RE: Article on CUU from Global Commodities ReportGreat post peachgrinder.
Available at
https://theglobalcommoditiesreport.com/uncategorized/copper-fox-looks-golden-copper-fox-metals-inc/
Published May 1st, 2011
A TSX Venture 50 Feature
Copper Fox Metals: Copper Fox Looks Golden
If selling out a $3.75 million stock issue in two hours is any indication, there’s no shortage of anticipation about the expanding potential at Copper Fox Metals.
“Normally, it doesn’t happen that quickly,” says Elmer Stewart, Chair, President and CEO of Copper Fox Metals Inc., of their latest sold-out stock placement in March. (They also raised $4 million in 2010.) “After we announced that, the stock price increased substantially as well – it was quite a surprise to us.”
The anticipation is over Copper Fox’ Schaft Creek mineral property in northwest British Columbia, in what’s being referred to as the Gold/Copper Belt. Schaft Creek is one of the largest undeveloped copper, gold, molybdenum and silver deposits in Canada. A 2007 resource estimate indicated as much as:
7.7 billion pounds of copper
8.1 million ounces of gold
584 million pounds of molybdenum
69.4 million ounces of silver.
That’s now looking to be on the low side.
The company (and apparently a large contingent in the investment community) is anticipating a new resource estimate that was due for the end of December, 2010. “But then while test drilling in 2010, we intersected higher grade mineralization further down in our Paramount zone,” says Stewart. “And when we could visibly see what was coming up in the core samples, I said, ‘
Woah… Okay guys, there’s something here and we need to understand this.’ So we kept drilling right up to December 15
th.”
The Deeper You Go, the Richer It Gets
Finding a richer deposit under the massive one you already have has got to be good news, though. “It is,” Stewart agrees. “As a result of what we saw, along with some geophysics we shot, one of the targets for this year is to go past 500 metres in depth and test the area between 500 and 800 metres. We’re using Quantec Geoscience’s
Titan 24 Deep Earth Imaging System, which allows us to look deeper into the structure. It’s an excellent deep geophysical exploration tool that I’ve used in both Canada and Nevada.
“The geophysics we did last year helped us understand more about the geology and the structure in general terms – it now appears the Paramount zone goes down to at least 800 metres beneath the surface. So for 2011, we’ll be drilling past 500 metres where we started to see that higher grade mineralization.”
And Further Out
In addition to going deeper, Copper Fox is also reaching horizontally by acquiring two more tracts of land, known as the Pembrook and Greig/Kreft claims. They extend another 8 km off the north side of the 21,000-hectare Schaft Creek property. “Through the 2010 drilling program, we learned that the Schaft Creek deposit ran up to the northern edge of the property. We also knew there are clearly two copper mineralization zones exposed at the surface to the north of our property,” Stewart says. “The characteristics looked to be the same as Schaft Creek, and porphyry formations rarely occur as single entities.
“One of them appears to be 1,100 m. long by 300 m. wide; and another one further up is 1,700 m. by 200 m. on average. Of course we have to prove them up, but I think one or both of those two zones could be another porphyry copper, gold and silver deposit. And personally, I suspect they’ll prove to be extensions of our Schaft Creek deposit.
“So my goal in securing those properties was to lock up those two areas and make them primary targets for this year’s exploration. They’ll be our focus because I want to get on them and test them to see what they are with ground geophysics and possibly one or two deep diamond drill holes.”
These land acquisitions are above and beyond the anticipated resource study, though. “We want to get that feasibility study through. We’re treating the Pembrook and Grieg/Kreft parcels as our upside exploration potential.”
Market Prominence
But even with such a significant resource, getting the company to this point hasn’t exactly been a straight shot. Getting it back on its feet and healthy was why Stewart was hired as President and CEO in 2009.
Schaft Creek has been through some of the familiar vagaries of the mining industry. It was staked back in 1957, changed hands a few times between a number of junior and major companies, went private, re-emerged as a public company, got caught out by the 2008 meltdown, and was saved from bankruptcy by an entrepreneurial investor keen on copper and gold – Ernesto Echavarria, a Director now owning 54% of the company.
Thankfully, the turbulence seems to be behind them. This year, Copper Fox was included as one of the 10 mining stocks in this year’s TSX-Venture 50 list of top performing companies. Stewart demurs, “We’re pleased to be chosen – it’s a recognition and a lot of people pay attention to it, though we didn’t have it in mind when we were putting the company back together and advancing the project toward the completion of the feasibility study.”
A Veteran at the Helm
A 35-year veteran of the mining industry, Stewart started in lead-zinc exploration in Cobalt, Ontario, and drilled the Haminga Lake copper-zinc massive sulfide deposit north of Churchill, Manitoba. “I got into geology just because I liked my first course at Mount Allison University [Nova Scotia] and kept taking more and more courses. Pretty soon I had a major in geology.
“But years later, a good friend told me I had to decide whether I wanted to live the rest of my life in tents or go back to school for a Master’s degree. So after 13 weeks in a tent, north of Churchill, in winter, I decided to go back to school.”
After several stretches with major Canadian and international companies operating in the Athabasca Basin, Kazakhstan and Chile, he started working exclusively with juniors. Though one might question whether Copper Fox could still be called a junior. “Well, the market cap suggests that we’re not a junior anymore, they’re normally in the $30-100 million range and we’re around $657 million.
“But we still run pretty lean here. We’re not a large company in terms of staff – we have 2 employees, and I’m not one of them) the others are all contracted. We have over 50 people, all told, working on the site and on the resource study.
The company has been evaluating the feasibility of developing an open pit mine with a minimum milling capacity of 65,000 tonnes of ore per day with a mine life of 35 years – perhaps 100,000 tonnes when a major power line (in the approval stages) is tied in.
“There was an issue with power,” says Stewart, “but with the provincial decision to proceed with the northern transmission line, now in the approval process now at the federal level, hopefully that’ll get underway this summer. That power line is fundamental to projects like Schaft Creek and others in northern British Columbia. Not to mention a number of villages who are looking forward to getting electricity.”
Tahltan First Nations
Copper Fox has put considerable energy into their relationship with the local indigenous peoples, engaging them to help with environmental assessment baseline studies, employing and training them so they’ll have marketable skills during the life of the project and elsewhere. “We’re great believers in the fact that this is their territory, their lands and title, and this is the least we can do to help them gain professional skills that can sustain them through the rest of their lives,” says Stewart. “I’ve taken that position in every country I’ve worked in and it’s always worked very well. If you engage people, demonstrate a benefit to the community, whether economics or skills training, it’s also easier for them to buy into getting the project into production.”
To that end, the company has sponsored a language camp, science camp, mining forum, bursary program and $75,000 university scholarship program, and facilitated the Tahltan Heritage Resources Environmental Assessment Team.
Environmental data has been gathered since 2005. “The key things there is that there’s no fish in the immediate vicinity of the mine site, only 5% of the rock is potentially acid-generating (which is quite low and very easy to handle during production), we won’t need a discharge into the environment and what little make-up water we need will probably be from drilled wells.”
Safety is also a priority at Copper Fox. “We’re working on our ISO 18001, ISO 14001 and plan to complete them this year. We’re seriously considering going for ISO 9001, which would give us our international QA/QC qualification.
“Those certifications are good for any company, including at the exploration stage. And we’re serious about safety – we’re out where you have to fly in and out by helicopter or plane so it’s fundamental. You can’t even step off the site without a two-way radio, air horns, flares and bells [for warding off bears].”
So with all these pieces in place, and a resource table expected in late April, pit design optimizations will lead to a complete mine feasibility study, which Stewart hopes to see this summer. “At that point, Teck Cominco will elect to earn a 20%, 40% or 75% interest, or walk away with a some shares and a 1% royalty,” explains Stewart. “That decision should come quickly. We’ve kept a transparent flow of information with Teck, the provincial and federal agencies and the Tahltan First Nations so everyone can decide quickly because they all helped us get it there.”
Copper Fox Metals Inc.
650, 340 – 12th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta
T2R 1L5
403-264-2820
www.copperfoxmetals.com
Stock symbol: TSX-V: CUU