African Critical Elements has acquired 100 percent of Lepidico Canada Inc., including its secured debts, giving it an indirect 80 percent interest in the Karibib lithium, rubidium and caesium project in Namibia. Namibian company Huni Urib retains the remaining 20 percent. The acquisition required merger approval from the Namibian Competition Commission, granted in October 2026 following a public hearing in September, with conditions on local employment, skills development and participation.
Karibib is not a greenfield concept. The project comprises the Rubicon and Helikon sites near Karibib under a fully permitted mining licence, ML204, plus prospecting licence EPL5439, and it completed a definitive feasibility study in 2020. Lepidico invested about 12.1 million Australian dollars in Karibib after acquiring it in 2019, within total investment of about 13 million pounds over the past decade, before the project sat idle from 2022 as lithium prices fell and parent Lepidico Ltd was liquidated in May 2025.
ACE, formed in February 2026 by ILC Critical Minerals chairman John Wisbey and director Maurice Brooks, plans to refresh the 2020 feasibility study and other studies, update its financial and execution plans, and drill further for lithium and gold near Karibib, with domestic lepidolite concentration in Namibia as the first development stage. Executive chairman John Wisbey said the project could be in production within three years with appropriate further investment, and the mine expects to employ 30 people directly once operations resume.
The risks are named in the coverage. ACE is a new entrant with no Namibian operations and has disclosed no revised capital budget, construction start date or financing package. A Namibian group, Otwathika Investment Holdings, objected to the deal in July, and only 1 percent of ACE is Namibian owned. The asset is real and permitted; the funding to revive it is not yet shown.