(Arizona Sonoran, 15.Oct.2024) — Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc. announces that following a request for proposal, ASCU has appointed M3 Engineering, Tucson, to lead the Cactus Project Pre-Feasibility Study (the “PFS”) and to act as metallurgical program lead. The consultants will include AGP (mining), Clear Creek (hydrology), ALS Geotechnical (geology), and Partners in Performance (real-time modeling and optimization), all of whom have contributed to ASCU’s prior studies. The company anticipates the PFS to be completed in the second half of 2025.
Pre-Feasibility Study Workstreams
The Cactus Mine plan, and in particular the first five years of mining, was rescoped in the Aug. 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment (the “PEA”) by the incorporation of mineralized material from the MainSpring Property. The MainSpring title transfer took place in Mar. 2024. An initial drilling program on the MainSpring property was complete in Apr. 2024 and identified a significant inferred copper mineral resource as the near surface and southern extension of the Parks/Salyer deposit. The updated mineral resource ultimately rescoped Parks/Salyer as an open pit mine from an underground scenario, comprising the initial years of proposed production. The focus of the coming months will be upgrading the entirety of the Parks/Salyer deposit to the PFS level. Upcoming workstreams in preparation of the PFS, include:
- Exploration and infill drilling,
- Mine design and scheduling, and
- Technical studies and project support, including:
- Geotechnical and hydrological drilling, and
- Metallurgical test work.
Bernie Loyer, ASCU SVP Projects, commented, “Continuing to use M3 and supporting consultants was a logical choice due to their strong working knowledge of the Project, the close proximity of their engineering centers in Chandler, Tucson and Hermosillo and the long-term productive working relationship between our two project teams in the execution of multiple large projects across a wide range of jurisdictions including Arizona, Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina. M3 Engineering’s focus and performance on the recently completed PEA is testimony to the efficiency of that working relationship, setting an optimum stage for the next level of study. Additionally, we continue to develop the base case scenario while working closely with our partners at Nuton Technologies to develop an integrated Pre-Feasibility Study.”
Opportunities
Having already led the PEA for the Cactus Project in 2024, M3 and the Consultants have a strong working knowledge of the Project’s characteristics and opportunities. Trade-off studies for continued optimization of the current scope, include:
- In-pit and near-pit crushing and conveying,
- Shifting the Parks/Salyer open pit centroid north,
- Primary sulphide extraction scenarios,
- Options to adjust and smooth cathode production and cash flows over the life of mine, and
- Waste dump reclamation studies (backfilling)
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