An 85-year-old mine in the Kenora area could be reactivated to help supply North America’s electric vehicle industry with nickel and copper.
The Tartisan Nickel Corporation has filed a preliminary economic assessment of their Kenbridge Nickel property near Kenora, which is calling for a 9-year mine plan based on 1,500 tonnes of material per day – with expected revenues of $837 million. But it’ll cost them $133 million to revive the mine.
The Kenbridge Nickel deposit was discovered in 1937 about 10 km from Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls, near New Gold’s Rainy River gold deposit. There’s an all-season access road near the deposit, and Tartisan is working on finishing the roadway this fall. Environmental studies have been completed.
Falconbridge Limited bought the property in 1952, began construction in 1954 and mined the area for 2.5 years, but the operation was shut down in 1958. It sat dormant until 2007 when Canadian Arrow acquired the property, which merged with Tartisan in 2018.
The Tartisan Nickel Corporation is a Canadian-owned mine development company, whose flagship asset is the Kenbridge property near Kenora. Tartisan also owns the Sill Lake Silver property in Sault St. Marie, as well as property in Peru.