Export Development Canada (EDC) has committed up to $500 million USD to the Crawford Nickel-Sulphide Project in Timmins after a Letter of Interest (LOI) dated August 30 was issued. The LOI indicates that EDC will provide long-term debt financing to develop the project, a debt tenure of up to 18 years (subject to conditions). The agreement depends on the completion of rigorous due diligence and negotiation.
The project will also benefit from the refundable critical minerals and carbon capture and storage tax credits totalling more than $600 million USD, which will be used for the initial development phases of the project. Project representatives are also working with financial advisors to secure remaining project funding to ensure construction can begin once permits are in hand, which is anticipated to be by mid-2025.
Canada Nickel Company is tasked with managing the construction, operation, decommissioning, and abandonment of an open-pit nickel-cobalt mine and mill located on-site. Once complete, the project will have a mine ore production capacity of 275,000 tonnes per day and a mill ore input capacity of 120,000 tonnes per day. The lifecycle is expected to last approximately 43 years. Nickel, cobalt, chromium, palladium, and platinum are expected to be recovered.
Stantec, which was selected to provide professional environmental consulting, will prepare an impact statement as well as any environmental and technical assessments to evaluate project impacts, potential mitigation measures, and any required follow-up.
Canada Nickel has developed an In-Process Tailing Carbonation which it expects will store over one million tonnes of carbon annually. The project will be a leader in the production of critical minerals that are necessary for the electrification of the economy and will support Canada’s climate change objectives in the process through industrial-scale carbon capture and storage.
