Copper Creek Project is a large undeveloped copper deposit located in the state of Arizona, the US. The property is being explored by its 100% owner Faraday Copper.
The project has multiple breccia and porphyry copper deposits, and advanced exploration has demonstrated the potential for a significant, low-cost long-life mining operation at the site.
In July 2022, Faraday Copper announced an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Copper Creek project, and filed a technical report titled ‘NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate Copper Creek Project, Arizona’ a month after.
The Measured and Indicated MRE for Copper Creek exceed 355 million tonnes, indicating its potentiality to ensure domestic supply of copper for decades.
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Location and Site details
The Copper Creek Project is a 3km-long porphyry copper deposit located in the Pinal County, Arizona.
The site lies approximately 70km northeast of Tucson, 16km northeast of San Manuel, and 10km east of Mammoth in Arizona with elevation ranging from 1,035m to 1,490m above the sea level.
Overall, the 41km2 property includes seven private patented claims, one private land parcel, nine Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) prospecting permits and 325 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unpatented mining claims.
The property can be accessed through several routes. It also supports four-wheel vehicular access in most areas of the project.
History
Exploration works at the site dates back to 1860s. However, little work was done in the district until after 1902.
The Copper Giant, Copper Prince, Glory Hole (Globe), and Superior Pipes were explored by Calumet and Arizona Mining Company (C&A) in 1907.
In 1931, the property title was passed to Phelps Dodge Corporation.
In 1933, Arizona Molybdenum acquired the property and developed copper and molybdenum ore body to 158m below the haulage level.
Between 1959-1962 Beer Creek Mining Company (Kennecott) optioned the Childs Aldwinkle patented claims, while Newmont Exploration Limited (NEL) optioned the Siskin Property in 1966. NEL also enlisted Magma Copper Company as co-venture and operator.
This was followed by drilling of 67 surface and underground holes for testing Old Reliable, Glory Hole, Copper prince, and Copper Giant pipes by Occidental Minerals (Oxymin) in 1968.
Humble Oil (Exxon Corporation) joined Magma and Newmont to explore porphyry copper deposits in 1971.
Arizonal Mineral Technology (AMT) acquired the project from Magma in 1994 and began investigations in 1995.
In 2005, Redhawk Copper acquired the AMT’s property at Copper Creek and consolidated data. It signed an agreement in 2007 with Phelps Dodge to purchase 27 mineral claims.
Copper Bank acquired the project from Redhawk in 2018 to advance the project. The company was renamed Faraday Copper Corporation in 2022.
In October 2022, Faraday Copper initiated a 10,000m Phase II drilling programme at the site.
Geology and Mineralisation
According to the project’s technical report, Copper Creek lies in the porphyry copper region of south-western North America. The site is situated at the projected intersection of a major northwest belt of copper deposits and a major east- northeast belt of copper deposits
Besides, the property hosts high grade, near surface, breccia mineralisation.
The Palaeocene Copper Creek batholith is the main mineralisation. Four types of granodiorite to quartz diorite porphyry dykes and plugs were identified at the location.
The open pit resource is hosted in magmatic-hydrothermal breccias and the underground resource is present primarily in early halo porphyry style veins and magmatic cupola zones.
Mineral resource estimates
The updated Measured Mineral Resources for the property consists of 65.1 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 0.61% copper (Cu), 0.011% molybdenum (Mo) and 1.7 g/t silver (Ag) containing 872.9 million pounds (Mlbs) of Cu, 15.7Mlbs of Mo and 3.5 million ounces (Moz) of Ag.
Indicated Mineral Resources are 290Mt at a grade of 0.47% Cu, 0.007% Mo and 1.2 g/t Au containing 3,034.2Mlbs of Cu, 47.2Mlbs of Mo and 11.0Moz of Ag or 3,199Mlbs copper equivalent (CuEq).
The total inferred mineral resource estimates for the project are 75Mt at a grade of 0.38% copper, 0.007% molybdenum and 0.8g/t silver containing 634.9mlbs of Cu, 12mlbs of Mo, 2moz of Ag, and 673.5mlbs of CuEq.
Mining
At current stage, detailed work on mining method has not been conducted. However, the project holds economic potential for both Open Pit and Underground scenarios.
The work on recovery and project infrastructure was not conducted during the preparation of the technical report.
Contractors involved
SRK Consulting prepared the technical report of the Copper Creek project as Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) technical report on mineral resources for Faraday Copper.
Metallurgical test work programmes were completed by Mountain States R&D International, Inc. (MSRDI) in 1997 and METCON Research (METCON) in 2008 and 2012.
Several entities such as Ausenco, SRK, Call & Nicholas and WestLand were associated with the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the property.
Ausenco was the technical lead for the optimisation of tailings facilities, processing plant, economic and associated infrastructure design included modelling.
Call & Nicholas provided support with mine design parameters and geotechnical analysis, while WestLand was involved with environmental studies, cultural and social assessments, and permitting pathway for the Copper Creek Project.