Name of the Project
Marathon palladium/copper project.

Location
Marathon, in north-western Ontario, Canada.

Project Owner/s
The project is a joint venture (JV) between Generation Mining (Gen Mining), which owns an 80% interest in the project, with the remaining interest owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.

Project Description
The proposed mine is expected to produce an average of 166 000 oz of payable palladium and 41-million pounds of payable copper a year over a 13-year life-of-mine (LoM). Over the LoM, the project is expected to produce 2.12-million ounces of palladium, 517-million pounds of copper, 485 000 oz of platinum, 158 000 oz of gold and 3.16-million ounces of silver in payable metals.

The project includes the construction, operation, decommissioning and remediation of three openpits to produce copper concentrate, consisting primarily of copper, palladium and platinum, as well as critical minerals. It also includes an on-site ore processing facility, a 115 kV transmission line, an access road, a mine rock storage area, a process solids management facility and a water management system. 

The process plant throughput starts at 9.2-million tonnes a year, increasing to 10.1-million tonnes a year following the completion of the powerline upgrade scheduled in Year 2 of operations. The increase in process plant throughput is possible with the inclusion of the Hycroft mills in the plant design. 

The process plant will produce a copper/palladium concentrate. The concentrate will be delivered to a third-party facility for further downstream processing into refined critical minerals.  

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a net present value of C$1.16-billion using a 6% discount rate, with a payback of 2.3 years and a robust internal rate of return of 25.8%, based on $1800/oz and $3.70/lb for palladium and copper respectively. 

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital costs are estimated at C$1.11-billion.

Planned Start/End Date.
Gen Mining reported on October 8, 2024, that with all federal approvals for construction having been obtained, and only three outstanding provincial permits expected to be granted by year-end, construction activities could start in 2025.

Latest Developments
Gen Mining has been awarded C$771 000 from the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF).

The CMIF is a programme under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy to address infrastructure gaps, allow for critical minerals production and connect resources to markets through various clean energy, electrification and transportation infrastructure projects.

The funding will be used to advance work on transportation infrastructure while continuing to work towards securing construction financing, Gen Mining president and CEO Jamie Levy has said.

Gen Mining plans to complete engineering and design work, as well as feasibility studies, for road and rail links to support the movement of copper concentrates from the mining project, near Marathon, to smelters in Canada and Europe. As part of this work, the company intends to upgrade the 5 km site access road and develop a new 
4 km access road and transload facility to transfer concentrates.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
G Mining Services, with contributions from Ausenco Engineering Canada, Haggarty Technical Services, Knight Piésold, WESC Inc. and P&E Mining Consultants (feasibility study).

Contact Details for Project Information
Gen Mining, tel +1 416 640 0280 or email info@genmining.com.