Explorers:
Leveraging existing assets to make new discoveries
“Historic work done on the property (Hot Breccia) in the 1970s proved that there was an active hydrothermal system at depth which delivered several high-grade samples of over 1% copper and a few over 3% copper. We are bringing in modern exploration techniques, such as VTEM.”
Steve Robertson, President and CEO, Infinitum Copper
“Demand is expected to grow significantly on an annualized basis over the next 10 to 20 years. Significant decline in the discovery of copper deposits in recent years has resulted in a low inventory of development stage projects that have the potential to become operating copper mines.”
Elmer B. Stewart, President and CEO, Copper Fox Metals
“Some members of the team have been working on our Buckeye Silver project for over 50 years, and we were thrilled to announce that we are finally in production of copper and silver from this mine located in Arizona.”
Peter M. Clausi, VP Capital Markets, Silver Bullet Mines
“In general, exploration in the US can often be very difficult and navigating the permitting process is not easy, so investors are willing to pay a higher price for assets and companies that can navigate this barrier for entry. We anticipate great success on this front.”
Rick Trotman, President and CEO, Barksdale Resources
“There are several types of lithium exploration activities in states like Arizona and Nevada. For example, pegmatite mining has generally lower capital costs, but produces an intermediate product (6% spodumene concentrate). Brines, on the other hand, bring about higher capital costs to produce lithium carbonate, and in the U.S. they will mostly require direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies to precipitate the lithium compounds from the groundwater.”
Charles FitzRoy, CEO, Bradda Head Lithium
“We are in the heart of the southwestern copper belt and Copper Creek has a long history of mining and exploration. This mining heritage brings with it quality infrastructure including roads, power, rail lines, and a skilled workforce. It is also a very stable jurisdiction. "We have had positive feedback from the two local communities in San Manuel and Mammoth about boosting the economic potential through mining.”
Paul Harbidge, President and CEO, Faraday Copper
“We have had technological challenges there to bring our Gunnison Copper Project into production, but we are working on solutions, some involving well stimulation: making the recovery wells produce at a higher rate. We are working through some permitting and some modelling at present. The project will expand: following a PFE in 2022, we will carry out well stimulation trials in Q1 2023 and work on the optimization of the project from there.”
Stephen Twyerould, President and CEO, Excelsior Mining
Image courtesy of Freeport