Critical minerals and green beneficiation company Lifezone Holdings has completed an S-K 1300 technical report summary (TRS) estimating mineral resources of 40.4-million tonnes for its exploration-stage Kabanga nickel project in north-west Tanzania.

Lifezone believes the Kabanga project, acquired by the company in 2021, comprises large and high-grade nickel sulphide deposits, with the TRS pointing to contained metal of 2.92-billion pounds of nickel equivalent grading 3.28%, 2.32-billion pounds of nickel grading 2.61%, 311-million pounds of copper grading 0.35% and 171-million pounds of cobalt grading 0.19%.

The 2022 nickel equivalent cut-off grade is 0.58% and is based on metal price assumptions of $9.50/lb for nickel, $4/pound for copper and $26/lb for cobalt.

Mineral resources are reported showing only the Lifezone-attributable tonnage portion, which is 69.7% of the total.

Lifezone recently entered into a business combination agreement with GoGreen Investments Corporation, which was in addition to a $90-million investment by BHP Billiton DDS, directly in Kabanga nickel.

Lifezone CEO Chris Showalter says the publication of the TRS for the Kabanga project is an important step forward in the development of the project. “Drilling and test work on the Kabanga project continue as we increase our understanding of what we believe is one of the world’s most important new sources of sulfide nickel supply for global battery metals markets.”

He adds that Lifezone’s proprietary hydrometallurgical processing technology is key to unlocking the value of the Kabanga project, which Lifezone believes has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions in battery metals refining compared to traditional smelting and refining. This, says Showalter, ultimately contributes to the production of cleaner battery metals.

Development at the Kabanga project is under way and is supported by $100-million worth of investments.

GoGreen CEO John Dowd says the data in the TRS indicates the project is one of the largest and highest-grade undeveloped nickel sulphide projects in the world. “We look forward to continued collaboration with BHP to bring this resource into production.”

The Kabanga project is located within the East African nickel belt which extends 1 500 km along a north-east trend that extends from Zambia in the southwest, though the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in the northeast, and straddles the western boundary of the Tanzania Craton to the east and the eastern boundary of the Congo Kasai Craton to the West.