Los Andes Copper allowed to restart drilling in Chile, stock surges

Los Andes Copper (TSXV: LA) has been authorized to restart drilling at its flagship Vizcachitas project in Chile following a court ruling lifted an injunction against the company that lasted more than a year.

On March 18, 2022, the Second Environmental Court in Chile issued a preliminary injunction suspending the drilling program at Vizcachitas. On July 20, the court decided that the company’s drilling program was compatible with the presence of the Andean cat, and that drilling could resume, subject to certain conditions.

Los Andes and its consultants have since worked to obtain certain government agency filings and approvals required by the court as conditions, which it now has met.

Following the announcement, Los Andes Copper’s stock surged to a 52-week high of C$16.50 apiece. By noon EDT Friday, it was trading at C$16.35, up 7.9% for the session. The company has a market capitalization of C$460.2 million ($348m).

“Having fully complied with all the conditions imposed by the court, we are now able to return to drilling in order to pursue the optimizations highlighted in the pre-feasibility study published earlier this year,” Santiago Montt, CEO of Los Andes, said in a news release.

Located 150 km north of Santiago, Vizcachitas represents one of the largest advanced copper deposits in the Americas. A pre-feasibility study released in February 2023 confirmed the project as a “tier 1” asset with a $2.8 billion post-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) and an internal rate of return of 24%.

The initial life of mine is estimated at 26 years, during which Vizcachitas is expected to produce 8.8 billion lb. copper, 273.3 million lb. molybdenum and 32.7 million oz. silver. This is based on updated proven and probable reserves of 1.2 billion tonnes grading 0.36% copper, 136 ppm molybdenum and 1.1 g/t silver.