- Business
- Sama Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company focused on nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements (PGE), and gold deposits in West Africa. The company, founded in 2006 and headquartered in Mont-Royal, Quebec, primarily explores and develops the Samapleu-Grata nickel-copper-PGE project in Côte d’Ivoire through its 40%-owned subsidiary Sama Nickel Corporation Inc., where joint venture partner Ivanhoe Electric Inc. holds a 60% interest following completion of its earn-in in March 2024; it also holds 100% interest in gold exploration properties through Sama Resources Liberia Inc. in Liberia. Core activities encompass diamond drilling, airborne electromagnetic surveying, resource delineation, metallurgical testing, and preliminary economic assessments for polymetallic sulfide deposits hosted in the Yacouba Intrusive Complex, including the Samapleu Main, Samapleu Extension, Grata, and Yepleu prospects, with indicated resources of 15 million tonnes grading 0.25% nickel, 0.22% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.31 g/t palladium, and 0.1 g/t platinum, alongside inferred resources of 102 million tonnes at similar grades; the company pursues gold discoveries on three permits in Liberia's underexplored Birimian greenstone belts. Operations span Côte d’Ivoire, approximately 600 km northwest of Abidjan near the Guinean border, and Liberia, targeting large-scale mining districts with over 81,000 meters of drilling completed across 480 boreholes to date. Recent developments include the March 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Samapleu-Grata project demonstrating a pre-tax NPV8 of US$463 million and IRR of 20% for a 16-year open-pit mine producing copper and nickel concentrates with associated PGE and cobalt; commencement of a 2025 exploration program in May with 4,500 meters of infill and expansion drilling at Grata and Samapleu to upgrade inferred resources to indicated and test regional targets like Mossikro and Yepleu, including new polymetallic discoveries 10 km southwest of existing resources; award of a drilling contract in September 2024; filing of an updated NI 43-101 technical report in May 2024; spin-out of its Quebec nickel subsidiary SRQ Resources Inc. in July 2023 via plan of arrangement; and doubled mineral resources announced in June 2023 with improved metallurgical recoveries up to 88% for 26-27% copper concentrates and 72% for 13% nickel concentrates.