Navigating ‘The Valley of Death’: Why Canada’s emerging critical minerals miners are struggling to survive and what can be done about it – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 22, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Martin Turenne, chief executive officer of FPX Nickel Corp. FPX-X is wired as an optimist. In the mining industry, you have to be, because the timelines are agonizingly long and the odds are often heavily stacked against you.

Mr. Turenne hopes to have a nickel mine and refinery in production at its Baptiste project in central British Columbia by the end of the decade. The grand plan is to supply nickel for Canada’s nascent electric vehicle battery industry. The early estimate to build what could eventually be a top 10 nickel operation globally is $2.6-billion.

Over the next few years, well before any mine construction starts, and well before the really big money needs to be raised, a lot of grunt work has to be done first. That includes more drilling, carrying out a feasibility study to fine tune the economics of the project, conducting an environmental assessment and consulting with affected First Nations communities. To get all this done, Vancouver-based FPX needs to raise up to $45-million over the next three to four years.

For the rest of this article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-critical-minerals-miners-struggling/