Shakespeare mine could reopen soon in northern Ontario

A former Falconbridge mining property 70 kilometres west of Sudbury, could soon reopen 11 years after being placed in care and maintenance mode.

The Shakespeare Project might have a new life five years after Magna Mining purchased Ursa Major Minerals in 2017.

The company has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Japanese metals trading and investing company Mitsui & Co Ltd.

"We’ve been in discussions with Mitsui for 18 months and are currently working through the final details and due diligence. But the proposal is that they would become a JV partner at the asset level at the Shakespeare mine investing C$8- to $10- million for a 10 to 12.5 per cent interest," said Jason Jessup, CEO and director of Magna Mining.

"And having a deep-pocketed financial partner like Mitsui would really help us to grow the company not only just to build the Shakespeare mine, but really to realize our vision of Shakespeare being the future hub of a spoke production model with three to four operations here in Sudbury feeding into a centralized Shakespeare mill."  

He said an updated feasibility study envisions a seven-year mine life but that a lot of exploration has been done on the property, and he believes there is potential to mine a lot more and extend the life of the mine well beyond that.

As for when construction can begin, Jessup said if the company can conclude the JV with Mitsui in the next three to four months things can get started by the end of the year subject to financing.

“This project in the construction phase would have somewhere between 200 and 250 people working on-site to build the mine. Once it’s up and running we’d be looking at 150 people full time employed.”

Township of Nairn & Hyman Mayor Frederic Diebel said this type would greatly benefit the local economy.

"I think jobs in the north sometimes are hard to come by, but with this investment, it could mean that more people have employment and a lot of people will maybe call the north their home and call some of these smaller communities home," said Diebel.

Jessup said his company can offer class-one nickel, which is what is required for battery production in things like electric cars.

He said carbon accounting was done as part of the feasibility study and it was determined that Shakespeare can be a carbon neutral operation.

"I think environmentally cautious things are on the rise and definitely whether its vehicles or environmentally-friendly batteries, definitely needs nickel. So that’ll mean good things for Sudbury good things for the area and that means more jobs, more infrastructure, more community building with these companies," said Diebel.