The developer of a potential open-pit palladium mine near Marathon has hired a Quebec engineering firm to begin a feasibility study this year.
In a May 28 update on preparations for the Marathon Palladium Project, Generation Mining announced G-Mining Services has been handed the job of completing the seven-to-eight-month study.
In a statement, Generation president-CEO Jamie Levy said the feasibility study "is taking off at a very quick pace," and will be due out in early 2021.
A feasibility study is a detailed economic technical report determining whether a deposit is economical by estimating the capital and operating costs, and the potential revenue generated from the mine.
The company calls the Marathon project the "largest undeveloped platinum group metal mineral resource in North America."
This year and 2021 figure to be busy times for the Toronto company in obtaining environmental and permitting approvals ahead of the anticipated start of mine construction in early 2022.
According to Generation's project timelines, they expect to start mining palladium on the north shore of Lake Superior in 2023.
Generation's horseshoe-shaped land package of claims is about eight kilometres north of the town of Marathon. The company is a 51 per cent owner in the property, having acquired the 22,000-hectare (220-square-kilometre) property from Sibanye Stillwater last July.
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Generation can increase its ownership stake in the project to 80 per cent by spending $10 million over a period of four years. As of this year's first quarter, $4 million has already been spent.
The property actually hosts three known platinum group metal and copper deposits, containing resource of 8,668,000 palladium equivalent ounces in the measured and indicated categories, plus an additional 915,000 ounces in the inferred category.
A preliminary economic study (PEA) released by the company last year placed a 14-year mine life on the property. The initial capital costs to build the mine, processor, tailings facility and all the site infrastucture are pegged at $431 million.
A summer exploration program of geophysics, prospecting and at least 5,000 metres of drilling is in the works. Details will be revealed in June.
Generation said, with $14.3 million in working capital, they are "well financed" to do the feasibility study and the permitting process.
The Marathon property was extensively explored by various companies between 1985 and 2010 with more than 203,000 metres of drilling done. The last serious developer, prior to Generation Mining, was Marathon PGM Corporation, who sold the property to Stillwater Mining in 2010.
"With the recent PEA and past feasibility studies being the starting point, we are confident of optimizations and overall improvements to the Marathon-PGM Project," said Levy.
