quetzal copper

Investor Insight

Quetzal Copper has a copper-focused exploration strategy and North American assets. The company is in an excellent position to capitalize on rising domestic copper demand, with a plan to play a key role in the critical minerals race.

Overview

Quetzal Copper (TSXV:Q) is a copper exploration company focused on three drill-ready copper projects in British Columbia, Canada: Princeton, Big Kidd and DOT. All three projects are situated in the copper-rich jurisdiction of British Columbia between the Highland Valley copper mine and the Copper Mountain mine. This is a highly prospective area that historically produced millions of pounds of copper.

All three BC projects are easily accessible by road and close to infrastructure. The area is mining-friendly as evidenced from the multiple active and retired mines in the region.

The company’s flagship is the Princeton copper project, which abuts the north side of the Copper Mountain mine property. The project had limited historical drilling. However, modern geophysics and soil samples identified prospective copper targets. Quetzal plans to begin drilling at the Princeton project in 2025. The company received its drill permit for four targets: Bud South, Knob Hill, Aura and Contact.

The Dot copper project is located just 25 km northwest of Merritt, B.C. Mining on the property goes back to 1887. The area hosts four significant target areas: the Northwest, Southeast, Copper and Lower Vimy Zones.

In 2010, Aurora Geosciences published a non-compliant historic resource estimate for the Dot project (calculated at $3 per pound of copper and $1,200 per ounce of gold). According to the report, Dot contains 6.5 million tonnes of indicated resources at 0.5 percent copper equivalent and 6.6 million tonnes at 0.38 percent copper equivalent.

In 2025, Quetzal Copper plans to evaluate that historic resource and follow up on the recommendations from the report. That includes drilling to connect existing mineralization and testing additional geophysical anomalies outside the known zones to expand the resource base.

The Big Kidd project is located approximately 20 km southeast of Merritt, BC. The project saw extensive drilling by previous operators including Xstrata. Quetzal geologists, along with Dr. Alan Wilson, reviewed all available core and compiled a new understanding of the geology.

The company’s focus on copper is attractive given current supply and demand dynamics.

The supply of copper is far more concentrated than oil. While three countries account for 40 percent of the oil supply, only two countries – Chile and Peru, contribute 38 percent of the copper supply. Given the history of political instability in these countries, a supply source from North America, with its stable policy environment, makes it very attractive.

Government-supported tailwinds also encourage domestic copper supply, with Canada and the US promoting copper production through tax breaks and incentives.

The demand scenario for copper looks attractive given expectations of rapid growth. According to Nornickel, global copper demand is estimated to rise by 20 percent to 30 million metric tons (MT) per year by 2035, from around 24.8 million MT per year in 2022. This growth in demand will be led by applications such as electric transport, power transmission grids and renewable electricity generation.

Quetzal Copper is likely to be a beneficiary of Western countries trying to realign their supply chain of critical minerals by sourcing them domestically or from friendly countries. Quetzal, with its portfolio of copper projects in tier 1 mining jurisdictions, is well positioned to offer domestically sourced copper to fill any supply gap.

Company Highlights

• Quetzal Copper is a new copper exploration company focused on three drill-ready copper projects in British Columbia: Princeton, Big Kidd, and DOT. The company has a fourth project, Cristinas, in Chihuahua, Mexico.
• The flagship Princeton copper project is located adjacent to the producing Copper Mountain mine in British Columbia. The company plans a significant drill program for the project in 2025.
• The Big Kidd copper project is located in southern British Columbia, midway between the Copper Mountain and Highland Valley copper mines.
• The DOT copper project is located south of the Highland Valley mine in southern British Columbia.
• Given that around 38 percent of the world's copper is supplied by two countries (Chile and Peru), a North American supply source makes the company’s projects very attractive.
• The company’s senior leadership team is well-experienced in both geoscience and capital markets, which will help the company unlock the potential of its projects.