Timmins-area mine developer Canada Nickel has secured a $20.4-million loan and plans to sever off some grassroots properties into a separate, spinoff exploration company.
The Toronto company announced this week it has closed a loan with its long-time financing partner, Auramet International, in the amount of US$15 million. The money is earmarked for permitting, engineering and other activities associated with its flagship Crawford project, an advanced nickel sulphide project, north of Timmins.
Canada Nickel expects to make a decision on Crawford to build an open-pit mine by mid-2025 once it has secured project partners and customers for its mined material, the latter in the form of off-take agreements.
Canada Nickel also said it’s splitting off its exploration properties in the Timmins area and the region into a separate entity.
The company signed a binding letter of interest with Noble Mineral Exploration on July 5 to form a yet-to-be-named privately owned joint venture exploration outfit. Each partner will be contributing a number of properties into a single entity owned 80 per cent by Canada Nickel and 20 per cent by Noble.
Canada Nickel already has an existing joint venture arrangement with Noble on its Mann property where they’ve drilled for nickel, copper and other minerals, northeast of Timmins. Mann and a number of other properties in surrounding townships will be added to the mix.
This arrangement allows Canada Nickel to focus its efforts on the future development of Crawford and place its exploration properties in a separate portfolio.
Steve Balch, Canada Nickel’s vice-president of exploration, will lead the new company, consisting of almost 2,000 mining claims spread across 42,000 hectares. He’ll have $5 million in initial funding provided to him by Canada Nickel.
"Today is the first of a set of transactions designed to unlock value from our significant asset portfolio,” said Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby in a news release.
“The creation of 'ExploreCo' (a placeholder name) will facilitate the ability to realize the future value of these properties that are not currently recognized in Canada Nickel's market value. This transaction also allows the company to consolidate the surface rights, remaining claims, and patents around the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project to simplify the development of Crawford and our future projects."
No date was provided on when this joint venture will be finalized. It still requires that a definitive agreement be signed with approvals from regulatory bodies like the TSX Venture Exchange.
