Keypoints:
- Orion reportedly leads Kabanga investor race
- Mine requires $942m before production
- Tanzania seeks processing and local value
TANZANIA’S Kabanga nickel project is moving closer to a US-backed investment after Lifezone Metals reportedly identified the Critical Minerals Consortium, known as Orion CMC, as its preferred strategic investor following a competitive process managed by Standard Chartered.
The prospective transaction could help finance a $942m underground mine and concentrator while extending Washington’s drive to secure critical minerals beyond supply chains dominated by China and Indonesia. No binding agreement, investment amount or proposed stake has been publicly announced.
US-backed consortium leads race
Bloomberg reported on August 5, 2026, that Orion CMC had emerged as the favoured investor, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Lifezone has not publicly named the preferred bidder, although chief executive Chris Showalter told investors that the company had chosen a partner after receiving multiple offers.
Lifezone’s half-year results said negotiations for a strategic equity investment were at an advanced stage.
They also confirmed that the US International Development Finance Corporation had completed due diligence for political-risk insurance and that Société Générale was advancing the wider project-financing process.
Orion CMC is a capital platform managed by New York-based Orion Resource Partners. The DFC closed a $600m investment in the platform in January 2026 as part of a $1.8bn public-private partnership involving Orion and Abu Dhabi investor ADQ.
A later DFC public summary proposed a further $900m in direct equity and debt, in addition to the $600m already approved.
The consortium is designed to invest in near-production-ready critical-mineral projects through debt, equity and production-linked financing.
Its reported interest in Kabanga would deepen Washington’s expanding African mining push, which has increasingly used public finance to support graphite, copper, rare-earth and nickel developments across the continent.
Why Kabanga matters
Kabanga lies in north-western Tanzania near the Burundi border. Lifezone owns 100 percent of Kabanga Nickel Limited, which holds 84 percent of Tembo Nickel Corporation Limited, the Tanzanian operating company.
Tanzania’s government owns the remaining 16 percent through a free-carried interest.
A feasibility study filed in July 2025 outlines an 18-year operation processing 52.2m tonnes of ore grading 1.98 percent nickel, 0.27 percent copper and 0.15 percent cobalt.
The initial development phase covers an underground mine, concentrator, tailings facility and supporting infrastructure, with pre-production capital estimated at $942m.
Lifezone describes Kabanga as one of the world’s largest and highest-grade development-ready nickel sulphide deposits.
That company assessment remains promotional, but the project’s high ore grades and expected copper and cobalt by-products strengthen its commercial appeal.
BHP’s exit in 2025 left Lifezone with full ownership of Kabanga Nickel Limited and control of the project’s offtake.
The Australian mining group had previously invested in the development. Reuters reported that the uncertain nickel outlook and BHP’s capital-allocation framework had made further investment in large greenfield nickel projects difficult.
BHP’s initial entry into the development was covered in Africa Briefing’s earlier Kabanga report.
US-China contest sharpens
The identity of the reported preferred investor matters because Chinese nickel producer Lygend Resources had also held discussions over a possible Kabanga stake.
Reuters reported in June that Lygend was examining Tanzania as Chinese-backed producers looked beyond Indonesia, which supplied more than 60 percent of global mined nickel in 2025.
The resulting low-cost output has weighed on prices and complicated investment decisions elsewhere.
Orion’s emergence therefore gives Tanzania an alternative source of strategic capital. It also fits the broader US–Tanzania minerals and energy relationship, which includes discussions around nickel, graphite and other major investments.
The project should not, however, be framed only as a Washington-Beijing contest.
Tanzania’s priority is to convert foreign competition into stronger fiscal returns, employment, procurement and domestic processing rather than merely changing the nationality of the investor.
Tanzania seeks more value
Lifezone and the government are negotiating amendments to the Framework Agreement governing Kabanga’s development and the sharing of economic benefits.
The talks have moved more slowly than anticipated, pushing the expected final investment decision into the first quarter of 2027. The date could move again depending on the amended agreement and lenders’ assessment of its terms.
The company is also studying a pathway for processing Kabanga concentrate inside Tanzania.
Lifezone’s earlier development assessment proposed a hydrometallurgical refinery at Kahama as a later phase, while the current feasibility case covers only the underground mine and concentrator.
That distinction is crucial. Financing the mine would create a route to production, but Tanzania’s larger industrial objective depends on whether refining, technical skills, supplier opportunities and higher-value mineral products are retained in the country.
As Africa Briefing’s analysis of mineral sovereignty argues, growing competition among foreign powers will matter only if African states use it to negotiate stronger domestic and regional value chains.
What happens next?
Lifezone must conclude negotiations with the preferred investor, finalise its amended agreement with Tanzania and secure the broader debt package before taking a final investment decision.
Any formal announcement will need to disclose Orion’s proposed stake, investment amount, financing conditions and possible rights over future output.
Until then, Orion should be described as the reported preferred investor, not a confirmed buyer.
Even without a completed agreement, the process places Tanzania more firmly in the global contest for critical minerals and gives Dodoma an opportunity to seek better terms from competing sources of capital.
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