Twin Hills targets 2027 gold
Shanjin International Gold expects its Twin Hills gold mine near Karibib to begin production in the first half of 2027, with total planned investment now standing at RMB3.654 billion, equivalent to approximately N$8.8 billion.
By the end of June 2026, the company had invested about RMB1.185 billion, or N$2.9 billion, including RMB654 million, or about N$1.6 billion, in the first six months of the year, according to its latest interim results.
Construction of access roads, the processing plant and tailings storage facility is progressing, while equipment installation and earthworks for open-pit stripping are under way. The company said optimisation of the mining pit and formation of the operations team were also progressing.
If the timetable is achieved, Twin Hills will become Namibia's third large-scale producing gold mine, joining Navachab near Karibib and B2Gold's Otjikoto mine between Otjiwarongo and Otavi.
Navachab has been producing since 1989, while Otjikoto poured its first gold in December 2014 and entered commercial production in 2015. Although open-pit mining at Otjikoto ended in 2025, the operation continues to produce gold from the Wolfshag underground mine and stockpiled ore. B2Gold is also developing the Antelope underground deposit to extend production.
Twin Hills would therefore be the first new large-scale gold mine to enter production in Namibia since Otjikoto more than a decade ago.
Construction includes a tailings storage facility, a 66-kilovolt transmission line and 11-kilovolt substation, realignment of the D1941 road, pre-stripping, and construction and equipment installation at the processing plant.
Shanjin's latest figures show that Twin Hills is being developed as an open-pit operation capable of processing five million tonnes of ore annually and producing about five tonnes of gold a year at design capacity.
The processing capacity broadly aligns with the development concept established by Osino Resources before its takeover. However, estimates of the project's size and resource base have changed as it has advanced.
The latest figures put Twin Hills' gold resources at 131.2 tonnes, or approximately 4.219 million ounces, as at 31 December 2025, while gold reserves stood at 67.2 tonnes, or approximately 2.161 million ounces.
Osino's June 2023 Definitive Feasibility Study reported measured and indicated resources of about 2.94 million ounces, with a further 250,000 ounces classified as inferred, giving an overall resource inventory of about 3.19 million ounces. Proven and probable reserves stood at approximately 2.15 million ounces.
The 2023 study envisaged a five-million-tonne-per-year open-pit operation with an approximately 13-year mine life. Osino's current project information still cites a 13-year mine life and more than two million ounces in reserves.
The reported resource inventory has therefore increased by about one million ounces between the 2023 DFS estimate and Shanjin's latest figure. However, the estimates were prepared at different dates and should not be treated as directly comparable without considering their respective reporting bases and classifications.
Reserves, meanwhile, have remained broadly unchanged at about 2.15 million to 2.16 million ounces.
Twin Hills was a grassroots discovery made by Osino in August 2019 before Shanjin acquired the company for C$368 million in 2024.
The project is also expected to become a significant employer in the Karibib area. Osino projects about 1,000 jobs during construction and approximately 800 during operations, covering mining, processing, maintenance and related activities.
Twin Hills lies near Navachab in an established gold-mining corridor, while Osino's wider exploration portfolio extends through Namibia's prospective Damara mineral belt.
The project has therefore progressed from a grassroots discovery in 2019 to a development with more than four million ounces of reported resources, more than two million ounces of reserves and a planned five-million-tonne-a-year processing operation.
