Tesla Gigafactories Need More Nickel, Giga Metals Answers the Call

Featured image: Resource World

Giga Metals responds to Tesla's call for nickel production and aims to create a carbon-neutral mine.

Giga Metals owns 100% of the Turnagain project in north-central British Columbia, Canada. Turnagain is one of the largest undeveloped sulphide nickel projects in the world, with metallurgical tests showing significant deposits of high-quality nickel that can be used in lithium-ion batteries. The site also contains cobalt, another critical element in battery production, reports Mining Technology.

“Our goal is to be the world’s first carbon-neutral mine,” said Giga Metals’ President Martin Vydra in an update on the project this week. “We plan to use power from BC Hydro’s clean energy grid, which will involve more capital expenditure than the alternatives but is the right thing to do. This exciting research now underway could help with our goal by providing a way to measure carbon uptake in our residue."

Giga Metals hopes that operating the mine with zero carbon emissions will make it an attractive supplier of nickel and cobalt for companies at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution--companies like Tesla. The California-based automaker wants to not only bring electric vehicles to the mass market but also be an ethically responsible company in all aspects of the supply chain.

The Turnagain project in British Columbia, Canada.
Source: Giga Metals

During the Tesla Q2 2020 Earnings Call, CEO Elon Musk urged miners to invest in sustainable nickel as the production of electric vehicles will increase over the next few years.

“I'd just like to re-emphasize, any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel. Okay. Wherever you are in the world, please mine more nickel and don’t wait for a nickel to go back to some long - some high point that you experienced some five years ago, whatever. Go for efficiency, obviously environmentally-friendly nickel mining at high volume. Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way. So hopefully this message goes out to all mining companies. Please get a nickel.”

Giga Metals responded to Musk's call, its CEO Mark Jarvis said: “If you want environmentally-responsible nickel, I really think you have to look at sulphide deposits in first-world jurisdictions such as Canada and Australia. Canada has several very large, low-grade, open-pittable sulphide nickel deposits waiting to be developed, including Canada Nickel's Crawford deposit, Waterton's Dumont deposit, and our own Turnagain deposit. Canada has some of the toughest environmental regulations in the world, so if you buy your nickel from Canada, you can be assured that this part of your supply chain is ethically sourced."

Canada is one of the potential countries where Tesla could obtain the desired nickel with existing nickel mines as well as projects under development. Canada also enforces strict environmental regulations in its mines, which aligns with Tesla's values and broader mission.

Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter