The increase in JORC-classified ore to 74.84 million tonnes resulted in a 174% rise in the inferred resource to 37.09Mt and a 64% climb in the indicated resource to 29.34Mt.

There was also a 103% increase in the palladium equivalent resource to 3 million ounces at an overall grade of 1.31g/t palladium equivalent; a 48% increase in PGM and gold resource to 2.17Moz; and a 104% rise in base metal content to 362.5 million pounds, including 298Mlb nickel, 49.5Mlb copper and 15Mlb cobalt.

Jangada said the verification phase of the BFS was on track for completion by the end of the March quarter.

The market took favourably to the news, with Jangada's shares jumping 6% Monday to 2.2p (US2.9c).

Executive chairman Brian McMaster said the increased resource could potentially drive a longer mine life and higher annual tonnage.

"Investors can now see that labelling this a ‘PGM project' doesn't do it justice; it is clearly much more than that," he said.

"The key economic drivers of the project are palladium and nickel, two of the most in favour minerals of today and for the foreseeable future."

McMaster added that the results coming through from the work being done to finalise the BFS and prepare the project for development had been better than expected.