CopperCorp Resources (CPER) - High-Grade Copper in Tasmania

CopperCorp Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on the advancement of its projects located in the northwest corner of Tasmania. Tasmania is an island state of Australia that is powered 100% by renewable energy and has over 150 years of mining history. The exports of Tasmania are predominantly mining-related, with more than 60% of the state’s exports being from mining. The western part of Tasmania also hosts approximately 10 past and operating mines, including world-class mines such as the Henty Gold Mine owned by Catalyst Metals Limited. The AMC project of the company, formerly known as the Alpine project is an iron oxide copper and gold (IOCG) type deposit, with a 1,066 km² land position. The Skyline project of the company covers approximately 97 km² of land and has in the past shown mineralisation of up to 3.2% copper and 47.7 g/t of gold. 

CopperCorp Resources Inc. has completed 6,000 m of its projected 10,000 m drilling program at its projects in 2022. CopperCorp Resources Inc. conducted approximately CAD$ 3 million of exploration drilling at its projects in 2022.  The company plans to review the drilling conducted at the AMC project as well as conduct exploration drilling at the Dora prospect of its Skyline project.

The company has a cash position of approximately CAD$ 7 million, furnishing it with at least two years of exploration drilling at its projects. CopperCorp Resources Inc. may raise additional funds in the coming year, which will enable it to accelerate its exploration initiatives in 2023.

Being a junior mining company

Stephen Swatton the CEO of CopperCorp Resources Inc. explains that being a junior mining company does not come without its fair share of challenges. Swatton, who previously led various large technical and corporate teams for BHP and Rio Tinto, explains that the junior mining industry is reverting to what it was years ago, with major mining companies entering the exploration space. He also notes, that even though the support of a major mining company may have its advantages for a junior mining company, should the time to monetise the asset come, a major company may put a stop to it.

“Look, I find it ironic that we're going back to what we used to do 15, 20 years ago and they're trying to like, entice the juniors to somehow slide it up to them. I'm a little bit more wary of all of that type of approach but I do think that if you have the endorsement of a major, it does help but you got to be careful that you don't give away the baby with the bathwater on these things. I mean, on one hand, you need them but you don't need them too much in the early days in order to raise money as it becomes a little bit difficult to ask when you're going out there when you know that probably if they have a right of first refusal on you, you know, another major is not going to be interested.”

Traditional sources of funding for junior mining companies have also been more reluctant than in previous years. Swatton explains that an entrant in the mining environment is the German investor community.

“I mean, we've hardly met one fund once we've been here. You know, hardly any of the banks have been, I don't see BMO or any of these people coming to talk to us. It is a small office fund. We had the best reception in Frankfurt. From people, we had no idea but they were extremely knowledgeable about the market and obviously in Germany.”

Swatton explains that the junior mining space is seeing the entrance of major mining companies, something not seen in years. The cyclical nature of the mining environment is illustrated through this, with Swatton stating that 15 years ago major mining companies were decreasing their exploration teams, to now only increase them again.

“I would say that traditional sources have moved and the majors, we've spoken to by BHP tech, Rio, have come and I have approached them. They actually came back and said, "Yes, we're quite interested in what we're looking at." And I'd imagine that like, in the old days, when I was there, you start offering them some equity and that is another source of financing which I don't think I've seen in the last five or 10 years, that type of approach. And yeah, BHP is actually building up their exploration team again. I mean, my job was to actually reduce the size of it and here we are 15 years later and they're building it up again. It's funny how things are.”

CopperCorp Resources Inc. has through the evolving junior mining sphere continued to advance its Tasmanian projects.

Mining in Tasmania and company projects

Tasmania is an island state of Australia and is located 240 km south of the Australian mainland. The state is the 26^th largest island in the world and boasts more than 150 years of mining history hosting a multi-commodity mining industry including gold, silver, copper, tin and magnesium. Swatton explains that Tasmania hosts seven to eight mines in the company’s vicinity alone.

“There are eight operating mines in Tasmania. This northwestern part of Tasmania which is about 50 square kilometres has eight operating mines. There are gold mines, there’s the Renison Tin Mine, there’s the Rosebery multi-commodity mine. They've got six or seven mines. One of the new ones that just came into production is the Avery nickel mine. So, yeah. We're right next to this Avery nickel mine. So, everybody's either indirectly or directly related to the mining industry in this small part of northwest Tasmania.”

Swatton explains that the advantages of operating in Tasmania include access to renewable energy and a trained labour force which vastly outweighs the fact that it is an unknown mining region.

“You've got 100% renewable power. You've got a government which is supportive. You've got a local workforce that is highly trained. We're also close to the port. So, we've got quite a few things going for us. Yes, it's over there somewhere that nobody's ever heard of and I'm surprised they haven't because there are some large mines.”

The asset portfolio of CopperCorp Resources Inc. consists of the AMC project, previously known as the Alpine project and the company’s Skyline project. The AMC project hosts the Alpine prospect, a zone which has in the past shown copper mineralisation of up to 1.14% Copper over 23.0 m. The AMC project holds a land position of 1,066 km² along 100 km of strike length. The mineralisation of the AMC project shows the potential of iron-oxide, copper and gold (IOCG) mineralisation with Swatton likening the project to the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.

“Each IOCG is different from the next one and ours, at the moment, is relatively limited gold but if there's cobalt, and they're all different and so, you only kind of understand it when you've probably drilled about 100,000 metres and as I say, we're only 6000 metres into it. It actually had 4000 metres before. The best intersection before was 21 metres, 1%, and just for reference, that's not dissimilar to what the first holes were at Olympic Dam and actually discovered the ore body 22 kilometres away.”

The Skyline project of the company is located 10 km northeast of the local mining town of Queenstown and within 10 km of operating hydroelectric renewable energy projects. The project holds a 334 km² land position and hosts the Dora prospect. The Skyline project consists of two exploration licences of prospective ground along the eastern margin of the highly mineralized Cambrian calc-alkaline volcanic arc of the Mount Read Volcanics belt. The project has in the past shown both IOCG mineralisation as well as Alkalic Porphyry copper-gold mineralisation.

Exploration drilling

CopperCorp Resources Inc. has completed 6,000 m of its projected 10,000 m drilling program at its AMC project in 2022, with the drilling having been funded by the company’s cash position. CopperCorp Resources Inc. conducted approximately CAD$ 3 million of exploration drilling at its projects in 2022.  The company plans to review the drilling conducted at the AMC project as well as conduct exploration drilling at the Dora prospect of its Skyline project. Swatton explains the company will stop the drilling at the prospect in order to determine the best strategy going forward.

“What we're gonna do is we're going to terminate the drilling at Alpine and review what we've got in the way we're going to be drilling next because of the type of mineralization and such that we have about 10 kilometres of strike or similar types of rocks.”

The company on the 7^th of December 2022, released assay results from its exploration drilling initiative at the Alpine Stellar zone of the AMC project of the company. The highlights of the exploration drilling initiatives include the company intercepting 0.50% copper over a mineral intercept of 92 m, with the mineralisation including 1.14% copper over 23 m. The exploration initiatives of the company have been able to show the continuation of copper mineralisation at the AMC project at depth. Swatton explains that the company will move its focus to the Dora prospect of the Skyline project in the future. The Dora prospect has in previous trenching and sampling programs shown mineralisation of up to 2% copper, with the prospect hosting gold, copper and various other base metals.

“The Dora prospect has never been drilled before. This is absolutely phenomenal because it was discovered in the 1930s and it's quite totally different. We're not quite sure what it is. It was once a unit called the Mount Read volcanics and that is also the host of the Rosebery Mine. So, within this, we've taken some rock samples from previous trenches, trenching work that was done in the 1930s and we have results from rock samples which is 20 grams gold, 2% copper, and multi-per cent base metals.”

Cash position and future

The company has a cash position of approximately CAD$ 7 million, furnishing it with at least two years of exploration drilling at its projects. The long timespan in which CopperCorp Resources Inc. can operate and conduct its exploration initiatives is accredited to the company’s lean management team according to Swatton.

“We got enough padding here but also, we're also cognizant that look, if the market is shifting in a direction, we've got enough people on the board here with enough experience that we can kind of like get the rudder and move it in a different direction but for now, we're focused on this part of Tasmania, our geologist, the Tasmanian, everything that we do. We have two or three people operating in Vancouver. I'm one of them and we have four or five geologists standing. It's a very lean and mean group. We don't have many overheads.”

CopperCorp Resources Inc. may raise additional funds in the coming year, which will enable it to accelerate its exploration initiatives in 2023.

To find out more, go to the CopperCorp website