New resource bolsters Arizona Sonoran’s Cactus copper project

Arizona Sonoran Copper (TSX: ASCU) has nearly tripled its measured and indicated resource at the Cactus porphyry project on the site of the past-producing Sacaton mine south of Phoenix.

Cactus has 446 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.58% copper for 5.2 billion lb. of the metal, according to an updated resource released on Monday. That compares with 151.8 million measured and indicated tonnes at 0.53% copper in a 2021 preliminary economic assessment.

The upgrade for the combined Cactus, Stockpile and Parks/Salyer deposits is to form the basis for a pre-feasibility study now due early next year, the company said. The study had previously been slated for late this year. It may consider production of as much as 50,000 tonnes a year of copper cathode. See a 3-D Vrify map of the project.

“Our team has completed yet another key milestone in the process of reactivating the Cactus mine,” CEO and president George Ogilvie said in the release. “Driven through textbook infill drilling programs at Parks/Salyer and Cactus, our team readies an already significant copper asset in Arizona for the next step in technical reporting.”

Miners are increasingly probing historical sites to take advantage of improved recovery technology and increased metals demand even as the price of copper was US$3.61 a lb. on Monday. It’s fallen below a threshold of $4 per lb. in April that most developers would like to see.