Tartisan Nickel, a mine developer in the Kenora area, has retained a Thunder Bay mining services company to help with project management of its Kenbridge Project.
Northwest Solutions specializes in catering to the forestry and natural resources sector since 2014. The family-owned Thunder Bay company helps with training, project management support and communication consulting services.
Tartisan said Northwest Solutions, specifically co-owner Kevin Shorthouse, will handle the design, permitting and construction of an access road to the site.
“Kevin will partner alongside forestry and mining companies, Indigenous communities, and landowners to find cost-effective solutions to the all-season road using leading technology such as LiDAR, multispectral imagery, AI analytics and drones,” said Appleby.
Shorthouse will also be consulting with Indigenous community members on technical training opportunities, contributing to capacity building and land management practices.
Brandi Shorthouse, also a co-owner the Northwest Solutions, will be the road project’s finance and communications manager. She will monitor and administer the budget for the road build.
Kenbridge is a former Falconbridge nickel deposit, dating back to the 1950s, that features a 600-metre shaft. Tartisan has been billing Kenbridge as Canada’s next high-grade nickel producer.
Located 70 kilometres southeast of Kenora, the deposit contains more than 4.5 million tonnes of nickel sulfide. Copper and cobalt are also in the mix. The estimated mine life is nine years.
Price tag-wise, the company said in a preliminary economic assessment released two years ago that it can put Kenbridge into production for $134 million.
Environmental baseline studies are continuing and consultation with area First Nations is part of its process to upgrade a 13-kilometre-long logging road into the site.
“2024 promises to be a milestone year as multiple ongoing initiatives come together,” said Tartisan CEO Mark Appleby in a statement.
“Alignment with Indigenous communities, summation of baseline studies, project permitting endeavours, and all-season road access combined with continued efforts to expand the Kenbridge mine life are in focus and should prove to have a profound impact on shareholder value.”
Late last year, Tartisan raised $1.3 million in flow-through financing to devote to drilling to expand the resource.
Nickel was discovered at Kenbridge in 1937. Falconbridge began construction of a 609-metre (2,000 feet) shaft in 1954 and mined the property for two and a half years. Two underground levels were developed. Falconbridge later made the decision to discontinue mining operations in 1958, deeming there was no feasible way to move the nickel ore to processing facility.
