Duluth Metals Ltd. and Franconia Minerals Corp. announced an agreement today under which Duluth Metals will acquire 100 percent of Franconia's outstanding common shares.
If the agreement -- valued at Canadian $76.7 million in cash and stock -- is approved by Franconia shareholders, Franconia's assets will be transferred to Twin Metals Minnesota LLC -- a joint venture company consisting of Minnesota-based Duluth Metals and Chile-based Antofagasta.
Franconia's principal assets are a 70 percent interest in the Birch Lake, Maturi and Spruce Road mineral deposits in Northeastern Minnesota. Twin Metals assets include the Nokomis deposit, where exploratory drilling has reportedly found vast deposits of copper, nickel and other precious metals.
Some of Franconia's Northeastern Minnesota's deposits and land holdings are contiguous with those of Twin Metals, and the sale will consolidate Twin Metals' position in the area and increase the company's overall qualified resources to more than 1 billion tons.
"Duluth Metals' potential acquisition of Franconia is exciting news for the vibrant future of copper-nickel mining here in Minnesota," Twin Metals CEO Juan Andres Morel said in a news release announcing the agreement.
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"Combining these contiguous properties and mineral assets under common ownership will allow for a larger scale, more efficient and synergetic development of future mining projects -- providing more Minnesota jobs more quickly, with a more efficient joint state/federal environmental review process and greater environmental protection."
