With a new dynamic and progressive management team looking to fast-track development, Idaho Copper is aiming to produce feasibility studies, obtain permitting and project financing, and break ground as soon as possible.
Support for responsible mining
The mining industry is on the cusp of a super-cycle driven by increased demand for green metals like copper, nickel, graphite, molybdenum, and lithium, and Idaho Copper is looking to upscale this very large porphyry copper deposit.
A resurgence in resource nationalism and the rising cost of capital have rekindled investor interest in stable mining jurisdictions like Idaho in the USA, which the Fraser Institute rated in 2021 among the top 10 in the world for mining. Although there are substantial copper deposits in South America and Africa, these resources are often sterilized through short-sighted government action, demands for higher royalties, taxes and charges, regulatory uncertainty, and political instability.
Idaho is rooted in mining history and natural resource economies. A recent survey by Boise State University highlighted the overwhelming support of Idahoans for responsible mining with 80.4% of respondents affirming their belief that mining can be conducted without negatively impacting the environment.
Local, state, and federal governments have shown great interest in, and have formally declared their support for the CuMo Project. Furthermore, a recent shift to pro-development policies within federal agencies, to allow the US to develop and utilize our country’s vast mineral wealth, has created momentum for domestic strategic minerals projects. The rapidly changing geopolitical landscape and rising commodity prices have placed copper projects like Idaho Copper’s CuMo Project on the map again after being dormant for the last few years.
External factors revive Idaho’s copper ambitions
Recent world events have prompted investors to identify high-value copper assets in low-risk jurisdictions that will drive the move toward green energy. Copper consumption is rapidly growing for applications such as renewable energy, infrastructure, electric vehicles, batteries, etc. Established copper mines are reaching the end of their lives, and grades are dropping as mines age, resulting in less metal being produced. Simultaneously, there are not enough new projects in the pipeline to make up the growing deficit. The CuMo Project, like other undeveloped copper projects in the world, will aim to capitalize on this looming copper supply deficit that is almost universally projected by analysts and banks to expand by the end of this decade.
These external factors, in addition to a more dynamic management team and more proactive business decisions, have revived Idaho Copper’s ambitions.
Over the next several years, Idaho Copper aims to complete an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment, then move towards a Pre-Feasibility Study for its exceptional asset. Under ideal conditions, a Bankable Feasibility Study could be completed, all final permitting received, and the project potentially built and producing metals before 2030.
Idaho Copper and its predecessors have put roughly USD $50 million into the ground since the 1990s to advance the project to a level where it can be regarded as an advanced exploration play. Drilling has defined only 60% of the deposit to date -and proven up substantial Resources in both the Measured and Indicated, and Inferred categories, with infill and expansion drilling to follow.
Currently, CuMo has almost four billion pounds of copper, one and a half billion pounds of Molybdenum, and close to 180 million ounces of Silver in the Measured and Indicated Resource category.
Molybdenum makes project more attractive
The molybdenum content of Idaho Coppers’s large deposit makes it even more attractive. Molybdenum is a strategic mineral that increases the strength, heat resistance, and durability of stainless steel products. Nearly every project identified by the Biden Administration’s USD $1.5 trillion infrastructure initiative, including building new pipelines, replacing crumbling bridges, transforming railways, and girding up tunnels that are critical to transportation, commerce, and safety, will require molybdenum-enhanced, high-grade steel.
Current uses of molybdenum include seawater desalination projects, bridge and building construction, especially where pollution/salt/volcanic exposure are factors; pipelines for petrol and drinking water delivery; manufacturing automobiles/ships/rockets/aircraft; lubrication for high heat purposes; agricultural fertilizer to boost crop production; fuel cell technology; mobile phones; and computers. There is also significant R&D underway which could potentially result in the use of molybdenum in lithium-ion battery cathodes, replacing other metals.
With infrastructure such as roads, water, and power available to CuMo, its location close to the state capital, and a trained mining workforce nearby, the future for Idaho Copper looks robust in comparison to other similar-stage copper projects in remote regions of the world. With high input costs, supply chain bottlenecks, and rising fuel and electricity prices, projects in remote parts of the world are finding life difficult.
The lack of bankable copper projects is a concern as the industry prepares for a drastic slump in copper supply in the short to medium term. Greenfield exploration projects could easily take more than a decade before they start producing. Idaho Copper has done a lot of footwork by establishing a very large Resource. The Company has that advantage, and the fact that its asset has been drilled extensively places it on the front foot in the race to find the great new sources of copper in the world.