Amid exploring and developing its plethora of North American assets, Vizsla Copper (TSX-V:VCU) is looking to add a producing asset into its project portfolio.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, CEO Craig Parry says the company would “love” to acquire a producing asset because it aims to build a mid-tier copper producer in record time.
“We’ve now got a large resource base, a couple of very large projects in British Columbia, a very high-grade project in Alaska that we will continue to explore and, with success, look to develop ourselves – but we’d love to have a producing asset in there as well, and then that puts us in that mid-tier level of copper producers,” Parry tells this news service.
“We’ve been kicking the tyres on producing assets for seven years now and haven’t managed to get one. We’ve managed to get some great exploration and development projects, which is pretty hard to do at a time when such assets are in great demand.”
Parry explains Vizsla Copper as a different company compared to its peers globally with its aim to become a producer.
He uses an Indira Gandhi quote to articulate his messaging: “there are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.”
“Against other explorers, there’s not much competition, but there is – what I can tell you is that there’s very, very strong interest from a lot of groups now – private equity-backed groups, the mid-tier producers for these sorts of producing copper assets at the moment,” the CEO says.
“I think it’s a testament to how tight the market actually is.”
As Mining.com.au reported, often dubbed “Dr Copper” due to its ability to predict economic turning points, copper’s recent price action and market behaviour reflects more than short-term sentiment.
Copper prices reached new highs in late 2025, with the metal breaking past previous thresholds that had acted as psychological resistance for years. After years of consolidating, copper surged to a then record US$11,870 ($16,871) per tonne in the second week of December 2025, as reported by this news service.
Prices are forecast to remain elevated through 2026 with limited near-term increases in supply and continued global demand growth. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ (DISR) December Resources and Energy Quarterly reports that while prices should ease in 2027 as some operations recover and new capacity comes online, the medium-term outlook remains firm.
Copper prices have nearly tripled over the past 10 years, exceeding US$12,300 per tonne as of 8 April. About 50% of this increase has come in the past two years alone.
There are several reasons for the strong price growth. Firstly, economic growth in Asia in particular and led by China has stimulated demand in traditional markets, particularly the transport, electricity, and construction sectors, according to Mining Monitor.
A real steal
Not only is the copper-focused company looking to acquire a producing asset, but it is also eyeing opportunities to bring its own assets into production.
The Palmer Project, located in Alaska, was acquired by Vizsla Copper in December 2025 from American Pacific Mining (CSE:USGD) for C$30 million in a combination of cash and shares.
“That was a real steal for us, particularly given the location of the project,” Parry says.
“It’s in the Panhandle in Alaska. It is 60km from tidewater from the Port of Haines. It’s a very high-grade resource, one of the highest grade known resources left on the planet.”
Palmer has a resource of 4.8 million tonnes @ 3.5% copper-equivalent in the indicated category and 12 million tonnes @ 3.1% copper-equivalent in the inferred category.
Highlighted drill results from 2023 also include 44m @ 8.22% copper-equivalent; 37m @ 8.40% copper-equivalent; and 24m @ 11.15% copper-equivalent.
Vizsla’s CEO notes that these results have never been followed up.
“It’s a very, very high-grade, small footprint-type project that we can fund exploration and development of ourselves – and that’s what we’re intending on doing,” Parry adds.
Vizsla Copper intends to mobilise two drill rigs at its newly acquired Palmer Project, located in Alaska, in May 2026.
The company currently has two drill rigs currently drilling all year round and recently began a drill program at the Poplar Project in British Columbia, Canada.
Up to 8,000m of drilling across 16 holes is planned, focused on expanding the recently discovered Thira porphyry copper-molybdenum system and evaluating additional high-priority porphyry targets across the broader Thira alteration corridor.
Poplar, covering more than 47,000 hectares, hosts a porphyry-related copper and gold deposit with a current undiluted indicated resource of 152.3 million tonnes @ 0.32% copper, 0.009% molybdenum, 0.09 grams per tonne gold and 2.58g/t silver, as well as an undiluted inferred resource of 139.3 million tonnes @ 0.29% copper, 0.005% molybdenum, 0.07g/t gold and 4.95g/t silver.
Parry says the company is expecting “lots of drill results” coming out of the Poplar Project and the company’s additional British Columbia projects over the next six months.
“I think we’re on the verge of another potential discovery at our Poplar Project in the Thira porphyry area.”
Earlier this week, the company received initial drill results from an ongoing Canadian spring drilling program at Poplar, returning the longest interval of continuous porphyry-related copper-molybdenum mineralisation drilled to date at the Thira discovery.
Some of the results include 675.2m @ 0.40% copper-equivalent from 31.8m; 435m @ 0.49% copper-equivalent from 198m; 483m @ 0.40% copper-equivalent from 9m; and 305.5m @ 0.50% copper-equivalent from 9m.
The results build on last year’s findings and show that mineralisation extends for at least 800m east-west and at least 700m north-south where it remains open.
The ongoing drilling program, comprising 8,000m across three target areas, is designed to investigate the lateral and vertical extents of porphyry-related copper-molybdenum mineralisation.
Vizsla Copper also owns the Woodjam, Copperview and Redgold projects located within North America.
Woodjam, covering 90,163 hectares, is a large, well-endowed copper-gold porphyry exploration and development project in elephant country in south-central British Columbia. The project has a historical mineral resource for three deposits totalling 1.78 billion pounds of copper and just under one million ounces of gold.
Copperview covers 37,466 hectares across 40 claims, located less than 4km north of Kodiak Copper’s (TSX-V:KDK) Gate Zone discovery.
Meanwhile, the Redgold Project consists of 58 mineral claims covering 8,278 hectares. A total of 49 drillholes have been previously completed on the property, with numerous geochemical and geophysical surveys.
Vizsla Copper is a critical minerals-focused explorer and developer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Vizsla Copper
