Copper's structural supply deficit is not a forecast — it's already here. New mines take a decade to build, which is exactly why past-producing, fully infrastructured assets like the Minto Mine in Yukon are commanding serious attention from investors who understand where the bottleneck actually sits.
Selkirk Copper Mines (TSXV: SCMI | OTCQB: SKRKF) holds the Minto copper-gold-silver mine, a past-producing high-grade asset in the Yukon Territory — one of Canada's most mining-friendly jurisdictions. The company isn't starting from scratch. The mill is built, the camp is there, and the open pit and underground workings already exist.
That 4,100 tpd mill alone represents capital that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to replicate today. For a junior advancing toward a restart decision, existing infrastructure is the single biggest de-risking factor — and Minto has it.
The resource base is substantial and growing. Minto currently hosts an Indicated resource of 12.6 million tonnes at 1.20% Cu, 0.46 g/t Au, and 4.27 g/t Ag, containing 334.2 million pounds of copper, 185,300 ounces of gold, and 1.73 million ounces of silver. That's a copper-gold-silver package — not just a copper story.
The Inferred resource adds another 23.7 million tonnes at 1.05% Cu, 0.39 g/t Au, and 3.90 g/t Ag — 547 million pounds of copper and 296,200 ounces of gold. Recent drilling delivered a 48% increase in contained copper in the Inferred category, and new mineralized zones have been identified within the broader Minto Copper Belt.
Phase 1 drilling returned high-grade mineralization across five separate target areas. That's not a single lucky intercept — that's a belt-scale system with multiple vectors of growth. Phase 2 is now underway, targeting 50,000 additional metres, which means the resource could look materially different by the time the feasibility study lands.
Selkirk Copper completed a C$40 million financing to fund acquisition costs, exploration drilling, trade-off and feasibility studies, and ongoing site care and maintenance. The company is not scrambling for capital — it has the runway to execute the technical program through to a restart decision.
The social license piece is equally important. Selkirk Copper has established an equity partnership with the Selkirk First Nation, embedding Indigenous ownership directly into the project structure. In today's permitting environment, that kind of foundational relationship is a competitive advantage, not a checkbox.
A feasibility study is targeted for delivery in H1/2027, underpinned by the ongoing trade-off studies and the expanding drill database. That timeline gives investors a clear, near-term catalyst to anchor the thesis — not an open-ended promise.
The next 12 to 18 months are dense with news flow. Phase 2 drill results from a 50,000-metre program, trade-off study outputs, and resource updates will each move the needle — and each one brings Minto closer to a well-capitalized restart plan.
Investors who wait for the feasibility study to arrive will be paying for certainty that early movers are being compensated to provide. The infrastructure is in place, the capital is deployed, the drill is turning, and the resource is growing. The question is whether you're in front of that news flow or behind it.
Download the investor package now to get the full technical picture on Minto, the resource details, the drill program scope, and the path to the 2027 feasibility decision.