Magna Mining – Moving Into Copper and Nickel Production In Sudbury, A PEA And Bulk Sample Update At Crean Hill, And Conditional Approval For The Federal Critical Mineral Infrastructure Fund
Jason Jessup, CEO and Director of Magna Mining (TSX.V: NICU) (OTCQB: MGMNF), joins us to unpack a number of key Company milestones all just achieved in the last few months, including the transformative move into copper and nickel production at the McCready West mine in Sudbury, Canada. We dive into the details of the recently announced acquisition of multiple polymetallic prior producing mines and exploration projects around the Sudbury Basin, the results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) from Crean Hill, and the results of the recent bulk sample processing from the 109 Footwall at Crean Hill. Additionally, we review the conditional approval for the Federal Critical Mineral Infrastructure Fund that was just received, to help fund further studies and future development of their projects.
Their move into copper production was announced on September 12th, highlighting an agreement with a subsidiary of KGHM International Ltd. to acquire a portfolio of base metals assets located in the Sudbury Basin that includes: the producing McCreedy West copper mine, the past-producing Levack mine, the past-producing Podolsky mine, and past-producing Kirkwood mine, as well as the Falconbridge Footwall (81.41%), Northwest Foy (81.41%), North Range and Rand exploration assets. Jason outlines how he and multiple members of the Magna Mining team had worked at and run the McCreedy West and Levack Mines in the past when with FNX Mining, so that they are very familiar with these assets. While the current flagship will be the McCreedy West Mine, he also lays out the development pathway for bringing back into production the Levack Mine in 2026, and the Podolsky Mine by late 2027.
Shifting over to the Crean Hill Mine Project, Jason reiterated that their management team and board is still very interested on developing this asset and moving it towards production by 2027. The PEA was just released to the market on September 17th and highlighted a Pre-tax NPV (8%) of $265.3 million and an Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 142% at conservative metal prices. There would be a low pre-production capital cost of $27.7M following AdEx period; and a payback of pre-production period capital within the first year of commercial production, and payback of all capital including AdEx period capital within the second year of commercial production. Crean Hill would have an average underground production rate of 2,200 tonnes per day ("tpd") consisting of 1,650 tpd of higher-margin primary feed and 550 tpd of lower grade, incremental feed.
We also reviewed the completion of the recent initiative to mine surface bulk sample at the 109 Footwall Zone at Crean Hill, which commenced on July 2, 2024, and then process the material through the Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations' ("Glencore") Strathcona Mill, which was completed on September 7, 2024. A total of 20,524 dry tonnes of feed (see Table 1) from the 109 FW Zone was processed over a 5-day period. Concentrate was produced which will be processed through Glencore's Falconbridge Smelter. Jason reiterated that this surface bulk sample program was successful and acquired much of the data required to fully assess the base case metallurgical performance of the 109 FW Zone. Additional testing is being completed on samples collected during the program and will be used to advise future test work, and the ultimate pathway towards nickel, copper, platinum, palladium and gold production in the prolific mining district in Sudbury.
Additionally, back on March 27, 2024, Magna announced the signing of a Definitive Offtake Agreement for advanced exploration at Crean Hill with Vale Canada. The Vale agreement excluded the 109 FW Zone as Magna wanted to explore other processing options to improve recoveries for the copper-PGM rich mineralization in this zone. These two agreements with both Glencore and Vale demonstrate the various options for Magna to do future toll-milling agreements and grow their mining business in the Sudbury region.
Lastly, on October 9th, Magna Mining announced that it has received notification from Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) that pending final due diligence, certain initiatives at both the Crean Hill and Shakespeare Mines have been conditionally approved for funding from the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF). The funding will support pre-construction activities to help advance clean energy and transportation infrastructure at both projects.*
If you have questions for Jason regarding Magna Mining, then please email us at Shad@kereport.com or Fleck@kereport.com.
- In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Magna Mining at the time of this recording.
