Canada Nickel's Swiss Steel Pact Builds a European Outlet Tied to 2027 Financing

• Swiss Steel Group signed a framework agreement on October 23, 2026, for exclusive access to about 1 million tonnes a year of low-carbon billet and blooms from Canada Nickel's NetZero Metals subsidiary from 2030.
• The supply concept has been technically validated for Swiss Steel plants in the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and France, but pricing and definitive supply terms have not been disclosed.
• The deal follows an agreement signed in the summer with RWE Supply & Trading, and Crawford's proposed US$2.5 billion funding plan includes French and German programs.
• Supply depends on Crawford reaching a construction decision in 2027, with the full financing package targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
• Canada Nickel Chief Executive Officer Mark Selby's outlook, given before the Swiss Steel announcement, called for a 20% to 30% rise in nickel prices before year-end as seasonal supply tightens.

Swiss Steel Group has signed a framework agreement with Canada Nickel Company Inc. (TSXV: CNC | OTCQB: CNIKF) that would give the specialty steelmaker exclusive access to about 1 million tonnes a year of low-carbon billet and blooms from 2030. The material would be produced by NetZero Metals, Canada Nickel's wholly owned downstream subsidiary, and supplied to Swiss Steel facilities across North America and Europe. The agreement adds a potential industrial customer to Canada Nickel's downstream strategy, though supply depends on the Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project reaching its targeted 2027 construction decision.

Swiss Steel Supply Terms & Status

The companies signed the framework agreement on October 23, 2026 and announced it on October 26. It covers low-carbon billet and blooms produced in Canada for further processing into specialty steel, and an initial supply concept has been technically validated for Swiss Steel's American, Canadian, German, Swiss and French facilities.

The next stage is commercial. Both parties are working to develop the concept into a long-term partnership that is commercially and technically viable, and the scope and conditions of the exclusivity have not been disclosed. Canada Nickel states there is no assurance that Crawford will enter production.

NetZero Metals is designed to convert Crawford's concentrates into finished nickel and its nickel-chromium magnetite concentrate into low-carbon, potentially net zero, semi-finished stainless and specialty steel. Canada Nickel describes the planned Timmins-region complex as having the potential to be the largest nickel processing facility in North America and the largest stainless-steel and alloy production facility in Canada.

Swiss Steel's Sourcing Strategy

Swiss Steel makes specialty long steel products in electric arc furnaces fed with steel scrap. The group operates in 25 countries and employs about 7,000 people.

Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Steel Group, Frank Koch, linked the agreement to the group's plans for its own plants, describing the partnership as part of a strategy of:

"This intended partnership supports an important element of our strategy: focusing our own industrial footprint while securing flexible access to competitive, low-carbon pre-material. It would strengthen our ability to serve our customers with high-quality specialty steels while increasing flexibility across our production network."

Swiss Steel expects the partnership to increase flexibility across its production network. The technical validation identifies existing Swiss Steel plants as potential destinations for NetZero Metals' planned output, but those plants become contracted customers only once pricing, volumes and definitive supply terms are agreed.

Europe as a Market for Low-Carbon Output

Canada Nickel's European commercial strategy extends beyond Swiss Steel. The company signed an agreement with RWE Supply & Trading in the summer and is pursuing European critical minerals funding for Crawford, so its downstream market development and project financing are both being built in the same region.

Chief Executive Officer of Canada Nickel, Mark Selby, connected that strategy to Prime Minister Mark Carney's trip to Europe following the Canada Investment Summit:

"And then he popped on a plane to Europe and talked about how we're going to build closer Canada-European ties, which is again great for us because all of our low-carbon end products, Europe is a natural market for them to go. We signed that deal with RWE Supply & Trading back in the summer, and so that is very encouraging for us as we move forward."

Crawford's funding plan lists Infravia in France and the German Resource Fund among the programs in a proposed US$300 million government funding layer, and it is pursuing a minority interest or joint venture (JV) of up to US$200 million with Scotiabank and Deutsche Bank. Swiss Steel's plants in Germany, Switzerland and France add a potential European end user for the steel to those discussions.

Crawford's 2027 Financing Gate

Crawford is 100% owned and located in the Timmins-Cochrane mining camp in northern Ontario. It holds 3.8 million tonnes of contained nickel in proven and probable reserves and is planned to peak at 48,000 tonnes of nickel a year, which Canada Nickel says would make it the largest nickel sulphide operation in the Western world. The federal Decision Statement arrived in July 2026.

The proposed US$2.5 billion funding plan is split 40% equity and 60% debt, and its main layers are not yet committed. The roughly US$500 million is a letter of intent (LOI). Federal tax changes also affect the project numbers: Selby says investments can now be written off 100% in the first year, instead of over multiple years on a declining-balance basis, and estimates the change is worth about $80 million in net present value (NPV) to Crawford alone.

Canada Nickel is targeting the full financing package in the first quarter of 2027, a Final Investment Decision (FID) and construction permits in the third quarter, a 27-month build from the fourth quarter of 2027 and first production in the fourth quarter of 2029. Swiss Steel supply from 2030 comes after that sequence. The framework identifies a potential European customer for NetZero Metals ahead of the FID, and turning it into contracted revenue requires further commercial agreements and completed project financing.

Nickel Market Backdrop

Canada Nickel estimates that Indonesia controls 67% of global nickel supply. Speaking before the Swiss Steel announcement, Selby said prices had slid back to the bottom of their 6-month range on speculation about the country's ore quotas. He pointed to physical supply tightening as Philippine output drops seasonally from October through March, and cited stainless steel demand up 5% year to date and nickel used in battery precursors up 35% year over year. His outlook was for a 20% to 30% increase in nickel prices before year-end.

Nickel prices shape Crawford's core project economics ahead of the 2027 financing, while the Swiss Steel framework gives the downstream steel business a potential customer for the years after first production.

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