African Nickel Limited is seeking between US$2.5 million and US$5 million to fund the Kunene Nickel Project in Namibia.
The South African-based company has a 75% interest in EPLs 7609 (6372 ha) and 7610 (4931 ha), under which the Kunene Nickel Project resides.
The company was also negotiating to acquire EPL 4361 (30 000 ha), enter into a JV or royalty agreement with the holder.
The Kunene Nickel Project deposit has an estimated yield of 91.60 Mt, which has been identified on the surface of the Ombuku North area of the project.
The initial test work has indicated the presence of not only nickel but also copper, cobalt, and platinum-group metals as well.
The commencement of the drilling and exploration programme on Kunene is set to prove further extensive deposits with the potential of quadrupling the current estimated yield to a total of approximately 366.4 Mt.
According to the latest investor presentation, a US$2.5 million equity investment will enable African Nickel Limited to drill additional holes at Kunene’s Ombuku North target, update the resource model, and finalise the preliminary economic assessment.
The company will also conduct a study at Ombuku North and declare a maiden resource within approximately six months of receiving funding.
An equity investment of US$5 million will enable the company to do drill work at the Ombuku South target and declare a maiden resource for this target as well.
Based on the valuation pricing of the last investment in November 2023 of US$0.108 per share, the US$2.5 million investment will provide 11.7% ownership of the company.
African Nickel says its exclusive investor, Q Global Commodities (QGC), is experiencing cash flow issues affecting all South African exporters due to Transnet, road transport infrastructure, and ports underperformance.
In October 2023, QGC, owned by Quinton Van der Burgh, and F9 Capital Management, founded by Simon Fentham-Fletcher, announced a US$1 billion investment in projects including Kunene Nickel.
Rudolf de Bruin and Dr. David Twist founded African Nickel Ltd. in 2006.
African Nickel has a 75% shareholding in Nitomic Mineral Resources (Pty) Ltd., which operates the Kunene Nickel Project, while Lexrox Exploration has a 25% shareholding.
The South African-based company had an agreement with Anglo-American, which expired in 2011.
Through Anglo-American, African Nickel inherited the mineral exploration database of work conducted in Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Burundi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Mozambique.
Most, if not all, of the projects African Nickel inherited from Angola-American Corp. were small.
Anglo-American Corp. had drilled two holes at the Ombuku prospect when it abandoned the Kunene project, which has two targets: Ombuku North and Ombuku South.
Since taking over the project, African Nickel has conducted various geophysical surveys, extensive Gossan searches, stream and soil sampling, and completed various drill holes.
Five of the 11 drillholes have mineralised zones above 0.3% NiEq.
The company completed pit shell optimisation in 2013 for the preliminary surface resource. The pit shell optimisation would be updated with ongoing drill work.
African Nickel also commissioned a concept study on mining the Kunene orebody in November 2022, and the reasonable prospect of an economic extraction estimate for surface and underground mining is at an advanced stage.
In November 2022, African Nickel commissioned a competent person report and a preliminary compliant resource quantification done during the first quarter of 2023 in the Ombuku North target.
Also, in June 2023, African Nickel completed a desk-top study on metallurgical strategy for Kunene and started a focused exploration programme with key milestones to declare a potentially significant maiden-compliant resource by the first half of 2024.
The audio magnetotelluric geophysical survey work completed by mid-June 2023 will allow accurate drill work planning in Ombuku North and South.
In July, the company started extracting a bulk sample with a bench scale.
In August 2023, Africa Nickel started metallurgical test work, which will lead to a pre-feasibility study.
