Arizona Sonoran Copper – Derisking Work Building Towards A PFS On The Cactus Project, Update On Exploration, Envisioned Mine Plan, Permitting, And Strategic Stakeholders

George Ogilvie, President and CEO of Arizona Sonoran Copper (TSX:ASCU – OTCQX:ASCUF), joins us to outline all the ongoing derisking work building towards a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on the Cactus Project in Arizona, as the next key company milestone. The overall Cactus Project now contains over 11 billion pounds (“lbs”)  of copper in all categories – 7.3 billion lbs of copper in measured and indicated, and 3.8 billion lbs in the inferred category.

 

We start off having George share how the incorporation of the MainSpring area into the larger Parks-Salyer deposit, has allowed for a shift from underground mining over to an open-pit mining method.  They are reviewing moving the center of the open pit more towards the high-grade portion of the  Park-Salyer deposit, and infill drilling is showing it expanding towards that direction, which should present better economics and a faster payback period in the upcoming PFS.

 

We discuss that there was no royalty on the Mainspring property area, and that in January the Company has bought back 1% of the of the Bronco Creek Exploration net smelter royalty (“NSR”) for a cash payment of US$500,000, reducing the NSR from 1.5% to a remaining 0.5% NSR near the high-grade area of the Parks-Salyer deposit.  This gives investors more upside to the project at present, but also presents an area that can be renegotiated with companies when assembling the capital stack down the road. In February a subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc. (RLGD:NASDAQ) has purchased an existing 2.5% NSR on a portion of the Cactus Project for cash consideration of US$55 million from Tembo Capital. ASCU has the right to buy back 0.5% of Royal Gold’s aggregate 2.5% NSR for US$7 million, by July 10, 2025.  This demonstrates the value that Royal Gold sees in the project.

 

Additionally, on January 31^st Arizona Sonoran announced that it closed its private placement with Hudbay Minerals Inc. of 11,955,270 common shares at a price of C$1.68 for gross proceeds to the Company of C$20,084,853 million. Additionally, Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto Venture, exercised its pre-emptive rights in respect of the Hudbay Placement, pursuant to the terms of its investor rights agreement, to maintain its 7.2% equity interest in the Company for gross proceeds of C$1,562,210.   Seeing strategic shareholders like Royal Gold, Hudbay Minerals, and Rio Tinto involved demonstrates a strong vetting process and validation of the importance of the Cactus Project.

 

The Cactus PEA released last year envisages an average 86k short ton (172 million pound) per annum open pit copper heap leaching operation over a 31-year mine life (“LOM”). In total, 5.3 billion lbs or 2.7 million short tons of LME Grade A copper cathodes is detailed for production directly onsite via solvent extraction and electrowinning hydrometallurgical processing. We discuss how the plan to produce high-purity copper cathodes domestically, presents distinct advantages in light of the new US copper tariffs.  There will be more challenging effects on other companies that need to send copper concentrates over to Asian smelters and then will be subject to those tariffs.

 

George outlines how 40,000 meters of drilling will mainly be infilling areas in the MainSpring property from inferred to measured and indicated, as well as further defining and expanding the resources at the Park-Salyer main area.  There is also more metallurgical work to prepare for incorporating these areas into the upcoming PFS, projected to come out in the Fall of 2025.  

The company is also looking at acquiring more adjacent private land that will assist with optimizing the site layout for development. George highlights the strength of the infrastructure in place, the access to power, and the

 

George also provides some updates on permitting for the project, and the importance of it being on private land to help expedite the process, and that they should be submitting their applications later this year for administrative acceptance by early 2026, and then approval 6 months later.  This will time out well with their Bankable Feasibility Study and the capital stack coming together for a construction decision late next year.

 

If you have any follow up questions for George about Arizona Sonoran, then please email us at Fleck@kereport.com or  Shad@kereport.com and we’ll get those reviewed by the company.

 

• In full disclosure, Shad has a position in Arizona Sonoran Copper at the time of this recording and may chose to buy or sell shares at any time. 

 

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