Magna Mining (NICU) - Huge High-Grade Nickel Resource Announced

Magna Mining Corp. is a Canadian exploration and development company focused on the advancement of its nickel, copper and PGM projects in the Sudbury Region of Ontario, Canada. The flagship project of the company, the Shakespeare project, is a past-producing Nickel, Copper and PGM mine located 70 km southwest of Sudbury. The project has a mineral resource of 20.34 million tons of mineralisation at 0.55% NiEq in the indicated category and 2.36 million tons of mineralisation at 0.57% NiEq in the inferred category. The project also holds the necessary permits for the construction of a 4,500 tons per day mill and the recommencement of its open pit mining operations.

The company at the end of September 2022, announced that it had concluded with a non-brokered private placement for the gross proceeds of approximately CAD$ 20 million. The placement consisted of the issuing of approximately 74 million subscription receipts of the company, which were issued at CAD$ 0.27 for the total gross proceeds.

Magna Mining Corp. also recently acquired the Denison project which holds the past-producing Crean Hill Nickel, Copper and PGE mine. The Denison project is located 37 km east of the company’s Shakespeare project. The Crean mine was in production for three separate periods between 1906 and 2022 and produced approximately 20.3 million tons of ore at a grade of 1.3% Nickel, 1.1% Copper and a combined palladium, platinum and gold grade of 1.6 g/t.

On the 8th of November 2022, the company published the initial mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the Denison project. The MRE shows 16.8 million tons of indicated mineralisation reclaimable through open-pit mining and 114.5 million tons of indicated mineralisation reclaimable through underground activities. The total contained metal shown in the MRE is 500 million pounds of nickel, 450 million pounds of copper and 11.7 million ounces of platinum, palladium and gold.

The Denison project of the company shows much exploration potential, with the company believing that the correct way to move the project forward is through various exploration initiatives, such as the recently launched exploration drilling at the Crean Hill mine of the project. Magna Mining Corp. announced on the 17th of November 2022, that it had commenced exploration drilling at the Crean Hill Mine of the Denison project. The company announced that it had completed three drill holes, with the drilling intersecting massive sulphide mineralization. The company plans to complete 2,000 of the 15,000 m of exploration drilling before the Christmas break, from where it will resume drilling in January 2023. The Crean Hill Mine drilling program aims to be able to incorporate the possible synergies between the Crean Hill Mine and the company’s Shakespeare mine.

Taking advantage of the current market

The company at the end of September 2022, announced that it had concluded with a non-brokered private placement for the gross proceeds of approximately CAD$ 20 million. The placement consisted of the issuing of approximately 74 million subscription receipts of the company, which were issued at CAD$ 0.27 for the total gross proceeds.

The private placement allowed a new strategic investor, Hawks Point Capital, to become a shareholder. Hawks Point Capital holds a 12% interest in Magna Mining Corp. with Dundee Corp. holding a 22% interest as well. Jason Jessup, the CEO of Magna Mining Corp., explains that the strategic support as well as the support from retail investors has placed the company in the ideal position required to move its projects forward.

“We had closed and put into escrow our CAD$ 20 million financing that funded the acquisition of Lonmin Canada Inc. We also put some cash in our bank account that allows us to move forward, so we have the cash in the bank, and we also brought in a new strategic shareholder, Hawks Point Capital, which we believe is a very good supportive shareholder. It currently holds about 12% of the company along with Dundee Corp., run by Jonathon Goodman, which currently holds about 22% ownership in the company. Between those 2 cornerstone shareholders who truly believe in our vision for creating this hub and spoke production while here in Sudbury, we do have the support to continue to move things forward, and we think it’s a very opportune time to do that.”

The company has various options to consider in advancing its projects, with one such option being to implement toll mining at its past-producing Crean Hill Nickel, Copper and PGE mine., within the newly acquired Denison project.

“We do have a number of options, being in Sudbury with all the infrastructure and benefits that go along with that, we do have those options. One of those is looking at toll milling. Crean Hill has significantly higher grades than Shakespeare and it’s closer to 2 of the operating mills here in Sudbury. So, those discussions are ongoing and the potential to not only de-risk Crean Hill by mining some of these areas along the footwall…”

Magna Mining Corp. believes that the investment of institutions such as Hawks Point Capital and Dundee Corp. shows support for the company’s vision and way forward. Jessup also adds, that even though the assets are at an advanced stage, the company is still advancing as fast as it deems practical.

“I think they’re [Hawks Point Capital and Dundee Corp.] supportive and really, the reason that they’re investing is they’re investing in the team and our vision - very supportive of that. We are moving things along as quickly as practical. We do want to take a systematic approach. We’re not cowboys that are shooting from the hip, so to speak. So, we’re looking at things in a good, mining fashion, making sure that we’re doing the right first steps and understanding risks, mitigating those risks and moving forward.”

Denison project acquisition and MRE

Magna Mining Corp. announced on the 7th of November 2022, that it had concluded with the acquisition of Lonmin Canada Inc., which included successfully acquiring the Denison project. The acquisition consisted of a CAD$ 13 million cash payment and CAD$ 3 million in deferred payment. The deferred payment is payable on or before the 12-month anniversary of the closing of the acquisition.

The company published the initial mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the Denison project a day after announcing the acquisition closure. The MRE shows 16.8 million tons of indicated mineralisation reclaimable through open-pit mining and 114.5 million tons of indicated mineralisation reclaimable through underground activities. The total contained metal shown in the MRE is 500 million pounds of nickel, 450 million pounds of copper and 11.7 million ounces of platinum, palladium and gold. Jessup explains that the MRE is significant as it has increased the mineral resources under the company’s control to approximately 51 million tons.

“This resource has been compiled from the more than 90,000 m of drilling that’s been completed since the mine closed, as well as taking into account the historic drilling that Inco did previous to the mine closing. So, a lot of information, it’s been within a large company and really kept confidential and private. There hadn’t been a lot of press releases or news about any of the drilling that happened over that 15-year period when it was being explored by Lonmin Canada, and we’re just thrilled to get it out there. It’s a very significant resource, and now our global indicated resources between our 2 projects here in Sudbury are more than 51 million tons. We’re really excited.”

Moving the Denison project forward

The recently acquired Denison project of the company shows much exploration potential according to Jessup, with the company believing that the correct way to move the project forward is through various exploration initiatives, such as the recently launched exploration drilling at the Crean Hill mine of the project.

“What we’re doing right now is a couple of things. One of the things we’re doing is we are drilling and exploring, and I’ve learned this from past experiences here in Sudbury when I worked for FNX Mining and I ran a couple of their operations, these were old Inco mines, very, very similar to Crean Hill, its cookie cutter, same style, ran for a lot of years, mined out a lot of the main contact mineralisation, didn’t do much exploration in the footwall, left a lot of other smaller pods and remnants very similar to Crean Hill. What we discovered at FNX was footwall deposits.”

Jessup explains that the company is in a unique position, with it not having any peers who have the same assets, and jurisdiction and are permitted. This allows the company to be able to at a smaller market cap have parallels that can be drawn between them and major mining companies.

“There are no junior nickel-copper-PGM exploration development companies out there that are in a tier-1 jurisdiction, with permits, with a very significant resource. The contained nickel in the Denison resource alone at Crean Hill is over 500 million pounds, so a very, very significant amount of metal and at some very decent grades - typical grades that were mined for over 80 years. There’s no one else that really compares to us. I would say what we’re striving to do is recreate that same type of culture and that same type of company that I experienced with FNX Mining back in the 2000s, and I think that again, for our team, that’s our experience and background, and Sudbury is very unique.”

Advancing the Shakespeare project and way forward

Magna Mining Corp. announced on the 17th of November 2022, that it had commenced exploration drilling at the Crean Hill Mine of the Denison project. The company announced that it had completed three drill holes, with the drilling intersecting massive sulphide mineralization. The company plans to complete 2,000 m of the 15,000 m of exploration drilling before the Christmas break, from where it will resume drilling in January. Jessup explains that the drilling program aimed at proving the possible synergies between the Crean Hill Mine and the company’s Shakespeare mine.

“Really excited to say that a drill’s been mobilised to the site, so we will have drilling completed at Crean Hill this fall. We have done a lot of drilling at Shakespeare, and we’re going to continue to drill at Shakespeare. What we see though as the real catalyst here is the synergies between the permits we have at Shakespeare and the resource and the Feasibility Study that was completed at Shakespeare earlier this year, and now combining that with the resource we’ve just announced at Crean Hill to really demonstrate what the economics could look like combining those 2 projects.”

The company plans to publish a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of the combined projects in 2023, with it appointing Stantec Consulting Ltd. to conduct the PEA.

“So, we are engaged with an engineering group, and we will probably give more colour on that shortly to complete a PEA, and that PEA we hope to have completed by early Q2 2023, so in the next 4-months let’s say, and that will demonstrate both the potential economics of combining the projects, the potential economics of Crean Hill, as well as those synergies we see between these 2 assets. It’s truly a 1+1=3.”

Jessup sums up the future for the company, as excited with various announcements and results expected before the end of 2022, and more to come in 2023.

“There’s a lot happening right now, drills are going to be turning anytime, expect to have the first results before Christmas, so we will be exploring, we will be looking at mining, and we will be understanding the property a lot better and the optionality around the open pit and underground mining strategies.”

To find out more, go to the Magna Mining website