Duluth Metals (DM-T) May 1st, 2014 is well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly recovering nickel market through its 60-per-cent ownership in Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, which is currently in advanced prefeasibility phase on a major polymetallic copper-nickel-platinum-palladium-gold project in northeast Minnesota. Duluth Metals recently announced an updated resource estimate on the Twin Metals Project where the January 2014 AMEC study highlights a contained nickel resource of 4.7 billion pounds Measured + Indicated and 4.2 billion pounds Inferred (see Duluth Metals April 11, 2014 press release entitled "Duluth Metals Announces SEDAR filing of updated AMEC Resource Study on Twin Metals" for details on tons and grade.)
Highlights- Duluth Metals has 60% ownership interest in Twin Metals Minnesota LLC which is currently close to completing a detailed pre-feasibility study on a very large copper-nickel-PGM project in NE Minnesota
- Duluth Metals is well positioned to benefit from the current recovery in world nickel prices
- Nickel currently contributes 30 percent to the base case NSR valuation of the Maturi Measured + Indicated Resource*
- Realization of projected escalating spot nickel prices over the next two years may significantly increase the overall TMM nickel value and potential revenue ratio
- January 2014 AMEC resource update highlights a contained nickel resource of 4.7 billion pounds Measured + Indicated and 4.2 billion pounds Inferred*
- Duluth Metals has previously announced high grade nickel intersections in the southern portion of the Maturi Deposit **
"The strengths of the deposit are not only its size, consistency, and polymetallic nature but also its safe and secure jurisdiction being in the US. With potentially decades of nickel, copper and PGM production, we consider this resource to be strategic to the national interest of America as there was no reported primary nickel production in the United States in 2013", commented Christopher Dundas, Chairman & CEO of Duluth Metals. "The importance of the nickel resource may significantly increase with the growing discussion about the nickel market potentially moving into a deficit next year. We are also seeing political issues that may further influence the price of nickel to move upwards such as the Indonesian government ban on raw material (nickel/ore) exports and the potential disruption of supplies from Russia, one of the world's largest nickel producers, as a result of the tensions in Europe"
* (see Duluth Metals April 11, 2014 press release entitled "Duluth Metals Announces SEDAR filing of updated AMEC Resource Study on Twin Metals" for details on tons and grade.)
**(see Duluth Metals September 4, 2013 press release entitled "Duluth Metals Announces High Grade Nickel Intercepts Indicative of New Contact Zones in the Maturi Deposit.)
Duluth Metals focus is in the Duluth Complex, host to one of the world's largest undeveloped repositories of copper, nickel and PGMs. The recently released 2013 United States Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries highlights the scale of the Twin Metals mineral resource relative to global nickel reserves.
1 United States Geological Survey global nickel reserve estimates referred to herein are not calculated in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy ("CIM") definition standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended. Twin Metals Minnesota Measured and Indicated Resources and Inferred Resources have been calculated in accordance with NI 43-101 and CIM definition standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended. Twin Metals Measured+Indicated Resources and Inferred Resources do not qualify as reserves under the definitions used by the United States Geological Survey.
The USGS Mineral Commodity Summary notes that only 40% of world nickel resources are contained in sulfide deposits, the remainder in laterite deposits. The Duluth Complex hosts nickel sulfide mineralization, including the Twin Metals Project Measured+Indicated and Inferred Resources. The United States had only one nickel project in construction phase in 2013. Figure 2 shows the scale of contained nickel in 13% of the footprint of the prospective portion of the Twin Metals property based on its Measured+Indicated and Inferred Resources relative to United States nickel reserves as reported by the USGS: files.newswire.ca
Phillip Larson, P. Geo. is the Qualified Person for Duluth Metals and Senior Geologist for Duluth Metals, in accordance with NI 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and is responsible for Duluth Metal's technical content of this press release and quality assurance of the exploration data and analytical results. |
