By JAMES ANYANZWA

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Lifezone Metals Ltd, the parent firm of Tanzania’s Tembo Nickel Corporation Ltd, this week listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in a landmark development touted to open up the mining firm to deep-pocketed global investors to push its Kabanga Nickel Project to fruition.

Tanzanian mining industry burst to the global scene on July 6 with the commencement of trading of Lifezone Metals stock on the American securities exchange under the symbol NYSE: LZM, elevating the importance of the Kabanga Nickel Project on the world stage.

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The listing of Lifezone Metals shares on the NYSE comes months after the Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu hosted United States Vice President Kamala Harris in March this year, strengthening the bilateral ties between Dodma and Washington.

The meeting in Dar es Salaam demonstrated the growing strategic relationship between the two nations and Tanzania’s critical role as a key emerging supplier of critical minerals, Tembo Nickel said.

“We are proud to say that Tembo Nickel, our company responsible for bringing Kabanga to life, is making great strides every day to demonstrate to the world how we can disrupt the status quo in the metal's extraction process. We are proud that Kabanga and Tanzania will serve as the case study for this,” said Benedict Busunzu, Tembo Nickel CEO during the bell-ringing ceremony on Thursday.

“We believe that by Lifezone Metals becoming a public company we have gained more validation. It is an honour to be present for the official opening of trading today, and this is significant to my fellow citizens. We get to take Tanzania to the US market.”

Lifezone Metals announced its plan to list on the NYSE in December 2022, with a believe that by accessing the largest pool of funding in the world via the NYSE, the transaction would help Tembo Nickel advance the development of the Kabanga Nickel Project and progress towards production over the coming years.

The Kabanga Nickel Project is a mining and processing operation producing high-grade nickel, cobalt and copper refined metals entirely in Tanzania.

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Tembo Nickel will continue to operate as a partnership with the Government of Tanzania for the equitable sharing of benefits from the Kabanga project, one of the undeveloped nickel deposits with the potential to maximise use of renewable energy to the mine and refinery sites.

Lifezone says the potential of the Kabanga mine and HydroMet technology to produce refined high-grade nickel, copper cathode and cobalt will make an important contribution to the clean energy transition and combating climate change.

Nickel is a key component for batteries, making up 31 percent of the carbon budget in an EV battery and represents up to 80 percent of battery’s active material.

According to the World Economic Forum demand for high-purity battery-grade nickel will increase by a factor of 24 in 2030, compared with 2018 levels, putting the market under pressure in the next few years.

Situated in the North-West of Tanzania, the Kabanga Nickel project hosts one of the world's largest development-ready nickel supplied deposits.

Mining operations are expected to take place in Ngara, with the final metals to be refined in Kahama.

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The project is expected to create skilled and technical jobs and provide high standards of community support for the local communities around the Project area in the Ngara District and elsewhere.

Lifezone Metals says it is poised to become a major supply chain solution to automakers to help meet global battery demand. The firm expects to work with the Tanzanian government and global resources company BHP Billiton DDS Ltd in the Tembo Nickel partnership.

Tembo Nickel, which is owned 84 percent by Kabanga Nickel and 16 percent by the Government of Tanzania, was established to mine, process and refine nickel with cobalt and copper co-products. These stakeholders are to share the key benefits of the Kabanga project equitably including revenue, infrastructure, skills creation and employment.