Published: February 27, 2024 |

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Talon Metals said it has received confirmation from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources that its administrative board approved the company’s application for 23,000 acres of additional mineral leases in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The 23,000 acres of mineral leases augment the company’s announcement where it entered into an option and earn-in agreement with UPX Minerals Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sweetwater Royalties) to acquire up to an 80 percent ownership interest in the mineral rights over a land package comprised of approximately 400,000 acres located in the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan. This land package was originally assembled by Henry Ford and owned for approximately 70 years by the Ford Motor Company.

The combined land package covers highly prospective terrain within 1.7 miles of the high-grade Eagle Nickel Mine and is only 0.4 miles from the Humboldt Mill.

In September of 2023, the Department of Defense selected Talon for $20.6 million in grant funding from the Defense Production Act to explore and discover more high-grade nickel mineralization in Michigan and Minnesota.

“Our exploration team’s sole focus is to discover more high-grade nickel deposits in the United States. With funding from the Department of Defense, Talon will bring its proven approach to exploration drilling and geophysical analysis to try to discover new high-grade nickel and copper mineralization in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, currently the only region with a nickel mine in the United States,” said Henri van Rooyen, CEO of Talon.

“The United States is currently dependent on foreign countries such as Russia and China for nickel, which is an untenable supply chain vulnerability. This extraordinary context is why Talon is advancing its proposed Tamarack Underground Mine proposal through the Minnesota environmental review process while also exploring for additional high-grade deposits in both Minnesota and Michigan,” added van Rooyen.

“Mineral exploration and geophysics are science but also an art. It is not just finding a needle in a haystack; it’s finding a needle in a haystack if the haystack was in a dark barn and you’re wearing dark sunglasses. The haystack in this case was buried deep underground millions of years ago. Talon’s experienced team is using cutting edge technology, our own drill rigs, and in-house drill teams to find more nickel in America. We are conducting drilling and geophysics in Minnesota on a 24/7 basis and are excited to get started in Michigan this spring,” concluded van Rooyen.

“The Michigan DNR approval process included opportunity for extensive public comment. We are planning to host a community open house in the spring prior to any drilling and we have had a number of information sharing meetings with proximate Tribal sovereign governments to discuss our initial area of interest for mineral exploration, seek their feedback, and discuss the potential contribution of tribal knowledge in our fieldwork,” said Cody Mayer, Community & Tribal Engagement Liaison for Talon.

Exploration drilling and geophysics is essentially about understanding what Michigan has in its natural resource wealth. Having this information means policymakers are better able to plan for secure domestic supply chains in the future. If this exploration process results in the discovery of a mineable resource like the Eagle Mine, which has successfully operated in this region since 2014, it will ultimately be up to society to decide if that newly discovered resource will be extracted and contribute to domestic supply chains,” added Mayer.

Talon Metals is a base metals company in a joint venture with Rio Tinto on the high-grade Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project located in central Minnesota. The Tamarack Nickel Project comprises a large land position with additional high-grade intercepts outside the current resource area. Talon has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60 percent of the Tamarack Nickel Project, and currently owns 51 percent. Talon has an agreement with Tesla to supply it with 75,000 metric tonnes (165 million lbs) of nickel in concentrate from the Tamarack Nickel Project over an estimated six-year period once commercial production is achieved. Talon has a neutrality and workforce development agreement in place with the United Steelworkers union. Talon’s Battery Mineral Processing Facility in Mercer County was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for $114 million funding grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Talon has well-qualified experienced exploration, mine development, external affairs, and mine permitting teams.

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