Aggressive 2011 Program For Twin Metals Project  

TORONTO, ON - Duluth Metals Limited reported that financing requirements for the Twin Metals Project are fully covered for the next three years by Antofagasta plc which is providing US$130 million in funding for the joint venture operating company, Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, which is 60% owned by Duluth Metals and 40% by Antofagasta plc.

The Twin Metals Project is the new name for the expanded project which includes the Nokomis Deposit and additional resources on newly acquired adjacent properties. Three significant NI43-101 compliant resources have been added to the project with the acquisition of Franconia Minerals Corporation. These resources include the Maturi Deposit, the Birch Lake Deposit, and the Spruce Road deposit. Franconia held an undivided 70% interest in these properties and has exercised its option to increase its interest to 82% by agreeing to fund all of the carried interest of its joint venture partner through to commercial production. The Twin Metals Project encompasses all these resources and the fully contiguous land package that contains all four resources. The Twin Metals Project is currently in an extensive review of various scaling and development alternatives for the expanded project. For the next several years, Twin Metals will be focused on advancing the Project, as it moves through pre-feasibility towards completion of a bankable feasibility and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Twin Metals has a dedicated budget of US$130 Million to finance development activities over a 36 month period. Current work on the Twin Metals Project includes: Drilling with 5 rigs to better understand deposit, including continuity between Maturi and Nokomis deposits; A sixth rig is drilling large diameter core to add to the metallurgical bulk sample; Geological review of old and new core data to provide a fully updated resource estimate for the full property; Additional metallurgical tests conducted on progressively larger samples; Assessment of a range of various scales of operations and a variety of production alternatives; Environmental base line studies to provide inputs for the Environmental Review Process; Construction completion this summer of a new project office for Twin Metals in Ely, to accommodate the rapidly expanding project program. The Twin Metals Project now covers over 25,000 acres of land/mineral interests and consolidates the largest base and precious metal land position in Minnesota. This extensive land position provides Twin Metals with the platform to plan and develop one the world's largest nickel-copper-PGM deposits within a new emerging mining belt in Minnesota, USA. The company's address is 80 Richmond St. West, Suite 1500, Toronto, ON M5H 2A4, 416-369-1500, fax: 416-369-1501.