Glencore's Onaping Depth Is Now Canada's Deepest All-Electric Mine — and Its Ore Feeds EV Batteries

Sudbury just marked one of the biggest mining milestones in Canada this year. Glencore Canada announced on August 27 that it has completed the mine shaft and accessed the orebody at its Onaping Depth Project at Craig Mine — the deepest the company has ever dug in the Sudbury Basin, targeting a high-grade nickel and copper deposit nearly 2,600 metres below surface.

With the shaft finished and the first mining areas (stopes) prepared, ore can now be extracted from that area for the first time. The company says these are critical steps toward production ramp-up and eventual project completion in 2027.

A nearly C$2-billion bet on deep, electric mining

The project represents a nearly C$2 billion investment since construction began in 2019, generating roughly 7,000 unique jobs across Northern Ontario. Once fully operational, the mine will support around 400 permanent jobs while extending nickel production in the Sudbury Basin beyond 2040.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford marked the milestone at the event, saying access to first ore "strengthens Ontario's global advantage as a supplier of the high-grade nickel the world needs." Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Lecce called the investment "a massive signal of confidence" and "a boost for Canadian workers and sovereignty."

The battery-electric fleet running 2,600 m underground

Onaping Depth will operate one of the most advanced battery-electric underground mining fleets in the world — the full chain from drilling and ore extraction to service vehicles moving people and supplies. Eliminating diesel emissions underground means less ventilation and cooling demand, traditionally among the largest energy costs in deep mining.

• Epiroc electric fleet (23 units): Minetruck MT42 Battery haul trucks, Boomer E2 Battery development drills, Scooptram ST14 SG loaders, plus Simba production drills and Cabletec and Boltec rock-reinforcement machines.
• MacLean Engineering: battery-electric Boom Trucks and TM3 Transmixer EV utility machines.
• Kovatera: battery-electric personnel carriers.
• Clayton Equipment (UK): five CB12.5 lithium-ion battery locomotives (option for a sixth) — the first Li-ion battery machines operational on the main 1,200 m haulage level.

Why an EV newsroom cares about a nickel mine

High-grade nickel is a key component in EV battery chemistry, and Onaping Depth is designed to strengthen Ontario's and Canada's position as a supplier of responsibly produced nickel and copper for electrification. Glencore's Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations — mine, mill and smelter — employ more than 1,000 people and contributed nearly $400 million in direct GDP to Ontario, spending more than $650 million with Ontario suppliers in 2024 alone.

For readers tracking where Canadian EV battery minerals actually come from, Onaping Depth is the upstream end of the chain — a domestic, low-emission source feeding the same EV manufacturing build-out in Ontario and Quebec, and a counterpoint to concerns about the environmental footprint of battery mining.

Workers and contractors contributed more than nine million work hours without a lost-time injury to reach the milestone, according to Peter Xavier, Chief Operating Officer, Canada Metals, Glencore.

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