Twin Metals Minnesota announced August 12 it will build on its commitment to advancing the nation’s most sustainable and technologically advanced underground mining project by investing in the electrification of its mining and support vehicle fleets. Implementing battery electric vehicle technology is the latest effort by Twin Metals to reduce its project footprint and further minimize environmental impacts.

Converting the mine’s fleet from previously proposed diesel equipment to electric vehicles will allow Twin Metals to significantly reduce its onsite greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 65%. Additional benefits include a decrease in power requirements for underground ventilation and heating; a reduction in maintenance needs; noise reduction; and improved worker safety and air quality.

Twin Metals will be the first mine in the state of Minnesota to adopt battery-electric vehicle technology. The planned electric vehicle fleet represents nearly 100% of the mining and large support vehicles for the project. Twin Metals has not yet established contracts with specific battery-electric mining equipment vendors.

Today’s news follows the company’s 2019 announcement that it was shifting to dry stack tailings management in its proposed design. Dry stack and filtered tailings technology remove the need for a dam and is the most sustainable method used to store tailings. Dry stack was endorsed in a 2020 study by MiningWatch, Earthworks, International Council on Mining & Metals, and by more than 140 NGOs.