The approval of the Canada Nickel mine near Timmins, Ont., will be formally announced on Friday, sources say.Canada Nickel
The federal government has given Canada Nickel Co. Inc. CNC-X the go-ahead to build a new nickel mine in northern Ontario as part of its efforts to build major resource projects, two sources told The Globe and Mail.
Crawford is on both Ottawa’s major projects list, and Ontario’s “One Project, One Process” regulatory initiative.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Major Projects Office was launched last year with the objective of identifying certain natural resource projects for regulatory fast-tracking, as well as helping to facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. Canada has long been criticized for taking far too long to approve major resource projects.
The approval of the mine will be formally announced by Ottawa on Friday, the sources said.
The Globe is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
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Both Canada Nickel and the office of Tim Hodgson, the federal natural resources minister, declined comment on Thursday.
Shares in Canada Nickel surged by 15 per cent in trading on Thursday on the TSX Venture Exchange after The Globe published its report.
Building new mines, pipelines, and ports is a key part of Mr. Carney’s strategy to offset the economic damage caused by tariffs imposed last year by U.S. president Donald Trump across key sectors such as autos, steel and aluminum.
Crawford, located about 40 kilometres north of Timmins in Northeastern Ontario, contains the world’s second largest nickel reserve, and is expected to be the biggest nickel mine in the Western world once it is built. The site is expected to employ about 3,000 people during its construction, and when it is in operation roughly 1,000 will work at the site.
While the approval of the mine is a major milestone for the company, there are still significant hurdles to be navigated by Canada Nickel, including finalizing a multibillion dollar financing package, and announcing a decision to forge ahead on construction.
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Pierre Vaillancourt, an analyst with Haywood Securities, said in a report to clients last week that a favourable federal government decision on Crawford “would clear a major hurdle,” for Canada Nickel, as it would facilitate completion of the financing package
Crawford’s capital cost has been estimated at US$2.5-billion. The company has significant tentative funding in place, including US$500-million in debt from Export Development Canada, $500-million from another unnamed Canadian government financing agency, about US$600-million in tax credits in critical minerals, and carbon capture and storage. Samsung SDI of South Korea also has an option to purchase 10 per cent of Crawford for US$100-million.
Crawford is the first mining project to be approved under the federal Impact Assessment Act since it was enacted in 2019. Many mines in Canada only require provincial approvals, but owing to its immense size Crawford also needed federal permits. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government made major changes to impact assessments for resource and infrastructure projects, expanding reviews far beyond environmental parameters to encompass health, social, cultural, as well as economic impacts, to ultimately determine whether a project is in the public interest.
Over the past few years, global overproduction of nickel driven by Indonesia has put pressure on Western producers, but the commodity has rebounded strongly this year. After plummeting to roughly US$14,000 a tonne in late 2025, nickel spiked to a high of around US$19,600 a tonne in May. Mr. Vaillancourt in his report said the recovery in the nickel price is being driven by expectations that Indonesia will reduce its production by limiting the number of permits it issues.
Nickel on Thursday traded at around US$17,300 a tonne. First production from the Crawford mine is expected in 2029.