On July 18, 2025, Lifezone Metals Limited announced that Lifezone had completed a definitive agreement with BHP Billiton (UK) DDS Limited (BHP) to acquire BHP’s 17% equity interest in Kabanga Nickel Limited (KNL), the majority owner of the Kabanga Nickel Project.
As a result of the transaction, Lifezone owns 100% of KNL, which in turn holds an 84% interest in Tembo Nickel Corporation Limited (TNCL), the Tanzanian operating company for the Kabanga Nickel Project. The remaining 16% of TNCL is held by the Government of Tanzania.
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Summary:
The Kabanga nickel deposit is located within the East African Nickel Belt, which extends approximately 1,500 km along a northeast trend that extends from Zambia in the southwest to Uganda in the northeast.
The Project comprises six distinct mineralized zones, namely (from southwest to northeast) Main, MNB, Kima, North, Tembo, and Safari, which occur over a strike length exceeding 7.5 km. The five mineralized zones that contribute to the Mineral Resource estimate (Main, MNB, Kima, North, and Tembo) extend over a total strike length of 6 km and for up to 1.7 km below the surface.
Mineralization Style Kabanga sulfide mineralization occurs both as:
• Disseminated to net-textured interstitial sulfides located within the cumulate core of the Kabanga chonoliths, as well as externally, and
• Massive and semi-massive sulfide bodies along the lower and side margins of the chonolith, that being the contact with the stratigraphic host (Evans et al., 1999).
The massive sulfides, defined as having > 80% modal sulfide, comprise dominantly pyrrhotite, with trace to 15% pentlandite. These account for the majority of the Mineral Resource estimates reported for the Project. Pentlandite exhibits distinct recrystallization textures expressed as globules up to 5 cm in diameter. Accessory sulfides include chalcopyrite and trace pyrite, galena, arsenopyrite, cubanite, niccolite, cobaltite, and mackinawite. Remobilized, generally pyrrhotite-rich, massive sulfides also occur as cross-cutting and conformable veins within the ultramafic units.
The tenor composition of the sulfides (as represented by the percentage of nickel in 100% sulfide) ranges from 5% to 6% near the basal margins to 0.5% to 1% in the upper cumulates (Evans et al., 1999; Maier and Barnes, 2010). Tenor also varies between mineralized zones, generally the smaller intrusive bodies (by cross-sectional area) that occur lower in the stratigraphy, such as North and Tembo zones, are more richly endowed.
Alteration and Weathering
At the surface, the ultramafic bodies are completely weathered to saprolite. The depth of oxidation ranges from 40–100m in the Project area. At North Zone, massive sulfides are weathered to depths of 80–100m. The Tembo Zone massive sulfides horizon is located 98% in fresh, unoxidized material. In general, nickel laterite formation over the associated ultramafic is weakly developed with minor nickel-bearing serpentine and rare garnierite.