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Ivanhoe Electric (NYSE American: IE) (TSX: IE) has gained full ownership of the mineral rights comprising its Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona after making the final payment under a purchase option.
In May 2023, the company acquired nearly 6,000 acres of surface title and associated water rights for approximately $116 million. The transaction included an option to purchase the mineral rights contiguous with the acquired lands.
On Tuesday, the US-focused copper developer made the final $10 million payment to acquire a 100% interest in these mineral rights, and therefore has secured 100% of the surface and mineral rights for the Santa Cruz project.
“Completing our option agreement and securing 100% ownership of the mineral rights at our Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona is an important milestone for our company,” stated Taylor Melvin, Ivanhoe Electric’s CEO.
“We have now completed the consolidation of surface and mineral rights ownership at one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped copper resources in the United States that is located entirely on private land.”
Ivanhoe’s Santa Cruz project contains 26.7 million tonnes of indicated resources grading 1.24% total copper (2.8 million tonnes of contained copper) and 149.0 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 1.24% total copper (1.8 million tonnes of contained copper).
An initial assessment of the project in 2023, focusing only on a small surface footprint for an underground copper mine, had total copper production estimated at 1.6 million tonnes over a 20-year mine life with cash costs of $1.36/lb. of copper.
The project is also designed to minimize surface land disruption. The IA base case assumes that 70% of the electric power required for the project will be generated by onsite renewable energy infrastructure to minimize carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
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