Canada Nickel says Crawford will have Industry-Leading Low Carbon Footprint

“This study demonstrates that Canada Nickel’s Crawford project can be a world-leading large scale, low cost nickel supplier while possessing an extremely low carbon footprint," said Mark Selby, Chair & CEO.  

Canada Nickel Company Inc. announced its Crawford project is expected to have an industry leading low carbon footprint, lower than 99.7% of existing global nickel production. When in operation, Crawford is expected to produce 2.05 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per tonne of nickel-equivalent production over the life of mine. This is 93% lower than the industry average of 29 tonnes of CO2.

These results are based on a study by Skarn Associates, a metals and mining ESG research company, applying data from Canada Nickel’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”), the results of which were released on May 25th 2021. Importantly, this CO2 footprint estimate does not include the carbon offset expected to be provided from the process of spontaneous mineral carbonation from the tailings and waste rock comprised largely of serpentine rock which naturally absorbs CO2 when exposed to air.

"I am particularly excited that we can achieve this result even before we include the carbon offset potential from our waste rock and tailings which we expect to allow us to produce NetZero NickelTM, NetZero CobaltTM, and NetZero IronTM. These results reflect the mine’s low strip ratio and our ability to utilize the low carbon hydroelectricity in the region and by using trolley trucks and electric shovels to reduce the consumption of diesel fuel,” said Selby.

Skarn Associates’ proprietary E0 GHG intensity metric relates to Scope 1 and 2 mine site emissions from mining and processing of ore, plus fugitive emissions. It includes emissions from integrated smelting and refining facilities, but excludes emissions from third-party smelting and refining. Emission intensities are stated on a recovered nickel-equivalent basis, calculated using average 2020 metal prices. Emissions are pro-rated across all commodities produced by the mine, based on contribution to gross revenue.

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