Canada Nickel’s Carbon Storage Technology Exceeds Expectations

Canada Nickel Company Inc. (TSXV:CNC) (OTCQX:CNIKF) today announced that test work for its novel carbon storage process, In-Process Tailings (“IPT”) Carbonation, is demonstrating results that are significantly above expectations.

The Company also announced that its Integrated Feasibility Study (“IFS”) is expected to be released in September, following the completion of final engineering design for IPT Carbonation. All other engineering work for the Crawford feasibility study has been successfully completed.

Bottom Line

Carbon Capture testing continues to exceed expectations, both on time and the amount of carbon that can be stored. Canada Nickel’s tech can store 7x more carbon than traditional methods and in 1% of the time (7 hours vs 100 days)
Source: Canada Nickel
Crawford is on track to be the lowest emissions primary nickel mine in the world.
This carbon capture technology will qualify Canada Nickel for significant government tax credits, potentially funding the entire equity portion of the project’s startup capital. Less equity means less stock issuance.
IPT Carbonation testing was conducted on rock samples with the same characteristics as the main deposit, increasing the probability carbon capture will work at scale.
The Crawford project alone could achieve 7% of Canada’s entire carbon removal goal making it a key asset for government leaders.

Canada Nickel CEO, Mark Selby commented:

We believe the IPT Carbonation process has transformative potential for the Company. Our test work demonstrates the ability to efficiently store one million tonnes of CO2 annually when the project is fully ramped up utilizing a process plant design of only 6.5 hours of residence time versus an initial design target of 12-24 hours. These results can help contribute to delivering this solution at relatively low capital and operating costs.

Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project is hosted in ultramafic rock, which naturally absorbs and sequesters CO2. Canada Nickel has developed the novel IPT Carbonation process which involves injecting a concentrated source of CO2 into tailings generated by the milling process for a brief period of time. This simple process captures CO2 geologically in the tailings while they are still in the processing circuit, rather than after they
have been finally deposited.

Mr. Selby continued:

Crawford is poised to be a leader in the energy transition through the large-scale production of critical minerals, including nickel and cobalt, and to become the sole North American producer of chromium, while also supporting Canada’s climate objectives through large scale carbon capture and storage and providing an anchor for a Zero Carbon Industrial Cluster in the Timmins-Cochrane region.

Access to the required testing facilities for pilot scale tests to confirm the engineering design for IPT Carbonation has been delayed to this summer and as a result, the integrated feasibility study for the project is now expected to be delivered in September 2023. This delay has no impact on the overall timeline to production as the Company continues to target receipt of permits by mid-2025 with construction to follow. Permitting remains on-track and good progress is being made through the second stage of the federal permitting process.

Mr. Selby continued:

We are very pleased to reach successful completion of the remainder of the engineering for the Crawford project. Our decision to incorporate our IPT Carbonation into an integrated feasibility study has been validated by the multiple approaches we’ve received from multinationals pursuing comprehensive carbon solutions. I am very proud of our team that is taking our IPT Carbonation process from breakthrough to a feasibility study engineered design in just 14 months.

The Crawford Project has the potential to achieve 7% of Canada’s 15 megatonne carbon removal goal.

The Company believes that the successful incorporation of IPT Carbonation could potentially allow a portion of the Company’s project capital expenditures to become eligible for the carbon capture and storage refundable investment tax credits of 37.5% to 60% for years 2022-2030 and 18.75% to 30% for years 2031-2040, as announced in the 2022 federal budget.

The interest received from multiple large multinational companies pursuing carbon storage solutions further supports the Company’s belief that the mineral sequestration utilized by the Company may be considered an effective carbon storage
approach that would meet Environment and Climate Change Canada requirements.

Canada Nickel has received approaches from several large multinational companies seeking carbon storage solutions.

Mr. Selby concluded:

Canada Nickel has generated significant momentum in 2023 with the strategic investment by Anglo American, our successful completion of the first phase of federal permitting for Crawford, our appointment of Cutfield Freeman & Co. to support the debt portion of our project financing team alongside our equity advisors, Scotiabank and Deutsche Bank, and our ongoing success in our regional exploration program. We expect this momentum to continue through the rest of the year with the completion of the integrated feasibility study, our initial resource estimate and Preliminary Economic Analysis for potential near-term production at our Texmont Project, and advancing both the permitting and financing to allow a construction decision to be made for Crawford by mid-2025, when permits are expected to be received.

IPT Carbonation Test Work

In the current phase of test work, Canada Nickel has conducted a series of variability tests to establish the IPT Carbonation Process engineering design criteria and develop predictive CO2 storage models. The results have exceeded expectations. Testing was done on samples based on their brucite content as well as their location within the deposit with a bias towards material that is expected to be processed in the initial project phases. The results received to date have confirmed the ability to store more than one million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Qualified Person and Data Verification

Arthur G. Stokreef, P.Eng (ON), Manager of Process Engineering & Geometallurgy and a “qualified person” as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of Canada Nickel Company Inc.

Duane Hope

Duane Hope is a Partner at Capital 10X, he brings over 15 years of communications and research experience to the firm. His research and writing has appeared in publications for North American, European and Asian audiences.