Celsius Resources Ltd. said Aug. 14 that it acquired an initial 30% interest in the Opuwo cobalt project in Namibia by spending A$500,000 on exploration on the property.

The company holds an option to acquire up to a 76% interest in the Opuwo joint venture with Gazania Investments 196 Pty. Ltd. and Amor Investments Pty. Ltd., which together hold the remaining 70% stake.

Celsius is required to spend another A$1 million in one year to earn the next 30% stake, and the final 16% will be earned by spending a further A$1 million within six months. All parties will be required to contribute to exploration once the company earns the 76% stake.

Meanwhile, a call option in the joint venture deal allows Celsius to acquire an additional 20% interest in the Project for about A$1.3 million prior to completing a bankable feasibility study.

As a result of Celsius' exploration to date on the project, the company has demonstrated large-scale, sediment-hosted copper-cobalt mineralization over more than 15 kilometers of strike length.

Drilling is underway at the project, and a significant resource drilling campaign is scheduled to begin in October. Scoping study activities have also commenced, enabling an initial evaluation of the key areas of metallurgy and mining engineering.