Meet Innogy: BHP's newest nickel neighbour in Tanzania

Electrification and decarbonisation trends are set to increase global nickel demand up to fourfold over the next three decades, according to BHP (ASX: BHP).

“We anticipate demand for nickel in the next 30 years will be 200% to 300% of the demand in the previous 30 years,” said BHP's Nickel West asset president Jess Farrell said at a conference in Sydney late last year. By February 2023, the company agreed to invest $100 million in its Kabanga Nickel Project - The world's largest development ready nickel-sulphide deposit with a Mineral Resource Estimate of 58.2 million tonnes at grades of 2.62%.

Just 60 kilometres northeast of Kabanga lies Innogy Limited (ASX: IOG) – The name comes from the words “innovative” and “energy” – which are key themes for a company that has established itself as Tanzania’s largest nickel tenement holder, with an exploration package covering 5,300 km²and neighbours the world class Kabanga. 

Innogy is seeking to raise up to $8 million at 20 cents per share to fund exploration activities at four project areas, prospective for nickel as well as lithium, cobalt and gold.

The IPO offer is now open and the company expects to make its ASX debut in June.

Post listing, Innogy will have a market cap between $9-12 million and an enterprise value of approximately $5 million, subject to the funds raised.

4 Projects with massive acreage and high-profile neighbours 

Innogy’s strategy is to explore for battery minerals, with a focus on nickel. This will take place at three early-stage projects – Northern Frontier, Western Frontier and Southern Frontier Projects. Here are some of their highlights:

Northern Frontier: Positioned along world class deposits

• Covers 2,400 km² of prospective licences

• Positioned along strike of BHP’s Kabanga in northwest Tanzania

• The region is also prospective for lithium, located in the northern part of the Kibaran orogenic belt, which shares similarities with AVZ’s (ASX: AVZ) Manono Project, located in the southern part of the belt

Western Frontier: Early exploration for near-term drilling

• Covers 1,400km² of under-explored ground towards the southern end of the Kabanga-Musongati-Kapalagulu alignment of nickel sulphide deposits

• Northern tenements surround Resource Mining’s (ASX: RMI) Kabulwanyele Nickel Project – Recent mapping shows nickel laterite mineralisation that extends into Western Frontier tenure

• Prospective for nickel sulphide mineralised ultramafics beneath, presenting near-term drilling targets

Southern Frontier: Greenfield nickel opportunity

• Approximately 900 km² of ‘under-explored’ ground

• Innogy will be the maiden on-the-ground explorers of this area, which has no historic exploration data

• Tenement shares similarities with the Thompson Nickel Belt in Canada, one of the world's largest nickel camps

A secondary focus on lithium and gold exploration will occur at the Frontier Projects as well as the Golden Eagle Project, subject to relevant prospecting licences. 

Golden Eagle: Along high-grade gold strike 

• Located on the eastern margin of the 70 million ounce Lake Victoria Goldfields

• Same structural corridor as Resolute Mining’s (ASX: RSG) historic 3.4 million ounce Golden Pride mine

• “Several untested gold prospects and crosscutting shear zones and faults.”

What the next 12-months looks like

The company plans to allocate approximately a third of its $3-5 million exploration budget towards the Northern Frontier Project. Existing targets will be quickly refined by on-the-ground geochemical and geophysical surveys, before drill testing the most prospective for nickel sulphides and lithium pegmatites during the second half of 2023

The numerous untested nickel sulphide and laterite targets at Western Frontier also present Innogy with near-term drilling opportunities.

The Southern Frontier Project’s represent under-explored tenements where the company will carry out early-stage exploration activities to test the most prospective areas to generate anomalies for drilling.