TAMARACK, Minn. 鈥� A company hoping to build an underground nickel mine in Aitkin County has submitted its plan to state regulators, kicking off a years-long environmental review and permitting process.
In on Wednesday, Talon Nickel, a subsidiary of British Virgin Islands-based Talon Metals Corp., laid out its proposal for an underground mine 500-2,000 feet below the surface, a 60-acre above-ground footprint north of Tamarack and a 1.5-mile-long rail spur to an existing BNSF railroad. The company will move the ore by rail to North Dakota for processing and tailings storage.
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The company hopes to begin production in 2027 and expects it will last 7-10 years. Talon's mine would employ an additional 300 workers organized by the United Steelworkers union. Approximately 100 employees are already working for Talon.
鈥淥ur team in Tamarack is excited to have reached the milestone of submitting the initial worksheet form to begin Minnesota鈥檚 Environmental Review process, the starting point for any project seeking a permit in the state,鈥� said Talon CEO Henri van Rooyen.
The DNR is now looking at the proposal for its completion before it begins work on the environmental impact statement. Environmental reviews are separate from, but inform, the permitting process, and must be complete and deemed "adequate" before permits can be granted by state and local authorities, the DNR said.
鈥淲e understand that Minnesotans have widely differing perspectives regarding this proposed project and nonferrous mining more broadly. The DNR, however, must base its decisions on the facts and the law,鈥� Katie Smith, director of the DNR鈥檚 Ecological and Water Resources Division, said in a news release Wednesday. 鈥淚 want to assure all Minnesotans that the DNR is committed to a rigorous, transparent, and neutral review of the project, based on science and applicable state law.鈥�
The project faces opposition over fears that it could pollute the Mississippi River watershed.
Melanie Benjamin, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe chairwoman and chief executive, said in a statement last month that the band was concerned with the mine so close to its land.
"The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe supports transitioning to a green economy but in a way that does not cause further environmental harm," Benjamin said. "Mining is not the only option to source the nickel needed to produce electric vehicle batteries, and we do not believe it should ever be treated as the first option."
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The company said that it will treat water that seeps from bedrock into the mine to the surface for treatment. Additionally, no ore will be crushed or processed on site.
Instead, the company is planning to build its processing and tailings storage facilities in North Dakota. The ore would be mined near Tamarack and shipped in a covered railcar to North Dakota. The facility is expected to employ 250 people. An industrial site in Mercer County, North Dakota has been identified, but negotiations to purchase the site are ongoing, said Todd Malan, Talon's chief external affairs officer and head of climate strategy.
Plans for Talon's "battery minerals processing facility" in North Dakota were announced last year in conjunction with the federal government awarding $114 million to help offset construction costs as the Biden administration aims to build a domestic supply chain for electric vehicle batteries.
for Tesla to buy 75,000 metric tons (165 million pounds) of nickel concentrate.
Talon said it moved its processing facility to a drier environment in response to community concerns about potential water pollution from the mine.
Moving those facilities to North Dakota also reduces the number of permits Talon needs in Minnesota, a state with a reputation for lengthy environmental reviews and permitting processes.
NewRange Copper Nickel's proposed NorthMet project first started the environmental review process in 2004. It obtained its permits 14 years later. Today, several remain on hold amid legal challenges, and
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Talon plans to mine the Midcontinent Rift鈥檚 Tamarack Intrusive Complex, which was detected by a Minnesota Geologic Survey plane looking for anomalies through a geophysical magnetic survey in the 1970s. That was followed up by some exploration drilling and the results were published in 1986.
By 2000, Kennecott had state mineral leases and began exploring. In 2008, the company was ready to call it quits. But on what company officials said was supposed to be the last drill, they found a significant amount of nickel a few miles north of Tamarack.
But the recession killed metal prices and exploration there slowed. By 2014, Talon started to buy into the project. It became Kennecott鈥檚 designated operator for the exploration, and in 2019, entered into an agreement to acquire up to a 60% interest in the Tamarack project.
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