North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

With its Casino project hosting billions of pounds of copper needed by a global economy transitioning to clean energy, Western Copper and Gold Corp. attracted a C$21.3 million (US$15.6 million) investment from Mitsubishi Materials Corp. to help advance the large porphyry project about 300 kilometers (186 miles) northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon.

Historically, two prefeasibility studies and a feasibility study on developing a mine at Casino have been completed. Western Copper and Gold, however, has substantially expanded the deposit and, in 2021, published a preliminary economic assessment outlining an economically robust mine at Casino.

The 2021 PEA came on the heels of Rio Tinto Canada Inc.'s C$25.6 million (US$21.2 million) investment to acquire a roughly 8% stake in Western and a foothold at Casino, and later in 2023 with another C$6 million (US$4.4 million) that bumped up its shares to nearly 10% of the company.

With the strategic investment from Rio Tinto, Western finalized a 2022 feasibility study that detailed plans for an open pit mine with a 120,000-metric-ton-per-day mill and 25,000 tpd oxide heap leach facility that is expected to average 163 million lb of copper, 211,000 oz of gold, 1.28 million oz of silver, and 15.1 million lb of molybdenum annually over a mine life of 27 years.

The mine detailed in the study is calculated to generate an estimated after-tax net present value (5% discount) of C$5.77 billion and an 18.1% after-tax internal rate of return.

With the completion of the feasibility study, Casino hosts 1.22 billion metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.19% (5.08 billion lb) copper, 0.22 grams per metric ton (8.5 million oz) gold, 1.7 g/t (64.9 million oz) silver, and 0.021% (572 million lb) molybdenum.

Seeing the substantial potential of this world-class project, Mitsubishi Materials agreed to acquire approximately 5% of Western's issued and outstanding shares at C$2.63 per share.

"We are pleased to welcome Mitsubishi Materials as a strategic investor in the company," said Western Copper and Gold President and CEO Paul West-Sells. "The investment by Mitsubishi Materials is a strong endorsement of the Casino project. We look forward to working with Mitsubishi Materials to advance Casino."

With more than C$50 million in funding from Mitsubishi and Rio Tinto, Western Copper was flush with capital to execute a plan of action for Casino. As part of the investment agreement, the company organized a new Technical and Sustainability Committee, which includes members from investors Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Materials.

Western Copper and Gold Corp.

Developed by Western's technical and sustainability committee, the 2023 program was slated to include 2,200 meters of metallurgical and infill drilling in seven holes, ranging from 130 meters to 560 meters.

At the end of August, Western outlined plans for a diamond drill program consisting of roughly 2,200 meters of metallurgical and infill drilling in seven holes. Developed by the new committee, these holes were designed to target inside the current pit boundaries in the hopes of upgrading its impressive, indicated resources to the measured category.

After completing this strategic drilling, the metallurgical program commenced to develop a more detailed geometallurgical model of the deposit, with particular focus on an updated recovery and concentrate model.

In addition to the exploration drilling and metallurgical testing, 800 meters of geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling were completed to target ground conditions of the proposed open pit, stockpiles, tailings management facility, heap leaching facility, new airstrip, as well as the proposed Ranney well site.

"This is the first drill program developed by our new combined Technical and Sustainability Committee," said West-Sells. "We are excited to be working with Rio and Mitsubishi, and look forward to working with them as this Program moves forward."