The first generation of nickel mining created sulfur dioxide emissions, and the second generation created carbon dioxide emissions, but Canada Nickel will, in effect, create neither when it starts to produce nickel in 2025-26, chief executive officer Mark Selby has told Fastmarkets.
Selby is also chairman and a founding shareholder of the company. It was formed in September 2019 to develop the Crawford Project, a nickel sulfide deposit in Canada's Ontario province, into one of the world's biggest and greenest mines. It represents what Selby calls "third-generation" mining.
At peak output, Crawford will produce 42,000 tonnes per year of nickel in concentrate, according to the company's figures. "We would be about the same size as Vale Sudbury," Selby said in mid-September.
Sudbury is the biggest nickel mine in Canada, and Brazil-based owner Vale is the top global nickel producer.
Canada Nickel's
Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), released on May 25 this year, detailed a 25-year lifespan for the asset. But Selby said: "By the time we get to the feasibility study [in 2022], we expect... it will end up being a 30- to 40-year life at a minimum."