Name of the Project
Kanyika niobium project.

Location
About 55 km north-east of the regional centre of Kasangu, in central Malawi.

Project Owner/s
Globe Metals & Mining.

Project Description
Kanyika has the potential to become the first new globally significant niobium mine in 50 years.

The project will be developed in two phases.

Phase 1 involves the development of an  86 000 t/y run-of-mine operation producing 1 760 t/y of concentrate for shipment to a planned refinery, in Lilongwe.
Phase 2 will expand the operation to 1.5-million tonnes a year producing 17 700 t/y of concentrate. This phase also includes a refinery to be built in Malawi.

Kanyika will have nameplate production of 3 267 t/y of niobium pentoxide, and 136 t/y of tantalum pentoxide over its 27-year life-of-mine. The products will be high-specification and -purity products with grades of more than 99.5% and 99% respectively.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1-billion and internal rate of return of 47.08%, with a payback of 4.4 years.

Capital Expenditure
Phase 1 capital is estimated at $29-million and includes the mine, concentrator and refinery development.

Phase 2 is estimated at $231-million

Planned Start/End Date
Globe expects to start with the execution of its Phase 1 project by the end of 2024, starting with the front-end engineering design phase, followed by project construction scheduled for early 2025.

Latest Developments
Globe Metals & Mining has reported that capital funding requirements for Phase 1 project development have been finalised at an estimated  $46-million, inclusive of a 25% project contingency allocation.

The company says the Phase 1 project development plan is confirmed, with a clear path to project construction.

A funding strategy has been formulated to best support the project and minimise shareholder dilution, consisting of equity-related funding, including strategic equity funders contributing about $8-million, project debt amounting to about $15-million, convertible instruments totalling about $9-million and offtake prefinancing of about $14-million.

Equity funding could involve a general issue of shares to the market, along with allocations to cornerstone investors. It says discussions with the cornerstone investors are well advanced, but remain ongoing.

Progress on project debt and convertible note funding is also advanced, with negotiations in progress. Globe says it has received substantial support from global and regional development institutions, which will play a crucial role in providing the necessary debt and convertible note funding.

Strategically, the company has decided to focus on and has finalised a “target list” of strategic offtakers. Discussions regarding the long-term offtake of its main high-purity products – niobium, tantalum and zirconium – are progressing well.

Meanwhile, Globe has reported that Phase 1 development of the Kanyika project is progressing mostly on schedule, despite minor delays caused by the relocation of the refinery to Malawi, owing to the work required for the environmental- and social-impact assessment (ESIA), and the incentives associated with the export development zone, which are expected to be finalised shortly.

As announced on March 20, the company says it has made significant advancements in the metallurgical testwork for its chlorination refinery, successfully completing laboratory tests and metals extraction tests.

Globe is now commissioning the refinery, with an announcement expected soon. The pilot-scale refinery will produce marketing samples to support ongoing offtake agreement discussions.

Following the pilot refinery phase, the company says it will update its feasibility study to include the construction of the refinery in Malawi. This update will encompass the finalisation of the ESIA and its approval by Malawian authorities.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Globe Metals & Mining, tel +61 8 6118 7240 or email info@globemm.com.