Norway House adds large serving of magnesium to Minago menu

A Manitoba First Nation is one step closer to being Canada’s primary magnesium supplier after securing the exclusive rights to a U.S.-based “clean” resource extraction technology.

Norway House Cree Nation took full control of a quarry set into a swath of land along Highway 6 south of Ponto and north of Grand Rapids for $10 million in 2024. Last year, it rebranded from the Minago Nickel Project to the Minago Critical Minerals Project after tests found the presence of a number of platinum group metals, including magnesium.

Minago Development GP Inc. (which is owned by Norway House) has since signed a licensing agreement with Wyoming-based Big Blue Technologies to use its aluminothermic reduction method to extract magnesium from dolomite, which it says has up to 98 per cent fewer carbon emissions than typical methods. It is entirely electric-powered, does not need water to function and does not produce solid waste.

About 111 million tonnes of dolomite containing about 12 per cent magnesium will be quarried while mining for nickel and other minerals, according to Minago.

Magnesium is on Canada’s list of critical minerals and is used in aerospace tech, electronics and automotive parts. Most of the world, including Canada, is largely dependent on China for magnesium.

Norway House Chief Larson Anderson said 68 kilograms of core product had been sent to Big Blue Technologies for testing and nearly all of it came back as containing magnesium — meaning the chemical element could be spread all across the northern Manitoba quarry, with potentially billions of dollars coming solely from magnesium mining.

Additionally, a byproduct that comes from mining magnesium from dolomite could possibly be reused in the steel and cement industries, Anderson said.

Choosing an environmentally-conscious extraction method was top of mind for Norway House, Anderson said.

“The reality is that if we’re going to continue to survive up North, we need our own industry of some sort. The mine might not be people’s preference, because of potential environmental issues that may come of it, but, in reality, what else is there?” he said.

“My hope and my goal is that we develop something that will create jobs in the North, so our people, in particular, our youth, don’t start moving away.”

Magnesium mining is set to begin at the end of 2027. Building the production facility could cost $1.3 billion over time.

Former provincial NDP cabinet minister Jim Rondeau now serves as the co-ordinator of major projects for Norway House Cree Nation. He is currently travelling through Asia trying to find markets for magnesium and the other minerals tested in the quarry — including platinum, nickel and palladium — along with potential investors.

“We’re looking at other companies that want to have a relationship with Canada,” Rondeau said in a phone call from Malaysia.

Rondeau said Norway House taking full control allows it to market everything that’s pulled from the land. “Norway House is saying, let’s use the whole animal. Let’s use the dolomite, let’s use the granite, let’s use everything, and that’s a very, very First Nation thing.”

Meantime, despite multiple requests to the federal and provincial governments — and Minago appearing on a leaked internal draft list of potential infrastructure projects that could get fast-tracked by Ottawa — funding largely hasn’t materialized, said Anderson.

“We had hoped and expected to get some assistance … considering how much they’ve been talking in the media about how they’ve got to get serious about getting critical minerals and getting wealth built up in Canada, and we haven’t seen much of anything from them,” he said.

The federal government provided Norway House $75,000 last year to be used for training community members to work on a road development project related to the mine. According to the Manitoba mineral development fund’s 2024 report, the province provided $300,000 for workforce training and $52,000 to study power needs for the quarry.

Big Blue CEO Aaron Palumbo called the project a “new global standard” for magnesium production.

“Together, we are building a resilient North American magnesium supply chain, proving that critical minerals can be produced safely, economically, and sustainably,” he said in a release.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca