgrade since Kokoseb’s discovery in 2021. The maiden estimate in May 2023 came in at 1.3 million ounces, followed by 2.1 million ounces in April 2024, and now the latest tally of 2.93 million ounces. That’s a gain of more than 1.6 million ounces in just over two years.

The company will now aim to wrap up its Scoping Study in the coming months. It is expected to feed directly into a Definitive Feasibility Study scheduled for mid-2026, supported by the upgraded Indicated resource and ongoing drill data.

In the meantime, the rigs will keep spinning. With new zones emerging both near surface and at depth, Kokoseb still has room to grow. If Wia can keep converting high-grade hits into bankable ounces, this Namibian play may well turn out to be one of the more attractive gold growth stories on the ASX.