Twin Metals Minnesota Project Pre-feasibility Update

 

TORONTO, ON - Duluth Metals Limited reported that the Twin Metals Minnesota Project Pre-feasibility is progressing well with a completion date scheduled for mid-year 2014. Over the next few months, the main focus is the completion of the Pre-feasibility Study and delivering by mid-year a comprehensive NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report on this phase of the project development. In addition, a NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report on an updated resource estimate for the project is scheduled to be completed by Spring, 2014. The updated resource estimate will incorporate all drilling since September 2012, including the 35 closely spaced diamond drill holes within the Maturi Deposit designed to provide the Joint Venture team the necessary information to define the drill spacing required to upgrade Indicated to Measured Resource within the resource base.

The Twin Metals copper-nickel-platinum-palladium-gold project is being developed by joint venture partners Antofagasta plc and Duluth Metals. Over the last year, Twin Metals has concentrated on optimizing the project in every dimension, including: Mine planning, including a detailed mining plan utilizing large scale underground mining methods  Metallurgy, including detailed analysis of selective flotation and downstream processing various milling capacity options.  Surface facility definition and planning Environmental studies and planning.  Marketing studies for various products "The Twin Metals Project is based on a resource with the scale and extent to provide many options for development. The project continues to have multiple avenues for that development, and the current plans will be directed at what the first development within the project will look like." stated Vern Baker, President of Duluth Metals. "The Twin Metals Project is one of the most capital efficient large mining projects in the world, situated in one of the best jurisdictions in the world, with exceptional infrastructure nearby."

The Twin Metals Minnesota Project covers over 32,000 acres of land/mineral interests and consolidates the largest base and precious metal land position in Minnesota. This extensive land position provides Twin Metals with the platform to plan and develop one of the world's largest copper-nickel-PGM deposits. Using a 0.3% Cu cut-off, the Twin Metals Project has a global mineral resource of 1.17 billion tons of Indicated Resource and 1.26 billion tons of Inferred Resource, located on approximately 11% of the footprint of the prospective portion of the Twin Metals property block. Mine planning is focusing on the higher grade S3 Subunit in the Maturi Deposit, which using a 0.6% Cu cut-off, contains 500 million tons of Indicated Resource grading 0.72% Cu, 0.23% Ni and 0.78 ppm TPM*, plus 129 million tons of Inferred Resource grading 0.70% Cu, 0.22% Ni and 0.92 ppm TPM. (*TPM = Total Precious Metals (Platinum+Palladium+Gold))