Generation Mining on track to green light Marathon Palladium-Copper Project

by Kevin Vincent

2023 has been a year of steady progress as Generation Mining Limited moves ever closer to production on its flagship Palladium-Copper Project near Marathon. The company is targeting the “go-signal” in 2025, as it looks to become Canada’s next copper and palladium producer. The early estimate is a twelve-and-a-half-year mine-life. Early this Fall, the company crossed a major hurdle when it received approval to submit a closure plan to provincial officials, a critical step that precedes the issuance or consideration of most major construction permits.
The Marathon Palladium-Copper Project is located along the Trans-Canada Highway in Northwestern Ontario. 
An updated Feasibility Study released in the Spring indicated the project has a value of C$1.16 billion with a payback of 2.3 years and a rate of return of 25.8% based on US$1800/oz and US$3.70/lb for palladium and copper respectively. 
Generation has a globally-recognized customer in Glencore waiting in the wings. “We are pleased to have Glencore as an offtake partner as we advance the Marathon Palladium Copper Project to construction and production,” said Jamie Levy, President and CEO. 
“These offtake arrangements will ensure the Marathon Project has customers for its production and will enable downstream processing of critical minerals in Canada. Moreover, this provides a strong commercial commitment from a highly regarded counterparty to support our expected project financing requirements.” 
The Feasibility Study has been well received by all stakeholders. 
“This updated Feasibility Study underscores just how robust the Marathon Project is, even in the current inflationary environment,” said Levy. “This, combined with strong demand for critical minerals, makes the rationale for the project becoming Canada’s next critical minerals mine more compelling than ever before. With the receipt of our Environmental Assessment approvals and our recently announced indicative offtake term sheets, we are advancing to arrange Project financing and working hard to obtain the permits necessary to start construction.” 
The Project promises to be a near-term sustainable, environmentally sensitive, low-cost producer of critical metals that Canada and the rest of the world desperately need. On a copper equivalent basis, the Marathon Project, once in production, is expected to be one of the lowest CO2 equivalent intensity mines in the world. 
“The metals we plan to produce will not only support emissions controls and the transition to a greener economy in Ontario and Canada, but they will also support job creation and economic prosperity for local, regional, and national stakeholders, in particular the First Nation community of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg and the Town of Marathon.”
Shortly after the company released the Feasibility Study, it needed to lock down financial commitments and that’s exactly what happened. A syndicate including Export Development Canada, with ING Capital LLC and Société Générale S.A. agreed to act as the Mandated Lead Arrangers. The formal mandate includes a non-binding indicative term sheet for a senior debt facility of up to US$400 million.
“We are very pleased to have mandated these three financial institutions, all of whom have a strong mining and metals track record. The US$400 million senior debt facility combined with the undrawn Wheaton Precious Metals Stream of CDN $200 million, or a total of CDN $740 million represents a significant portion of the initial capital required to develop the Marathon Project,” said Levy. “The company will now focus on finalizing the definitive documentation, together with arranging equipment leases and sourcing the balance of the capital required to fully finance construction.”
Levy went on to say, “The interest of EDC, ING, Société Générale, and Wheaton Precious Metals further validates the Marathon Project’s status as an economic, sustainable, environmentally sensitive, low-cost producer of critical metals that are needed to support emissions controls and the transition to a greener economy. This has never been more urgent, particularly in the wake of the IPCC Report, published March 20, 2023, by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which provides governments, at all levels, with scientific information they can use to develop climate policies.”
Following consent by the Biigtigong Nishnaabeg (BN) Chief and Council of the Closure Plan for the Project, the company was issued a letter from the Ministry of Mines to submit the Closure Plan. This represents another significant milestone in the permitting process for the Marathon Palladium-Copper Project. 
The company says it reflects the contributions of BN and other Indigenous groups that were consulted and who participated in the overall development of the plan. 
“We want to thank Chief Michano, the Biigtigong Nishnaabeg Band Council and the BN leadership team members for their support and collaboration with our team on developing the Closure Plan,” said Levy. “This is the conclusion of months of working together to define the social, environmental, and technical elements of the Closure Plan to achieve the land use envisioned for the property after mining concludes, including establishing a self-sustaining ecosystem, re-establishing access through the area for traditional land use and providing future economic development opportunities. The Closure Plan reflects the significant amount of work undertaken by all parties to produce a plan that achieves the objectives of all stakeholders.”

On November 7, 2023 Generation announced the province of Ontario accepted and filed the Closure Plan for their Marathon Palladium-Copper Project. This represents another major milestone in the permitting process for the Marathon Palladium-Copper Project.
Jamie Levy said, “The approval of our Closure Plan for the Marathon Palladium-Copper Project is the conclusion of months of work to define the social, environmental, and technical elements of the Closure Plan to achieve the land use envisioned for the property after mining concludes, including establishing a self-sustaining ecosystem, re-establishing access through the area for traditional land use and providing future economic development opportunities. The Marathon Palladium-Copper Project is a valuable and strategic asset containing critical metals that are needed to support emissions controls and the transition to a greener economy. We are grateful for the incredible stakeholder support including the First Nation community of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg the Town of Marathon, and the Ontario government.”
Along with the approval of the Closure Plan, the Company continues to make significant progress in obtaining the permits for the Project.

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