Canadian Copper (CSE: CCI) has taken a major step in the development of its Murray Brook copper-zinc-lead-silver deposit in New Brunswick. The company has entered into a term sheet for the exclusive right to acquire the nearby Caribou processing plant complex.
The complex, which operated as recently as August 2022, consists of a 3,000 tonne per day milling facility with multiple circuits, as well as metallurgical and geochemical labs, a tailings management facility, and related infrastructure. The complex also notably contains an underground mine with historical proven and probable reserves of 4.5 million tonnes.
Canadian Copper has agreed to a purchase price of $6.2 million for the complex, which includes a $0.2 million deposit for the purchase. The complex is to be acquired from the New Brunswick government, whom has managed care and maintenance for the site since January 2023, after the operation shut down in August of 2022.
“The proposed transaction creates important synergies for Canadian Copper. By integrating our large Murray Brook deposit with an already permitted and constructed Caribou Complex that operated as recently as August 2022, we aim to significantly reduce the schedule, capital cost, and permitting time required to produce copper, zinc, and lead concentrate from Murray Brook. The combination of a large open pit polymetallic Mineral Resource with a nearby processing plant represents a material acceleration and derisking effort to create a new leader in critical metals production in Eastern Canada,” commented Canadian Copper CEO Simon Quick.
As part of the go-forward strategy, Canadian Copper intends to complete a preliminary economic assessment on the combined operation, which would include the Murray Brook deposit as well as the Caribou Complex. That PEA is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2025, with an audit of the Complex already having been completed in early October.
The company meanwhile has indicated that it is currently exploring potential avenues of funding, with options including offtake financing, royalty and precious metal streams, and funding from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank among other options.
Canadian Copper last traded at $0.10 on the CSE.
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