Nickel is quickly becoming a hot topic among investors these days as the electric vehicle market is poised to see an increase in demand over the next several years. Mainly because we are becoming more conscientious to the effects of global warming and the carbon footprint we are leaving on the planet. As such, we are now seeing influential people like Elon Musk calling for more production of nickel sulphate to supply the electric vehicle market, but more importantly, in an environmentally friendly way. Currently most of the world’s nickel supply comes from places like New Caledonia, the Philippines and Indonesia, which rely on coal-powered electricity, which is counter intuitive to the concept of greener technologies. This is where an operation like the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt project in Canada could become a major player in the nickel space as they intend to vastly reduce their carbon footprint to the point of NetZero through a range of innovative initiatives.
Summary
Nickel supply and Demand Outlook – A look at world supply and demand, the impacts of the invasion of Ukraine and the needs of manufacturers as they apply to the carbon footprint left behind by nickel mining and refining operations.
Project Overview and Exploration – An in depth look at the discovery of the Crawford Ultramafic Complex that led to the formation of Canada Nickel and every development since.
Additional assets – Canada Nickel has optioned and acquired several large-scale nickel sulphide targets within a short distance of the Crawford deposit from Noble Minerals, staking and prospectors alike. With the addition of these 18 targets, Canada Nickel now has the potential to become one of the largest nickel sulphide producers in the world, turning the greater Timmins area into a district scale nickle operation.
Net Zero Carbon – In a world focused on green energy, Canada Nickel is uniquely poised to be able to meet the demand to produce nickel in an environmentally efficient manner and achieve zero carbon or at least close to it. As a result of the unique advantages of the Timmins region with its proximity to zero-carbon hydroelectricity and Crawford being comprised largely of serpentine rock that naturally absorbs CO2 when exposed to air, Canada Nickel has the potential to develop zero-carbon products. Combined with the company’s plans to use an all electric fleet, CNC could become an industry leader in clean mining techniques.
Valuation
The resource on Crawford was initially based on drilling of just over 20 percent of the ultramafic structure, and already it ranked in the top twelve largest nickel sulphide deposits in the world using methods by Wood Mackenzie. So it was no surprise that when they updated the resource estimate shortly after in the maiden PEA on the project the it climbed to number 5 on the global chart with around 50% of the Crawford Ultramific Complex drilled off.
The PEA dated July 2021, indicates a 25-year mine plan based on a phased 120,000 tonnes per day open pit mine and processing operation using conventional nickel sulphide concentrator, producing nickel concentrates and magnetite concentrate.
Over the 25-year mine life Crawford is expected to produce 842,000 tonnes of nickel, 21 million tonnes of iron and 1.5 million tonnes of chrome valued at $24 billion using long-term price assumptions. Annual average nickel production of 75 million pounds (34,000 tonnes) with peak period annual average of 93 million pounds (42,000 tonnes), with significant iron and chrome by-products of 860,000 tonnes per annum and 59,000 tonnes per annum, respectively.
Highlights:
After-tax, $1.2 billion NPV8% and 16% IRR at long-term price assumptions (Note 1)
Large scale, low cost, long-life
Significant iron and chrome by-products of 860,000 tonnes per annum and 59,000 tonnes per annum, respectively
Life-of-mine net C1 cash cost of $1.09/lb and net AISC of $1.94/lb on a by-product basis (1st quartile) (Notes 2 and 3)
Life-of-mine production of 25 years with 842,000 tonnes of nickel, 21 million tonnes of iron and 1.5 million tonnes of chrome valued at $24 billion using long-term price assumptions (Note 1)
Significant earnings and free cash flow generation. Annual EBITDA of $439 million and annual free cash flow of $274 million (Notes 1 and 3)
Minimization of carbon footprint through use of autonomous trolley trucks and electric shovels, which reduces diesel use by 40%. Optimization of the carbon sequestration potential of tailings and waste rock.
PEA Notes and Assumptions
All dollar figures are in United States (“US”) dollars. US metal prices used in the PEA were $7.75/lb nickel, $1.04/lb chromium, and $290/tonne iron. A US dollar exchange rate of 0.75 was applied.
Source for 1st quartile costs – Wood Mackenzie and S&P Capital IQ; Priced as of May 20, 2021.
C1 cash cost, AISC, EBITDA and cash flow data are non-IFRS measures. Refer to Non-IFRS measures.
A full copy of the Technical Report and PEA, including material assumptions, notices and cautions, can be found on the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com.
The upcoming Feasibility study will incorporate all the remaining drill data which will increase the size by 50 – 100 percent as much more material has gone into indicated resource from the inferred category. Additionally, the metallurgy has improved exponentially and CNC now boasts one of the highest recovery rates for nickel on a global scale. The improvements on metallurgy provide additional value to the project and each percentage point improvement in nickel recovery would yield a US$92 million improvement in the value of the NPV8% of the project, based on the PEA metrics
Highlights:
Flowsheet improvements yield recovery gains and enhanced magnetite concentrate quality (all figures below relative to Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) model)
Nickel recovery of 62% – 10 percentage points or 19% improvement
Iron recovery of 45% – 2 percentage points or 5% improvement
Magnetite concentrate grade of 54% iron – 6.5 percentage points or 14% improvement
Cobalt recovery of 70% – 30 percentage points or 75% improvement
Furthermore, The company has also made progress on the carbon sequestration aspect of their tailings which will allow the company to capitalize on the emerging carbon credit sector.
Highlights:
Initial lab scale testing demonstrates that Crawford tailings have the potential to capture 17.5 kg CO2 per tonne of tailings – more than 3 times the amount required to offset the Project’s projected carbon footprint. Any amounts in excess of projected 4.6 kg CO2 per tonne could be sold for carbon credits.
It’s also important to note that at the time of this update, Nickel prices kicked into high gear and are now trading around 15 dollars per pound, thus adding even more robust economics to the project.
Finally, The company’s true value cannot be assesed on Crawford alone as they have recently secured the rights to an additional 18 projects, 10 of which are comparable to Crawford. A few are higher grade, smaller deposits but when you start to see the bigger picture of whats shaping up in Northern Ontario, you cant help but get excited for the opportunity this district scale projec represents.
Timmins is a world-class, mining friendly jurisdiction, with a wealth of infrastructure and skilled local labour to support a project of this scale. Mark Selby, Chair and CEO of Canada Nickel, is a well-respected expert on nickel and his experience has already accelerated this project much faster than anyone anticipated. With EV sales continuing to grow and the demand for more environmentally friendly mining at the forefront of the sector, we believe Canada Nickel has a real opportunity to become one of the largest and most efficient nickel producers on the planet while creating generational wealth as many of their predecessors have before them.
Nickel Supply and Demand Outlook
In March 2020, Nickel hit a low of just $11,000 USD per ton and since has seen a steady climb up into the $20,000 USD range on the back of trade disputes and export bans prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent the metal skyrocketing forcing global trading to halt. The halt has since lifted and Nickel has settled into the $15 USD per pound range or $35,500 USD per ton but global LME stocks have dropped dramatically, which is in itself supporting higher prices of nickel as demand for the metal from both the stainless steel sector and EV’s drive demand as we come out of the COVID pandemic.
Project History and Overview
Canada Nickel Company Inc. (TSX.V: CNC) – is focused on advancing the next generation of high quality nickel-cobalt sulphide and PGM projects to deliver the metals needed to power the electric vehicle revolution and feed the high growth stainless steel market. The company owns 100% of the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide and PGM Project (“Crawford”).
Located in the mining friendly jurisdiction of Timmins, Ontario and within the world famous Abitibi Greenstone belt, the Canada Nickel land package has the potential to become one of the largest district scale nickel sulphide mining operations in the world. With the Crawford Ultramafic Complex almost all drilled off now, and Canada Nickel’s resource already ranked the 5th largest nickel sulphide deposit in the world, the upcoming feasibility study is set improve metrics substantially. Additionally, they added 18 new highly prospective properties, highlighting their belief in the district-scale potential of the Timmins region and their intent to become a leader of the Next Generation of Nickel Supply, which is large, scalable, low carbon nickel as is being demanded by global leaders.
The company was formed in late 2019 as a spin out of Noble Mineral Exploration and listed on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange in February 2020 at an initial listing price of $0.25 cents per share. The company has quickly made a name for itself with nickel expert, Mark Selby at the helm as Chairman and CEO. Given that Mark was part of the team that brought the Dumont Nickel Project in northern Quebec (formerly owned by RNC Minerals) to a shovel ready status, Mark is perfectly suited for the role at Canada Nickel. The insight and experience he brings have become very apparent as he has navigated his way through this project very quickly. Dumont is comparable to Crawford in terms of grade, size and metallurgy, thus allowing the CNC team, many of whom worked with Mark on Dumont, to leverage some of their previous work into this project.
For many years the property on which the Crawford Nickel deposit is hosted was owned by a logging company and saw little to no exploration activity while the rest of the Timmins area was being heavily explored and drilled in hopes of finding the next big gold mine. Then in 1963, the discovery of the VMS deposit in Kidd Township which ultimately led to the development of the Kidd Creek Mine, about 15 km south of the Crawford Deposit, led to a flurry of exploration in and around Timmins.
INCO Limited, a Canadian mining company and the world’s leading producer of nickel for much of the 20th century, did the bulk of the exploration work around Crawford Township but they were not interested in low grade high tonnage nickel deposits as the value of these types of deposits were unknown and for the most part they overlooked the potential. So while everyone was looking for the next Kidd Creek, these already identified nickel sulphide targets sat untouched and exploration in these townships all but stopped in the 1980’s until Noble Mineral Explorations acquired the rights to the property in 2011 and dubbed it Project 81.
Originally the property was acquired by Noble because of the Kingsmill Nickel deposit and the Lucas Gold showing. In the first few years they did a range of Geophysics, ran some small drilling campaigns and continued to build out their land package by staking additional claims. Prior to the development of Canada Nickel, Noble had amassed approximately 79,000 hectares of property and tailored their business model to be a project generator whereby they could still maintain exposure to the future success of their property but not have to put out the capital to explore their large land package.
In 2017, Noble Mineral Exploration completed a 1,031.3 line km airborne helicopter MAG-EM survey and hired Orix Geoscience to conduct a data compilation of all known exploration activities on the property. This ultimately led to a joint venture deal with Spruce Ridge Resources to explore certain targets in Crawford Township, including the Crawford Ultramafic Complex (CUC).
This was the point where Mark Selby was introduced to Vance White, CEO of Noble Mineral Explorations. Mark reviewed the information on Crawford and immediately pinpointed several similarities to the Dumont project, which he spent 10 years developing from a greenfield discovery into a construction ready and fully permitted project as CEO of RNC Minerals. Knowing that he could leverage his experience, Mark opted to take part in this project and began to work with Noble and Spruce Ridge to acquire the Crawford Ultramafic Complex under a newly formed subsidiary company that was to be spun out from Noble Mineral Exploration, called Canada Nickel Company.
As they waited for approval to get a listing on the TSX venture exchange, Vance was able to acquire a long standing 5% royalty on the property held by Franco Nevada. This deal had been in the works for sometime but worked to the advantage of Canada Nickel as it was completed before the spin out. With the October 1st, 2019 announcement that Noble had created a new entity, Canada Nickel Company took control of the drilling program from Spruce Ridge Resources.
Following on from the initial four holes completed in late 2018 and reported in early 2019 (see Noble news release date March 4, 2019), results from CNC’s first nine drill holes, which totaled 5,280 m, were announced by Noble on December 9, 2019. A further 11 holes totaling 7,298 m were announced by CNC on February 28, 2020. Total diamond drilling to up to January 2020 was 14,461.70 m in 25 holes which includes 65.5 m from an abandoned drill hole (CR19-14).
The focus of the 2019-2020 drilling was to extend mineralization along strike, test the northeastern and southwestern extents of mineralization (i.e., contacts), and to test deeper portions of the CUC. To date, diamond drilling has outlined a west-northwest trending (~285-315Az) ultramafic body (largely dunite-peridotite) that is at least 1.74 km in strike length, 225 to 425 metres wide, and more than 650 metres deep. Mineralization remains open along strike to the northwest, and at depth. A north-northwest trending regional sinistral, strike–slip fault terminates the ultramafic body along its southeastern extent. A 3D-Inversion magnetic anomaly, nearly one kilometre deep, has been only partially tested at depth with several drill holes extending beyond the 650 m depth containing intervals of >0.25% Ni. Diamond drilling is on-going on the Property.
On February 27th, Canada Nickel Company officially started trading on the TSX venture under the ticker symbol CNC. Under the agreement with Noble and Spruce Ridge Resources; Noble would receive 2 million dollars and 12 million shares of CNC and Spruce Ridge was to receive 20 million shares for their stake in the project.
By February 28th, Canada Nickel had sufficient drilling to put out a maiden resource estimate totaling 600,390,054 tonnes grading at .25% Nickel of Measured and Indicated resource and an additional 310,496,263 tonnes grading .23% Nickel of inferred resource making the Crawford Nickel project the 11th largest nickel sulphide deposit in the world with only 20% of the structure drilled. On top of the nickel content there is a section of PGM’s that run in parallel to the nickel body. The best hit to date is 2.6 g/t palladium + platinum (1.3 g/t Pd, 1.3 g/t Pt) over 7.5 metres within an overall 1.8 g/t (0.9 g/t Pd, 0.9 g/t Pt) over 12 metres at 123 metres downhole. This structure extends over 1.5 kms and continues to expand as drilling continues.
Within the ore body there is a higher grade core near surface which will allow for higher cash flow in the early years of production. Diamond drill core assay results to date allow for the delineation of the two higher grade (>0.30% Ni and >0.35% Ni) regions within the larger Higher Grade Zone (>0.25%Ni), which in turn are within the larger enveloping Low-Grade Zone (>0.15% Ni), all contained within the host ultramafic body of the CUC. The Higher Grade Zone has a minimum strike length of about 1.57 km, is between approximately 160 and 230 m wide, and contains regions of incrementally higher grade nickel (i.e., >0.30% Ni and >0.35% Ni). The Higher Grade Zone and internal regions of higher grade nickel remain open along strike to the west-northwest and at +650 m depth.
With a great start to the project it was only natural that Mark would look to add some of the other prospective targets within Project 81 that were similar in composition to Crawford as highlighted by the work done by INCO in the 1960’s. Then on March 4th, 2021, Canada Nickel Company announced that they agreed to pay Noble $500,000 in cash and issue 500,000 Canada Nickel common shares to acquire the Crawford Annex property and the option to earn up to an 80% interest in 5 additional nickel targets within the Project 81 land package and in close proximity to Crawford.
The Crawford Annex is comprised of 4,909 hectares in Crawford and Lucas Township and the 5 option areas of Crawford-Nesbitt-Aubin, Nesbitt North, Aubin-Mahaffy, Kingsmill-Aubin, and MacDiarmid range in sizes of 903 to 5,543 hectares. If the conditions to earn a 60% interest or 80% interest become satisfied, a joint venture would be formed on that basis and a 2% net smelter return royalty would be granted to Noble.
To understand the significance of acquiring these properties, we need to look at each of the additional 5 targets individually
Kingsmill
Plan view of Kingsmill Property – Historical drilling overlain on total field magnetic intensity, Kingsmill Township, Ontario. (CNW Group/Canada Nickel Company Inc.)
The Kingsmill target is a large serpentinized ultramafic intrusion which is 2.2 km long and between 375-600 metres wide. A thorough review of historical drilling results yielded both significant nickel and PGM intersections and the north side of the structure appears to have the same PGE enrichment as Crawford Main and East Zones: 1.0 g/t PGM over 2 metres from 96 metres within 0.3 g/t PGM over 30 metres from 69 metres in historic hole KML-12-11, 0.8 g/t PGM over 5 metres from 523 metres within 0.5 g/t PGM over 24 metres in historic hole KML-12-07.
Several large portions of the structure remain highly prospective for nickel-cobalt-PGM mineralization:
The two sections were 1.3 km apart leaving a large portion of the overall structure completely untested.
There are several intersections which points to the potential for relatively higher quantities of recoverable minerals
Holes KML-12-06, KML-12-11, KML-12-12 on the Eastern section all contained intersections with significant nickel and sulphur content (which is necessary for formation of nickel sulphide minerals) across wide intersections (see Table 1 below)
Hole KML-12-03, yielding 0.26% nickel and 0.03% sulphur over 130 metres, was the only hole (of four holes on the Western section) drilled on the northern half of the structure, which has yielded the best mineralized portions of the Crawford Main and East Zones
Historic hole 27090 also drilled on north side of the structure in 1966 yielded 0.31% nickel over 302 metres (sulphur was not assayed)
The understanding of the mineralogy of these deposits has evolved significantly since the Kingsmill drilling was completed eight years ago, particularly the controls and the deportment of potentially recoverable nickel minerals across the deposit. Initial mineralogy results from Kingsmill in 2012 were less positive as the test was conducted on one master sample compiled from all drill cores – not taking into account the significant variability in mineralogy between rock types, and that some ultramafic rock will have low amounts of potentially recoverable nickel minerals.
Once the new resource update for Crawford is complete, the historic drilling will be re-logged and mineralogical samples will be selected to understand the deportment of potentially recoverable nickel minerals (pentlandite, heazlewoodite, awaruite).
Crawford-Nesbitt-Aubin
The Crawford-Nesbitt-Aubin Township target consists of two ultramafic units 6 km long and 150-200 metres wide containing serpentinized peridotite and much of it was not assayed. Inco drilling in 1964-66 yielded highlights including narrow intervals of up to 0.35% Ni which tested the edges of the geophysical target. For reference, the Crawford Main Zone resource is 1.7 km long and 225-425 metres wide.
Nesbitt North
Two ultramafic units 3.7 km long by 150-300 metres wide with significant nickel intersections were identified in Nesbitt township. Inco 1966 drilling highlights included 0.28% Ni over 163 m in historic hole 27083. For reference, the Crawford Main Zone resource is 1.7 km long and 225-425 metres wide.
MacDiarmid
A target of 3 km by 150-600 metres wide ultramafic intrusion with serpentinized peridotite has been identified, much of it was not assayed. Highlights include historic hole 18127 which intersected 142 m of mineralized peridotite which was not assayed, and narrow intervals of up to 0.22% Ni over 1.5 m in NRK-65-7 (1965). For reference, the Crawford Main Zone resource is 1.7 km long and 225-425 metres wide.
Mahaffy-Aubin
A target of 8 km by 200-500 metres wide interpreted ultramafic intrusion has been identified, much of it was not assayed. Highlights include historic hole 31901 (1966) which intersected 0.23% Ni over 127 m, and hole T2-80-2 (1980) which intersected 277 m of serpentinized ultramafic rock with no assays reported. For reference, the Crawford Main Zone resource is 1.7 km long and 225-425 metres wide.
The addition of these areas gives Canada Nickel a larger footprint to fully develop Crawford as each can potentially host nickel-cobalt deposits that are similar in nature to Crawford. With these additional targets Canada Nickel could grow their resource exponentially and easily become one of the top players in the nickel sector or provide a major an opportunity to secure feed for many years to come.
Then on October 21st, 2020 Canada Nickel announced an updated mineral resource for its 100% owned Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulfide Project which more than doubled it’s mineral resources in both the Measured and Inferred resource categories. This increase pushed CNC up the global ladder to the number 7th largest nickel sulfide deposit globally. Considering that this was achieved on less than 50% of the structures drilled in the CUC, this leads to great optimism for the Crawford deposit and beyond.
In having such great success in exploration, the company opted to get to work and put deals in place with the local first nations in the Wabun tribal council and initiate a working relationship with the Taykwa Tagamou, which would see them take an active role in building the hydro electric infrastructure required to get the project into production. This was a big step for this project as community acceptance is a big part of developing projects and so far CNC is way ahead of the game.
Then on January 25th, 2021, Canada announced very positive results from its latest metallurgical testing. The first phase of metallurgical testing was designed to confirm initial flowsheet design, which uses a typical nickel sulphide ultramafic flowsheet of two stages of grind-deslime-float with magnetic separation to support recovery of magnetic minerals. Subsequent testing during 2021/22 will continue to optimize various flowsheet parameters towards a final flowsheet for the feasibility study.
For more information on the flowsheet and recoveries please [click here]
Then came a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Glencore Canada Corporation in order to examine the potential use of Glencore’s Kidd concentrator and metallurgical site in Timmins, Ontario for the treatment and processing of material mined from Canada Nickel’s 100% owned Crawford Nickel-Cobalt project located 40 km north of Glencore’s operations. This was a big step forward as the economics of the project will be far more robust not having to build everything from scratch and should have a very positive effect on the project as a whole. This also bodes well from the perspective of having a major establish a working relationship with Canada Nickel Co.For more information on the MOU [Click Here]
In April, Canada Nickel Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Taykwa Tagamou Nation for Mine Fleet Financing for the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project. Under the terms of the MOU, TTN will seek favourable financing terms to participate in the financing of all or a portion of the heavy mining equipment fleet required for Crawford’s operation. Training and associated employment opportunities will also be available to TTN where specialized maintenance and operation is required for the equipment and where that equipment is financed or owned in whole or in part by TTN. This deal augments first nations participation in this project and highlights the strong support from the local communities who will benefit from a project like this for generations.
Then came the PEA, which put Canada Nickel on the radar of every investor in North America and placed it as the 5th largest Nickel Sulphide project globally with only 50% of the deposit drilled off! The Economics were robust and showed that large low grade deposits like this can be extremely profitable! Using metrics that look low at today’s nickel prices also highlight the long term sustainability of the project as we transition to green energy that is reliant on nickel.
I’m not going to spend much time here aside from providing highlights because so many metric have improved that these numbers are quite frankly outdated and substantially better now. The company continues to drill the property placing more tons into the indicated ahead of the Feasibility Study.
July 14th, 2021 – Canada Nickel expands the potential of Nesbitt to 1.8 kms of strike. A step out hole was drilled along the geophysical anomally that intersected 302 metres of nickel mineralization with intervals of visible disseminated sulphides just like at Crawford, highlighted the size potential of the property and given its proximity to the CUC, the potential for it to be inclusive into future Crawford plans.
In early October, Canada Nickel announced that they achieved 62% nickel recovery through substantial improvements in metallurgical performance at the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project. This is huge! Each percentage point improvement in nickel recovery yields a US$92 million improvement in the value of the NPV8% of the project, based on the PEA metrics.
Highlights:
Flowsheet improvements yield recovery gains and enhanced magnetite concentrate quality (all figures below relative to Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) model)
Nickel recovery of 62% – 10 percentage points or 19% improvement
Iron recovery of 45% – 2 percentage points or 5% improvement
Magnetite concentrate grade of 54% iron – 6.5 percentage points or 14% improvement
Cobalt recovery of 70% – 30 percentage points or 75% improvement
“I am very pleased with this step change in metallurgical performance that our team has unlocked during this phase of flowsheet optimization. The nickel recovery is substantially higher than the 4-5 percentage point improvement in nickel recovery the Company is targeting for the feasibility study. The improvement in grade and recovery of iron in the magnetite concentrate that has already been unlocked is excellent. I cannot underscore enough the importance of these results, as we believe all of these improvements provide additional value to the project.” said Mark Selby, Chair and CEO
In late October, with 5 drills turning on the property another development came in the discovery of a higher grade core in the East Zone of Crawford. Not only did this discovery add more tons to the Feasibility study but it also boasted fantastic metallurgical results as well. highlights below.
Highlights
Infill drilling identified an extensive Higher-Grade Core in the East Zone, similar to the Main Zone.
The higher grade cores span combined strike length of 1.6 kilometres, a width of 20 to 50 metres, to a depth of 690 metres.
Drilling in the East Zone has successfully infilled and extended strike length to a total of 2.1 kilometres, substantially larger than previously reported resource.
Hole 142A averaged 0.31% Ni across its entire 576 metre core length, ending in mineralization. Hole 165A (assays pending) was mineralized across its entire 690 metre core length, ending in higher grade mineralization at 735 metres. Five other holes recently completed intersected drill intervals of up to 216.6 metres of higher grade mineralization.
Samples from East Zone Higher Grade Core yielded the highest grade concentrate from Crawford during metallurgical work reported for the previously released Preliminary Economic Assessment with 43% of the recovered nickel reporting to a 55% nickel concentrate.
While exploration at Crawford was going on full steam ahead and metallurgical work was being improved upon, the work on Carbon Sequestration was developing, making this one of those coveted green nickel mining operations. On November 10th, 2021, CNC announced that Initial lab scale testing demonstrated that Crawford tailings have the potential to capture 17.5 kg CO2 per tonne of tailings – more than 3 times the amount required to offset the Project’s projected carbon footprint but we will cover that below.
Here is where things get really interesting!
Additional Assets
On November 22, 2021, Canada Nickel made a bold statement by going out and securing an additional 13 properties which all share similar geophysical traits and historical exploration data. This was a strategic move to secure a true district scale land package and nobody saw it coming! Lets take a look at those projects. (Taken from News release dated November 22, 2021, Please refer to the news release for more information on the property acquisitions.
Highlights
Acquisition of 13 additional target properties consolidates district scale potential.
Combined target surface footprint of 37.7 square km – 40 times larger than current Crawford Main Zone resource of 0.85 square km.
Ten target properties have larger footprint than Crawford and nine confirmed to contain the same host mineralization as Crawford.
Sothman target property has historical higher grade, shallow resource of approximately 190,000 tons of 1.24% nickel (with 300 metres strike length)1; remaining 2.2 km of strike length is largely untested.
Four target areas have yielded drill intersections of > 0.3% nickel including:
Sothman: 2.31% nickel and 0.19% copper over true width of 3.2 metres within 1.58% nickel and 0.12% copper over true width of 8.6 metres from 41 metres;
Deloro: 0.38% nickel and 0.22 g/t PGM over core length of 15.5 metres within 0.28% nickel and 0.09 g/t PGM over core length of 299 metres from 241 metres;
Midlothian: 0.24% nickel over core length of 345 metres, including 0.30% nickel over 42 metres;
Mann Southeast: multiple 3 metre intervals grading 0.31-0.33% nickel within 111 metres of dunite across entire core length
Sothman
Sothman is a property of approximately 1,000 ha located 70 km south of Timmins. The project was acquired from Glencore.
The Sothman Property contains an ultramafic sill comprised mainly of dunite (see Figure 2) that is estimated to be up to 200-300 metres thick, 2.2 km long and open at depth. An unclassified historical resource estimate reported as 189,753 tons grading 1.24% nickel (the Sothman West Zone)3 is centred 500 metres west of the sill (the 2.2 km dunite sill is largely untested).
The Sothman West Zone occurs at the north ultramafic contact within a footwall embayment approximately 300 metres wide and open at depth. The best historical intersection was hole DG50-S04 with 1.58% nickel over 12.2 metres (8.6 metres estimated true width) from 41.2 metres downhole including 4.6 metres (3.2 metres estimated true width) of 2.31% nickel and 0.19% copper. A sample of historical drill results is shown in Table 1a and 1b. Two drillholes intersected a deeper pod of similar sulphide mineralization (3.4 metres of 1.32% nickel from 398 metres in SM71-1 and 5.5 metres of 0.49% nickel from 353.2 metres in SM71-2) outside of the resource during the last drill program in 1971.
The Sothman Main Zone has seen very limited exploration but is known to contain dunite and peridotite and is similar in size to the East Zone at Crawford. For example, drillhole SM67-B25, SM67-B26 and SM67-B27 all intersected peridotite below overburden intersecting 54.56 metres of peridotite from 36.6 metres, 112.47 metres of peridotite from 7.6 metres, and 109.43 metres of peridotite from 12.19 metres respectively. All three holes ended in peridotite. Drillhole SM67-B28 was collared in peridotite (intersecting 46.02 metres of ultramafics from 15.24 metres) and crossed the south contact into volcanics at 61.26 metres, completing the only geologic section across the Sothman Main Zone.
Drillhole DG53-S41A is the only hole drilled in the eastern area of the Sothman Main Zone and intersected 60.1 metres of peridotite from 23.8 metres downhole, ending in peridotite. The south contact of the Sothman Main Zone has been intersected in three drillholes (DG51-S09, DG51-S12 and SM67-B28) with all holes starting in peridotite and ending in volcanics.
Table 1a – Historical Drilling – Sothman West Zone – Significant Intersections
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Length (m)
Estimated True Width (m)
Ni %
Cu %
SM56-K11
93.2
102.4
9.2
4.6
1.58
0.17
including
93.2
97.5
4.3
2.2
2.58
0.34
SM67-B06
28.7
40.5
11.8
8.4
1.57
0.11
including
28.7
33.8
5.1
3.6
2.28
0.16
DG50-S04
41.2
53.3
12.2
8.6
1.58
0.12
including
41.2
45.7
4.6
3.2
2.31
0.19
DG51-S20
89.9
95.8
5.9
4.0
1.56
0.13
DG50-S05
19.8
21.0
1.2
0.9
7.51
0.62
SM71-1
398.1
409.0
11.0
4.1
0.66
0.04
___________________________
3 See Statement Regarding Historical Resource Estimates on page 27 of this press release.
Table 1a – Historical Drilling – Sothman West Zone – Significant Intersections (continued)
Figure 1 – Sothman Property – Historical Drillholes Over Total Magnetic Intensity (“TMI”).
Sothman
Canada Nickel has entered into an agreement with Glencore Canada Corporation (Glencore) to acquire 50 mining leases that are in Sothman, Kemp and Mond Townships, 45 of which have associated Mining and Surface rights and five of which have Mining Rights only. Glencore will also hold a contingent right to receive a bonus payment in the amount of $10,000,000 (paid in cash or shares, at the Company’s election) in the event the Company discloses a mineral resource pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 of 10,000 tonnes or more of nickel or nickel equivalent. Glencore will also retain offtake rights to purchase the ore, concentrate or other mineral products produced from the property at market pricing. Canada Nickel staked an additional nine mining claims adjacent to the mining leases.
Deloro
Deloro is a property of approximately 1,800 ha located 10 km southeast of Timmins. It contains an ultramafic unit 1.4 km in length and up to 450 metres wide, striking south-southeast identified by the high magnetic intensity anomaly and historical drilling (see Figure 2). Six holes (FY-02-02, FY-02-06, FY-02-10, FY-02-11, FY-02-12, FY-02-13) were drilled inside and on the edge of the anomaly. Five of six holes intersected serpentinized dunite/peridotite with a core length of 24.2 metres in hole FY-02-10 up to 138.4 metres in hole FY-02-13, with four of five holes ending in serpentinized dunite/peridotite.
All five holes noted presence of magnetite (up to 20-25% magnetite in interval 39.4-89.5 metres from hole FY-02-02) and disseminated sulphides. Only specific non-consecutive intervals were assayed. Two of the four holes had nickel mineralization exceeding 0.40% nickel: FY02-02 with 0.42% nickel over a core length of 4.2 metres, with up to 0.73 g/t Pd and 0.23 g/t Pt over 1.2 metres, and FY-02-10 with 0.48% nickel, 0.28 g/t Pd, and 0.14 g/t Pt over 2.8 metres. See Table 2a and 2b below.
Figure 2 – Deloro Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI
The Deloro Project consists of mining claims and patents acquired from two vendors in separate Purchase Agreements. In the first Purchase Agreement a 100% ownership was acquired to 35 mining claims and 30 mining patents. The mining claims are subject to a 2.00% NSR while the patents are subject to various NSRs, ranging from 2.00-5.50%. In the second Purchase Agreement, Canada Nickel acquired a 100% ownership in four contiguous mining patents. The vendor will retain a 3.00% NSR on any gold resource outlined.
Mann
Mann is located 25 km east of Crawford and totals 7,800 ha. The ultramafic is estimated to be a combined 21 km in length with variable thickness and having at least three main dunitic cores like that at Crawford (Mann Central, Mann Northwest, and Mann Southeast). The Company has acquired the right to earn an 80% interest in the Mann Property from Noble by an initial payment of $100,000 in cash and 150,000 shares and paying a further $100,000 per year over the four-year Option Period (for a total cash payment of $400,000) and issuing a further 250,000 common shares, and incurring total exploration expenditures of $1.7 million, over the Option Period. Noble will retain a 2.00% Net Smelter Return (“NSR”) with a 1.00% buy-back to Canada Nickel for $1.0 million plus 50% of the buy-back provisions that total $4.5 million ($2.25 million to CNC).
Mann Central
The Mann Central Property area covers a single 4 km long by up to 1 km wide ultramafic intrusion (see Figure 3) that is evident in TMI geophysical surveys. Historical drilling has already delineated ultramafic mineralization over a strike length of 2,700 metres and 690 metres wide. Only one historical hole had assays – Falconbridge Ltd. intersected 79 metres (MAN43-03) of ultramafic which was intermittently sampled – with the highest reported assay of 0.29% nickel over ~1 metre (See Table 3a below). Historical drilling began in 1951 with seven of eight holes intersecting serpentinized peridotite containing magnetite. The longest intersection occurred in hole M-1, with 212 metres of well serpentinized peridotite along its entire core length. A 1976 drilling campaign reported wide intercepts of serpentinized ultramafic intrusive with visible sulphides and pervasive magnetite. Hole MA5-2-76 was the longest at 114 metres of serpentinized ultramafics along its entire core length (see Table 3a below).
Table 3a – Historical Drilling – Mann Central Property – Selected Lithologies
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Length (m)
Rock Type
INCO-1
5.2
162.5
157.3
Peridotite
M-1
1.5
213.7
212.1
Peridotite
M-2
7.3
214.9
207.6
Peridotite
M-3
7.6
14.9
7.3
Peridotite
M-3
18.0
96.3
78.3
Peridotite
M-3
96.3
141.7
45.4
Pyroxenite
M-3
141.7
155.1
13.4
Peridotite
M-3
165.8
172.8
7.0
Pyroxenite
M-4
11.3
50.0
38.7
Dunite
M-4
50.0
54.6
4.6
Pyroxenite
M-4
54.6
88.4
33.8
Dunite
M-4
88.4
191.4
103.0
Peridotite
M-4
191.4
196.0
4.6
Pyroxenite
M-5
10.1
41.1
31.1
Pyroxenite
M-5
41.1
153.3
112.2
Peridotite
M-5
161.5
172.5
11.0
Pyroxenite
M-6
7.9
114.9
107.0
Peridotite
M-6
123.1
128.0
4.9
Pyroxenite
M-7
11.3
107.3
96.0
Peridotite
M-7
113.4
127.1
13.7
Peridotite
M-7
129.2
172.8
43.6
Peridotite
1A
0.9
7.0
6.1
Peridotite
1A
51.5
54.6
3.1
Peridotite
2A
2.4
8.7
6.3
Peridotite
2A
22.0
52.1
30.2
Peridotite
2A
83.8
111.3
27.4
Peridotite
3A
1.2
57.3
56.1
Peridotite
Table 3a – Historical Drilling – Mann Central Property – Selected Lithologies (continued)
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Length (m)
Rock Type
3A
61.3
80.5
19.2
Peridotite
4A
0.6
10.4
9.8
Peridotite
4A
11.0
37.5
26.5
Peridotite
MA4-2-76
84.4
90.8
6.5
Gabbro
MA4-2-76
90.8
121.9
31.1
Pyroxenite
MA4-2-76
121.9
123.1
1.2
Peridotite
MA5-1-76
102.4
108.8
6.4
Gabbro
MA5-1-76
108.8
138.1
29.3
Peridotite
MA5-2-76
8.7
123.1
114.4
Ultramafic
MN87-3
32.3
200.0
167.7
Ultramafic
MAN43-01
9.0
188.0
179.0
Ultramafic
MAN43-03
78.6
158.0
79.4
Ultramafic
Table 3b – Historical Drilling – Mann Central Property – Significant Intersections
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Length (m)
Ni %
MAN43-03
89.1
90.3
1.2
0.29
MAN43-03
95.1
95.5
0.4
0.15
MAN43-03
107.2
107.6
0.4
0.16
MAN43-03
116.0
116.5
0.5
0.19
MAN43-03
122.0
122.4
0.4
0.21
MAN43-03
131.0
131.6
0.6
0.23
MAN43-03
142.7
143.0
0.3
0.21
MAN43-03
149.0
149.5
0.5
0.22
Figure 3 – Mann Central Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Mann Northwest
The Mann Northwest Property covers an ultramafic intrusion having dimensions of 3.5 km long by 600-800 metres wide (see Figure 4). The intrusion is described as mostly peridotite, commonly serpentinized, with overlying leuco-gabbro and pyroxenite.
First Point Minerals Corp. conducted a three-hole drill program (468 metres) in 2002 targeting PGMs in pyroxenites that overlie the ultramafic units. While the first hole (FHR-01-01) targeted the contact between the volcanics and the ultramafic rocks, the second hole (FHR02-02) intersected serpentinized peridotite containing magnetite and some sulphide stringers in fractures. Nickel assays were taken at selected intervals and ranged from a low of 0.10% nickel to a high of 0.31% nickel with average values >0.20% nickel (see table 4a).
Drilling conducted by Tres-Or Resources Ltd., did not report nickel assays but did intersect wide sections of serpentinized peridotite with magnetite and/or sulphide minerals (e.g., MAN-87-1) as observed in 22 drill holes (see Table 4b), as well as elevated PGM values (e.g., 0.57-0.59 g/t PGM) from several channel samples. Geological descriptions and geochemistry from these programs resemble what is observed at Canada Nickel’s Crawford property.
Figure 4 – Mann Northwest Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Mann Southeast
Mann Southeast is characterized by an arcuate-shaped ultramafic intrusion located in southeast Mann township with approximate dimensions of 6.2 km long and up to 800 metres wide (see Figure 5). Eight widely spaced holes drilled into the anomaly outlined 5 km of serpentinized dunite / peridotite across the anomaly (see Table 5c below).
In 1996, Falconbridge Ltd. drilled 111 metres of strongly serpentinized peridotite (MAN-35-01) with select assays grading: 0.31-0.33% nickel over 3 metre sampled intervals. See Table 5a.
A drill program conducted in 1973 around the southeast Mann ultramafic intersected wide intervals of serpentinized peridotite in five holes, with assays ranging up to 0.29% nickel (see Table 5b below). The southernmost and largest section of ultramafic – 1.2 km by 800 metres – remains untested with no historical drilling reported.
Figure 5 – Mann Southeast Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Mann
The Mann Property was acquired from Noble Mineral Exploration (“Noble”) in an Option Agreement with work commitments, cash payments, share issuances, NSRs, and buy-back provisions. The Company has acquired the right to earn an 80% interest in the Mann Property from Noble. Work commitments are $1.7 million over the Option Term with an initial $500,000 required in the first year. Noble will retain a 2.00% NSR (due to various vendors) with a 1.00% buy-back provision to Canada Nickel for $1.0 million plus 50% of the buy-back provisions that total $4.5 million ($2.25 million to CNC). Once Canada Nickel earns its 80% interest it will form a joint-venture with Noble to continue exploring the Property on an 80%-20% basis. An acceleration provision exists to allow the Company to reach its 80% interest earlier than the Option Period.
Reaume
Reaume is a property approximately 5,800 ha located 54 km north-northeast of Timmins and contains a large ultramafic intrusion having an approximate outline of 3 km (east-west) by 1.8 km (north-south) as defined by its magnetic footprint and historical drilling (see Figure 6). Inco holes 28482 and 28483 returned peridotite/dunite mineralization across the entire core length. Hole 28483 intersected from surface approximately 264 metres of serpentinized peridotite/dunite containing magnetite with some disseminated sulphides. Hole 28482 intersected 108 metres of serpentinized peridotite/dunite with up to 20% magnetite and disseminated sulphides. Both drillholes ended in peridotite/dunite.
Seven drillholes by Falconbridge (1995) intersected thick sections of peridotite and dunite (up to 168 metres of dunite in Hole REA-45-07). These historic holes delineated a peridotite/dunite unit with an east-west extent of approximately 1,200 metres and a north-south extent of 900 metres.
Four of the Falconbridge holes ended in peridotite/dunite. Six of seven holes reported the widespread presence of magnetite as well as disseminated sulphides. No assays were reported; however, the TMI exceeds the peak levels at Crawford Main Zone near the centre of the intrusion and is strongly anomalous across the ultramafic.
Figure 6 – Reaume Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
The Reaume Property was acquired through a combination of Purchase and Option Agreements. In one Purchase Agreement Canada Nickel acquired a 100% right to 65 contiguous mining claims with a 2.00% NSR to the vendor and a 1.00% buy-back provision. In a second Option Agreement Canada Nickel has the option to earn a 100% interest in 48 mining claims through work expenditures (2,100 metres of diamond drilling) over a 12-month period. In a third Purchase Agreement Canada Nickel acquired a 100% interest in a group of 201 in-fill claims (surrounding the ultramafic units) with the vendor retaining a 2.00% NSR with a buy-back of 1.00%. In a fourth Purchase Agreement Canada Nickel acquired a small group of claims which have a 2.00% NSR with a 1.00% buy-back.
Midlothian
Midlothian covers an area of 3,257 ha and is located 70 km south-southeast of Timmins. The ultramafic body is defined by a magnetic anomaly 2.7 km long and up to 700 metres wide (see Figure 7 below).
A total of 30 holes were drilled over the last 50 years by various operators with 23 holes intersecting serpentinized peridotite/dunite and 17 ending while still in the ultramafics. Six drillholes, each intersected over 100 metres of continuous, uninterrupted dunite/ultramafic, with LM08-01 intersecting 263.8 metres to the end of hole. (See Table 7a).
Seven holes had nickel assays, with the best interval in hole LM08-01 which yielded 0.24% nickel across core length of 345 metres with the final 42 metres grading 0.30% nickel (See Table 7b). Nickel sampling was not continuous down most drillholes.
The above drillholes outline serpentinized dunite/peridotite over a strike distance of 3.1 km long by 670 metres wide.
Figure 7 – Midlothian Property – Historical drillholes over TMI.
The Midlothian Property was acquired under an Option Agreement with Canadian Gold Miner Corp. (70% interest) and Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc. (30% interest), collectively the vendors. Under the terms of the agreement, Canada Nickel can earn a 100% interest in the property through cash and share payments and a commitment to $500,000 of exploration expenditures within the first twelve months of the agreement. On or before the fourth anniversary, Canada Nickel will complete an exploration program having a cumulative value of $2.5 million (including the first-year expenditures of $0.5 million). Cash and share payments in the first year are $50,000 and 100,000 respectively. In subsequent years payments are $100,000 and 35,000 (18 months), $200,000 and 70,000 (27 months), $300,000 and 105,000 (year 3) and $400,000 and 140,000 (year 4) for total cash payments of $1,050,000 and share issuances of 450,000. The vendors will retain an NSR of 4.00% for gold and 2.00% for nickel with a commercial production payment of $4.0 million. Canada Nickel will retain a 1.00% NSR buy-back right for aggregate payments of $2.5 million. The Option Agreement includes clauses for acceleration of the exploration program and payment in lieu of exploration expenditures.
Reid
The Reid Property is located 16 km southwest of Crawford and covers an area of 3,800 ha. The property contains a series of folded ultramafic bodies that measure 3.3 km north-south by 2.1 km east-west based on the TMI. See Figure 8.
Only four holes were ever drilled inside or near the edge of the ultramafic (from 1966 to 1972) by three different companies. All four holes collared and ended in ultramafic rocks with the holes ending at depths of 59.7-171.0 metres with intervals of ultramafics ranging from 44.5-123.7 metres. While none of the holes were assayed, all four holes intersected peridotite with up to 5-10% disseminated magnetite noted in each hole (see Table 8 below).
Figure 8 – Reid Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Figure 8 – Reid Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Reid
The Reid Property was acquired through Purchase Agreements with several different vendors. The Company has committed to conduct a 2,500 m drill program and fly an airborne survey over the Property. The vendor retains a 2.00% NSR on the claims with certain buy-down provisions. In a second Purchase Agreement 14 single cell mining claims were acquired with a 2.00% NSR to the vendor and a 1.00% buy-back. In a third agreement Canada Nickel acquired a 100% interest in 18 mining claims with a 2.00% NSR to the vendor and a 1.00% NSR buy-back.
Adam McCool
Adam McCool was staked directly by Canada Nickel and covers 2,832 ha. The property is located 92 km east of Timmins. The main intrusion was identified by its anomalous TMI and is estimated to have dimensions 4.6 km long by up to 800 metres wide (see Figure 9).
Mid-North Engineering Ltd. drilled three holes in McCool Township in 1963, intersecting serpentinized dunite in all three holes at shallow depths (to 495 ft or 151 m). See Table 9. No assays were provided.
Figure 9 – Adam McCool Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Adam McCool
The Adam McCool Property was staked directly by Canada Nickel as 72 contiguous mining claims (1,152 ha) with additional claims purchased from local prospectors for a total land package of 2,832 ha consisting entirely of mining claims owned 100% by Canada Nickel. Mining claims purchased by Canada Nickel are subject to a 2.00% NSR, 1.00% of which can be bought-back for $1 million. The claims with an NSR represent about 60% of the property.
Powell
The Powell Property is located 74 km southeast of Timmins and consists of several single cell mining claims totaling approximately 1,000 ha. The mining claims cover an ultramafic intrusion having dimensions of 1.4 km by 1.0 km showing a highly anomalous TMI. Two shallow holes drilled off the southeast edge of the anomaly were described as containing a pervasive mafic metavolcanic unit with high concentrations of magnetite and intervals of fracture-filling sulphide, which is more typical of serpentinized ultramafics. See Figure 10.
Figure 10 – Powell Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Powell
The Powell Property was acquired through a Purchase Agreement with a single vendor. The vendor retains a 2.00% NSR with a 1.00% buy-back for $1 million.
Moody
The Moody Property covers an area of 1,940 ha and was staked by Canada Nickel. The claims are located 72 km east of the Crawford Project and within 3 km from an all-weather mining road. Mistango River Mines Limited drilled a total of 34 diamond drillholes in the search for ultramafics. While the drilling results were reported by Utah Mines Ltd. in 1964, the location of the drillholes and drill results have not been provided on the Mining Lands Administration System (“MLAS”). The ultramafic is interpreted to have dimensions of 4.2 km long by up to 700 metres wide.
The Utah Mines Ltd. program consisted of reverse circulation drilling of several holes in 1984 (only seven were reported to MLAS) and core was not recovered. At the overburden-bedrock interface the rock was often described as being dark green and mafic.
Figure 11 – Moody Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Mortimer
The Mortimer Property includes two ultramafic intrusions that cover a total distance of 10 km, in an area staked by Canada Nickel totaling 2,732 ha. The main intrusion has dimensions of 1.8 km long, up to 400 metres wide and has never been intersected by drilling. The secondary intrusion, although longer in strike extent, does not show the same high intensity in the TMI but does have three locally high responses within the intrusion, none of which appears to have been drilled. The property is easily accessed by an all-weather logging road. See Figure 12.
Figure 12 – Mortimer Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Stimson
The Stimson Property covers 1,491 ha and encompasses a weakly magnetic ultramafic having a strike length of at least 2 km and with a higher amplitude TMI of 400 metres long. The ultramafic is interpreted to be a more distal extension of more strongly magnetic ultramafics found in Mortimer and Moody Townships, staked by Canada Nickel at the same time. See Figure 13.
Figure 13 – Stimson Property – Historical Drillholes Over TMI.
Stimson-Mortimer-Moody
The Stimson, Mortimer and Moody Properties were staked directly by Canada Nickel as single cell mining claims and are not subject to an NSR. The total cost for staking was $10,750. There are 215 mining claims totaling 3,440 ha. Each mining claim is 16 ha. Claims are valid for two years and require an exploration expenditure of $400/claim thereafter to be renewed annually.
Purchase and Option Agreements
The Company has negotiated 18 agreements to acquire the properties described in the release. On signing, the Company will pay a combined $371,500 in cash and 2,044,000 shares. $25,000 of this cash has already been paid and 125,000 shares have already been issued.
Since the Aquisition additional work on the properties has been completed and was announced on January 24th, 2022. Highlights include:
First hole in recently acquired properties intersects 480 metres of dunite at Deloro using a sixth drill rig acquired at start of year.
All nine holes from Dargavel, Mahaffy, MacDiarmid, Kingsmill intersected multi-hundred metre intersections of mineralization with best interval from first hole at Dargavel of 162 metres of 0.30% nickel including 0.34% nickel over 28.5 metres.
Completion of Crawford feasibility study expected by fourth quarter of 2022 and formal start of permitting process in first quarter of 2022.
Announces management additions in engineering and environment to support Company efforts to advance Crawford through feasibility and subsequent steps towards development.
Today, CNC is in the midst of closing out a 45 million dollar private placement that has no attached warrants! Initially listed at 25 million, the demand pushed the financing up by 20 million dollars overnight. That should be a testiment of the potential this project has and for the need for clean sustainable nickel.
NetZero MetalsTM
While driving an Electric Vehicle in fact does produce zero emission, the plants that process the nickel for the batteries used in EV can put out enough carbon to counteract those benefits. Just to build a car battery, weighing 500 kilograms for a sport-utility vehicle, would emit up to 74% more CO2 than producing an efficient conventional car if it is made in a factory powered by fossil fuels. Therefore, car manufacturers are looking to nickel producers outside of China and Indonesia, as these are the producers who are very reliant on coal powered plants to refine the nickel for use in Electric Vehicles.
In the June 2020 quarterly results investor call for Tesla Motors, CEO and founder Elon Musk called out to nickel miners to find more eco friendly ways to mine nickel. He went as far as to say on the call that there would be “a large contract offered to anyone who can mine nickel in a more environmentally friendly way”. His comments reverberated around the world with nickel miners and Canada Nickel was very quick to respond by engaging Elon through social media. Naturally, this created a bit of a stir that saw CNC’s share price triple in a matter of days.
Little did everyone know that Canada Nickel had already been working on a process by which they could reach a net zero carbon foot print due to the mineralogy of their deposit. On July 27, 2020, Canada Nickel announced the creation of a wholly-owned subsidiary called NetZero Metals, to begin the research and development of a processing facility that would be located in the Timmins, Ontario region with the goal of utilizing existing technologies to produce zero-carbon nickel, cobalt and iron products. They have also had the foresight to apply for the trademarks “NetZero Nickel”, “NetZero Cobalt” and “NetZero Iron”.
As noted above, the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide mineralogy is favorable, as the tailings will naturally absorb CO2 once exposed to air due to the high serpentine content in the ore body. This is a monumental advantage that omits the need for carbon sequestration of the tailings material as it does it naturally. They can also take the CO2 produced from the refining process and re route it to filter through the tailings, thus reducing CO2 emissions even further. Additionally, the Crawford Nickel Cobalt project is conveniently located near hydroelectricity generation, which will supply the power needs of an all electric fleet of mining equipment such as electric trolley trucks, scoops and dump trucks in place of diesel powered vehicles. Furthermore, Canada Nickel plans to build the refinery near their operations, thus omitting transportation costs, inefficiencies and further lowering the operation’s impact on the environment.
Recent laboratory tests were conducted by researchers from Kingston Process Metallurgy and Queen’s University and demonstrate that the project tailings naturally sequester CO2 into a mineralized form, which industry research has demonstrated is permanent. This is a critical foundation of Canada Nickel’s NetZero initiative to become the first zero carbon nickel operation. Canada Nickel’s wholly-owned Net Zero Metals subsidiary has successfully applied and registered trademarks in various jurisdictions for NetZero Nickel™, NetZero Cobalt™ and NetZero Iron™ in expectation that the Company believes it can be successful in achieving its zero carbon initiatives.
“This is a critical demonstration that our tailings have the fundamental capacity to capture CO2 in amounts that exceed what we believe will be required to achieve net zero carbon production for our concentrates. Any CO2 sequestration in excess of the 4.6 kg per tonne of tailings level would be potentially available for sale as carbon credits. Work is underway on a series of larger scale tests aimed at demonstrating that Crawford tailings can be exposed to enough CO2 for a sufficient time period to achieve the sequestrations levels that were achieved at a lab scale. We look forward to seeing the results over the coming year.” said Mark Selby, Chair and CEO of Canada Nickel.
Management
Conclusion
Long life deposits are more sought after today than ever before and since Canada Nickel’s inception a short time ago, they have already garnered an awful lot of attention. Timmins is in need of a major mining operation with Glencore’s Kidd Creek Mine scheduled for closure by 2023, CNC is proving very quickly that Nickel may have a role to play in the Timmins mining camp’s future. Being that the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulfide Project is located in Canada, in a mining friendly jurisdiction with access to an abundance of local infrastructure, it makes CNC’s project incredibly attractive, especially if they can achieve their strategy of also having a Net Zero Carbon footprint.
For all the aforementioned reasons, Canada Nickel is a very attractive mining operation for battery makers or car manufacturers like Tesla who are in search of eco friendly solutions with long life potential to feed their growing demand for class 1 nickel sulphate. It is also perfectly suited to supply the stainless steel industry as the deposit holds iron and chome making it the ideal mix. As the world becomes more conscious about our impact on the environment, future mining operations like the one Canada Nickel is proposing to develop will set a new benchmark for best practice sustainable mining across the globe. Going green is not a fad that will come and go like bell bottom jeans, it is a necessity to preserve our way of life for generations to come and what better place for something like this to surface than in Canada.
Catalysts
Additional drilling assays from Crawford
Exploration of the additional targets outside of Crawford
Feasibility study by year end 2022
Potential suitors showing interest in the project
Green technology developments through NetZero Metals Inc.
Canada Nickel is a Sponsor of Insidexploration, however the thoughts and opinions expressed are the authors and do not represent that of the company. The Author may also buy and sell the stock at any point in time without warning.
Disclaimer
Insidexploration has prepared this document for general information purposes only. This document should not be considered a solicitation to purchase or sell securities or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The information provided has been derived from sources believed to be accurate, but cannot be guaranteed. This document does not take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations, or needs of individual recipients and other issues (e.g. prohibitions to investments due to law, jurisdiction issues, etc.) which may exist for certain persons. We are not registered financial advisors and one should always do your own due diligence and consult a licensed investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions. Always reference www.SEDAR.com for important risk disclosures.
I am a 3rd generation miner who was born and raised in the silver capital of Canada, Cobalt, Ontario. For the last 10 years I have been invested in the mining sector and as a retail investor found it difficult gathering information on companies of interest. For this reason we created Insidexploration.com as a means to share our due diligence with investors all around the world.
Disclosure
The thoughts and opinions expressed in my articles and research reports are my own and do not represent those of the companies I write about. I often buy and sell the stocks I write about and may do so at any point in time without warning.
Disclaimer
My articles and research reports should not be considered a solicitation to purchase or sell securities or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The information provided is derived from sources believed to be accurate, but cannot be guaranteed. I do not take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations, or needs of individual recipients and other issues (e.g. prohibitions to investments due to law, jurisdiction issues, etc.) which may exist for certain persons. I am not a registered financial advisors and one should always do your own due diligence and consult a licensed investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions. Always reference www.SEDAR.com for important risk disclosures.
Currently we have 2 porphyry systems identified by @GoldspotD at the #ReyLake & #LuckyMike areas which need further drilling. In addition, we now have over 20 target areas to focus on, giving the 120km² Project potential to host a cluster of deposits.
While expanding the roads to access higher up the mountain, @ResourcesWalker $WRR exposed a 1000 foot wide section of alteration they now call the cut. What's cool is that this system can be traced from the mill up to 8,500 feet!
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