Photo: Eagle Mine Lundin Mining Corp. on Friday announced the completion of the sale of Eagle Mine and the Humboldt mill to Talon Metals Corp.

CHAMPION — Lundin Mining Corporation announced Friday the completion of the previously announced sale of the Eagle Mine and the Humboldt mill in Marquette County to Talon Metals Corporation.

The Lundin Mining Corporation first announced in December it was selling the Eagle Mine and the Humboldt mill to Talon Metals Corp. in an all-stock deal expected to close in early January, making Talon Metals the new owner and operator of the nickel-copper mine, while Lundin will retain a stock in Talon.

Talon Metals Corp. Vice President of Corporate Affairs Matt Johnson said there will be no change in employment in the U.P. operations.

“Now that the merger is complete,” he said, “the workforce increases with the merging of the Eagle Mine and Talon Metals.”

Talon currently employs 70 people, Johnson said, so now they are all “under one roof.”

Eagle Mine CEO Darby Stacey, said in December the mine employs many residents from Houghton and Keweenaw counties.

“These are underground miners, maintenance, electricians, that are coming from as far away as Keweenaw County, and Baraga – a lot from that side of the peninsula,” Stacey said. “These are good jobs, and these are highly skilled people.”

Stacey said the mine employs people from Iron County, and many from Marquette County as well.

Johnson said the Humboldt mill is integral to operations, adding it is the only mill in the United States concentrating nickel ore today.

Johnson said the mill has a tremendous history in the Upper Peninsula since it was constructed in 1952 when Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. built the mill to process ore from the adjacent Humboldt Mine. The mill also processed ore from the close by Republic Mine until the late 1970s when the Republic Mine shut down.

“Later on, when the Humboldt Mine reached the end of its life, the mill was idled until it was refurbished to process gold,” Johnson said.

That was when the mill was purchased by the Callahan Mining Company and used the mill to process ore from the Ropes Gold Mine.

“Then it went idle again until it was purchased by Rio Tinto,” Johnson said, ‘then Lunden Mining, to process nickel and copper.”

Johnson said Talon Metals is now the third industrial user to process ore at the mill.

The mill also processed ore from the close by Republic Mine. Even when they stopped mining iron ore at the Humboldt Mine, the mill kept processing ore from Republic.

Eventually, ownership of the Humboldt Mill site landed in the hands of the Callahan Mining Company. Callahan refurbished and used the mill to process gold from the newly reopened Ropes Gold Mine.