Selkirk Copper Options Vest After Minto's 2027 & 2028 Restart Targets

• Selkirk Copper reported on September 24, 2026, that it had granted 2,242,500 stock options to directors, officers and employees, exercisable at $1.34 per share for 10 years.
• The options vest in 4 equal tranches of 25%, the first at grant and the remaining 3 on the first 3 anniversaries, in September 2027, 2028, and 2029.
• The second and third tranches align with the company's mid-2027 feasibility study (FS) target and mid-2028 production target for the former Minto copper-gold-silver mine in the Yukon.
• Water is the first restart test: a roughly 5-month dewatering program, pending government authorization, is targeted to start before the end of 2026.
• The restart draws on over $330 million in prior above-ground investment and a 4,100-tonne-per-day processing plant, with the Selkirk First Nation indirectly holding a controlling equity stake.

Option Tranches Follow Minto's Feasibility & Production Targets

Selkirk Copper Mines Inc. (TSXV: SCMI | FRA: IO20 | OTCQX: SKRKF) has granted 2,242,500 stock options to its directors, officers and employees. The second and third vesting dates fall after the feasibility and production targets in its plan to restart the former Minto copper-gold-silver mine in the Yukon. The company is targeting completion of a feasibility study (FS) in mid-2027 and first production in mid-2028. The second and third option tranches vest in September 2027 and September 2028.

Vesting is time-based, not tied to project milestones. It still gives shareholders a fixed calendar for a team that has drilled 107,000 meters at Minto in 12 months and delivered a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) outlining a 13-year mine life.

Grant Terms & Vesting Schedule

The options are exercisable at $1.34 per common share for 10 years from the grant date, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Of the total, 25% vests on the date of grant, and a further 25% vests on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of that date.

Those anniversaries fall in September 2027, September 2028 and September 2029. The third and fourth tranches both vest after the targeted mid-2028 production start.

Water Is the First Execution Gate

Selkirk must dewater Minto's flooded underground workings before rehabilitation can begin, and the PEA mine plan starts underground. The company has presented a fully costed dewatering program to the government, with much of the pump and pipe pre-work in place. Government authorization to start is the gating item.

The program takes about 5 months once started. Selkirk is targeting a start before the end of 2026, with crews in the underground by spring 2027. Full-time water management responsibility begins in March 2027, and care and maintenance, dewatering, rehabilitation and power work make up roughly $20 million of budgeted pre-feasibility spending.

Chief Executive Officer and President of Selkirk Copper, Colin Joudrie, identified water management as the area where the site's past record needs correcting:

"I'm of the view that this site has not managed it well in the past. So a big part of our plans going forward are to put in the right sort of capital, the right sort of systems, and the right sort of measurement protocols that manage this water better."

Feasibility Study Precedes the Second Tranche

Selkirk has bid the FS and is targeting completion in mid-2027, ahead of the September 2027 tranche. At that point, the company intends to be ready for an investment decision with an execution plan in hand. Phase 2 drilling of about 55,000 meters is complete, 2 months ahead of schedule, with assays received for about 5,000 to 7,000 meters. The results will feed an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) targeted for the first quarter of 2027, aimed at moving material from indicated to measured. They will also feed revised FS mine plans.

Vice President of Engineering Scott Fulton, one of the leaders who brought the New Afton mine into production, is applying the Early Contractor Involvement approach. Under this approach, contractors performing the site work contribute to the FS bid documents. A contractor crew tested on removing redundant heavy equipment at Minto fell 1 week behind and caught up. 

Joudrie contrasted the approach with conventional study practice:

"They'll do the FS, they'll get support for the investment decision, and then they'll do an execution plan or operations readiness plan. We're doing the execution plan as part of the feasibility study."

Production Is Targeted Ahead of the Third Tranche

Under the PEA, Selkirk would mine underground first, then the open pit, over a 13-year life, the longest single mine life in Minto's history. Capital costs are about C$186 million, below the roughly C$225 million the company had guided. The mine plan covers 18.4 million tons, with about 80% in the indicated category, and targets a 38% copper concentrate grade.

Production is targeted for mid-2028, ahead of the third tranche in September 2028. Joudrie describes the approach as an earn-as-you-build model. The company is targeting growth in both the resource and the mine plan, but a plan that holds at 18.4 million tons would still provide 13 years of cash flow to fund further development.

The Restart Base Behind the Final Tranche

The last 25% vests in September 2029, more than 1 year into the targeted production period. The restart builds on a 4,100-tonne-per-day processing plant, a 400-person camp, water treatment facilities, and over $330 million in above-ground investment by prior operators. The company also holds 26,850 hectares of claims in the Minto-Carmacks copper belt.

The Selkirk First Nation is a self-governing First Nation centered in Pelly Crossing, 280 kilometers north of Whitehorse. It indirectly holds a controlling equity stake in the company, and Selkirk's tenure and infrastructure lie on or adjacent to its lands. 

Joudrie ranks the partnership alongside water as the 2 areas the restart has to get right, and described it as ongoing work for both sides:

"This is a continual investment by both parties, both cultures, both backgrounds, both people, to learn to work together and to learn to trust."

Across the vesting period, which ends on the third anniversary of the grant, shareholders can track 4 milestones in order: dewatering authorization, the first-quarter 2027 resource update, FS completion in mid-2027, and the production start targeted for mid-2028.

FAQs (AI-Generated)