Name of the Project
Santa Cruz underground copper mine.

Location
Arizona, in the US.

Project Owner/s
Ivanhoe Electric.

Project Description
The Santa Cruz project encompasses 2 418 ha on private land and includes associated water rights. The project location provides excellent infrastructure, including access to rail, interstate highways, and electric transmission lines.

The project comprises indicated mineral resources of 226.7-million tonnes grading 1.24% total copper for 2.8-million tonnes of contained copper, and inferred resources of 149-million tonnes grading 1.24% total copper for 1.8-million tonnes of contained copper.

The initial assessment on the project, completed in September 2023, focuses on a small surface footprint, underground copper mine with 5.9-million tonnes mined a year, exclusively on the high-grade exotic, oxide and enriched domains of the Santa Cruz and East Ridge deposits. 

Copper production has been estimated at 1.6-million tonnes over a 20-year mine life with a cash cost of $1.36/lb of copper produced.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.64-billion and an internal rate of return of 25.1%.

Capital Expenditure
$1.15-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
The team at Santa Cruz, which includes Fluor as project lead, remains on schedule to deliver the Santa Cruz project’s prefeasibility study (PFS) in June 2025. The PFS will support project financing activities. 

Permitting and detailed engineering work are being aggressively advanced throughout 2025. Ivanhoe Electric expects that permits will be received and initial construction activities will start in the first half of 2026.

On April 15, Ivanhoe Electric announced the receipt of a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) outlining the potential to provide up to $825-million in debt financing with a 15-year repayment tenor for the development of Ivanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz copper project through EXIM Bank’s Make More in America initiative.

The initiative and its China and Transformational Exports Program are designed to boost the US’s competitiveness, strengthen supply chains, and reduce strategic vulnerabilities.

Ivanhoe Electric continues to pursue additional government support programmes, including the EXIM Bank’s Supply Chain Resilience Initiative and the Section 45X advanced manufacturing production tax credit. The Supply Chain Resilience Initiative provides financing tools to strengthen and diversify US access to critical mineral supply chains, while Section 45X offers direct tax incentives for the domestic production and processing of those minerals.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Fluor (project lead) and Blue Coast Research (metallurgical studies).

Contact Details for Project Information
Ivanhoe Electric, tel +1 604 689 8765 or email info@ivanhoeelectric.com.