Meagan Morrison, Eagle Mine’s social performance supervisor, welcomed community members to the mine’s first community forum in Marquette since before the COVID-19 pandemic. She provided a bit of background information on the underground mine operated under Lundin Mining and based in Big Bay that produces nickel and copper.

Darby Stacey, the mine’s managing director, spoke about a majority of the updates relating to mine safety. The mine experienced 18 reportable injuries in 2024. Stacey mentioned there was also one recordable injury in April and reinforced the mine’s commitment to taking action to increase safety measures after hazard reporting, so safety hazards are corrected or fixed before anyone can get hurt.

“We call that a proactive safety tool. We really incentivize this hazard reporting here in 2025. Year to date, we’re six to seven times more hazards reported than we were last year. Reporting a hazard isn’t a bad thing. That’s a good thing,” Stacey said. “So (when) we actually see the higher numbers, (that) means that we’re catching more things and correcting them before people get hurt. We are trusting the process here that if we report a lot of hazards and get these things corrected, we will see the safety numbers begin to improve.”

Stacey also took the time to discuss Eagle Mine’s launch of their rehab campaign after a fall of ground at the mine last year.

EAGLE MINE ON Tuesday had its first community forum in Marquette since the COVID-19 pandemic, where company officials provided updates on their efforts to improve operations. Here, Eagle Mine Managing Director Darby Stacey shares information on safety and mineral exploration. (Abby LaForest/Mining Journal photo)

“About a year ago, we had a fall of ground in th(e) main decline going down to Eagle East. At that point in time, we needed to shut down that area of the mine, which was the majority of our production, and enter into a rehab campaign to rehabilitate the ground support to make those tunnels safe (and have) safer access,” Stacey said. “A tremendous amount of work was completed. We’ve installed today on that campaign over 60,000 bolts, and those go in one at a time. That’s many, many shifts and a lot of work to put that in, to reestablish all the way down to the bottom of the mine shaft.”

Updates on the mine’s partnership with Talon Metals for their mineral exploration project, which had been announced last year, were also given. Talon Metals had hit mineralization while drilling on their Boulderdash site, a land and mineral rights package they had acquired a few years ago, located about 8 miles west of Eagle Mine. Stacey reiterated that this project is in the very early stages of exploration, and that mineralization does not mean that there will be an accumulation of metals, or a way to build a mine that’s environmentally safe and/or profitable. They will continue to drill to see if anything worthwhile is at the site.

Rob Beranek, Eagle Mine’s environmental and water services manager, took the stage to give updates on the mine’s environmental projects and protocols. Eagle Mine and Revex Technologies are partnering on the REV Nickel Project, for which Eagle Mine received a grant in January of this year from the Department of Energy. However, that project is currently on pause due to fluctuations in worldwide nickel pricing and uncertainty behind mineral exploration success.

One of the main items Beranek addressed is exceeding the arsenic limits at the mine’s groundwater discharge location. The mine’s groundwater discharge permit was recently updated with the State of Michigan, where a typographical error had lowered the arsenic value from 6 micrograms per liter down to 5. Eagle Mine caught the error and began investigating their arsenic levels, as well as how the error occurred in the first place.

“On a longer-term track for arsenic at the mine, we’ve also, as we started digging into this, found that the background level of arsenic is well above six (micrograms per liter). The drinking water that we pull in for our site averages above 10, I think, as high as 14 or 15 micrograms per liter on occasion,” Beranek said. “We treat arsenic in our drinking water, and it’s just in the background water in that area. We’re also talking with the state if the background conditions for arsenic should also be considered in our permit now that we’ve been digging into that.”

During a Q&A session that followed the presentation, Beranek emphasized that Eagle Mine continually monitors the quality of the air, water and soil, and there are no measurable environmental changes outside of the immediate footprint of the mine’s physical location.

Morrison finished the presentation by recounting statistics from aspects of Eagle Mine’s community engagement programs, such as the success of the Marquette-Alger Technical Middle College Program that has come from partnering with organizations such as local school districts, Northern Michigan University, and Marquette-Alger RESA.

Eagle Mine’s community survey is now open online. For every survey completed, Eagle Mine will donate $5 to a community organization of the participant’s choice. The survey can be accessed online at eaglemine.com.

For more information about Eagle Mine and its operations, go to its website at https://www.eaglemine.com/, call 906-339-7000 or go to the information center at 153A W. Washington St.