'We believe Canada needs more nickel,' Wyloo boss says | Sudbury Star

https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/we-believe-canada-needs-more-nickel-wyloo-boss-says

The site contains a deposit of 17 million tonnes at 3.3 per cent nickel, copper and platinum group elements. It also has some of the world’s largest chromite deposits outside of South Africa, Straub said.

Nickel produced and processed in Northern Ontario and the Ring of Fire would be destined for the EV market

Kristan Straub, CEO of Wyloo Canada, takes part in a panel discussion at the 2024 BEV In-Depth: Mines to Mobility conference at Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ont. on Thursday May 30, 2024. John Lappa/Sudbury Star/Postmedia Network

Kristan Straub, CEO of Wyloo Ring of Fire, provided an update on the Eagle’s Nest Mine at the State of Mining luncheon in Timmins recently.

The mine site in the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario has a ‘small footprint’ of one square kilometre or half the size of the Timmins Airport, Straub said.

The site contains a deposit of 17 million tonnes at 3.3 per cent nickel, copper and platinum group elements. It also has some of the world’s largest chromite deposits outside of South Africa, Straub said.

It is expected to produce 15,000 tonnes of nickel and 6,000 tonnes of copper from 300,000 tonnes of underground mining material annually over 17 years.

A water recycling plant would ensure Eagle’s Nest does not discharge any water into the environment, Straub said.

A feasibility study will be completed in March 2025, and the company aims to be in construction by 2030, depending on road access.

“We believe Canada needs more nickel,” Straub said, adding even the Canada Nickel mine in Timmins, which he called ‘a great project’ will not meet demand.

The North American electric vehicle market demand is 290,000 tonnes of nickel production, and Ontario has the capacity to produces about 150,000 tonnes, enough for 25,000 electric vehicles per year, or 7.5 per cent of North American production, Straub said.

“You’ll have to get more and more nickel to supply that market,” Straub said.

Currently, most of the nickel mined in Ontario is exported to Europe for processing or to the U.S. for aerospace, defence and aircraft manufacturing, Straub said.

“It’s spoken for, it’s not destined for the battery electric vehicle market,” Straub said.

The mine site in the Ring of Fire in northwestern Ontario has a ‘small footprint’ of one square kilometre or half the size of the Timmins Airport, Straub said.

The site contains a deposit of 17 million tonnes at 3.3 per cent nickel, copper and platinum group elements. It also has some of the world’s largest chromite deposits outside of South Africa, Straub said.

It is expected to produce 15,000 tonnes of nickel and 6,000 tonnes of copper from 300,000 tonnes of underground mining material annually over 17 years.

A water recycling plant would ensure Eagle’s Nest does not discharge any water into the environment, Straub said.

A feasibility study will be completed in March 2025, and the company aims to be in construction by 2030, depending on road access.

“We believe Canada needs more nickel,” Straub said, adding even the Canada Nickel mine in Timmins, which he called ‘a great project’ will not meet demand.

The North American electric vehicle market demand is 290,000 tonnes of nickel production, and Ontario has the capacity to produces about 150,000 tonnes, enough for 25,000 electric vehicles per year, or 7.5 per cent of North American production, Straub said.

“You’ll have to get more and more nickel to supply that market,” Straub said.

Currently, most of the nickel mined in Ontario is exported to Europe for processing or to the U.S. for aerospace, defence and aircraft manufacturing, Straub said.

“It’s spoken for, it’s not destined for the battery electric vehicle market,” Straub said.

“It might be, but that would mean the battery electric vehicle market is going to pay more than the U.S. defence contractors who are contracting nickel for their applications.

“I’m not sure that’s going to work out so well,” he said.

Wyloo aims to begin production by 2030 in line with the expected construction schedule of roads in the area.

The Webequie Supply Road, for example, would link the Webequie First Nation airport to the Eagle’s Nest site.

The Northern Road Link would run south from Eagle’s Nest and connect up with the Marten Falls Access Road, which would, in turn, connect to the provincial highway network.

Construction on the Northern Road Link could begin in 2030 and be completed by 2035, according to Qasim Saddique, project co-lead, who shared that timeline at a public information session last year.

However, that prospect did not deter Straub from insisting on a 2030 start to production at Eagle’s Nest.

Straub said The Marten Falls Community Access Road and Webequie Supply Roads are in the process of filing their draft impact statements and assessments.

Construction can begin during the two-year permitting period that would follow and would take roughly three years.

“If they decide to progress to permitting, and that’s an ‘if,’ because that decision is not made,” Straub acknowledged.

“We see that to be about roughly five to six years, which fits within our time frame,” he said.

If Eagle’s Nest meets this target, Wyloo will be able to pursue its goal of being a vertically integrated operation that not only extracts minerals but also processes them.

Nickel concentrate can be processed to create nickel sulphate, a key component of cathodes, a component that gives batteries their range.

To that end, in May Wyloo signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Greater Sudbury and the Wahnapitae and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nations to develop a battery metals processing facility, should the Eagle’s Nest project start production.

The plant would have the capacity to process 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes a year, Straub said.

“Today, there is no producer for nickel sulphate in Canada, other than 25,000 tonnes that is pledged by (the Energy Transition Valley project) in Bécancour (Québec) with GM and that’s currently on hold due to the current nickel demand,” Straub said.

The price of nickel has come down 40 per cent since 2022, due to a flood of Indonesian nickel being processed by China, Straub said.

Canadian nickel is considered to have a lower carbon footprint than Indonesian nickel, which is powered by coal, and Wyloo is currently working towards establishing a price index for low-carbon nickel with Metalshub.

Unlike Sudbury’s Glencore or Vale smelters, the Wyloo smelter’s nickel concentrate would be specifically designed for the electric vehicle battery supply chain.

“That’s the value proposition that Wyloo is advancing for the development of the Eagle’s Nest project as well as development for a battery metals facility here in Canada,” he said.

Wyloo said First Nations are central to moving the project forward. In consultation with First Nations, it has designed underground tailing storage facilities that don’t permanently alter the landscape.

Material would be insulated from contact with outside water from underground bedrock, which has “low water conductivity,” Straub said.

“We recognize that we work in an environmentally sensitive environment, so we want to minimize disturbance through good design,” Straub said.

Wyloo is promising $100,000 in Eagles Nest contracts to the adjacent Martin Falls and Webequie First Nations, on whose traditional territory the site sits.

Services might include the supply of power and logistics transportation.

First Nations are applying to the provincial Critical Minerals Innovation Fund for a feasibility study to provide power to the mine, Straub said.

Straub said Wyloo has inquired about procuring services from First Nations further from the mine site.

“It may not be an industrial partner that becomes a partner for the First Nations,” he said.

“It might actually be a First Nations business that can be the partner that forms the joint venture. First Nations access to capital is much easier than it’s ever been.”

To ensure Wyloo fulfills its promise of Indigenous employment, Straub indicated the company would offer its Pathways to Employment program should the project go ahead as planned.

The program teaches numeracy, literacy and other skills required for a work environment.

“Having someone who’s never participated in a labour or wage-based economy before, and expecting them on day one of the job, to be masters at that, is not realistic,” he said.

Wyloo would also engage First Nations in environmental effects monitoring.