Canada Nickel Company Announces Appointments to Senior Management Team and Nominations to Board of Directors

TORONTO, Oct. 27 2020 – Canada Nickel Company Inc. (“Canada Nickel” or “The Company”) (TSXV:CNC) (OTCQB: CNIKF) announces the appointment of Pierre-Philippe Dupont as Vice-President of Sustainability, Wendy Kaufman as Chief Financial Officer, and the nomination of three Independent, Non-Executive Directors to the Board: Mr. Kulvir Gill, Ms. Jen Morais and Ms. Francisca Quinn. The Board nominations are subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and shareholders at a meeting expected to be held in December 2020. The nominees will serve as Board observers until such meeting.

“With our Crawford Project progressing rapidly towards development, we are taking the necessary steps to build a highly skilled management team with extensive experience in project financing and permitting,” said Mark Selby, Chair and CEO of Canada Nickel. “Wendy and Pierre-Philippe both have broad experience in Canadian mining developments, which will be critical as we advance Crawford to be shovel-ready in the next 24 months.”

Vice President, Sustainability

Pierre-Philippe Dupont has been appointed Vice President of Sustainability effective November 1, 2020.  He brings over fifteen years of experience with particular expertise in base metal mining projects. For nearly ten years, he held the role of Director of Sustainability for RNC Minerals, where he led the effort to fully permit the large scale Dumont Nickel project. Most importantly, this was accomplished with the full support of the local community and First Nation stakeholders through the implementation of an extensive consultation process that is now regarded as a benchmark today.  He was actively involved in the negotiation of an Impacts and Benefits Agreement (IBA) signed with the Pikogan First Nation, believed to be the first IBA signed by the Quebec Algonquins.  Prior to RNC Minerals, he was also involved in the permitting process of major resource projects such as the Canadian Malartic Gold Mine and the Canadian Royalties Nickel Mine. He was also recognized in 2015 by the leading economic journal Les Affaires, as one of the 25 most promising young leaders in Quebec.  Prior to joining Canada Nickel, he was employed at Glencore’s Horne Copper smelter as Director of Sustainability, where he managed the environment, health and safety, governance, communications and community relations departments. A biologist by training, his first passion has always been the protection and conservation of aquatic biodiversity, leading him to a Masters Degree in Science in conservation genetics from Laval University. 

Chief Financial Officer

Wendy Kaufman has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Canada Nickel effective November 1, 2020. She brings significant expertise and more than twenty-five years experience leading with junior and mid-tier publicly-listed mining companies in project financing, capital structuring, capital markets, accounting, internal controls, tax, financial reporting and public disclosure. Her skills and experience, including the completion of a $4 billion finance package for Cobre Panama during her time at Inmet Mining, one of the largest finance packages assembled by a mid-tier mining company, will be directly relevant to her role overseeing the financing strategy for Canada Nickel’s 100% owned Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project.

She was previously the CFO at Khiron Life Sciences Corporation and has also held CFO and senior finance positions at Pasinex Resources Limited, Primero Mining Corporation and Inmet Mining Corporation. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA). 

Canada Nickel has also made three new appointments to its Board of Directors.

“These appointments to the Canada Nickel Board demonstrates our continued commitment to building a world class, sustainable mining company.  Each Director brings a unique set of skills and expertise that will allow us to continue to rapidly advance Crawford,” said Selby. “All three directors bring a wealth of executive experience, technical expertise and have a track record of success in working with or advising mining companies and their investors within the global landscape. We are pleased to welcome Mr. Gill, Ms. Morais and Ms. Quinn, and are eager to benefit from their knowledge, network, and capability as we continue to advance the Crawford Nickel Cobalt Sulphide Project.”

Kulvir Singh Gill
Independent, Non-executive Director

Mr. Kulvir Singh Gill has twenty years of experience working with innovation and sustainability within the global mining industry. He works with the strategy firm Clareo to lead innovation and growth projects for international Fortune 500 clients across multiple industries in the mining, oil and gas and heavy industrial sectors. He was the Founding Executive Director of the Development Partner Institute (DPI) which advanced sustainability in the mining industry. In his current role as Associate Director with the DPI, he has convened global working groups, spoken at major mining conferences and led their regional catalyst programs in South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru. He has also recently served as the Innovation Ecosystem Manager for the Canadian Mining Innovation Council (CMIC).

He began his career as a management consultant with Oliver Wyman before holding several positions with Barrick Gold involving supply chain management, post-merger integrations, strategic planning, innovation and sustainability. He is also passionate about community service, being the co-founder of the Seva Food Bank in Mississauga. He serves on the boards of the William Osler Health System, the Empire Club of Canada and the Sikh Research Institute. Mr. Gill is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and a 2010 Action Canada Fellow. He holds a B.Sc. and a B. Comm. from the University of Calgary and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Jennifer Morais, BA, MBA CFA
Independent, Non-executive Director

Ms. Jennifer Morais has over twenty years of experience as a senior executive in the global private equity and alternatives industry, complemented by a further decade of work experience in the global mining finance and management consulting fields. She is currently Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Acuity Partners Inc., an advisory practice serving the strategic needs of private equity, private credit and other alternative investment firms.

Prior to founding Acuity Partners, she spent 17 years as both a GP (as a senior member of TPG Capital’s investor relations team) and an institutional investor (or LP) at each of CPPIB and OMERS Capital Partners. While at TPG, she raised $2 billion of capital from Canadian and US sovereign wealth funds, pension plans, and insurance companies for TPG’s private equity, real estate and hedge fund products. Highlights of her career at CPPIB include: over $9 billion of capital commitments to managers in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America; applying her passion for research and strategic partner identification to formulate the private equity group’s first Asian strategy and CPPIB’s entry into Latin America; and playing an instrumental role on over 50 external advisory boards (or limited partner advisory committees) and the investment committees of several investment platforms within CPPIB. While at OMERS Capital Partners, she participated in both fund investing, and in direct co-investments, which initiated and honed her private equity investment judgement skills.

Ms. Morais also spent several years at Hatch Associates as a management consultant to global natural resources companies (mining, pulp and paper, steel) on the adoption of leading industry key manufacturing and cost performance metrics. She also previously worked with the Global Mining Group at CIBC World Markets where she participated in the analyzing and underwriting of several greenfield mine development project financings in South America, Asia and Africa. She is a Chartered Financial Advisor (CFA) charter holder and a member of the Toronto CFA society. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and MBA from the University of Toronto.

Francisca Quinn, MSc
Independent, Non-executive Director

Ms. Quinn is the Co-founder and President of Quinn & Partners Inc., a recognized advisory firm whose mission is to advance sustainability in business and capital markets. It supports organizations to design and execute sustainability / ESG leadership strategies to enhance organizational reputation, manage risks, create value, identify business opportunities and ultimately create more resilient, future-oriented businesses. Clients include significant institutional investors, public and private companies, many of which are continually supported over multi-year mandates. Ms. Quinn leads advisory mandates with the top ten North American pension plans and alternative fund managers. Quinn & Partners became a B Corp in 2014 to reinforce its commitment to positive environmental and social impacts and company values.

Ms. Quinn has 25 years of corporate strategy experience. She started her consulting career in 1995 with Oliver Wyman, a leading international management consultancy, where she specialized in growth strategies and organisational design for Fortune 500 companies. Her personal engagement on climate change brought her to the Carbon Trust in London in 2002, where she worked with FTSE companies on carbon emissions reduction and global investors on identifying risks and opportunities from climate change.  At WSP, which she joined in 2008, she built a corporate sustainability advisory practice, serving sustainability leaders across a wide range of industries.

Ms. Quinn has spoken on ESG, sustainability and climate change-related topics to business and investor audiences and is a sought after moderator on ESG integration in alternative asset classes. She has a deep personal engagement in environmental issues and champions a low carbon lifestyle. She is a board member of No. 9 Contemporary Art & the Environment; an arts organization that uses art and design to bring awareness to environmental concerns.

Ms. Quinn holds a Masters Degree of Science in Economics and Masters of Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics. In 2014 and 2018, Francisca was recognized as a Clean50 honouree for her contributions to clean capitalism in Canada.

About Canada Nickel Company

Canada Nickel Company Inc. is advancing the next generation of nickel-cobalt sulphide projects to deliver nickel and cobalt required to feed the high growth electric vehicle and stainless steel markets.  Canada Nickel Company has applied in multiple jurisdictions to trademark the terms NetZero Nickel^TM, NetZero Cobalt^TM, NetZero Iron^TM and is pursuing the development of processes to allow the production of net zero carbon nickel, cobalt, and iron products. Canada Nickel provides investors with leverage to nickel and cobalt in low political risk jurisdictions.  Canada Nickel is currently anchored by its 100% owned flagship Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project in the heart of the prolific Timmins-Cochrane mining camp.

For more information please visit www.canadanickel.com or https://insidexploration.com/cnc/