Lifezone Metals, which plans to produce nickel with a lower carbon footprint in Tanzania, has agreed a New York listing with special purpose acquisition company GoGreen Investments GOGN_u.N, the company said on Dec. 13.
Lifezone Metals owns the Kabanga nickel mine and refinery project, which was backed by global miner BHP Billiton in January. The SPAC deal values the company at about $1 billion.
The refinery will use hydrometallurgy technology developed by Lifezone, which uses water-based solutions to separate metal from waste rock and is more efficient than traditional energy-intensive smelting processes that heat ore to extremely high temperatures.
"This really provides two key solutions: access to a significant new source of battery metal in Kabanga in partnership with BHP Billiton, and clean, ESG-friendly processing technology," said Chris Showalter, CEO of Lifezone Metals.
Lifezone plans to produce 44 million tonnes of Kabanga resources in 2026 with an average nickel grade of 2.61 per cent, as well as 0.35 per cent copper and 0.19 per cent cobalt.
Lifezone Metals plans to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange in the second quarter of 2023 under the ticker symbol LZM. Investors have put more than $70 million into the company through a Private investment in Public equity (PIPE).
John Dowd, chief executive officer of GoGreen Investments, said: "The deployment of capital so far has raised sufficient capital for electric vehicles and batteries, but very little for the supply chain.
The refinery plan is a win for Tanzania, which like many resource-rich African countries wants to add more value to its minerals at home. The Tanzanian government holds a 16 per cent stake in Tembo Nickel, a subsidiary of Kabanga Nickel.
Indonesia now accounts for about 40 per cent of the world's nickel supply, with Chinese companies controlling much of that production. Finding alternative sources of battery metal is a top priority for the United States.
