Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By P.J. GLISSON
Wakefield TOWNSHIP — Highland Copper Company has announced that it expects ‘early works and site preparation’ to occur this year.
“We are happy to introduce Copperwood as one of very few fully permitted copper projects in the U.S.,” said Denis Miville-Deschênes, president and CEO of Highland in a press release last week. “The economic return at spot copper price is robust … It will be exciting to start site works during 2023 as we advance discussions on funding of our Copperwood project.”
The announcement states that the Copperwood Project possesses all “key” state permits needed to engage site construction and operation.
“Advancing towards site readiness and starting the initial phase of detailed engineering will help support a construction decision,” according to the release. “Subject to completion of financing, construction could begin in the first quarter of 2024. A 27-month construction period would see commissioning in the first quarter of 2026, with commercial production beginning in the second quarter of 2026.”
Highland is based in Longueuil, Canada, and its 100% owned Copperwood Project site is in Wakefield Township, nearly 14 miles north of the city of Wakefield.
The company reported that some of this year’s anticipated site work is needed to meet permit obligations of the Wetlands and Streams Permit. “The project will complete permitted impacts, which include site clearing and grubbing, during the summer of 2023,” stated the press release.
Immediate goals are environmental mitigation, comprehensive engineering and a construction finance plan.
Highland noted that a detailed design for stream and wetland mitigation work — per permit conditions — has been finished. “Importantly, an alternative process water solution incorporated in the Feasibility Study Update eliminates the need for the Section 10 Water Intake permit,” the company claimed.
In sharing additional results, Highland assured, “The updated Copperwood Feasibility Study, done in the high-cost environment of 2022, still has a robust (after-tax) 17.6% internal rate of return at a copper price of $4.02 per pound. The average yearly production of approximately 30,000 tonnes of copper provides good exposure to copper price increases.”
Moreover, the company added, “Measured and indicated tonnes increased by 10% and inferred tonnes increased by 54%. With updated metal price assumptions and a modified reporting cut-off, a significant increase in resource tonnes has been reflected in the 2023 mineral resource estimate relative to the 2018 mineral resource.”
Even so, Miville-Deschênes warned that “the project is highly sensitive to copper price changes.”
But company officials believe that significant opportunities are available to boost the project’s profit.
For instance, the report suggested, “The applicability of ore sorting to remove waste and low-grade material has been tested with positive results.”
The March 6 press release also listed the following verbatim highlights from the company’s updated feasibility study:
—Initial capital expenditures of $391 million, net of pre-production revenue of $34 million;
—Life-of-mine (LOM) operating costs of $1.83/lb, and $1.55/lb (including royalties) in the first five years of production;
—Proven and probable reserves of 25.7 million tonnes (M t) @ 1.45% Cu and 3.91 g/t Ag, containing 820 million pounds (M lb) of copper and 3.2 million ounces of silver;
—Additional mineral resources of 79.1 Mt @ 1.09 % Cu and 3.6 g/t Ag in the inferred category, containing 1.9 billion pounds (B lb) of copper and 9.0 million ounces (M oz) of silver using a 0.9% Cu cut-off;
—Average annual LOM payable copper production of 64.6 M lb and 106,966 ounces of silver; and
—Net Present Value (8% Discount Rate) of $222 million before taxes and $168 million after taxes.
The Feasibility Study Update was completed by G Mining Services Inc. of Quebec, Canada, in collaboration with Foth Infrastructure and Environment of De Pere, Wisconsin.
“The study provides a comprehensive overview of the Copperwood Project and defines an economically feasible, technically and environmentally sound project,” concluded Highland.
More information is available at highlandcopper.com.
