08:39 AM EDT, 09/12/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Canada Nickel ( CNIKF ) said Thursday that it received a support letter from a leading financial institution stating its interest in providing long-term debt financing of up to $500 million to advance the Crawford nickel sulfide project in Ontario.

Terms and conditions will be subject to further due diligence, the company said.

Canada Nickel ( CNIKF ) said the support letter is incremental to the one it received last week from Export Development Canada, with the two letters amounting to about US$870 million of senior debt.

"We are very pleased with this additional indication of interest as it is another substantial step towards advancing our financing package for Crawford," Chief Executive Mark Selby said.

The company, which aims to have the necessary permits to be able to begin construction in the middle of next year, expects to qualify for refundable critical minerals and carbon capture and storage tax credits worth US$600 million.

Canada Nickle's share price rose 2% yesterday to $1.04 on the TSXV.