Mining Press Roundup: US-Backed Orion Targets Stake in Tanzania's Giant Kabanga Nickel Project

Lifezone Metals has selected US government-backed consortium Orion CMC as its preferred partner to help develop Tanzania's Kabanga nickel project, potentially marking one of the consortium's first major critical minerals investments.

Lifezone estimates Kabanga will cost about $940 million to build and produce roughly 350,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate annually, along with copper and cobalt. The deal would advance Washington's strategic push to secure battery metals supply chains outside Chinese control.

Lifezone Metals: US Government Consortium Eyes Kabanga Stake

According to Bloomberg News, Orion CMC emerged as the preferred bidder after a competitive process run by Standard Chartered Plc.

Lifezone CEO Chris Showalter said during the company's earnings call last week that the company had selected a preferred partner from multiple bidders to make a strategic equity investment in Kabanga.

Neither Lifezone nor Orion CMC has formally announced a transaction, and the size of the proposed investment has not been disclosed.

Orion Resource Partners launched the Orion Critical Mineral Consortium in October 2025 in partnership with the US International Development Finance Corporation and Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investment fund ADQ, with $1.8 billion in committed capital and a target of $5 billion.

Kabanga is believed to be one of the world's largest and highest-grade undeveloped nickel sulfide deposits.

The company has also appointed Société Générale SA to arrange project debt and expects to make a final investment decision early next year after negotiations with the Tanzanian government took longer than expected.

Orion CMC's most high-profile potential investment to date is a preliminary agreement announced in February to acquire 40% of Glencore's majority interests in two large copper-cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Kabanga investment would represent another major deployment of US-backed capital into African critical minerals.

Lion Copper: Bear Deposit Ranks Among Nevada's Largest Copper Resources

Lion Copper & Gold's initial resource for its Bear deposit in Nevada establishes Bear as one of the state's largest undeveloped red metal resources while the deposit sits on the larger Rio Tinto-backed Yerington project.

The estimate outlines about 1 billion indicated tonnes grading 0.29% copper for 6.7 billion lb. contained metal, and 1.7 billion inferred tonnes at 0.22% copper for 8.7 billion lb. of copper, Lion reported Tuesday.

CEO John Banning commented that the maiden mineral resource estimate for the Bear deposit represents a defining technical milestone for Lion and significantly enhances the scale and long-term potential of the Yerington Copper Project.

The resource was constrained inside an open-pit shell using a 0.10% copper cutoff, a net copper-price assumption of US$4.22 per pound, and an assumed 75% recovery rate.

Bear forms part of a group of Yerington-area assets covered by Lion's earn-in agreement with Nuton, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, and Lion plans to assess how Bear could be incorporated into the broader Yerington development plan.

The resource estimate comes as copper prices have surged, with the metal trading at $6.63 per pound on August 4 according to market data, up more than 50% year-over-year amid AI-driven infrastructure demand and supply constraints.

Hades: Germany Secures Rare Earth Exploration License

Startup Hades has secured an exploration licence for the Storkwitz rare earth project in eastern Germany, giving Europe's largest economy access to one of its few domestic rare earth deposits as the region races to secure supplies of critical minerals, with the Saxon Mining Authority granting the licence on July 31, allowing the Munich-based company to explore a 28.4-sq.-km area near Delitzsch in northern Saxony.

Historical surveys suggest the property hosts about 38,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides and 8,000 tonnes of niobium pentoxide, although Hades has yet to define a resource under internationally recognized reporting standards.

Chief executive Max Werner said "Germany now has its own rare earth project — one of only a few in Europe," adding that "the licence is a milestone for Hades on a clear path from pre-seed and seed capital to a concrete, licensed resource," and the project adds to a small but growing pipeline of European critical minerals developments aimed at supporting the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act and reducing the bloc's exposure to geopolitical supply risks.

Hades said it plans to evaluate the deposit using its proprietary Cerberus laser drilling technology, which it says can reduce drilling costs by more than 50% compared with conventional methods. Europe remains heavily dependent on rare earth imports from China, making domestic projects strategically important for supply chain diversification.

Hercules Metals: Arizona Sonoran Team Takes the Helm

Hercules Metals has recruited the management team behind Arizona Sonoran Copper's $1.4 billion sale to Hudbay Minerals to push the Leviathan copper discovery in Idaho toward development, with George Ogilvie becoming president and CEO Sept. 1, joined by six former Arizona Sonoran executives in finance, legal affairs, permitting, investor relations and resource geology.

The Arizona Sonoran team most recently advanced the Cactus Project from project acquisition in 2020 as a private entity, with an implied equity value of approximately C$125 million in July 2021, through its public listing later that year, to its acquisition by Hudbay Minerals for an implied equity value of approximately C$2.0 billion in 2026, representing an increase of more than 1,500% in the company's value under their leadership.

Ogilvie, a mining engineer with 36 years of experience, previously led Battle North Gold through its 2021 sale to Evolution Mining.

Drilling at Leviathan has traced the system for more than 1 km along strike, up to 750 metres wide and through 500 metres vertically, with Hercules estimating it has tested about one-fifth of the target, which remains open in both directions. The management change signals Hercules' transition from explorer to developer as it advances one of Idaho's most significant recent copper discoveries.

Selkirk Copper: Minto Resource Nearly Triples Contained Metal

A resource update for Selkirk Copper Mines' Minto project in Yukon more than doubles contained red metal as the First Nation-owned company prepares to release a feasibility study and eventually restart the mine, with the update outlining 47.8 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.89% copper, 0.34 gram gold per tonne and 3.2 grams silver for 940 million lb. copper, 530,000 oz. gold and about 4.8 million oz. silver, Selkirk reported Thursday.

Compared with last year's estimate, contained measured and indicated copper increased 181%, gold 183% and silver 192%, although copper grades declined by roughly one quarter as additional lower-grade tonnes were incorporated into the resource.

Located roughly 250 kilometers north of Whitehorse in the traditional territory of Selkirk First Nation, Minto produced more than 500 million pounds of copper over 16 years of open-pit and underground mining, along with significant gold and silver byproducts, before shutting down in 2023.

The company said the 2026 estimate establishes a measured and indicated resource of 47.8 million tonnes at 0.89% copper, 0.34 g/t gold, and 3.2 g/t silver totalling 940 million pounds of copper, 530,000 ounces of gold, and 4.97 million ounces of silver. The updated resource supports Selkirk's plans to restart the mine, with the company targeting a 2-3 year timeline for bringing the operation back into production.

What It Means

Today's announcements underscore the intensifying competition for copper and battery metals as prices remain elevated. According to market data, the COPX copper miners ETF traded up 3.6% today at $87.02, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the red metal as supply constraints persist and AI infrastructure drives structural demand growth.

The Orion CMC-Kabanga deal represents a significant test case for US critical minerals strategy. Washington is deploying government-backed capital to secure nickel supply chains outside China's sphere of influence, with Tanzania emerging as a key jurisdiction. The $1.8 billion Orion consortium, launched in October 2025 with backing from the US International Development Finance Corporation, is prioritizing near-term producing assets over long-cycle exploration projects—a pragmatic shift in US minerals policy.

Copper remains the common thread across multiple announcements. Lion Copper's 15.5 billion-pound resource at Bear, Hercules' recruitment of proven copper developers, and Selkirk's restart plans all reflect capital flowing toward projects that can deliver metal in a tight market. With copper trading above $6.60 per pound and analysts projecting continued strength through 2026, juniors with advanced-stage copper assets are attracting both management talent and strategic investment.

The rare earth sector also continues to heat up, with Germany's Hades license win adding to Europe's modest but growing domestic supply pipeline. While the 38,000-tonne historical estimate at Storkwitz is small by global standards, it represents strategic value for a continent almost entirely dependent on Chinese imports for permanent magnet materials.

This roundup covers press releases published on August 5, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.