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US Copper Corp. (TSXV: USCU,OTC:USCUF) (OTCQB: USCUF) (FSE: C730) ("US Copper" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has engaged Libertas Metallurgy Limited ("Libertas") to review all the metallurgical work to date and make recommendations for any metallurgical testwork required for the planned Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") at its Moonlight-Superior Mining property ("Moonlight"), located in Plumas County, California.
Libertas was founded in 2017 to provide metallurgical consulting services to the global minerals and mining industry. Their area of expertise is in flotation, leaching, process design and cost reduction as it relates to managing technical studies and process development and operations.
Libertas's President & Principal Metallurgist, David Middleditch, has over 20 years experience in the field of metallurgy and mineral processing. Dave has worked at Falconbridge (now Glencore) in Sudbury, Ontario as a metallurgist and managed the mineral processing laboratory, prior to joining Hudson's Bay Mining and Smelting Co. in Flin Flon, Manitoba as Lead Metallurgist for the Lalor Project. He has also worked on copper projects in Chile, Norway, Mexico and Serbia. The project will be supported by John Wells, an industry leading specialist in copper oxide processing and has authored over 12 technical papers while also working on numerous projects in Chile and Peru.
Libertas will provide the following services to US Copper during the initial review of our metallurgical work to date:
- Review all met work done to date and make recommendations for PFS metallurgical testwork;
- determine whether additional drilling is required before PFS metallurgical testwork can commence;
- Provide guidance on PFS metallurgical sample selection i.e. required number of holes, quantities of sample, number of composites and discrete, variability samples etc.;
- Design of PFS metallurgical testwork program for the oxide and sulphide resources providing the basis and outline for third party metallurgical laboratories to provide quotes for PFS testwork; and
- Issue RFPs to selected testwork laboratories, review and adjudicate bids.
Stephen Dunn, CEO of US Copper, commented, "I am very pleased to welcome Libertas to the Moonlight project. Their expertise in metallurgy and, specifically, the far-reaching experience of David Middleditch and John Wells with copper processing will be very beneficial to US Copper as we advance our metallurgical work at Moonlight.
"The year 2025 has been a very positive one for US Copper as we released the updated results from our Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") in January. We are also strategically aligned with the United States of America ("USA") administration which both recocognizes the importance of domestic copper production in the USA AND has issued executive orders aimed at speeding up the permitting of natural resources development in the USA.
"USCU is now focused on taking the next steps required to begin a PFS for our project. In preparation for this we have started this metallurgical study and will soon begin baseline studies. We are also designing a deep drilling program to expand the resources at Moonlight. Our project has three deposits that are all at surface, are very shallow and all all open at depth. We are ready to add to our knowledge of the mineralogy underneath. (The average drill hole depth is 450 feet ("ft"), across 500 holes yet we know Engels was mined to a depth of 2400 ft in 1929.)
"Copper is a key component in a wide range of energy technologies and is designated as a Critical Mineral by the USA government. Copper is a critical material for an extensive range of important applications ranging from renewable power generation to electric vehicles. As such, it is vital that the USA has a strong and viable domestic source of copper supply."
About US Copper Corp.
US Copper controls approximately 10 square miles of patented and unpatented federal mining claims in the Light's Creek Copper District in Plumas County, NE California; essentially, the entire District. The District contains substantial copper (silver) sulfide and copper oxide resources in three deposits – Moonlight, Superior and Engels, as well as several partially tested and untested exploration targets.
The Superior and Engels Mines operated from about 1915 to 1930 producing over 161 million pounds of copper from over 4 million tons of rock containing 2.2% copper with silver and gold credits.
The Moonlight deposit was discovered by Placer Amex during the 1960s and a resource was calculated after the drilling of over 400 holes. A development decision was made but then put on hold in 1972 when copper prices were weak. US Copper has owned the project since 2013 and has advanced the project with three different drill programs and a number of engineering studies.
US Copper recently reported an after-tax NPV of US$1.075 billion in a PEA prepared by Global Resource Engineering Ltd ("GRE") dated Dec 16, 2024 with a life of mine production of 1.8 billion pounds of copper (See news release dated Jan 6, 2025).
GRE calculated a new mineral resource for the purposes of this PEA that included all recent drill programs on the property. This resource is summarized below:
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1768/265050_uscopper.jpg
Notes:
- The effective date of the Mineral Resource is December 16, 2024.
- The Qualified Person for the Mineral Resource Estimate is Terre Lane of GRE.
- Mineral resources are reported at a 0.16% Cu cutoff for oxide and transition material and at a 10.45 NSR cutoff for sulfide material. The oxide and transition cutoff is calculated based on a long-term copper price of US$4.00/lb; assumed combined operating costs of US$7.50/ton (process and G&A); metallurgical recovery of 75% for copper. The sulfide cutoff is calculated as the breakeven NSR, which is equal to the combined process and G&A costs for the sulfide material.
Further details of this Resource, and the Preliminary Economic Assessment NI43-101 Technical Report on the Moonlight-Superior Project, Plumas County, California, USA with an effective date of December 16, 2024 can be found on SEDAR+ at sedarplus.ca or at the Company's website at www.uscoppercorp.com.
The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves under CIM Definition Standards. Readers are advised that there is no certainty that the results projected in this preliminary economic assessment will be realized.
For Further Information, Contact:
Mr. Stephen Dunn, President, CEO and Director, US Copper Corp. (416) 361-2827 or email info@uscoppercorp.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward-looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "hopes", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedarplus.ca. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/265050
