US Spotlight: A Wild West rush for minerals 

Historic mining regions, including the American West and Alaska, are seeing another gold rush amid the Trump administration’s executive orders to “Make America Great Again” by scaling up domestic critical mineral production. Here are four companies digging into precious and critical minerals in the U.S. as part of our regular Spotlight feature. Another four companies will appear tomorrow. 

Minera Alamos 

Gold developer Minera Alamos (TSXV: MAI), agreed in August to buy the producing Pan Gold mine in east central Nevada, as well as the fully-permitted Gold Rock and Illipah project from Equinox Gold (TSX, NYSE-A: EQX) in August. The company raised $98 million (C$135 million) in September to pay for the acquisitions. 

Located about 500 km north of Las Vegas near Eureka, Pan Gold is an open-pit heap leach gold operation producing about 40,000 oz. gold per year since 2017.  

Pan hosts 37.2 million measured and indicated tons grading 0.33 gram gold per ton for 358,900 contained oz., according to the most recent resource issued in 2022 when Calibre Mining owned the project.  

To date, the mine has produced 335,000 oz. of gold. Minera Alamos pegs a net present value (NPV) of $117 million for Pan. It assumes a base case gold price of $1,650 per ounce. 

The nearby open-pit Gold Rock development-stage project hosts 21 million tons grading 0.66 gram gold for 403,000 ounces. Inferred resources total 3.3 million tons at 0.87 gram gold for 84,300 ounces. The project has an estimated annual output of 55,800 ounces. With a 6.5-year mine life, Gold Rock is expected to start operating between 2028 and 2029.  

The company’s latest estimate pins Gold Rock’s NPV at $32.7 million (at a 5% discount), with initial capital costs at $64 million. An after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) is pegged at 18% with a payback period of 3.5 years, according to the 2021 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) when Fiore Gold (TSXV: F; US-OTC FIOGF) owned the project before Calibre’s acquisition.  

In February, the Toronto-based company also acquired Sabre Gold Mine’s (TSX: SGLD; US-OTC: SGLDF) pre-feasibility stage Copperstone underground gold project in Arizona. Cashflow from Pan is expected to build up Copperstone and the Mexican Cerro de Oro project in Zacatecas State, which is awaiting permits. 

Minera Alamos has a market capitalization of about C$476 million. 

Phoenix Copper 

Phoenix Copper (LSE: PXC; US-OTC: PXCLY) is inching closer to reviving a high-grade underground mining site at its main Empire Copper project in Idaho’s Shoshone County, historically one of the region’s most important mines.  

Part of a swath of properties in the White Knob Mountains, the open-pit Empire is being prepped for production next year.  

Over an eight-year mine life, Phoenix anticipates Empire producing 40,424 tonnes of copper, 40,161 oz. of gold and 1.76 million oz. of silver, according to a pre-feasibility study released last year.   

Empire hosts proven and probable reserves of about 10 million tonnes grading 0.49% copper, 0.32 gram gold per tonne and 14.32 grams silver for around 109.5 million lb. of copper, 104,000 oz. gold and 4.65 million oz. silver.  

Additional copper, gold and silver could be recovered from a sulphide vein beneath the pit that was mined until the 1940s and which wasn’t included in the proven and probable reserves. 

Empire has an estimated post-tax NPV (at a 7.5% discount) of $73.75 million and an IRR of 40%. Net capital costs are pegged at $62.6 million, with a post-tax payback period of 1.7 years. 

In Idaho the company also holds its exploration-stage Navarre Creek gold project, Red Star silver-lead-zinc site and Horseshoe copper-cobalt project. 

Phoenix Copper has a market capitalization of C$12.6 million. 

Silver47 Exploration 

A merger between Silver47 Exploration (TSXV: AGA; US-OTC: AAGAF) and Summa Silver in August consolidated key silver-gold exploration projects in Nevada and New Mexico. 

The company owned its main Red Mountain project in Alaska before the Summa merger. Red Mountain, located south of Fairbanks, hosts 15.6 million inferred tonnes grading 4.1% zinc, 1.7% lead and 99 grams silver for 678,000 tonnes zinc, 286,000 tonnes lead and 52.5 million oz. silver.  

Red Mountain could potentially be fast-tracked for permitting due to it hosting other critical metals such as tin, antimony and gallium, Silver47 said. The company expects to release an updated resource for the Alaska project in next year’s first quarter. 

While Red Mountain hosts a larger contained resource, Silver47’s Hughes site, located on the Walker Lane Trend in Nevada’s historic Tonopah mining district, has a more defined profile. Hughes holds 908,000 indicated tonnes grading 188 grams silver for 5.94 million contained oz. silver; and 1.59 grams gold for 50,000 oz. contained gold, according to an initial resource from Summa in January. Hughes also sits on a silver-gold vein once known for the prolific Belmont mine. 

Southeast of Hughes, in New Mexico, Silver47’s Mogollon project holds 2.72 million inferred tonnes at 139 grams silver for 12.1 million oz. of silver; and 2.72 grams gold for 240,000 oz. contained gold.  

Silver47’s current resource estimates are based on about 40 km of drilling across these two projects. 

Silver47 has a market capitalization of about C$154 million. 

US Copper 

In April, US Copper (TSXV: USCU; US-OTC: USCUF) welcomed emergency measures from the White House on critical mineral development which the company sees as potentially accelerating permits for its Moonlight-Superior project in northern California.  

The copper-silver-gold project, situated in a historic mining district near Greenville, Calif., could support a 14-year mine, according to an updated PEA, released last December. It estimates Moonlight-Superior’s total production at 1.8 billion lb. of copper, 13.2 million oz. of silver and 78,660 oz. of gold. 

The study forecasts a post-tax NPV of $1.07 billion and an IRR of about 23%. All-in sustaining costs (AISCs) are estimated at $2.51 per lb. copper produced, assuming a copper price of $4.15 per pound. Net capital costs are pegged at $956 million.  

Moonlight-Superior hosts 402 million indicated tonnes grading 0.31% copper for 2.5 billion lb. copper, 1.64 grams silver for 21 million oz. silver and 0.01 gram gold for 140,000 oz. gold, according to the PEA. 

Inferred resources total 64 million tonnes grading 0.31% copper for 394 million lb. copper and 1.5 grams silver for 3.1 million contained ounces. 

Facing opposition to its claim of vested rights to exploit historic mines at Moonlight-Superior last year, US Copper in July released a study on the project’s economic benefits for Plumas County.  

In September, the company started metallurgical studies in preparation to advance to a prefeasibility for Moonlight-Superior at an unspecified date. 

US Copper has a market capitalization of C$11.9 million.