Twin Metals pledges BEV fleet for Minnesota polymetallic under- ground mine

UNDERGROUND MINING

Twin Metals pledges BEV fleet for Minnesota polymetallic underground mine

Twin Metals Minnesota has announced that it will invest in the electrification of its mining and support vehicle fleets as part of its commitment to advancing the nation's most sustainable and technologically advanced underground mining project.

The company's primary goal is to design, build, and operate an underground copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinum group metals mine approximately nine miles southeast of Ely and 11 miles northeast of Babbitt. It is interested in the minerals in the Maturi deposit, which is part of the Duluth Complex geologic formation.

Twin Metals will reduce its onsite greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 65 percent by converting the mine's fleet from previously proposed diesel equipment to electric vehicles. Other advantages include reduced power requirements for underground ventilation and heating, reduced maintenance requirements, reduced noise, and improved worker safety and air quality.

Twin Metals will be Minnesota's first mine to use battery electric vehicle technology (BEV). The proposed electric vehicle fleet represents almost 100 percent of the project's mining and large support vehicles. cific battery electric mining equipment vendor yet.

The announcement follows the company's statement in 2019 that it was switching to dry stack tailings management in its proposed design. Dry stack and filtered tailings technology eliminates the need for a dam and is the most environmentally friendly method of storing tailings. MiningWatch, Earthworks, the International Council on Mining and Metals, and more than 140 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supported the dry stack in a 2020 study.

Twin Metals claims to have worked for more than a decade to develop and propose an underground mining project.

It submitted its formal mine plan to state and federal regulators in late 2019 and is currently going through the multiyear environmental review process. The Duluth Complex, where Twin Metals intends to mine, is the world's largest undeveloped copper-nickel deposit, and it contains critical minerals required for a green energy future.

Antofagasta, the parent company of Twin Metals, has led the industry in setting ambitious goals for sustainable mining practices. By 2022, all four of Antofagasta's mining operations in Chile will be powered entirely by renewable energy. In addition, the company has reduced its GHG emissions by more than 580,000 tons since 2018 and has a new goal of reducing emissions by an additional 30 percent by 2025.