Sudbury mine start-up company raises $22 million

Expansion-minded Magna Mining has raised $21.85 million through a private placement of shares to advance its mine and exploration projects in Sudbury.

In a Nov. 5 news release, Magna said it intends to use the proceeds to finance its development efforts in the Sudbury basin and for general corporate purposes.

Involved the cash raise were Magna’s two major shareholders, Dundee Capital Corp. and Hawke’s Point, a subsidiary of TFG Asset Management UK LLP. Both investors hold approximately 22 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, stake in Magna.

With management ties going back to FNX Mining, a highly successful Sudbury junior mining company in the 2000s, Magna’s business model is to acquire past producing local mines, make new discoveries, and bring them back into production. Crean Hill, a former Inco mine, is currently being test-mined on its path back to production.

Compared to FNX, Magna will instantly become a producer in the basin with its September acquisition of the McCreedy West copper mine from KGHM International in September, along with two mines on care and maintenance, and five exploration properties that the Magna team are very familiar with. Magna hopes to finalize the deal for those properties by year’s end. The properties were deemed non-core assets by the Polish mining company.

The company’s short-term goal to toll mill and sell ore to major miners in Sudbury. But Magna does have a valuable asset in waiting at Shakespeare, west of Sudbury, near the village of McKerrow, where it is permitted to build a 4,500-tonne per day processing mill, should the company decide to build one. At Shakespeare, the company also has a mine project that’s at the feasibility stage.

In an online interview with Mining Network, Magna CEO Jason Jessup said their expectation is to have three to four mines – McCreedy West, Levack, Crean Hill and possibly Podolsky – operating within five years.

“I think there’s potential for us to have, over the next four years...one mine per year, coming into production,” he said.

Jessup said there’s enough mineral growth potential in Sudbury over the next decade for Magna to become the “next great Canadian base metals mining company,” as a producer of nickel, copper and precious metals.

Earlier this week, Magna reported success from its drilling program at Shakespeare in finding a new copper zone from its regional program. The target area was found early in 2024 by prospecting and geophysical surveys. The company said there are no records of any historical drilling being done in this area. The zone is just southwest of the former Shakespeare mine.