Ontario Construction News staff writer
Generation Mining Ltd. has started construction at its Marathon copper-palladium project in Northwestern Ontario.
The company said early works began after it posted $6.5 million in financial assurance for the construction phase under the project’s filed closure plan.
The early works program is expected to continue through the fourth quarter of 2026 and into 2027. It includes upgrades to site access roads and the main entrance, clearing and grubbing at the plant site, laydown areas and initial pit footprint, and construction of water management structures.
The work also includes upgrades and expansion of existing camp and support facilities, a temporary fuel farm and site offices, bulk earthworks and aggregate production, temporary power and environmental controls and monitoring.
Generation Mining is also moving ahead with procurement of major equipment and infrastructure, including mining equipment, the primary crushing station, grinding and regrind mills, hydrocyclones, flotation equipment, thickeners, plant buildings and cranes.
The company expects to make initial payments of about $30 million to secure supplier delivery commitments and pricing. It said the payments are expected to secure about $150 million in equipment and infrastructure, with the purchases collectively at or below the budget in the project’s 2024 feasibility study and scheduled for delivery within the project’s baseline schedule.
The Marathon project is a proposed copper-palladium mine in Northwestern Ontario. A feasibility study dated Nov. 1, 2024, estimated a net present value of $1.07 billion, based on a 6 per cent discount rate, an internal rate of return of 28 per cent and a 1.9-year payback period.
The company estimates the project will produce about 2.16 million ounces of palladium, 532 million pounds of copper, 488,000 ounces of platinum, 160,000 ounces of gold and 3.05 million ounces of silver over an anticipated 13-year mine life.
