Barrick and Xstrata Invest $95 Million as Nickel Flirts with $40,000 per Ton

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The Kabanga Nickel project in Western Tanzania in East Africa holds one of the world’s most attractive undeveloped nickel sulphide deposits with a total estimated resource of 9.7 million tons grading 2.37% nickel and a total estimated inferred resource of 36.3 million tons grading 2.8% nickel. The revised estimate represents a notable increase from the project’s previous estimate (inferred) of 26.4 million tons at 2.6% nickel. This is the background to the announcement of a further $95 million investment in the project by the 50/50 joint venture between Barrick Gold Corporation and Xstrata Nickel.

The new investment follows the update to the preliminary resource estimate and marks the commencement of a pre-feasibility study to advance the Kabanga Nickel project. To date, Xstrata Nickel has completed over $50 million in expenditures to update the resource model for the project and preparation of an extensive scoping study.

Xstrata was very pleased with the project’s progress placing it among the world’s most attractive nickel projects said Ian Pearce, CEO of the company. “We anticipated good results from our resource estimate update and we received them. We have taken the logical next step of moving this project to the pre-feasibility stage and we look forward to the continued development of Kabanga.”

With nickel flirting with the $40,000 per ton record price levels in recent days (and dropping back as stocks build), it is not surprising that Greg Wilkins, Barrick’s President and CEO, was very positive about the project saying, ”Kabanga has the potential to become a world-class nickel sulfide deposit. The most recent resource has a compelling combination of size with high grades.”

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