Canada Nickel completes Front End Engineering Design for Crawford Project
By Kevin Vincent, Senior Contributing Editor to Mining Life Online and Mining Life & Exploration News
Canada Nickel Company Inc. has completed Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) activities for its Crawford Project, marking another significant milestone as the company progresses towards a construction decision. The FEED results, developed in collaboration with the company’s consultants, focused on refining initial capital costs and optimizing the mine plan to enhance project economics.
Project Enhancements and Cost Efficiency
The engineering effort incorporated data collected from a winter geotechnical program, a test piling program, and updated supplier quotes. The results indicate an initial capital cost increase of only 5%, despite broader industry cost inflation in recent years. Additionally, mine sequencing has been restructured to prioritize higher-value ore from the East Zone while reducing pre-stripping by 30%, contributing to improved financial returns.
“We are very pleased to complete another major milestone as we advance Crawford towards a construction decision,” said Mark Selby, CEO of Canada Nickel. “Many mining development projects have seen significant cost inflation over the last several years. I am very proud of our team and the robustness of our project that the initial capital cost increased by only 5%, particularly since the feasibility study had a cost basis dating from December 2022. The resequencing of the mining plan and updated operating costs have also yielded improved economics for the project.”
Strategic Financing and Next Steps
With the FEED study complete, Canada Nickel is moving forward with project financing in collaboration with Scotiabank, Deutsche Bank, and Cutfield Freeman. The company aims to finalize a funding package by year-end, positioning itself to proceed with construction once permits are secured. This funding will also support the procurement of long-lead items and further engineering activities.
“With this milestone complete, we look forward to working with our project financing partners to complete the funding package for Crawford by year-end to be positioned to make a construction decision once permits are received,” Selby added. “We are planning to utilize capital from this funding package for order placement of long-lead items and engineering activities. The company is also pursuing a number of non-equity financing initiatives, including government funding, to provide the funding to complete the remaining permitting and engineering activities this year.”
Updated Project Metrics
Key project metrics from the FEED study were compared to the feasibility study released in November 2023. To maintain consistency, all economic assumptions remain unchanged, excluding potential benefits from the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Investment Tax Credits (CCUS credits). Canada Nickel believes it qualifies for CCUS credits, which, if included, would increase the project’s NPV8% to $2.9 billion and its IRR to 18.9%.
The Crawford Project continues to solidify its position as a world-class nickel development with its focus on efficiency, sustainability, and strategic execution. As the company advances towards finalizing permits and securing project financing, the latest results reaffirm its commitment to delivering a robust, economically viable operation. The primary focus of FEED was to update the initial capital cost estimate. The associated engineering has progressed to approximately 30% and is sufficient for preparation of long-lead orders. Since completion of the Feasibility Study, there has been significant inflationary pressure. However, the increase in overall capital cost has been held to 5% through optimization of the mining schedule and simplification to designs. Table 2 summarizes the change to key capital elements since the Feasibility Study.
The other key change was a re-sequencing of the mine plan. Ore from the East Zone will now be mined and processed first, being brought forward on average 12 years. Ore from the Main Zone has correspondingly been deferred. With the reduced depth of overburden overlying the East Zone, this resequencing allows the pre-strip tonnage to be reduced by 30%. With East Zone ore now comprising the bulk of material processed during the payback period, additional metallurgy testing was performed. The resultant update to recoveries for East Zone ore have led to an increase in the average value of East Zone ore of 7.4%, to US$31.18/t. Recovery forecasts for Main Zone ore remain unchanged. About Canada Nickel Company
Canada Nickel Company Inc. is advancing the next generation of nickel-sulphide projects to deliver nickel 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 NickelTM, NetZero CobaltTM, NetZero IronTM 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 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.
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