Tamarack Nickel Project

under regulatory review

The Tamarack Nickel Project is a proposed copper-nickel mine near the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe reservation in east-central Minnesota. The project is advancing through Minnesota's regulatory process and is approaching a key regulatory benchmark involving a public comment period. The mine aims to primarily extract nickel, used in electric vehicle production, and secondarily copper near McGregor in Aitkin County. The project has been in the state's scoping process for about three years, with exploratory work dating back to 2002. Talon Metals, the company behind the project, acquired the Eagle Mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and plans to operate Tamarack with an estimated 300 employees. The project has raised concerns about potential impacts on water resources, cultural sites, wild rice beds, fisheries, and downstream water bodies like the Mississippi River. Talon Metals has made adjustments to the project design, including relocating tailings and processing to a repurposed coal mine site in North Dakota, in response to community feedback.