Ely Tuesday Group Presentation Duluth Complex Geology and TMM Core Sample Processing. February 5, 2013

Transcription

1 Ely Tuesday Group Presentation Duluth Complex Geology and TMM Core Sample Processing February 5, 2013

2 Who is Twin Metals Minnesota? Twin Metals Minnesota is pursuing the development and operation of an underground copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and gold (strategic metals) mining project in NE Minnesota. Twin Metals Minnesota has offices in St. Paul, Ely and Babbitt, Minn.

3 Twin Metals Minnesota Part of Northern Minnesota s Mining Range Twin Metals Property Location

4 Twin Metals Minnesota Mineral Deposits Approx. 32,000 acres of property interests. Babbitt 10 miles to the SW and Ely 15 miles to the NW. Three mineral deposits: Maturi, Spruce Road and Birch Lake. Anticipate up to 100 years of mining production and employment.

5 Twin Metals Minnesota LLC 40% 60% 100% Beaver Bay Inc. 70% 30% Birch Lake JV 5

6 Twin Metals Minnesota Operations & Employment (2012) To date, more than $160 million has been invested in exploration and project development activities, supporting some direct and consultant/contractor jobs. Ely & Babbitt, Minn. Employees 20 Drillers/Contractors St. Paul, Minn. Employees 20 Contractors/Consultants 20~

7 Twin Metals Minnesota Prefeasibility Study (PFS) Critical project details form foundation for rigorous and thorough environmental review by state and federal agencies. Environmental impacts and controls Mine design and processing rates Type of ore processing Facility locations Transportation methods and routes Power sources and transmission routes Economics: jobs, revenues, taxes, royalties PFS completion 2014+; focus on quality analysis and fully informed decisions.

8 Extensive Environmental Regulation/Oversight MN Dept. of Natural Resources MN Pollution Control Agency MN Tribal Entities US Forest Service US Bureau of Land Management US Army Corps of Engineers US Environmental Protection Agency

9 Mineral Exploration & Development in the Duluth Complex, NE Minnesota Dean M. Peterson Senior Vice President, Exploration

10 Outline 1) Are You Aware? 2) Regional Geology, Duluth Complex 4) Mineral Exploration 5) A Success Story... 10

11 The USA s Top Four Metal Mining States

12 Worlds Best Infrastructure?? 12

13 Minnesota s mineral endowment is directly related to the geology of the state USA s Metal Resources: Minnesota No other state in the USA has rocks similar to those in Minnesota Integration of USGS commodity reports with published data from Minnesota s mines/projects 13

14 Developing a World Class Mining District in the Center of the North American Continent Geologic Location Map of Minnesota 14

15 Exploration Historical Perspective 15

16 The Lake Superior Mining District 16

17 Bedrock Geology, NE Minnesota Virginia Fm. Sulfur source 17

18 Company Players & Their Ore Deposits 18

19 Mineral System Approach The mineral system approach (MSA) to exploration attempts to understand ore deposits as final expressions of multi-scale systems encompassing the Earth that focus mass and transfer energy to ultimately form ore deposits. This approach to mineral exploration leads to systematic, scaledependent targeting models and allows for the recognition of the largest-scale footprints of ore-forming systems. 19

20 Components The four components of the Mineral System Approach include: 1) Earth systems 2) Geology 3) Geochemistry Drill Targets 4) Geophysics In the end one must get their hands dirty and observe the rocks 20

21 A Bit of Geology, North SKI Over 16,000 outcrops mapped herein.. 21

22 Heterogeneous Troctolite What We Look For 22

23 Lots of Swamps & Bogs One knows they have hired the right geologists when they have plants growing in their boots, via lots-o bog walking 23

24 Sitting on a Glacial Boulder of Ore 24

25 WNW Ice Flow out of Lake Superior 25

26 A New Bedrock Geology Map Target Types Ni-rich Massive Sulfide Pt-Pd Reefs w/ Cr Disseminated Cu-Ni-PGE 26

27 Regional Magmatic Flow Model Figures from Peterson, 2008 Idealized Magma Flow Model 1. Magma ascends through a mantle feeder dike 2. Sulfide saturation occurs while magma incorporates sedimentary rocks (Virginia Fm sulfidic argillites) 3. Rift-parallel faulting opens a sub-horizontal space (NLM) that magma traverses to the SW along 4. Subhorizontal sill intersects an active transform fault and magma sills out (to NNW) to form the Spruce Road Deposit 5. Continued flow lifts the hangingwall Anorthosite as sill-like magma fingers traverse to the WSW 6. Much Later The Bald Eagle Intrusion intrudes in a Trap Door fashion structurally higher than the SKI

28 Twin Metal s Maturi Deposit 28

29 Principal Component Analysis Sulfide Mineralization Interstitial Oxide- Augite Footwall Contamination 29

30 Hole by Hole Interpretation 30

31 New TMM Maturi Stratigraphy 31

32 A Real Success Story We had an intuitive geologic thought in 2006 east of the Maturi gossan and it seems to have some legs via the recent TMM resource estimate. 32

33 Awkward Segue Drilling

34 Why does Twin Metals Minnesota need to drill? Enables one to test for the presence and quality of an orebodywithout actually mining it. With a high enough density of drill holes, it allows geologists to create an estimation of the shape and grade (metal content) of the orebody. The more drill holes, the higher the confidence and accuracy of the model and the ability to forecast changes within it. These models are required in the permitting process to demonstrate the feasibility of a proposed mine.

35 How does a drill program evolve? A geologic hypothesis is formed and identifies a target to test A drill plan is formulated to drill selected targets to test the hypothesis Drill sites selected based upon access restrictions and ability to drill the target including ground-truthing of sites and access routes Orientations of drill holes calculated to hit targets Wetland delineations, TE species, cultural heritage surveys Plan of operations submitted to various governmental agencies for drill permitting Plan approvals, access and site construction, and drilling Is the geologic hypothesis correct? More drilling or abandon/rethink hypothesis?

36 How does a drill rig work? January 29, 2013

37 Rig Alignment and Setup

38 Inside the Rigs

39 Hole Abandonment

40 Core Handling

41 Geologic Logging

42 Core Cutting

43 Density Measurement

44 Drying and Sampling

45 Chemical Analysis of Samples Samples sent to lab Samples prepared for analysis by drying, crushing, and pulverizing Samples analyzed for 38 elements: major and trace

46 Core Storage Library Photo shown is the DNR core storage library in Hibbing, MN State requires that at least ¼ of all core drilled to be preserved

47 Reworking Original Paradigms

48 Construction of a Geologic Model

49 Construction of a Block Model

50 Example Mine Design January 30, 2013

51 Thank You. Project information is frequently updated on the Twin Metals Minnesota website: