The right brew for a Tanzanian nickel leader
May 10, 2023IPO hopeful David Drabble does not look like your typical mining executive. Neither does he seem like the type to be an English brewer. Rueben Hale discovers he’s been remarkably successful at both.
“Some people initially think I am going to be a pushover, but those people inevitably learn that I can be quite direct,” Drabble opens with a cagey smile.
The air stiffens just slightly.
“I just don’t like people thinking they can take advantage of my generally easy-going nature,” he adds.
Innogy CEO David Drabble in Tanzania
Drabble is back in Perth from his home in Wales, promoting his Tanzanian nickel play Innogy. If the IPO gets up, it will kickstart the next exciting instalment of a mining career which so far has included a long stint based in Perth where he quickly moved up the ranks as a project geologist before taking a semi-hiatus pursuing what he later realised was going to be his second passion – brewing beer.
“I developed a taste for Little Creatures Pale Ale while I was working in Perth in 2008,” Drabble says. “I thought, why not—because I thought if I didn’t, I might regret it later.”
“It was also a good time to try it because the whole boutique beer thing was still in its infancy back home and I thought there could be a good market for hoppy pale ales as a change from English beers which Australians call warm and flat.”
Its name, Lithic Brewing (Lithic meaning something relating to stone in Latin!), was named assurance that brewing would only be a temporary distraction. Drabble sold the rapidly growing business two years and nine months later to refocus his energy on geology and the demands of spiralling success in Tanzania as EcoGraf’s lead geologist.
“It got to the stage to decide, go big or go home,” Drabble explains. “It was the right time to move on, and I made a good profit. Importantly, it gave me that business perspective to apply to Innogy, combined with my technical background—it’s my first role at this level in the minerals sector. The skills I have learnt in resources and business operations will be invaluable.”
Drabble’s CV more than equips him to lead this nickel-focused spinoff of his former company EcoGraf given the years spent in Tanzania, after brewing, responsible for graphite and nickel exploration amid East Africa’s rising prominence as a globally essential battery metals hotspot.
And if all goes well, a successful ASX listing would unleash an exploration package of 5,300 square kilometres of Tanzanian terrain — more than 90 per cent of that ground prospective for a nickel.
“There is also good propectivity for lithium, cobalt, copper and gold on the tenements where we will immediately benefit from early mover advantage,” Drabble points out.
“The Northern Frontier Project near BHP’s Kabanga project is our priority, closely followed by beginning fieldwork on two pending prospecting licences on the Western Frontier Project in the Katavi region and three located in the Rukwa region.”
“It will be a level playing field opportunity for our investors considering there has been no seed capital raised. Therefore everyone is in at 20 cents. Combine this with the project’s current low valuation and near-term drilling, bringing a steady flow of material news,” he adds.
Should people be concerned that it’s in Tanzania?
Tanzania has a stable government that is focused on supporting mining. The fact that the country is open for business has been clearly shown by a massive recent investment by BHP of US$100 million in the Kabanga Nickel project and Rio Tinto’s declaration that they are actively looking for a sizeable project to acquire in the region. Additionally, we have phenomenal connections locally and with the Tanzanian government to assist with advancing exploration across our massive landholding.
Plus, I’ve worked on projects in Tanzania over the past eight years, mainly with EcoGraf. When I first went out there, I was the sole ex-pat on this drilling program, it was 2014, and they were doing early resource work.
How was Tanzania different to Western Australia?
The similarities are significant. Both places share a similar geological setting, with prospectivity for many of the same minerals. However, Tanzania has the advantage of not being tested to death by exploration companies. There is so much more opportunity in Tanzania for a significant discovery, which we aim for; a repeat of Kabanga or Manono!
Yes, there are cultural differences, but English is widely spoken, and I’ve always found Tanzanians to be hard-working and committed to the task at hand. They have a long, established mining sector, meaning they know the industry well. The country is socially and politically stable, without many of the associated challenges that some other African jurisdictions present.
So, there is a metaphor begging to be made between brewing and mining exploration, isn’t there?
At face value, they’re entirely different; with beer, you’re dealing with customers and small buyers.
At Innogy, you’re dealing with shareholders, and once we have a mineral resource, you’re dealing with potentially multi-national customers. But brewing, I learned that people are people, a shareholder on a list or an old bloke at the market having a beer, and you know how to communicate with them.
Most importantly, mining and brewing have taught me the valuable lesson of trying your absolute most challenging to understand where other people are coming from, regardless of who they are. You will cut off a huge audience if you cannot access all different parts of society.
By the way, how is Lithic doing these days?
I haven’t had a pint in quite some time, but some of my old customers have commented that it doesn’t taste quite the same as it did.
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