Wia’s primary asset is the Kokoseb gold project in Namibia, which is considered one of the lowest-risk jurisdictions in Africa.

The company entered Namibia in 2020 following a change of regulation in Tanzania but was initially looking for base metals.

It gradually picked up gold licenses through 2020 but it wasn’t until early 2022 when it started drilling at an anomaly called Kokoseb.

In June 2022, Wia reported drill hits of 17.4m at 2.7 grams per tonne gold from 49m, including 5.2m at 5.91g/t; and 4.8m at 4.38g/t gold from 110.9m, confirming Kokoseb as a new gold discovery.

By May 2023, Wia reported a maiden inferred resource of 1.3 million ounces at 1g/t gold at a cost of just US$2 per ounce.

Weeks later, Centamin founder Josef El-Raghy, who had been a shareholder in Wia since 2020, became a substantial holder with 7.5% of the company.

Turning point

In mid-April, Wia reported an increase in the Kokoseb resource to 66 million tonnes at 1g/t gold for 2.12Moz of gold, up 63%, with mineralisation remaining open in all directions and at depth.

The discovery cost remained at a low US$2.80/oz.

Two days later, El-Raghy signed on as executive chairman. He won’t be paid a salary but has long-term incentives tied to performance milestones.

El-Raghy replaced non-executive chairman Andrew Pardey, who remains a director of Wia. The pair worked together at A$3 billion London-listed gold producer Centamin: El-Raghy as chairman and Pardey as CEO. More recently, Pardey has become well-known in Australia as the managing director of Guinea gold developer Predictive Discovery.

The positive news flow paved the way for Wia to raise A$16.9 million at A8c per share, a slim discount, with El-Raghy and director Mark Arnesen subscribing for a combined A$900,000.

Since then, Wia has continued drilling at Kokoseb with three rigs, as well as kicking off a 6000m reverse circulation drilling program at the Bouafle gold project in Cote d’Ivoire, which sits to the northwest of Perseus Mining’s Yaoure mine.

Earlier this week, Wia reported assay results for a further 57 drill holes at Kokoseb, which confirmed continuity of existing zones, identified high-grade mineralisation below the resource and discovered a new mineralised area in the Eastern zone.

Results included 22.2m at 2.54g/t gold from 361.5m and 20.9m at 1.53g/t gold from 287.9m, which extended mineralisation at the Central zone, while extensional drilling at the Southern and Gap zones returned 12m at 1.26g/t gold from 119m and 19m at 1.18g/t gold from 245m.

Shallow intercepts at the Eastern zone’s new mineralised shoot included 26m at 1.08g/t gold from 101m and 4m at 4.95g/t gold from 80m.

Argonaut has crunched some early numbers on Kokoseb and forecasts a US$365 million, 5Mt per annum operation to produce 154,000ozpa over 10 years.

“We note the recent mineral resource estimate update captured 2.12Moz in an US$1800/oz optimised pit shell,” analyst Patrick Streater said.

“The consistent wide lodes at Kokoseb should result in only minor dilution so we expect a strong conversion rate of the 2.12Moz resource into an eventual reserve.”

Corporate potential

Argonaut’s Streater believes last week’s acquisition by Perseus of a 17.3% stake in Predictive Discovery shines a light on Wia and Kokoseb.

“We don’t see a lot of other quality ASX-listed assets in Africa coming through the pipeline,” he said.

“There are plenty of projects around but most lack the scale to justify their own development and don’t offer the returns to compensate for Africa’s sovereign risk.

“Still early stages but Kokoseb looks to be in a good spot, scale, further MRE growth potential and located in one of Africa’s more favoured mining jurisdictions.”

Kokoseb has been compared to Osino Resources’ nearby 3Moz Twin Hills project.

Late last year, Osino agreed to a C$287 million takeover by Dundee Precious Metals. That offer was later trumped by a C$368 million bid by China’s Yintai Gold, a deal which is set to close next week.

“We think there’s still further study work and de-risking to be done before Wia becomes a target but the recent A$417 million transaction for Osino Resources provides a good yardstick transaction value for Wia,” Streater said.

He maintained his speculative buy rating this week and lifted his price target by A5c to A28c.

Wia shares were trading at a three-month high of A11c yesterday.

Despite the soft market for juniors, the stock is up 175% since the start of the year.