Sudbury company reports progress in plan to reopen Crean Hill mine

Magna Mining, based in Sudbury, recently marked two major milestones in its efforts to reopen the former Crean Hill mine.

Magna acquired Crean Hill in 2022, a property once owned by Inco (now Vale), with a plan to resume production.

The mine operated under Inco for roughly 80 years, producing around 20 million tonnes of ore before closing in 2002.

In March, Magna signed a deal with Vale to process ore from Crean once it has reopened.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to announce the signing of the … agreement with Vale,” Magna CEO Jason Jessup said in a news release.

“This agreement is the culmination of several months of work with Vale and we are quite pleased with the outcome.”

Jessup said Magna is “on track to have all the permits in place to develop the ramp from surface, which will allow for underground test mining and set up for a future commercial production decision.”

And in late April, Magna announced another milestone: it received permits to begin draining water from the mine so the company can conduct advanced exploration.

The permit to take water for Crean Hill was approved by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Magna can now proceed with such tasks as taking a surface bulk sample and developing a ramp from surface to perform test mining.

“The tonnage of the mineralized rock from the surface and underground test mining is estimated at 400,000 tonnes,” Magna said in a news release.

The ore “will be crushed on surface, sampled and shipped (Vale’s) mill for processing.”

“Magna now has all the approvals and permits necessary to conduct both our surface and underground advanced exploration programs,” Magna CEO Jason Jessup said in the release.

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“We acquired the Crean Hill project in November 2022 and have advanced it to this point in only 17 months. This is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to our team and the jurisdiction in which we are building our company.”

Advanced underground exploration should begin in the second half of 2024, Jessup added.

Recent drilling uncovered high-grade copper, nickel and precious metal mineralization, the company said.