Overview
Solar and wind energy are expected to power 90 percent of the world’s electricity by 2050, accelerating the demand for copper materials needed to supply this transition. While the copper boom is already in motion, driven by demand shortages, an explosive copper price growth is expected to come in the near future and a high copper price environment might last for decades.
Copper producers will need to double the amount of global production just to keep up with a
30 percent penetration rate of electric vehicles (EVs) alone, and in the next two decades, the world must now produce more copper than has ever been produced previously in human history.
World Copper (TSXV:WCU,OTCQX:WCUFF,FRA:7LY0) has two outstanding pillars of growth, all located in safe and stable mining jurisdictions across the Americas:
- The Zonia copper-oxide porphyry project in Arizona with an estimated copper cathode production of 49 million pounds (22 kt) per year.
- The Escalones porphyry-skarn project is located 30 kilometers East of El Teniente with an estimated copper cathode production of 115 million pounds (52 kt) per year and with upside exploration potential in supergene and skarn extension targets.
These prime projects comprise over 4 billion pounds of copper in the ground.
Company Highlights
- World Copper is a copper exploration and project development company focused on developing key assets in Arizona and Chile into mines that produce copper in pure cathodes.
- Copper will be produced using the more environmentally responsible process of solvent extraction and electrowinning which allows to reduce water consumption, CO2 emissions and completely skip the heavily polluting smelting process.
- The company is led by a strong management team of accomplished professionals with decades of experience in business finance, mine design and operations in Chile, the US and Canada.
- The company's primary focus is on developing the Zonia copper mine and a conventional SX-EW plant to produce copper cathode for the domestic market, using US-based supply chain.
- World Copper’s Escalones project is Chile’s largest new copper oxide project in development.
- The company’s properties are located in mining-friendly jurisdictions and have access to the infrastructure required for future operations.
Key Projects
Zonia Copper-Oxide Deposit
Zonia is an advanced, pre-stripped brownfield project in Yavapai County, 100 miles northwest of Phoenix, Arizona. The large 1,732-hectare property has excellent potential for additional discoveries, as there are already known targets that may contain additional copper-porphyry targets. The company is actively working to restart this past producer, along with re-building the mine and SX-EW plant, to produce ~20 kt of copper in cathode per year.
The deposit is located on private patented land, which allows for fast-tracking the project to production with a more streamlined and efficient environmental permitting process.
The Zonia project has a low strip ratio (1:1), excellent access to infrastructure with water and power directly on site, as well as the proven and efficient production technology, which does not require building tailing storage facilities or producing copper concentrates. The project will use conventional mining and crushing, heap leach and electrowinning processes, reducing operational risks compared to similar development projects in the area.
Project Highlights:
- Easy Access and Infrastructure: A 67-kilovolt (kV) line runs to the entrance of the mine, along with the presence of groundwater to help support operations.
- Permitting Advantage: All resources and phase 1I 2018 PEA production within the 100 percent owned private land.
- Expansive Sample Grid: A 150-meter spaced rock sample has generated a large coherent anomaly.
World Copper completed an internal technical review of the exploration and development potential of the Zonia copper oxide project confirming significant potential growth drivers for the Zonia project. The resource expansion targets adjoining the existing Zonia resource provide an opportunity to enlarge the outlined mineralization through step-out drill programs.
Updated Resource Estimate
In 2023, World Copper updated Zonia’s mineral resource estimate, which includes 75.7 million short tons grading 0.30 percent total copper (indicated resource) containing 450.5 million pounds of copper and 122 million short tons grading 0.24 percent total copper (inferred resource) containing 575.4 million pounds of copper.
The company has filed a technical report on SEDAR for Zonia entitled, "National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report: Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Zonia Copper Project Yavapai County, Arizona USA," and was prepared pursuant to NI 43-101 by Hard Rock Consulting.
Escalones Project
World Copper has managed to secure the largest new copper-oxide asset, currently in exploration and development, in Chile through its Escalones project. Early estimates reveal it could become a major copper producer using heap leaching to produce copper in cathodes, at very competitive costs when compared to other similar copper deposits found throughout Chile and Latin America.
World Copper reported an updated inferred resource estimate of 426 million tonnes at 0.37 percent total copper in the oxidized zone at the Escalones project, confirming its potential for development as a sizable copper-oxide deposit.
Project Highlights:
- Existing Infrastructure: The 4,689-hectare property has access to roads, seaports, electricity and a gas line.
- Amenable to Heap Leaching: Metallurgical tests indicate that the inferred 3.45 billion pounds of copper should be amenable to heap leaching with an average recovery of 71 percent. Heap leaching is an economical and more eco-friendly mining technique that uses less water and emits lower emissions than conventional flotation.
- Future Expansion: The Escalones deposit has room to expand to the south, east and west. Only half of the alteration zone has been drilled to date.
- Untested Mineralization: No drilling has been carried out on northern targets and it may contain the last remaining mineralized porphyry clusters in Chile.
- Preliminary Economic Assessment (February 2022) - The Escalones property has a post-tax NPV8 of $1.5 billion at 46.2 percent IRR with an initial capital payback period of 2.2 years. The project has an initial capital of only $438.4 million and a 3.44 X NPV/capex ratio with a 20-year life of mine.
In 2022, World Copper also completed 1,676 meters of additional drilling along the western-most, road-accessible edge of the Mancha Amarilla zone confirming copper-oxide mineralization that extends at least 150 meters south from previous drilling, and oxidation extends to depths of 280 meters below the ridge.
Management Team
Gordon Neal - President and CEO
Gordon Neal is a distinguished professional in the metals and mining industry, with a comprehensive background in capital markets, corporate governance, finance and investor relations. He is the previous CEO and director of Tincorp Metals. Other previous corporate leadership roles include, president of New Pacific Metals, vice-president of corporate development at both Mag Silver and Silvercorp Metals. His governance and strategic insights have also been instrumental on the boards of companies such as Falco Resources, Balmoral Resources, Americas Petrogas, Rock Gate Capital, and Wealth Minerals. Neal founded Neal McInerney Investor Relations in 1991, where under his leadership, the firm achieved remarkable growth by successfully marketing over $4 billion in debt and equity financings, ascending to become Canada's second-largest full-service investor relations firm with a presence in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles.
Henk van Alphen - Chairman
Henk van Alphen has more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry. He has been a key player in companies such as Corriente Resources, Cardero Resources, Trevali Mining, Balmoral Resources, and International Tower Hill. He also founded Wealth Minerals in 2005 and has raised over $1 billion raised in various financial transactions via van Alphen’s involvement.
Marcelo Awad - Executive Director (Chile)
Marcelo Awad has a long and distinguished career in the mining industry 18 years with Codelco, most recently as executive vice-president for 16 years with Antofagasta Minerals, the Mining Division of Antofagasta, including eight years as CEO from 2004 to 2012, a period of significant growth for Antofagasta. In the 2011 Harvard Business Review, Awad was ranked as the number one CEO in Chile, 18th in Latin America and 87th in the world.
Krzysztof Napierała - General Manager (Chile)
Krzysztof Napierala is a professional with 14 years of experience in mining and manufacturing industries. He is a driven executive with a strong background in business development, exploration, project management, and the management and restructuring of mining operations. His career is highlighted by over ten years with the KGHM Group, one of the world’s largest copper and silver miners, where he started as an associate in the exploration and development team, supporting the company’s business development activities and new acquisitions.
John Drobe - Chief Geologist
John Drobe is a geologist with over 30 years of experience specializing in porphyry copper-gold, epithermal and skarn deposits throughout the Americas. Drobe has deep experience with organizing and managing exploration campaigns, particularly in South America, where he has participated in the exploration and development of projects in Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela and Chile.
Marla Ritchie - Corporate Secretary
Marla Ritchie brings over 25 years of experience in public markets working as an administrator and corporate secretary specializing in resource-based exploration companies. Currently, she is also the corporate secretary for several companies, including International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. and Trevali Mining Corporation.
View original content to download multimedia: https://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2022/12/c7975.html 
Figure 1: Drill rig operational at the Lana Corina Project April 2024.
Figure 2: Plan view of drilling results at Lana Corina.
