Gunnison Copper (TSX:GCU) has announced an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the wholly owned Gunnison Copper Project in the Cochise Mining District, Arizona, US, reporting a post-tax net present value 8% of US$2 billion ($2.8 billion).
Gunnison is a conventional open pit, heap leach operation, producing 99.999% pure copper cathode to supply growing US demand from energy, data centre, manufacturing, and defence supply chains.
The PEA shows strong economics with a NPV8 of US$2 billion, a 23% IRR, and just under a four-year payback period.
The company has also outlined a straightforward mine plan, consisting primarily of oxide copper mineralised material with a life of mine material placed on the leach pad of 541 million tonnes at 0.43% total copper grade, including 25 million tonnes at 0.85% total copper grade from the Strong & Harris satellite deposit.
Gunnison will conduct primary crushing on all material and secondary crushing on some of it to improve its copper recoveries.
Average annual production is set for 174 million pounds for the first 15 years, which Gunnison says is enough to potentially supply over 11% of the current US copper demand for domestic refined copper production.
Total copper produced is outlined as 3.2 billion pounds over a 21 year mine life.
CEO Stephen Twyerould says that the updated PEA positions the Gunnison project as a significant future supplier for the American copper market.
“At a consensus copper price of $4.60 per pound, the project delivers an after-tax NPV8 of approximately US$2 billion, a 23% IRR, and an attractive 3.9 year payback, positioning Gunnison as one of the most financially compelling copper development projects in the United States,” Twyerould says.
“Importantly, 83% of the $692 million increase in NPV8% versus our 2024 preliminary economic assessment study is driven by operational enhancements within our control, including the addition of the high-grade Strong & Harris satellite deposit, material sorting, cement and limestone co-products, and optimisation initiatives.
“With average annual production of 174 million pounds of 99.999% pure copper cathode in the first 15 years, low-half-of-the-cost-curve operating metrics, and significant leverage to copper prices, we believe Gunnison offers shareholders meaningful exposure to a large-scale, long-life US copper asset as we advance toward Prefeasibility, permitting, and project financing.”
Gunnison will proceed with a Prefeasibility study of the open pit project, which should take approximately 18 months. Once complete, a feasibility study will then be proposed.
Drilling for resource verification and geotechnical coverage will support mine planning. In addition, an update on the acid plant design for the selected capacity is recommended.
Gunnison Copper is a multi-asset pure-play copper developer and producer, with 12 known deposits in the Cochise Mining District in the Southern Arizona Copper Belt, US.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Gunnison Copper
