New drilling at Faraday Copper’s (TSX: FDY) Copper Creek, one of America’s largest undeveloped projects for the red metal, has identified broad zones of near-surface mineralization that could support future open-pit resource growth.
Hole FCD-26-169 in the American Eagle near-surface area cut 67 metres of 0.3% copper from 30 metres downhole, Faraday said Wednesday in a statement. Hole FCD-26-171, meanwhile, cut 71 metres of 0.41% copper from 80 metres depth, including 35 metres of 0.58% copper from 85.4 metres.
Faraday’s ongoing 40,000-metre drill program at Copper Creek, about 70 km north of Tucson, focuses on American Eagle, oxide resource growth and new discoveries. American Eagle, which covers about 800 metres by 1,000 metres, is host to numerous prospective breccias and porphyries that are located above the large underground porphyry mineral resource.
Open-pit growth
Exploration results “continue to support growth in the open-pit resource through additional near-surface mineralization at American Eagle as well as the identification of a previously undrilled copper oxide zone east of Copper Giant,” National Bank Financial mining analyst Andrew Dusome said Wednesday in a note.
This year’s drilling program should “significantly” increase the resource base, he added.
Faraday shares fell 3.6% to C$5.38 Wednesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at about C$1.6 billion ($1.1 million), after the explorer said drilling at Copper Creek would be halted until the fall. The stock, which has traded between C$0.79 and C$6.69 in the past year, is still up about 87% since Jan. 1.
Exploration stocks often experience short-term dips when catalysts such as drilling campaigns are suspended.
Near-surface copper
Wednesday’s release covers results from 18 holes at the site along Highway 77. Four of the five holes drilled in the American Eagle area intersected significant copper mineralization within 40 metres from surface, Faraday said.
Other highlights include hole FCD-26-173, which cut 73 metres of 0.31% copper starting at surface, including 37 metres of 0.45% copper from 20 metres depth. That hole, drilled east of the Copper Giant deposit, identified previously undrilled copper oxide mineralization.
Faraday in February agreed to buy the adjacent San Manuel property from Australian mining giant BHP (ASX, NYSE, LSE: BHP) in exchange for 30% equity ownership in the Vancouver-based company.
Exploration pause
Drilling at Copper Creek was paused four days ago after the company succeeded in defining the open-pit resource, the main objective of its drill program. Faraday said Wednesday it expects to resume drilling in the fall, after the expected close of the San Manuel acquisition.
Faraday will probably release an updated combined resource for San Manuel and Copper Creek in mid-2027, Dusome said. Exploration results continue to support a possible doubling of the open-pit resource at Copper Creek, he added.
Adding San Manuel could turn Faraday into “a district-scale copper producer with accelerated timelines to first production and flexible production sequencing to initially prioritize fully domestic copper cathode production,” Dusome said.
Copper Creek holds 421.9 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.45% copper, 0.008% molybdenum and 1.1 grams silver per tonne for contained metal of 4.2 billion lb. copper, 74.6 million lb. molybdenum and 15.5. million oz. silver, according to a February 2023 resource. The property, which covers about 78 sq. km, includes a 3-km-long resource area.
