Canada Nickel aims to deploy carbon capture at Ontario mine

Canada Nickel Company Inc. [CNC-TSXV] on Wednesday said the latest test work results support the incorporation of carbon capture and storage into its flagship Crawford nickel sulphide project near Timmins, Ont.

The company said its In-Process Tailings Carbonization process (IPT) is a novel method for accelerated carbon capture and storage that it believes has transformative potential. “The latest test work confirms that existing process streams can be utilized for IPT Carbonization which the company believes should allow it to be timely and cost effectively engineered and incorporated into the flowsheet,’’ Canada Nickel said in a press release Wednesday.

As a result, the integrated feasibility study for the project is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2023, a few months later than planned “This delay has no impact on the overall timeline for production as the company continues to target receipt of permits by mid-2025, with construction to follow,’’ Canada Nickel said.

“We believe the Crawford Project has the potential to be a case study in how critical minerals are developed in Ontario and Canada,’’ said Canada Nickel Chair and CEO Mark Selby. “Crawford is poised to support the energy transition through the large-scale production of critical minerals, including nickel and cobalt and to become a North American producer of chromium, while also supporting the country’s climate objectives through large scale carbon capture and storage,’’ he said.

Canada Nickel shares were active Wednesday, easing 9.8% or 19 cents to $1.74 on volume of 442,840. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $4.01 and $1.18.

Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project is hosted in ultramafic rock, which naturally absorbs and sequesters CO2. The company said the potential to actively capture and sequester carbon was a key consideration in its acquisition of the 42 square kilometres of target ultramafic rocks in the Timmins, Ont., region, which, it says, could anchor a zero-carbon industrial cluster in Timmins.

Canada Nickel said it has developed a simple active process that utilizes tailings as generated in the milling process and injects a concentrated source of C02 for a brief period of time. “This novel process for accelerated mineral carbonization is called In Process Tailings Carbonation or IPT Carbonation, which fixes C02 geologically while the tailings are still in the processing circuit, rather than after they have been finally deposited.”

The company believes that successful incorporation of IPT Carbonation could potentially allow a portion of the company’s project capital expenditures to become eligible for carbon capture and storage refundable investment tax credits of 37.5% to 60% from 2022-30 and 18.75% to 30% from 2031-40 as announced in 2022 federal budge documents.

The company said it can clearly demonstrate with the existing broad base of research in this area that the mineral sequestration utilized by the company can be considered an effective carbon storage approach that would meet Environment and Climate Change Canada requirements.

Canada Nickel recently secured a $10 million loan facility from Auramet International Inc. and said it planned to use the proceeds to execute post feasibility work on permitting and detailed engineering at Crawford.

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