Nunavut grants White Cliff exploration permit for copper project

Australia’s White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) said on Monday that the Nunavut Planning Commission had approved the company’s exploration plans for its Coppermine River project in the largest and northernmost territory of Canada.

The regulator’s decision marks a major step in the permitting process for the copper mine, as it allows the company to appoint contractors for 2024 and complete the logistical planning phase, it said. 

The approved plan is the result of a 10-year consultation that was completed in September last year, White Cliff said.

White Cliff will take up where state, public and private-sponsored historical exploration activity previously identified dozens of outcropping occurrences of copper and silver mineralization, as well as non-Joint Ore Reserve Committee-compliant mineral estimates along more than a 100-km-long structural trend.

Once White Cliff finalizes its exploration campaigns for Coppermine, the programs are expected to run in close collaboration with planned work at its recently-acquired Radium Point uranium project in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The project adds a massive 3,300-sq.-km to its Canadian holdings in an area that takes in several historical mining operations.

The Australian company will initially base its logistical hub in Kugluktuk, a town of about 1,500 people located to the north-east of the Coppermine project area, which is accessible by both plane and ship.

White Cliff shares were up 6.6% to 1¢ apiece on Monday, valuing the company at A$15.5 million ($13.7 million).