The Ring of Fire has been the garden of agony for mining companies ever since the discovery of nickel and chromite in the James Bay region in 2007-2008.
As glacial as the pace of progress has been, Wyloo Metals Canada CEO Kristan Straub said his company’s enthusiasm hasn’t waned for its Eagle’s Nest project.
“We think this is probably one of the best times, if not the most prospective time we’ve seen yet, at least in my tenure here,” said Straub, who joined Wyloo from Glencore’s nickel exploration team in 2023.
Straub finds the renewed interest in critical minerals during the federal election campaign refreshing to hear, especially from the two main contenders vying to be prime minister.
“We see Canada needing a change in leadership,” said Straub. “I think that is key and critical for us.”
Over the decades, the vast and open-ended mineral potential of the remote Ring of Fire has received its share of passionate lip service from Ottawa and Queen’s Park.
But these two orders of government have also contributed to the lack of Far North development through apathy and inaction, arduous assessment processes, and diverging policies over how — or even if — resource extraction should take place in the James Bay lowlands.
In the case of Noront Resources, this inertia repeatedly pushed back the project goalposts that ultimately forced the ambitious, but undercapitalized, Toronto junior miner to tap out and give way to Wyloo.
Though Wyloo is a relative newcomer to Ontario, arriving in 2022 after its acquisition of Eagle’s Nest from Noront, Straub maintains the company is here for the long haul.
So far, Wyloo’s patience hasn’t run out and they have no plans to mothball Eagle’s Nest or put it on the selling block and beat a hasty retreat out of Ontario.
“We are invested in this project to see it through,” said Straub.
Eagle’s Nest is Wyloo’s flagship deposit, 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, containing more than 15.7 million tonnes of high-grade nickel with significant amounts of copper and platinum group metals in the mix.
Though nickel prices are slumping, financing is always tight, and geopolitical uncertainty might suggest this is not the best time to construct a mine, Straub and privately-held Wyloo remain undeterred.
Straub believes that nickel prices, as a historically cyclical commodity, will rebound.
“This metal will come back.”
He points out that Eagle’s Nest is a polymetallic (multi-mineral commodity) deposit and it can be a robust, low-cost operation through various commodity cycles; very similar to mines in the Sudbury basin.
Wyloo has already invested a substantial amount in Ontario — $630 million on the Noront deal, plus the $25 million to $30 million spent annually on the project — to turn tail and run.
And Wyloo’s most senior boss, Andrew Forrest, head of parent company Fortescue, stands by his conviction that nickel will play a huge role, as a battery metal, in global decarbonization, said Straub.
Now Canada’s political fortunes may be turning in Wyloo’s favour.
A federal election and a hot trade war with the U.S. have those with political aspirations taking a keen interest in critical minerals,
Liberal leader Mark Carney and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre are presenting progressive attitudes toward resource development, providing reason for hope that Ottawa and Queen's Park might finally be on the same page once the election smoke clears.
Premier Doug Ford, an unabashed mining booster, often mentions the Ring of Fire as the kind of mega-project that’ll generate huge economic returns for Ontario and secure domestic supply chains.
Federally, there appears to more alignment on mineral development based on the messaging from Carney and Poilievre.
In March, Carney staked out his position in calling for an “action-oriented economy” vowing to end the duplicative environmental impact assessment processes for projects deemed nationally significant.
“One project, one review; it’s time to build,” Carney said.
Meanwhile, Poilievre is campaigning on a platform of unleashing Canada’s natural resource potential by overhauling federal environment regulations in order accelerate approvals for mine and pipeline projects.
On his swing through Sudbury, Poilievre pledged $1 billion for mine and community-related development in the Ring of Fire and said his government would fast-track develoment permits there within six months.
Whether expediting permits are easier said than done, Straub reminds all that no mining company in that region is close to the permitting stage.
First Nation-led assessments of the north-south Ring of Fire road network are still underway and Wyloo is respectful of the “quality” work being done there.
However long it takes the Indigenous community road proponents to finish those assessments are beyond Wyloo’s control.
But Straub doesn’t hesitate to mention that the duplicity of federal and provincial assessment practices on major projects, and the lack of intergovernmental coordination, is holding Canada back.
“The periods of time it takes to go through the assessments are far too long.”
Last May, Wyloo chose Sudbury as the host city for a downstream battery mineral processing plant to be fed by Eagle’s Nest. Mine construction would start in 2027, coinciding with the start of road construction.
But that timetable remains up in the air.
“They will remain in flux until we have a definitive timeline on the road,” said Straub.
Gold bars can easily be flown out of a remote mine. Wyloo will have to move out hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mined material by truck down a north-south access road to a transhipment point in the Aroland-Nakina area, before railing it out for processing.
“If this deposit was situated near infrastructure, it would’ve been developed quite some time ago,” said Straub.
“The remote nature of it and the process to go through the environmental assessments has been what has taken a considerable amount of time.”
Straub believes the coming government policy shift should expedite the bureaucratic process while also ensuring there’s ongoing First Nation consultation and collaboration with the communities.
With some certainty provided, Straub believes the market is “ready to invest in strong projects” in jurisdictions where governments can provide approvals on predictable timelines.
Straub mentions other developed countries have legislative requirements to do impact assessment processes in environmentally sensitive areas. But those countries seem further ahead than Canada in successfully extracting minerals without lowering the bar on environmental standards and on Indigenous consultation.
He points to lithium mining and production where Canada is lagging behind.
Both Canada and Australia are endowed with phenomenal lithium deposits, a critical mineral used in battery production.
Neither country had a head start when it came to mine development, yet Australia has grown into the world’s largest lithium producer.
“We’ve yet to put one (mine) into production,” said Straub.
Moving forward, Wyloo expects to release a feasibility study on Eagle’s Nest in a few months. Straub said they’re working through their mine financing options, which will be all bundled into the project timelines for investment.
While not at liberty to discuss Wyloo’s conversations with Indigenous communities in the region, Straub said they remain engaged with First Nations who are project proponents, and they maintain an ongoing outreach to outlying First Nations to build trust with them.
