BHP, SiTration Launch Arizona Copper Recovery Pilot Program

BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) and MIT spin-out SiTration announced the launch of a pilot program in Arizona to extract copper from legacy mining wastewater.

SiTration’s process previously demonstrated the ability to yield London Metal Exchange (LME) Grade A copper in bench-scale testing without using chemicals or generating new waste, operating at an energy consumption below 3 to 4 kilowatt-hours per kilogram.

The initiative, located at BHP’s Copper Cities facility in the Globe-Miami mining district, begins with a one-month trial testing continuous, autonomous copper recovery. A second phase planned for later this year will seek to produce up to two tons of commercial-scale copper cathodes over a two-month period.

The historic Copper Cities mine produced nearly 400,000 tons of copper between 1954 and 1975, with leaching operations continuing until 1982. Today, BHP manages the site under its Legacy Assets portfolio.

“The Copper Cities pilot provides an opportunity to evaluate an innovative approach to recover copper from mining-impacted water while generating valuable technical and operational insights,” Kevin Ramsay, General Manager of Legacy Assets at BHP, said.

Global commodity markets face supply constraints while demand surges for power grid expansion and AI data centers. Industry projections indicate annual global copper demand will rise from 34 million tons currently to 50 million tons by 2050.

“The American Southwest houses legacy mining water containing billions of dollars’ worth of copper,” SiTration CEO and Co-founder Brendan Smith said in a separate press release. “With global copper demand projected to grow by around 70% by 2050 to support the rapid buildout of energy infrastructure and data centers, tapping into these resources is an excellent pathway to bolster domestic supply chains while producing copper at the bottom of the global cost curve.”

For BHP, testing low-cost extraction technologies furthers its internal shift toward copper-driven expansion. In its latest financial results, copper overtook iron ore as the company's primary profit driver for the first time on an annual basis.

Profits from BHP’s copper division surged 48 percent to US$18 billion, accounting for 54 percent of its US$33 billion in total underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization.

“Copper is the engine that is driving BHP’s growth,” CEO Brandon Craig said during the earnings presentation.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.