Canada Nickel’s Crawford project fast-tracked: capex, schedule and CO₂ design lens
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Ontario has fast-tracked Canada Nickel’s Crawford project under its One Project, One Process framework, targeting construction start by year-end and first production in Q4 2028, while Ottawa has also designated it for the federal Major Projects Office. The ultramafic-hosted deposit, 40 km north of Timmins, has a 41-year mine life and 2023 feasibility metrics of 3.5 billion lb nickel, 53 million lb cobalt, 490,000 oz palladium/platinum, 58 million tonnes iron and 6.2 million lb chromium, with C$3.5 billion capex and C$2.6 billion post-tax NPV (8% discount). A planned in-process tailings carbonisation circuit aims to geologically sequester about 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, positioning Crawford as a large-scale, low-carbon nickel source relative to Indonesian laterite operations.
Technical Brief
- In-process tailings carbonisation injects concentrated CO2 directly into mill tailings to lock it as stable carbonate minerals.
- The in-circuit sequestration approach avoids relying on post-deposition tailings carbonation pads or separate treatment cells.
- Ontario’s One Project, One Process (1P1P) framework aims to halve permitting timelines for advanced projects.
- Crawford is only the second project accepted into 1P1P, after Frontier Lithium’s PAK lithium project.
- Dual fast-track status comes from both Ontario and the federal Major Projects Office, unique among Canadian mines.
- Provincial estimates suggest C$70 billion total economic contribution and C$5 billion direct investment from the mine alone.
- Canada Nickel’s market capitalisation rose to about C$485 million as shares gained 16% to C$2.10.
Our Take
Within the 577 Mining stories in our database, very few single assets combine nickel, cobalt, iron ore and chromium at the scale indicated for Crawford, which suggests Canada Nickel could become a multi-commodity swing supplier rather than a pure-play nickel producer.
The 1.5 Mt/y carbon capture capacity attached to Crawford places it at the upper end of ‘Sustainability’-tagged projects in our coverage, signalling that Ontario is using the 1P1P fast-track to showcase large-scale, mine-integrated CO₂ storage rather than incremental abatement.
With capex of C$3.5 billion against a post-tax NPV of C$2.6 billion at an 8% discount rate, Crawford sits in the more capital-intensive tier of Canadian critical mineral projects in our database, meaning the Ontario Government’s Major Projects Office support is likely to be pivotal for financing and offtake negotiations.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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