TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Chile-based copper-mining group Antofagasta this week completed the C$53-million takeover of Duluth Metals, giving it exclusive control of the Twin Metals Minnesota (TMM) copper/nickel/platinum group metals project, in the Duluth Complex, in north-eastern Minnesota.

Antofagasta had obtained all the necessary approvals and applications to complete the acquisition, acquiring all outstanding Duluth shares for C$0.45 apiece in cash.

“The completion of the Duluth acquisition is a positive next step in building the company’s long-term growth pipeline. The Duluth Complex is an attractive geological deposit and, now that the prefeasibility study (PFS) is complete, we will focus on further optimisations of the project and advance the permitting process,” Antofagasta CEO Diego Hernandez said Wednesday.

TMM had completed the project’s PFS in June last year, envisioning a 30-year underground mine focused on developing the Maturi and Maturi SW mineral deposits.

In August, Duluth released highlights from a draft National Instrument (NI) 43-101-compliant technical report on the TMM project PFS, which estimated an average production rate of 50 000 t/d of ore, generating marketable copper and nickel concentrates.

The PFS technical report also estimated that the TMM would create about 850 full-time jobs when the mine is in operation and would generate some 12-million labour hours during its roughly three-year construction period. According to a University of Minnesota Duluth study, the project would generate about 1 700 to 1 900 additional indirect jobs in the region’s economy.

The TMM project is regarded as one of the best development-stage base and precious metals projects in the world, and is located in a mining-friendly jurisdiction.

Antofagasta had previously said that after the transaction had closed, it would re-evaluate the project’s design while continuing with permitting activities.