After making a secret right-of-way deal, the State Land Department is poised to auction land for Copper World’s waste dumps

Last December, the State Land Department’s Board of Appeals approved a right-of-way requested by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. for two water pipelines, a power line, and a fiber optic line across a portion of the Santa Rita Experimental Range, which is the oldest continuously utilized long-term agricultural research station in the U.S.

“This is super huge for us,” Hudbay’s land manager Robin Barnes stated in a Dec. 8, 2022 email to Michael D. Romer, the land department’s rights-of-way project leader, moments after the appeals board approved the right-of-way during a public meeting.

The ‘super huge’ deal was about to get even better for Hudbay, which is planning to construct the Copper World/Rosemont Mine Complex that would include four open pit copper mines on the west and east flanks of the Santa Rita Mountains 35 miles southeast of Tucson.

The company was facing a dilemma, and the State Land Department was about to provide the solution, according to department records obtained last April by Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, a Tucson-based nonprofit conservation group opposed to mining in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Posted in Copper World, Hudbay | 3 Comments

Hudbay will initially export all copper produced at its proposed Copper World mine

In a significant reversal, Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. now says it will initially export all unrefined copper concentrate produced at its proposed Copper World mining complex rather than converting the concentrate into refined copper on site for sale to U.S. markets.

“100% of the copper produced at Copper World during the first (four) years will be in the form of concentrate and sold externally,” Hudbay states in a Sept. 9 Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) technical report required by Canadian securities regulations.

However, what Hudbay is now telling regulators and investors about its production plans is not what it is telling the public through its website, where the company continues to state that Copper World will be dedicated to producing finished copper for U.S. markets.

“The Copper World Complex has been designed to meet the growing copper demand in the U.S. through the onsite production of “Made in America” copper cathode, which is expected to be sold entirely to domestic U.S. customers,” Hudbay’s website states.

Source: Hudbay Pre-Feasibility Study for Copper World Mining Complex
Posted in Copper World, Hudbay, Sulfide Leaching | 2 Comments

Hudbay wavers in its commitment that Rosemont/Copper World will produce copper for U.S. markets

Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. is quietly backing away from its public relations claim that the proposed Rosemont/Copper World mining complex in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson will provide copper for U.S. domestic markets and reduce energy consumption associated with exporting copper overseas.

Hudbay President and CEO
Peter Kukielski

Last summer, the company began touting its commitment that Rosemont/Copper World will produce copper for the U.S. renewable energy economy when it released a technical report stating it would use an expensive “sulfide leaching” technology to produce finished copper extracted from sulfide ore on-site.

Posted in Copper World, General, Hudbay, Investors, Sulfide Leaching | 3 Comments

Canadian company planning Copper World/Rosemont mine complex is seeking buyer or merger partners

According to press reports, the Canadian miner seeking permits to build the proposed Copper World/Rosemont mine complex in the northern half of the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson has put itself up for sale.

In a July 7 interview with Reuters, Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. Chief Executive Officer Peter Kukielski said the company is willing to receive offers. Kukielski also said the company was open to merging with other miners to create one mega copper company.

“I would certainly like to put them together,” he told Reuters.

In a potentially significant development in the timeline to develop the Copper World/Rosemont complex, the Reuters article also states that Hudbay’s “aim is to triple its copper production by the end of the decade, which it is planning to achieve through mergers or acquisitions and not by organic growth.” (Emphasis added.)

Posted in Copper World, Economics, Hudbay, Investors, Mining Law | 3 Comments

USGS rejects request by six U.S. senators to add copper to Critical Minerals List

The U.S. Geological Survey has reaffirmed its 2022 decision to exclude copper from the nation’s Critical Minerals List (CML) after a bi-partisan group of U.S. senators urged the agency in February to reconsider its determination prior to the next triennial review of critical minerals.

“While copper is clearly an essential mineral commodity, its supply chain vulnerabilities are mitigated by domestic capacity, trade with reliable partners, and significant secondary capacity,” USGS Director David Applegate stated in an April 13 letter to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-AZ. “As a result, the USGS does not believe that the available information on copper supply and demand justifies an out-of-cycle addition to the list at this time.”

Sinema, along with Mark Kelly, D-AZ, Joe Manchin, D-WV, Mike Braun, R-IN, Raphael Warnock, D-GA and Mitt Romney, R-UT used data provided by an industry trade association as justification for their Feb. 2 letter to Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland requesting that she require the USGS to conduct the review with the goal of adding copper to the CML.

Due to copper’s major role in economic development, national security, and infrastructure, we strongly reiterate our recommendation that you direct the USGS to reopen its’ review of copper for inclusion in the USGS list of ‘critical minerals’ and reconsider the listing using the latest quantitative data and qualitative information,” the senators’ letter states.

Posted in Trade, Uncategorized | 5 Comments