Tag Archives: Lifezone Metals

Lifezone Metals edges closer to base metal refinement plan at Kabanga nickel project

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Lifezone Metals Limited says it has received a Multi-Metal Processing Facility Licence from the Government of Tanzania to refine nickel, copper and cobalt from its Kabanga nickel project at Kahama, located beside Barrick Gold’s former Buzwagi gold mine.

The Kabanga nickel project is in northwest Tanzania and is believed to be one of the world’s largest and highest-grade undeveloped nickel sulphide deposits, Lifezone says. The Kahama Multi-Metal Processing Facility site is around 340 km southwest of Kabanga. Lifezone’s subsidiary, Tembo Nickel Corporation Ltd is the operating entity for Kabanga and Kahama, and is 16% owned by the Government of Tanzania.

Notably, through the application of Lifezone’s Hydromet Technology, Kabanga and Kahama will be able to produce finished metals in-country, potentially reducing capital and operating costs, as well as reducing costs associated with transport of concentrate or other intermediate products. Full in-country beneficiation will contribute towards local content optimisation and eventually national development through the principle of equitable sharing of economic benefits, Lifezone says.

A definitive feasibility study for Kabanga remains on track for completion by the September quarter of 2024.

This licence news came alongside a separate announcement involving the signing of a binding subscription agreement for the issuance of $50 million of convertible debentures with a consortium of marquee mining investors. These are on top of BHP, Glencore and BlackRock as investors in the business. The proceeds are going towards development of Kabanga.

Lifezone Metals’ Hydromet Technology is a transformational method of metals recovery that has the potential to replace smelting for base and precious metals refining, according to the company. Pyrometallurgical smelting is one of the largest contributors to pollutive gas emissions, greenhouse gases and energy inefficiency in the production of metals products and the use of Hydromet Technology will help to unlock nickel, copper and cobalt from Kabanga, providing lower cost, lower emissions (relative to smelting) and traceable metals for electric vehicle batteries and to support the global energy transition, it says.

Chris Showalter, Lifezone CEO, said: “The ongoing level of commitment and support that we have received from the Government of Tanzania in the advancement of our Kabanga nickel project is exemplary. With the receipt of our Kabanga Special Mining Licence, and now the Kahama Refinery Licence, we have a clear path to delivering a direct-to-metal solution and enabling the production of nickel, copper and cobalt in Tanzania and by Tanzanians.”

The issuance of the Kahama Refinery License follows the formal gazettement of the Special Economic Zone (Declaration) Notice, 2024, which declared the Buzwagi Mining Area, within Kahama District in Shinyanga Region, a Special Economic Zone. The Kahama Refinery will be located within the Special Economic Zone, which will provide certain tax and other economic benefits for the project, according to Lifezone.

In addition, the Kahama Refinery stands to benefit from access to a highly trained workforce and legacy infrastructure from the Buzwagi gold mine, including existing camp and office buildings, regional power connections, airstrip, road connections and railway in near proximity, the company says.

This “plug-and-play” industrial hub brings significant project execution and capital cost benefits, as well as turning a past-producing mine liability into a long-term asset. Lifezone will not be taking on any legacy liabilities in relation to the closure of the Buzwagi gold mine, it added.

Future Metals makes mining and processing ‘breakthrough’ at Panton

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Future Metals says the latest flotation and ore sorting test work for its Panton platinum group metals project in Western Australia represents a mining and processing “breakthrough”.

Results from bulk ore sorting and flotation optimisation and repeatability test work for its Panton project demonstrated a significant de-risking for the future mining and processing of the company’s 6.9 Moz palladium-equivalent JORC resource and provide a credible path towards developing a low capital, high margin PGM-Ni operation, it said.

The company has also commenced scoping study and test work evaluation with PGM downstream processing technology providers.

Previous test work on Panton concentrate has demonstrated recoveries of 99%-plus for a majority of metals contained in the concentrate. These processes produce upgraded metals products for direct sale to refineries, or refining on site, improving payabilities, reducing logistics costs and reducing emissions relative to the smelting process route.

Initial assessment of the Lifezone Metals Ltd hydrometallurgy technology – which is already in use at the Pilanesberg Platinum Mines operation on South Africa’s Bushveld Complex – suggests that this would be a low capital flowsheet addition with significant operating and economic benefits.

Jardee Kininmonth, Managing Director of Future Metals, said: “We have now demonstrated a credible metallurgical solution which places Panton firmly on the development pathway. Panton is the highest grade PGM deposit in Australia, enabling us to progress a low capital and high margin operation with significant growth upside.

“Optimisation and variability flotation test work has demonstrated highly repeatable results with strong recoveries at high concentrate grades.”

New flotation results from this latest program of optimisation and variability test work yielded positive results on the high-grade chromitite samples with PGM recoveries of 75.7-81.4% with concentrate grades from 167-387 g/t PGM with an average of 286 g/t PGM.

Kininmonth continued: “The ore sorting results are significant, as it is the key to increasing mineable tonnes while ensuring the ore reporting to the mill is high grade. This allows for increased economies of scale within the mine, utilising conventional underground mining methods, while decreasing processing plant capital costs by increasing the grade of the mill feed, with negligible losses of high-grade ore.”

Following “sighter” test work success, a bulk sorting test was completed with Steinert Sorting Solutions using its X-ray Transmission (XRT) and 3D Laser combination sort program, due to the chromitite in the Panton samples being substantially higher in atomic density.

The bulk test work involved compositing separate chromitite and dunite samples to replicate the expected feed mix from a mine stope. The chromitite and dunite were crushed and screened into to three size fractions: plus-25 mm, plus-10 mm, and -10 mm.

The bulk ore sort test work validated the sighter test work on multiple size fractions, demonstrating 96.7% recovery of high-grade ore and rejection of low-grade and waste, increasing the PGM grade of the potential mill feed by 10.7% and reducing the throughput volume by 12.7%.

Kininmonth concluded: “Additionally, we have been progressing discussions with potential technology partners to assess a low-capital downstream integration option at Panton. Downstream integration enables the production of high-margin metals products while also significantly decreasing the emissions profile associated with those products, thereby differentiating Panton from the majority of South African and Russia producers, which use coal-fired power and generate other emissions such as sulphur dioxide.

“Downstream processing also closely aligns Panton with the Australian Government’s critical minerals strategy which incentivises onshore upgrading and development of strategically important deposits such as Panton.”