Canada Nickel Company Inc. (“Canada Nickel” or the “Company”) (TSXV: CNC) (OTCQX: CNIKF) announced today that the federal Impact Assessment permitting process for the Company’s Crawford Nickel Project has been initiated following the acceptance by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (the “Agency”) of the Company’s Initial Project Description (the “IPD”). The Agency has determined the IPD conforms to the regulations and it has been posted to the Agency’s public website for an official comment period.
“We would like to thank all who have taken the time to provide feedback, and to reiterate the significant role each individual can play in the careful and informed design, development, and operation of the Crawford Nickel Project,” said Mark Selby, Chair and CEO of Canada Nickel. “The relationships we have built since the earliest days of the project have been crucial in facilitating these conversations, and by continuing to collect, reflect upon, and integrate the comments, concerns, questions, and suggestions we receive, Canada Nickel hopes to build a project that maximizes benefits to all communities in the region.”
Engagement Period
Following the submission of an IPD draft to the Agency in May 2022 (see news release Canada Nickel Takes Important Step in Crawford Nickel Project Permitting Process, 12/05/2022 ), Canada Nickel initiated an extensive round of engagement on the IPD, hosting more than 20 meetings with Indigenous communities, project stakeholders, and the general public to present key content from the IPD and enable follow up Q&As. The intention of these meetings was to gather crucial feedback from as many interested individuals as possible – all of which was carefully logged and integrated into the final IPD submission.
Next Steps
The Agency’s filing of the IPD to its website signals the beginning of a 180-day comment period for the document. With the IPD now publicly available, the Agency will conduct its own series of engagement activities, which will assist the Agency in developing a Summary of Issues relating to the project, to then be provided to Canada Nickel. Subsequent to this and over the coming months, Canada Nickel will complete a Response to the Summary of Issues and a Detailed Project Description, both of which will be submitted to the Agency for further review.
