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Selebi Mine

Selebi North Underground

Selebi North Shaft 4 (733 Meter Level)

Core Photos

LOCATION:
150 km southeast of the city of Francistown
OWNERSHIP:
100%
DEPOSIT TYPE:
~2.65-2.7Ga Ortho-Magmatic Intrusive Sill within Central Zone of the Limpopo Mobile Belt (Amphibolite-Granulite Facies)
STAGE:
Past producing
PRIMARY METALS:
Copper and Nickel

Highlights

Single mining licence covering 11,504 hectares and hosting the Selebi Main and Selebi North deposits.
Two shafts, grid power, water, rail, and road infrastructure already in place.
Produced approximately 40.5 Mt grading 0.64% Ni and 0.90% Cu between 1980 and 2016.
Existing workings extend to depths of 1,140m at Selebi Main and 940m at Selebi North.
Mining licences are in place, providing a pathway toward potential restart and expansion.

Notes:

  1. CIM (2014) definitions were followed for mineral resources.
  2. Mineral resources are estimated at a NSR cut-off value of $70/t.
  3. Mineral resources are estimated using long-term prices of US$10.50/lb Ni and US$4.75/lb Cu and a US$: BWP exchange rate of 1.00:13.23.
  4. Mineral resources are estimated using nickel and copper recoveries of 72.0% and 92.4% respectively, derived from metallurgical studies which consider a conceptual bulk concentrate scenario.
  5. Bulk density has been estimated and averages 3.39 t/m3 at Selebi Main and 3.60 t/m3 at Selebi North.
  6. Mineral resources are reported within conceptual underground reporting shapes considering a minimum thickness of 1.5 metres.
  7. There are no mineral reserves.
  8. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
  9. Totals may not add or multiply accurately due to rounding.

Geology

The deposits in the Project area are categorized as ortho-magmatic Cu-Ni sulphide-type deposits. They are hosted within amphibolite and understood as a tectono-metamorphically modified tholeiitic magma parent with an immiscible sulphide melt which has undergone all the phases of deformation that have affected the enclosing gneisses. They form part of the Selebi-Phikwe belt of intrusions that also contain the Phikwe, Dikoloti, Lentswe, and Phokoje deposits.

All mineralization horizons pinch and swell, are conformable to the gneissic foliation, and are hosted within or at the hanging wall contact of amphibolite with the gneissic country rocks. Mineralization horizons range in thickness from very thin to over 20 m thick and are commonly one metre to three metres thick (deposit dependent). Orientation follows country rock foliation, and the zones can dip moderately to steeply, and can extend from 150 m to over 2,000 m.  The principal sulphide minerals are pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and pentlandite which occur in massive, semi-massive, and disseminated form. Pyrite occurs as localized overgrowth. Magnetite occurs as rounded inclusions in massive sulphides and as later overgrowths.

Exploration Potential

In 2026, the Company accelerated resource expansion and technical de-risking activities at the Selebi Mines in support of an updated MRE and Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”). A multi-rig, ~30,000 metre drilling program at Selebi Main targeted extensions of the Main Zone, Lower Zone, and the rapidly emerging Flexure Zone, while the underground resource expansion program at Selebi North was completed. Drilling continues to intersect significant copper-nickel mineralization outside the limits of the 2024 MRE, demonstrating the potential for resource growth. Results from the Flexure Zone highlighted a new area of thicker, copper-rich mineralization, including intercepts such as 10.40 metres grading 6.82% CuEq and 11.05 metres grading 7.31% CuEq. At Selebi North, a total of 42,672 metres in 95 holes will be incorporated into the new MRE, while greater than 20,000 metres of additional drilling will be incorporated into the Selebi Main MRE.
In 2025, the Company focused on expanding the resource base at both Selebi North and Selebi Main through a combination of underground and surface drilling programs. An additional 9,617 metres in 17 underground holes at Selebi North successfully extended South Limb mineralization beyond the limits of the 2024 MRE, while 11, 640 metres in 8 surface holes at Selebi Main and between the two deposits tested highly prospective areas with limited historical drilling. Result throughout the year continued to demonstrate the scale and growth potential of the Selebi mineral system, with multiple intersections of copper-nickel mineralization beyond the limits of the 2024 MRE and supporting the potential connection between Selebi Main and Selebi North. In parallel, metallurgical test work successfully produced separate saleable copper and nickel concentrates from blended Selebi Main and Selebi North material, achieving copper recoveries of approximately 81% to a 30.2% Cu concentrate and nickel recoveries of approximately 54% to a 10.9% Ni concentrate. The clean concentrates met commercial smelter specifications and represented a major de-risking milestone supporting future resource and economic studies.
Throughout 2024, underground drilling at Selebi North continued with three company owned drills, and the Company completed its initial NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimates for the Selebi Main and Selebi North deposits (“2024 MRE”). The 2024 MREs outlined Indicated Mineral Resources of 3.0 Mt grading 2.92% CuEq and Inferred Mineral Resources of 24.7 Mt grading 3.40% CuEq. At year end, a total of 63,000 metres in 160 holes were drilled at Selebi North, of which 33,016 metres in 78 holes were completed after the June 30, 2024 MRE cut-off date and were not included in the 2024 MRE. The report concluded that mineralization remains open along strike and at depth at Selebi North, and open down dip and along strike at Selebi Main. The report recommended continued underground drilling, geophysical surveys, structural studies, metallurgical studies and future Mineral Resource updates to further advance the project.
In 2023, the Company completed its initial surface drilling and borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) program at the Selebi Main and commenced an underground drilling program at Selebi North. The combination of resource and exploration drilling was designed to evaluating the size of the remaining resource at Selebi North and support a maiden NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate. BHEM surveys in both underground and additional historic drill holes identified multiple sizeable anomalies providing evidence that Selebi Main and Selebi North may form part of a large mineralized system with multiple mineralized horizons extending across the three-kilometre corridor between the deposits.

Following the acquisition of Selebi Mines in January 2022, the Company began an exploration program to follow up on these results, completing a 15,074 metre drilling program focused on the down-dip edge of the historical Selebi resource. More than 40 historical drill holes were reopened and surveyed using BHEM, with results consistently indicating increasing conductivity down-dip and supporting the interpretation that the mineralized system remained open at depth and was much larger than previously defined by drilling.

Desktop reviews of the BCL assets in liquidation began in December 2019 and an Indicative Offer was submitted in June 2020. Following its selection as the preferred bidder in February 2021, the Company completed comprehensive due diligence, including the evaluation of drilling and resource data, and inspection of mining and processing infrastructure. New BHEM survey data were collected in historical drill holes and samples were sent for concept level metallurgical studies. The primary objectives of the due diligence work was to determine the potential size and extent of the remaining mineral resource beyond the historical mine workings, and determine if saleable copper and nickel concentrates could be produced with reasonable recoveries.

Of great interest was historical drill hole sd119, that intersected 38.5 m grading 1.58% Ni and 2.44% Cu, including 21.4 m grading 2.34% Ni and 3.39% Cu, located approximately 300 m beyond existing mine workings and 1,200 m below. BHEM

surveying by BCL in hole sd140, drilled down-dip of sd119, identified a strong off-hole conductor that indicated a large conductor associated with this intersection.

The Selebi and Selebi North Mines were operated by BCL Limited, a mining and smelting company wholly owned by the Government of Botswana, from the early 1980s until 2016. During this period, the mines produced bulk nickel-copper concentrates that were processed at the BCL smelter in Selebi Phikwe. Prior to closure, the Government of Botswana invested approximately P700 million in a major refurbishment and modernization of the smelter, including upgrades to the smelting furnace, which had already exceeded its typical operating life. At the time, management noted that the furnace had been operating for approximately 11 years despite a normal lifespan of seven to eight years, and that the refurbishment program was intended to modernize the facility and extend its operating life. Despite these investments, the smelter failed to restart and BCL entered liquidation in 2016 amid a prolonged downturn in nickel prices and broader corporate financial challenges, resulting in the closure of both the mines and smelter. Importantly, the closure occurred prior to resource depletion, leaving substantial remaining mineral resources, extensive underground infrastructure, and a large historical drilling database available for future redevelopment.

Technical Reports

Selebi Mines NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate Technical Report – effective date: June 30, 2024

Selebi Mine NI 43-101 Report

SGS Report March 26, 2024: An Investigation into PLATSOL Processing of the Selkirk and Selebi Deposits

SGS Report January 3, 2024: An Investigation into The Metallurgical Testwork on Samples from the Selebi and Selkirk Deposits

SGS Report December 13, 2021: The Recovery of Copper and Nickel from Composite Samples from the Phikwe-Selebi Deposit