CopperWorks Inaugural 2013

CopperWorksThe only publication dedicated to the promotion, production and distribution of copper.

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Canada seeslustre in copper

Escondida –A true mining giant

The long arm of Chinese mining investments –

South America & beyond

Inaugural Issue 2013

CopperWorks Inaugural Issue 3

Published by DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 0G5 Phone: (204) 254-6418 | Fax: (204) 668-4641

President David Langstaff

Publisher Jason Stefanik

Managing Editor Shayna Wiwierski [email protected]

Contributing Writers Michael Atkinson Blayne Janssens Jillian Mitchell Bob Robinson Tim Knelsen Jamie Woodford

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Table of Contents4 Editor's message – Shayna Wiwierski

5 Message from the Minister of Mining of Chile – Hernán de Solminihac Tampier

6 Message from the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources – The Honourable Joe Oliver, P.C., M.P.

7 Message du ministre des Ressources naturelles du Canada – L'honorable Joe Oliver, C. P., député

8 Escondida – A true mining giant

11 The long arm of Chinese mining investments – South America and beyond

13 Doctor copper – An historical look at the use of copper

15 Canada sees lustre in copper

17 New kids on the block – Thompson Creek Metals' Mount Milligan mine

18 Copper culture – A retired metallurgist's look into Flin Flon's copper industry

20 Coro Mining's exciting South American copper portfolio

21 Rhenium: helping to extend the life of copper mines

22 Energold Drilling Corp. – Global specialty mineral drilling contractors

Index to AdvertisersBestech 14

Breaker Technology Ltd OBC

Energold Drilling Corp 23

Happy Creek Minerals Ltd 23

4 CopperWorks 2013

A tomic number 29, known to most as cop-per, is of vital economic importance to the world of international finance.

The metal has been used for thousands of years, whether in money, architecture, electronics, or any other of its many uses. It also transformed human existence, because for first time, humankind did not have to rely upon materials found in nature.

Today, Chile is home to the world's largest single producer of copper. The Escondida copper mine, which is estimated to produce 1,110,000 tonnes of copper in 2013, is a huge contributor to Chile's na-tional economy. Revenues from Escondida are a huge contributor to Chile's national economy, ac-counting for 2.5 per cent of Chile's GDP.

Canada is also a huge player in the copper market, and is currently the world's fifth-largest exporter of mined copper. Canadian copper production in 2010 was valued at $3.9 billion, and in 2011, the total value of exports for copper in all forms, including fabri-cated copper, was $6.4 billion.

In this inaugural edition of CopperWorks maga-zine, we take a look at the history of copper, the world's largest copper mines, copper production in Canada, and so much more.

I truly hope you enjoy this first edition of CopperWorks, and if you have any questions, com-ments, or story ideas, please send them my way.

Shayna [email protected] Y

Editor's message

SHayna WiWiErSki


Mining has been, and will continue to be, the main engine of the economic and so-cial development of Chile, one of the main

worldwide leaders in this industry. This position has been reached as the result of its people efforts, and from its trustable and reliable institutions, which led to be a reliable economy for foreign investment. An example of the confidence that investors and min-ing entrepreneurs deposit on Chile is its $104 billion projects portfolio for the next decade. The invitation is to know and participate in the Chilean mining in-dustry and its opportunities, and face with optimism the future challenge of developing a sustainable way of doing mining in our country. Y

La minería ha sido y es el motor del desarrollo de Chile, país que además es uno de los líderes de esta industria a nivel mundial. Ello ha sido

fruto del trabajo duro de su gente y a la confianza y seriedad de sus instituciones, que nos permite con-tar hoy con una cartera de proyectos de inversión privada nacional y extranjera por más de 104 mil millones de dólares para la próxima década. La in-vitación es a conocer y participar la industria minera chilena y su desarrollo, con respeto por la sustent-abilidad ambiental, la seguridad de los trabajadores e ideas innovadoras que nos permitan mirar al futuro con optimismo. Y

Message from the Minister of Mining of Chile

HErnán DE SOLMiniHaC TaMpiEr

6 CopperWorks 2013

C anada is a global min-ing powerhouse. In 2012, for the second

year in a row, we are shattering production records with world-class mineral production in Canada reaching a record $50.3 billion. In 2011, mining contrib-uted more than $62.5 billion to

Canada's nominal GDP, more than a fifth of our merchan-dise exports.

On the strength of strong prices, copper shipments in 2011 also increased in both volume and value, totalling $5 billion and accounting for nearly 20 per cent of Canada's metallic mineral production value.

Many Canadians do not realize how the copper we mine here in Canada is part of their everyday lives. It is used in the cables that form our telecommunications net-works, helps light our homes, and powers the appliances that make our lives easier and more comfortable every day.

Copper is also an important economic driver that sup-ports Canadian jobs, prosperity, and economic growth. Nearly 12,000 Canadians are employed in the metal min-ing industry, which includes copper, lead, zinc, and nickel ore. Canada's copper production in 2010 was valued at $3.9 billion, making Canada the eighth-largest mined copper producer by volume in the world.

Our government is committed to creating new mar-kets that will help the Canadian mining industry com-pete internationally. Capitalizing on the growing need for copper in rapidly emerging markets is increasing the tre-mendous opportunities for expanding Canadian copper's global reach.

Canada is currently the world's fifth-largest exporter of mined copper. In 2011, the total value of exports for

Message from the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources

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copper in all forms, including fabricated copper, was $6.4 billion. Reserves of copper in Canada have been steadily on the rise for the past seven years. Current reserves, lo-cated primarily in British Columbia and Ontario, are esti-mated at around 10.7 million tonnes.

In support of our efforts to fulfil the needs of emerging markets, I have travelled to China, Japan, South Korea, India, Israel, the Philippines, and the United States to highlight Canada's potential for increased exports of our natural resources.

I met with representatives of government and business to promote our abundant natural resources. Canada has many advantages as a trading partner: our immense re-source wealth; our low taxes; the strength of our economy; our advanced technologies and world-class technological expertise; our non-discriminatory regulatory system; and our unprecedented plans for development.

Our government has put in place the economic funda-mentals that are the foundation for growth and prosper-ity in the mining sector. We have lowered personal and corporate taxes, and we have paid down debt. We are also reining in spending, cutting red tape and promoting free trade.

Our substantial plan for Responsible Resource Development is ensuring that Canada's regulatory regime for major projects, including copper projects, is among the most efficient, effective, and competitive in the world.

Our government knows the value of copper mining, as well as the importance of the mining industry as a whole. According to a 2011 Natural Resources Canada survey, there are 490 copper exploration projects across the country. With so many projects, mining workers and communities across Canada should and can count on the government's support of this vital economic driver. And together, we will ensure that Canada remains a global mining powerhouse well into the future. Y


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Le Canada est une puissance mondiale dans le secteur minier. En 2012, pour la deuxième année consécutive, nous avons pulvérisé des records car notre production

minière a atteint un sommet de 50,3 milliards de dollars. En 2011, le secteur minier avait ajouté plus de 62,5 milliards de dollars au PIB nominal du Canada, ce qui correspond à plus du cinquième de nos exportations de marchandises.

Grâce aux prix élevés, la valeur et le volume des expéditions de cuivre ont augmenté en 2011 pour atteindre 5 milliards de dollars, soit près de 20 % de la valeur de la production canadienne de minéraux métallifères.

Peu de Canadiens savent à quel point le cuivre canadien est présent dans leur vie quotidienne. Ce cuivre entre dans la fabrication des câbles destinés aux réseaux de télécommunications ainsi que des fils électriques utilisés pour éclairer nos foyers et alimenter les appareils ménagers qui nous facilitent la vie et accroissent notre confort.

Le cuivre est en outre un important moteur économique. Il fournit des emplois ici et contribue à la prospérité et à la croissance économique du pays. Près de 12 000 Canadiens travaillent dans l'extraction de métaux comme le cuivre, le plomb, le zinc et le nickel. En 2010, notre production minière de cuivre était évaluée à 3,9 milliards de dollars, et son volume plaçait le Canada au huitième rang mondial.

Notre gouvernement est déterminé à ouvrir de nouveaux marchés qui aideront l'industrie minière canadienne à soutenir la concurrence sur la scène internationale. L'augmentation constante des besoins en cuivre dans de nombreux marchés émergents ouvre d'excellentes perspectives au cuivre canadien dans le monde.

Le Canada est actuellement le cinquième exportateur mondial de cuivre non affiné. En 2011, la valeur des exportations de cuivre de toutes formes, y compris les produits de cuivre ouvré, s'élevait à 6,4 milliards de dollars. Les réserves de cuivre du Canada sont constamment révisées à la hausse depuis sept ans. Nos réserves actuelles, qui sont situées principalement en Colombie-Britannique et en Ontario, sont

L'HOnOraBLE JOE OLivEr, C p , DépuTé

Message du ministre des Ressources naturelles du Canada

estimées à quelque 10,7 millions de tonnes.

En appui aux efforts que nous déployons pour répondre aux besoins des marchés émergents, j'ai visité la Chine, le Japon, la Corée du Sud, l'Inde, Israël, les Philippines et les États-Unis pour expliquer le potentiel de croissance des exportations canadiennes de ressources naturelles.

J'ai rencontré des représentants de gouvernements et d'entreprises pour faire valoir l'abondance de nos ressources naturelles. Comme partenaire commercial, le Canada possède de nombreux atouts : des ressources en abondance; des taux d'imposition très raisonnables; une économie dynamique; des technologies de pointe et un savoir-faire technologique de calibre mondial; un régime de réglementation non discriminatoire; des plans de développement plus ambitieux que jamais.

Notre gouvernement a réuni tous les facteurs économiques qui fondent la croissance et la prospérité du secteur minier. Nous avons abaissé les impôts des particuliers et des sociétés et nous avons réduit la dette. Nous nous attaquons maintenant aux dépenses, nous éliminons les tracasseries administratives et nous encourageons le libre-échange.

Grâce à notre vaste plan de Développement responsable des ressources, le régime canadien de réglementation des grands projets, y compris les projets d'exploitation du cuivre, est l'un des plus efficaces, des plus économiques et des plus concurrentiels au monde.

Notre gouvernement reconnaît l'importance du cuivre et de l'industrie minière en général. Selon une étude réalisée en 2011 par Ressources naturelles Canada, il y a actuellement dans notre pays 490 projets d'exploration qui ciblent le cuivre. C'est donc dire que les travailleurs miniers canadiens et leurs collectivités peuvent compter sur le gouvernement pour appuyer ce moteur économique essentiel. Ensemble, nous veillerons à ce que le Canada demeure encore longtemps une puissance minière mondiale. Y

8 CopperWorks 2013

Escondida –

Escondida mine is the world's largest copper producer located in Northern Chile. IMAGE COURTESY OF BHP BILLITON.


Northern Chile is home to the Atacama Desert, the world's driest area where some regions near the settlement of Arica have not recorded

a drop of rain in about 500 years. However, while the Atacama surface appears to be nothing but barren rock and sand, hidden beneath that surface waiting to be dis-covered was an ore body which has turned out to be the largest copper mine on Earth, the fabulous Escondida Copper Mine.

In fact, the Spanish name “Escondida” means “hid-den”, as the ore body never outcrops on surface but remains “hidden” under hundreds of metres of barren overburden.

Escondida is located about 160 kilometres southeast of the major port city of Antofagasta and just 25 kilo-metres from the port towns of Caldera and Coloso at an elevation of just over 3,000 metres. The paved Pan America highway passes near the project and 25 kilo-metres of improved government-maintained roads ex-tend to the project itself. With an area mining history dating back about 400 years, the area is well served with mining supply organizations and skilled workers, while the regional Atacama Airport is to be found only 20 ki-lometres from Escondida.

Original exploration began in the 1970s because a team of geologists reasoned that the extension of a line connecting several existing ore bodies pointed into an area which should lie along the 600-kilometre West Fissure system and could contain significant val-ues. Minera Utah De Chile and Getty Mining (Chile) formed an exploration joint venture and a six-hole drill program was designed. The first five holes returned nothing of significance, but in one of those serendipi-tous events which sometimes occurs in mining history, the sixth hole hit 52 metres of 1.51 per cent copper (Cu)

A true mining giantEscondida –By Leonard M. Melman

at a depth of 240 metres, and thereby discovered the main Escondida ore body.

Rapid exploration and development subsequently took place, and, by 1988, production construction was well underway which included stripping away 180 mil-lion tonnes of waste to get to the ore body. The Los Colorados concentrator started up in November 1990 and by year-end, concentrate shipments began. Initial production was at the rate of 35,000 tonnes per day (tpd).

Production steadily expanded through the years as Los Colorados capacity was enlarged to 120,000 tpd; an oxide ore leaching plant was started in 1998 with an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes copper cathode pro-duction; a second concentrator, the 110,000 tpd Laguna Seca mill started in 2002, and in 2005 an entire new mine, the Escondida Norte was opened, shortly fol-lowed by a 180,000-tonne-per-year copper cathode sul-phide bioleach facility. Shortly thereafter, a seawater de-salinization plant was opened in the port city of Coloso and was commissioned as a backup to more normal groundwater supplies.

Ownership at Escondida is comprised of 57.5 per cent BHP Billiton, 30.0 per cent Rio Tinto, 10 per cent by Japanese consortium JECO, of which Mitsubishi is a major member, and a second Japanese consortium owns 2.5 per cent. All told, these owners have invested massive amounts of time, capital, and human effort into expanding the Escondida Mine until it is now the dom-inant copper producer on Earth.

The results of these substantial investments have been impressive indeed. Escondida's estimated copper production for the year 2013 is expected to be 1,110,000 tonnes (approximately 2.4 billion pounds) with a pro-jected increase to 1,300,000 tonnes by 2015. These

10 CopperWorks 2013

numbers, however, are pale in comparison to the estimated ultimate potential total size of resources at Escondida. In 2011, BHP released an estimate of 19.5 billion tonnes of ore resources. One mining publication estimated that if BHP could convert those resources into mineable reserves – mean-ing ore that could be mined economically – the value of such reserves would represent one trillion dollars of revenue.

It is also worth noting that at a conference in Barcelona, Spain in May 2012, BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers said Escondida was one of five areas around the globe where BHP could expect more than 100 years of production, based on “potential mineralization”.

Escondida is gigantic in a number of ways. The mining production equipment roster includes nine loading shovels with 50, 53, and 55-cubic-yard buckets; 75 dump trucks with 218-tonne capacity; eight electric drills and one diesel drill;

plus an entire array of production equipment involved in op-erating two open-pit mines and two copper cathode produc-tion facilities.

Its contribution to the area economy in particular, and the country of Chile's economy in general, is enormous. Almost 3,000 people are employed in various functions at the mine and accompanying port facilities from mining production to laboratories to geologic facilities to general clerical workers to transportation-related employees. Revenues from Escondida constitute almost one in every 20 dollars of Chile's Gross Domestic Product. The consortium pays over US$2.2 billion in taxes each year. It is also worth noting that the company contributes substantial amounts toward education and job training for the area's indigenous population.

When one looks to the future, it is apparent that there are some sound bases for believing that the future of Escondida could be very positive. As noted, production trends are on the rise, meaning a concomitant trend toward greater rev-enue, greater employment, greater contributions to the na-tion's economy, and greater taxation payments which will enable the federal government to further enhance public welfare programs.

Copper markets also appear to be subject to increasing de-mands down the road. These might include improvements in the American housing markets, a major source of copper demand; rising worldwide auto and light truck production; and an improving outlook for one of copper's most impor-tant markets, that of China.

While Escondida's birth might have involved more than a slight degree of good fortune, the mine has also demonstrat-ed that there is much to be said for hard work, imaginative effort, and risk-taking financing within the world of copper mining. Y

Northern Chile is home to the Atacama Desert, the world's driest area where some regions near the settlement of Arica have not recorded a drop of rain in about 500 years. However, while the Atacama surface appears to be nothing but barren rock and sand, hidden beneath that surface waiting to be discovered was an ore body which has turned out to be the largest copper mine on Earth, the fabulous Escondida Copper Mine.

IMAGE COURTESY OF BHP BILLITON.


The long arm of Chinese mining investments –

I n one of the greatest economic transformations in history, the nation of China, legally known as the People's Republic of China, has entered the modern

economic age with a vengeance. Following its official birth in October 1949, the most populous nation on Earth languished in poverty and relative obscurity until the old leadership of Mao Tse Tung passed into history and a much more forward-looking, dynamic cadre took over.

In just three decades, they have helped transform China into the third-largest economy on the planet, one with the fastest rate of growth among major nations and one which is looking forward to dramatic growth in the years ahead.

China's private and public sectors have contributed sig-nificantly toward copper's dynamic price movements over the past few years. The private sector has transformed itself into a manufacturing dynamo, exporting vast quantities of products for distribution into the world's wholesale and retail markets. The development of plants to manufacture these products and the products themselves require met-als, with the most prominent being copper.

However, the public sector may be the greatest source of demand going forward. Thanks to industrial expan-sion, tens of millions of rural residents have swarmed into metropolitan areas, requiring a stupendous array of infra-structure improvements.

The list of planned projects is quite remarkable to contemplate. They already have the greatest number of toll roads and high-speed railroads on Earth, but many

By Leonard M. Melman

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more are on the drawing boards. Forty-four Chinese cities with over one million people have no rapid-transit systems. Quality housing is lacking for millions of recent rural-to-city immigrants. Much of the housing built during the initial burst of prosperity in the mid-1980s is now crumbling and must be rebuilt.

All of these projects will require veritable mountains of copper, particularly when combined with private demands. The obvious question, then, is where China will obtain these vast quantities of “Dr. Copper?” The equally obvious answer is to look outside their domestic production – and one of the most promising of all areas is the South American nation of Peru.

That country is known to have vast mineral resources, which are only now coming under concentrated develop-ment, and Peru is already the second-largest copper-produc-ing nation on the planet, as well as the second largest in zinc. Foreign mining investment in the country is growing rapidly and the government is looking toward mining as one of the major industries capable of providing a higher standing of living for the millions of indigenous natives who frequently live in conditions of poverty and squalor.

So far, the strategy appears to be paying off. Mineral ex-ports out of Peru amounted to almost $19 billion this year, six times the level of 1998, and mining employment now amounts to 138,000, double the figure of just seven years ago. Peru has become South America's fastest growing economy with growth rates averaging eight to nine per cent in recent years.

Not surprisingly, Chinese mining companies are entering the Peruvian mining industry with the obvious goal of in-suring future copper production for export to satisfy Chinese growing demands. However, China's experiences within Peruvian mining have not always been positive, at least in their beginnings.

One example is the Shougang Group which purchased a government enterprise named Hierro Peru. Shougang was originally praised for stepping forward and accepting the risk of investing in an area recently controlled by the revolution-ary organization Shining Path. However, that approval began to fade when it was learned that Shougang failed to make community investments of $150 million as promised. They

also angered the local population by cutting the Peruvian workforce in half while importing Chinese workers.

Chinese company Zijin Mining Group Ltd. encountered a different sort of problem after acquiring 90 per cent of the Rio Blanco copper project which was estimated to produce ap-proximately $1 billion worth of copper each year for the next 20 years. Unfortunately for Zijin, the project was located in a forested area near the watershed division between the rivers running to the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon Basin, and it is an area which has also been developed for intensive agricul-tural usage. Heavy community resistance has stopped project development in its tracks.

One project which is moving swiftly forward is Minmetals' ownership of the El Galeno copper and gold mine located in the Andean Department of Cajamarca. Minmetals ac-quired the project in 2007, rapidly advanced it into produc-tion construction by 2010 and expects actual production to begin in early 2013 after a total investment of approximately $2.5 billion. The mine has a projected annual production rate of 144,000 tonnes of copper during its anticipated life of 20 years.

Another project making headlines in Peru is China Aluminum Company's (Chinalco) giant Mount Toromocho property, located in a region which has seen private mining activity for over 100 years. Chinalco acquired the project when it purchased Peru Copper Inc. for $840 million in 2007. They plan to establish an open-pit mine at a cost of $2.16 bil-lion which is expected to produce 210,000 tonnes of copper annually.

One problem the company has faced is that planned min-ing activities involve removing part of the nearby town of Morococha and dislocating the community's 5,400 inhabit-ants. More than 80 per cent have already accepted the com-pany's offer of a new home in a nearby community plus a cash bonus of $2,000.

Clearly, Chinese investments in copper mining within Peru are on the rise and likely to continue growing, given the insatiable needs of both industry and government. Their investments are expected to total more than $10 billion in coming years and Peru is openly welcoming this encourag-ing trend. Y

China's private and public sectors have contributed significantly toward copper's dynamic price movements over the past few years. The private sector has transformed itself into a manufacturing dynamo, exporting vast quantities of products for distribution into the world's wholesale and retail markets.


I f there was a pantheon – a hall of fame – for metals in or-der of importance, one which would stand near the very top of the list would be “Dr. Copper”, the metal of many

uses, possessed of a lengthy history and of vital economic im-portance to the world of international finance.

One simple statistic illustrates the impact of copper on the financial world. There are no less than 125 copper min-ing companies now traded on Canadian security exchanges alone. These range from early exploration companies with market capitalization as low as C$10 million to giant mining enterprises whose market caps are in excess of C$1 billion.

The geographic dispersal of copper ore bodies around the globe is quite remarkable with active exploration, develop-ment, or production ongoing on every continent on Earth with the exception of Antarctica. Major mines are also widely dispersed around the globe as demonstrated by the ranking of the largest copper-producing nations, which in-cludes Chile, Peru, China, Australia, USA, Russia, Indonesia, Canada, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Zambia.

Widespread use of copper dates back into pre-history, par-ticularly when copper was combined with tin to form bronze, or with zinc to form brass. The Bronze Age is particularly noteworthy in history texts, having lasted from roughly 3300 BC to about 1000 BC. In fact, one could truthfully state that the introduction of metals such as copper, iron, and alloys,

such as bronze and brass, transformed human existence, be-cause for the first time mankind did not have to rely upon materials found in nature, but could begin to fashion their own implements.

Around the Mediterranean Sea, inventiveness abound-ed and among the products which were created during the Bronze Age were blades built for use in both windmills and waterwheels, the first uses of invented power generation. Other products included loading ramps for shipping, agricul-tural tools, central heating, and even rudimentary ducts and piping. Perhaps regrettably, we should also note that thanks to the growing science of metallurgy, all manners of weap-onry also shared in these technological advances.

Copper mining in particular also helped to create the great-est empire in the world's history, the Roman Empire, as much of their economic wealth and military power was generated by huge mining operations in Spain, Cyprus, and areas north of the Danube in modern-day Poland.

To a great extent, the importance of copper in modern-day life stems from its vast supply network which has allowed for the enormous expansion of its uses. In fact, our present way of life would be virtually unthinkable without enormous quantities of “Dr. Copper” being available.

The development of uses for copper stems directly from its attributes as a metal. It is an excellent conductor of electricity,

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an HiSTOriCaL LOOk aT THE uSE Of COppErBy Leonard M. Melman

14 CopperWorks 2013

it is relatively soft and it is exceedingly malleable. In addition, copper is an excellent alloy material and combines well with other metals to sustain a wide array of such applications with brass and bronze leading the way.

Perhaps the best known uses for copper relate to its renown as a conductor of electric currents. This has led to extensive production of wires, cables, electric motor production, power generation, turbine construction, telecommunications, and numerous varieties of electric circuitry. Residential construc-tion represents perhaps the greatest single demand for copper for wiring, as well as plumbing for, quite literally, hundreds of millions of homes worldwide.

Copper is also an even distributor of heat, leading to its de-sirability in pots, pans, and any other utensils of that nature. Copper's attribute of malleability also lends itself to such uses.

Thanks to the fact that copper is also corrosion-resistant, it has been used for centuries in the construction of building exteriors. Some of those applications include roofs, gutters, domes, spires, and even copper-plated doors. Other modern building uses include copper's chemical components which fight against the growth of microbes which would otherwise attack building exteriors. As well, in various alloy combina-tions, it is an excellent anti-bacterial metal.

Some of the lesser-known, more esoteric uses for copper include the outer construction of ocean-going ships to pro-tect against barnacles and mussels; as netting in aquaculture; door handles in hospitals; wood preservatives; restoration of damage due to dry rot; and as a quite remarkable musical application.

For the past four centuries, one name brand, Zildjian, has dominated the world of musical cymbals. The company was named after its founder, Avedis Zildjian who was an Armenian metals specialist in the first half of the seventeenth century. As Paul Francis, the company's director of research noted, “...In 1618 he discovered the perfect mix of copper, tin, and traces of silver to create what would become the company's signa-ture cymbals... He created cymbals of spectacular clarity and power...”

Copper is actively traded in markets ranging from the London Metals Exchange to the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Comex Division. Copper's price over the past 40 years has been confined to two distinct eras. From 1973 through to 2003, copper traded in a range of 50 cents either side of $1 per pound. Quite suddenly, copper erupted to the region of $4 per pound and has traded within a range of about 75 cents either side of $3.50 per pound since 2004 with the exception of 2008 when it plunged to $1.25, but quickly rebounded back to the $3.50 area.

Given its history, its many uses, its enormous production and distribution networks, and its high place in the world of commodity finance, is it any wonder that the red metal is held in sufficiently high regard to warrant the name of “Dr. Copper”? Y

The development of uses for copper stems directly from its attributes as a metal. It is an excellent conductor of electricity, it is relatively soft and it is exceedingly malleable. In addition, copper is an excellent alloy material and combines well with other metals to sustain a wide array of such applications with brass and bronze leading the way.


Canada sees lustre in copperCopper demand has been outpacing supply for several

years – and copper prices have soared. This brought a new round of investment into the industry, and over

the next five years there will be much higher copper produc-tion in Canada and around the world. However, demand started to wane last year with a cooling Chinese manufactur-ing industry. As a result, supply is expected to outstrip de-mand starting this year. While this may put some downward pressure on prices, they will likely remain above their 10-year historical average and Canadian projects will continue with their development plans. As a result, Canadian copper pro-duction is set to expand 36 per cent over the next five years, bringing a wealth of opportunity to businesses, workers, and communities across the country.

Market overviewCopper markets have held a tenuous footing in 2012, and

2013 will not bring much strength. A year ago, copper prices soared as demand was high due to the restocking of inven-tories. But Chinese demand failed to keep pace and prices dropped.

Looking ahead, global economic growth is expected to expand by just 2.6 per cent in 2013. Chinese manufacturing – which accounts for 40 per cent of global copper consump-tion1 – is not growing at the same feverish pace and the con-struction boom is winding down. These factors will result in slower growth in global demand for copper this year.

Meanwhile, the chronic supply shortages that have plagued copper users are not expected to last. Copper prices were (and

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remain) historically high, which has spurred a wealth of in-vestment in developing new production capacity in the past several years.

Large copper projects are being developed in central Africa, Peru, the U.S., and China. Many of these projects have faced problems – labour disputes, project delays, cost overruns, and

16 CopperWorks 2013

shortages of skilled labour and machinery. Nonetheless, they are expected to come on-stream over the next three years, tip-ping the market into a surplus of supply. Copper supply will exceed demand for the first time in three years, starting in the second half of 20132.

Copper prices are expected to stay relatively flat in 2013 as new production comes online. Supply increases will keep prices subdued over the medium term but remain well above their 10-year historical average. Improving conditions in the U.S. and stability in Chinese manufacturing will stimulate de-mand. Therefore, a drastic fall in prices is an unlikely threat to the development plans of Canadian copper mining projects.2

Canadian copper production outlookFollowing a meagre increase in copper production in 2012,

The Conference Board of Canada expects that Canada's pro-duction will increase 10 per cent in 2013. Planned capacity increases at several mines, and the opening of the Nunavik Nickel project in Quebec, will drive strong growth3. Copper production is expected to grow by six per cent on average each year over 2013 to 2017 (See Chart 1). Production gains will take place in seven out of the 13 provinces and territories.

Over the forecast period, British Columbia will provide the greatest boost to national copper production, accounting for 70 per cent of the increase. Several new projects and mine ex-pansions will result in a production increase of 335 million pounds of copper per year in British Columbia by 2017 com-pared to 2011. During this period, copper production will in-crease 37 million pounds each in both Ontario and Quebec.

These new copper mines are expected to increase employ-ment and incomes in communities across the country, from Newfoundland and Labrador to British Columbia and the

Yukon. When new mines are in production, miners and sup-pliers will increase the demand for labour, as will secondary industries such as transportation and warehousing. During the construction phase, mining projects typically employ the most staff, and surrounding communities (if they exist) ben-efit from the increased economic activity.

But developing a mine is not without some major chal-lenges, and these represent downside risks to our outlook. Construction delays are common due to permitting issues, skilled labour shortages, machinery breakdowns or delays, and impeded transportation to remote sites due to weather and other factors. The environmental review process can take longer than anticipated, or provide results that inhibit or change development plans. In choosing projects to include in our forecast, we have omitted or delayed projects which are not far along in their feasibility and financing stages, or which still have major environmental issues to work out in their de-velopment plans.

Another risk to our copper outlook is the economic stabil-ity and copper demand from China and the U.S. If the U.S.'s economic recovery loses its footing, this could dampen our outlook. Likewise for Chinese manufacturing demand; we as-sume it will stabilize this year and strengthen somewhat in 2014.

While the near-term outlook for copper is far from gleam-ing, it will be anything but dull. Despite the market and logis-tical challenges of developing copper mines in Canada, cop-per output is set to increase substantially in the coming years, providing employment and economic benefits to Canadians across the country. Y

Jacqueline Palladini is an economist at The Conference Board of Canada. Visit them online at www.conferenceboard.ca.

1. World Bank, “Prospects for Commodity Markets,” Global Economic Prospects (June 2012), annex.

2. International Copper Study Group, Copper Market Forecast 2012-2013. News release, October 10, 2012. www.icsg.org/index.php/component/jdownloads/finish/113/1126

3. The output forecast takes into account production decreases due to an-nounced mine closures and planned output reductions.

4. Natural Resources Canada, Mineral Production Annual Statistics 2009, 2010, 2011, http://mmsd.mms.nrcan.gc.ca/stat-stat/prod-prod/ann-ann-eng.aspx (accessed Jan 14, 2013).

Copper prices are expected to stay relatively flat in 2013 as new production comes online. Supply increases will keep prices subdued over the medium term but remain well above their 10-year historical average. Improving conditions in the U.S. and stability in Chinese manufacturing will stimulate demand. Therefore, a drastic fall in prices is an unlikely threat to the development plans of Canadian copper mining projects.


W hen Mount Milligan comes into production later this year, it will be the first major

metals mine commissioned in British Columbia in more than a decade. Located approximately 150 kilometres northwest of Prince George, and almost equidistant between the communities of Mackenzie and Fort St. James, the Mount Milligan deposit is made up of four con-tiguous mineralized zones with a reserve of six million ounces of gold and 2.1 bil-lion pounds of copper. The mine will be a conventional truck shovel, open-pit op-eration designed to produce an average of 81 million pounds of copper and 194,500 ounces of gold annually over a projected 22-year life.

Construction on the approximately $1.5 billion mine is nearing completion and each of the 950+ people working on the site each day are focused on a single goal: bringing Mount Milligan into pro-duction safely. At the end of February, the team, which includes construction contractors, as well as Thompson Creek personnel, had logged more the 3.8 mil-lion hours without a lost time incident. This impressive safety record is just one deliverable for a project that aims to be a showcase of operation excellence.

“We recognized at the onset that for Mount Milligan to be successful we

needed more than just a viable deposit and an excellent mine plan,” says Terry Owen, managing director, capital proj-ects, Thompson Creek Metals. “We also need to go beyond compliance on safety and work to earn a reputation as a valued partner in the communities surrounding our operations.”

Making local recruitment and pro-curement a priority is one way the com-pany has worked to generate benefits to the region. Once in operation, the mine will create about 400 full-time jobs. More than half of the operations posi-tions have now been filled with upwards of 60 per cent of employees being drawn from the region. Contracts with compa-nies including Duz Cho Construction, Duz Cho Logging, Taba Enterprises, Bam Bam Trucking and Northern Spirit Transportation, to name a few of the 200 companies which provided service to Mount Milligan last year, have resulted in valued partnerships with regional busi-nesses, and generated a regional spend in 2012 of approximately $125 million.

At the Mount Milligan site, work is now underway stripping overburden from the first area to be mined. A unique feature of Mount Milligan is that all waste rock ma-terial will be used to construct the tail-ing storage facility (TSF), eliminating the need for waste rock dumps on site. The height of the TSF dam will continue to increase during operations and once the mine moves into closure and reclama-tion, water from the TSF will be diverted to the open pits, creating a man-made lake and returning the land to productive habitat.

During operations, run-of-mine ore will be trucked from the open pit to the

crusher, and then fed to a 60,000 tonne per day concentrator using conventional grinding and flotation processes. The 40-foot semi autogenous grinding (SAG) mill at Mount Milligan, which utilizes a gearless motor drive, is one of the largest of its kind in the world and one of only two units in North America. Concentrate from Mount Milligan will be trucked to a nearby rail load-out facility for trans-port to the port of Metro Vancouver. It will then be shipped overseas for final processing.

Mount Milligan has benefitted from almost 20 years of study, providing good baseline data for environmental moni-toring. Today, the team draws upon the expertise of an environmental engi-neer, as well as the skills and traditional knowledge of environmental monitors who are members of the McLeod Lake Indian Band and Nak'azdli First Nation.

Thompson Creek recognizes the role that external stakeholders play in successful projects, and works with a Community Sustainability Committee to facilitate open dialogue with commu-nities in the region, including Mackenzie, McLeod Lake, Prince George, Vander-hoof, Nak'azdli, and Fort St. James. The committee meets four times a year, and in addition to reviewing project progress, discusses regional sustainability objec-tives and programs. The advice of this group shapes Mount Milligan's annual social responsibility report.

The mining sector weathered a chal-lenging year in 2012, but with projects such as Mount Milligan scheduled to come into production this year, 2013 looks more promising. Y

New kids on the blockTHOMpSOn CrEEk METaLS' MOunT MiLLigan MinE iS

THE firST MaJOr METaLS MinE in B C in MOrE THan a DECaDE

February 2013 showing tank installation in the flotation area.

18 CopperWorks 2013

No one knows exactly when copper was first discovered. Early estimates suggest

9,000 BCE in the Middle East, but all evidence is not entirely conducive with this finding. What everyone can agree on, however, is atomic num-ber 29's inarguable staying power. Seemingly with a culture all its own,

this valued metal has been introduced throughout history in many facets, including economy, technology, medicine, and art. It is resilient – and steeped in romantic adventure.

Anthony “Tony” McDonald of Flin Flon, Manitoba is hot on the trail. The retired smelter metallurgist has a passion for copper metallurgy, specifically the millions of tons of prehis-toric copper removed from the Keewanaw Peninsula in north-ern Michigan and the offshore Ile Royale.

“It is well known that Native Americans used copper axes and knives, but even if every family in North America owned an axe and knives, it would not account for the copper removed

a rETirED METaLLurgiST'S LOOk inTO fLin fLOn'S COppEr inDuSTryfrom the thousands of prehistoric pits,” says McDonald, who retired from the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. (HBMS) in 1996. “No smelting, or even melting, of the copper was ever done by Native Americans – all artifacts were made by pounding the native copper. This was one of the few places on Earth where copper was found as a metal.”

Where did the rest of Keewanaw's copper go? No one knows that either. The mystery is one of intrigue for McDonald, who follows the many tantalizing clues during his newly found free time. Interestingly, as the metallurgist notes, he has a personal connection to the Keewanaw mystery: he dedicated 20 years of his career to HBMS, and treated the last-ever copper con-centrate from the Keewanaw area from 1995 to 1997.

“It was anything but pure native copper,” says McDonald of the Keewanaw copper sample, “but a highly-oxidized blend of several copper sulfide minerals, which gave the team the high-est ever slag copper losses.”

In parallel, the great Canadian North is another such land steeped in adventure – and is the region that fostered McDonald's career. In the early 1900s, thousands of men and

By Jillian Mitchell

Copper culture


women raced to northern Manitoba in search of their fortunes in gold. But, when Tom Creighton sank his pickax into an out-cropping on the shores of Flin Flon Lake, he discovered one of the richest mineral finds in Canadian history.

The legendary copper-zinc discovery of 1915 inevitably shifted prospecting from gold to base metals, and the city of Flin Flon was soon established. In 1927, HBMS (known today as HudBay Minerals Inc.) acquired controlling interest of the Flin Flon property, and by 1930, the mine, smelter, hydroelec-tric dam, and the Canadian National railroad, were in full operation.

Much like famed prospector Tom Creighton stumbled upon his future, so too did McDonald. In 1960, once McDonald graduated from the University of Ottawa as a chemical engi-neer, he began sending resumes to various paper and textile mills in eastern Ontario. As he recalls, an ad by HBMS caught his eye – and so he applied for the position. The company soon offered him a job, which he was quick to accept, thus begin-ning his career with the Manitoba-affiliated company.

McDonald's first position was as a smelter research engi-neer. Throughout his term, daily tasks involved measuring dust losses from roasters, dryers, and the reverb furnace, and correlating these with draft, as well as testing different types of bags for the two dust-collecting baghouses. It wasn't long before he was appointed to mill research, where he remained for 11 years, eventually earning a promotion to group leader. In 1973, he was appointed smelter metallurgist and later spent two years as a supervisor in Process Technology, formerly Research, before resuming his role in the smelter as smelter metallurgist.

“HBMS was constantly developing small local mines, so much of my work in mill research involved working out the best treatment for each ore – practically each had different optimum values for grind, flotation pH, and reagents (collec-tors and frothers),” he says. “Another important consideration was minimizing the zinc (sphalerite) removed in the copper concentrate.”

An important part of McDonald's work also involved blend-ing the various feeds to the smelter properly – the Flin Flon copper concentrates, concentrates railed in from the Snow Lake mines, purchased concentrates, and, up until 1993, zinc ferrite residue, and the required amount of sand. Another was accurate sampling of purchased concentrate railcars.

Though certain technologies had not evolved much since the early- to mid-1900s, others most certainly had. As McDonald notes, in 1945 the Bunker Hill Smelter in Kellogg, Idaho, started up the first-ever “fuming furnace” to recover cadmium and zinc from its lead slag. It was successful, and

in 1949, HBMS sent research engineers there to see if it could be applied to their copper slag to recover its zinc, as well as recover zinc from their zinc plant's stockpiled and current residue. They determined that it could be, and, with assistance from Bunker Hill engineers, the first HBMS fuming plant was commissioned in 1952.

The fuming process involves four main components: a dryer to reduce the moisture content of the residue from 35 to 15 per cent; two fuming furnaces (built to handle slag 200 degrees Celsius higher in temperature than the Bunker Hill lead slag), where pulverized coal was blown through the slag; a boiler to produce steam from the hot gases; and a cooling train and baghouse to collect zinc oxide fumes from the still-hot gases.

“From 1952 to 1993 we collected about 90 tons of zinc oxide per day. We were the first-ever copper smelter to do this. In 1960, I believe, the Boliden Smelter in Sweden sent engineers to see our process, and, with the assistance of our engineers, soon had their own fuming plant by 1962,” recalls McDonald, who was pleased to have two papers on post-smelting process-es published in the CIM Journal and presented at CIM general meetings.

As veterans like McDonald exit the copper scene, the way has been well-paved for a new wave of copper enthusiasts. Looking back on his 20 years, McDonald notes that it was his base knowledge of the metal's history that was of utmost importance. As author Charles Williams once said, and McDonald would agree, in order to move forward into the fu-ture you have to know where you've been.

“If I were to give advice to people wishing to get into the copper industry, I'd suggest an area requiring advanced study: continuing the research on developing a new process for pro-ducing copper metal, one without the traditional loss of sulfur dioxide.”

As he looks to the future of the industry, McDonald chal-lenges the industry newcomers to continue the efforts of their predecessors: to determine the source of the copper and tin in certain Bronze Age artifacts, as pioneered by professor George Rapp 40 years ago for copper. It would be a discovery that the retired metallurgist views as a “godsend to archaeologists and prehistorians to solve the mysteries presented by many an-cient bronze objects.”

Perhaps in the near future the many mysteries surrounding copper will, in fact, be uncovered. And on that day, there is no doubt that the hero of this adventure will no doubt have the same genuine gumption as Anthony “Tony” McDonald. Y

As McDonald retired in 1996, the article cites the company as Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting (HBMS). HudBay Inc. came into use after the “S” (smelter) was shut down in 2010.

20 CopperWorks 2013

Coro Mining Corp. (TSX: COP) is a growing junior ex-ploration and development company focused on ad-vancing its copper projects in Chile and Argentina.

These include two drill stage properties, El Desesperado and Payen, with excellent potential for the discovery of major por-phyry copper deposits; San Jorge, a preliminary feasibility study (PFS) stage, copper-gold project in Argentina currently going through permitting; and Berta, a development stage open-pit mineable, heap leach project in Chile that we are ad-vancing to production.

Our exciting El Desesperado project is located in the famous Chuquicamata district of northern Chile; a drill hole com-pleted late last year intersected an oxidised enrichment blan-ket grading 204 metres at 0.55%Cu, and we intend to follow this up with an aggressive diamond drill program in 2013. We see great potential for the discovery of a significant chalcocite blanket and underlying primary sulphides

We acquired our Payen project in late 2012 and we intend to conduct a major drill program this year to further explore at-tractive copper-gold porphyry-style mineralization intersected by a previous operator in early 2012. The property hosts a six-square-kilometre zone of alteration permissive for both a chal-cocite blanket and primary copper-gold mineralization.

We completed a PFS for a 24,000-tonnes-per-year open-pit heap leach operation at San Jorge in mid-2012, and are ad-vancing the project through the Mendoza province permitting process, which we anticipate will be completed in 2013. Due to existing legislation which bans the use of sulphuric acid in Mendoza, the current development plan envisages the trans-port of leachable material some 22 kilometres to a processing plant to be built in the adjacent province of San Juan. An addi-tional permitting process will be required for the plant in San Juan.

The San Jorge leach project has attractive economics based

on measured and indicated resources of leachable material of 58 million tonnes at 0.59%CuT containing 342,600 tonnes of copper, which can be extracted over a mine life of 10 years to produce 223,400 tonnes of copper in cathode. An initial capital cost of $184.5 million, which includes a standalone acid plant to generate all acid requirements and some of the power re-quirement and average cash operating costs in years one to five of $1.26 per pound Cu, return an after-tax NPV10% of $132.7 million and IRR of 29%, using a copper price of $2.80/lb.

The project also has a significant underlying primary sul-phide resource, still open to depth, which could be brought into production once the leachable material has been processed.

Our Berta property hosts a copper oxide resource, which our internal studies to date suggests could be placed into produc-tion at the rate of 5,000 tonnes per year of cathode copper. The in-pit measured and indicated resources for the Berta Sur sec-tor are 6.1 million tonnes at 0.40%CuT with a minimal 0.04:1 stripping ratio. Initial metallurgy indicates quick leach kinetics with low acid consumption. Additional potential is present in the Berta Norte and Central sectors and we anticipate complet-ing a resource estimate for them early in 2013. We are evaluat-ing the incorporation of a small acid plant capable of gener-ating the project's entire acid and power requirements into a feasibility study, which we anticipate completing before the end of this year.

Coro's management team has an enviable track record of making major discoveries, especially in Chile, and we have the capability of taking our projects through to production. We anticipate having a busy and successful year in 2013 and invite you to find out more by visiting our website at www.coromining.com. You can also contact Adam Buchanan at +1-604-682-5546 for further information and to be placed on our mailing list for updates as we continue to grow our company. Y

By Alan Stephens, President and CEO

Coro Mining's exciting South American copper portfolio

Background photo: Coro Mining Corp.'s Berta project, a development stage open-pit mineable, heap leach project in Chile that they are advancing to production.

Payen Copper Gold project, one of two drill stage properties with excellent potential for the discovery of major porphyry copper deposit

EL Desesperado Hole CED-R-4, 204 metres at 0.55%CuT, bottomed in greater than 1% CuT, from the surface.


helping to extend life of copper mines

By David Blann, P.Eng., President, CEO Happy Creek Minerals Ltd.

Rhenium:

A s many porphyry copper mines age, their grades tend to drop, pits get deeper, and costs increase. Even though copper prices are higher, there appears a reluc-

tance to build new copper-dominant mines from scratch, likely due in part to global financial-economic uncertainty, and the enormous capital cost and risk involved. Instead, financial re-sources are being directed at extending the life and profitability of existing mines by squeezing the pennies from every tonne of rock drilled, blasted and processed. The key focus includes increasing throughput, efficiency, and recovery of all metals having potential value in the ore. Rhenium (Re) is one of those metals that could, or in some cases, does make a difference.

Rhenium is a rare metal with several important alloy appli-cations. It is used to strengthen steel for extreme temperatures, such as the new fuel-efficient jet engines, exhaust nozzles, or oil refinery catalytic cracking environments. There's some re-search showing that rhenium combined with boron creates a material harder than diamond.

In porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits, rhenium oc-curs within the mineral molybdenite. The amount of rhenium that is “soaked up” or enriched within molybdenite can vary greatly. Rhenium enrichment tends to be higher in copper-gold-molybdenum-type deposits relative to copper-molybde-num type, and higher in deposits with lower overall molybde-num ore grades (Sinclair, W.D.,Jonasson, I.R., Kirkham, R.V., Soregaroli, A.E., 2009, Rhenium and Other Platinum Group Metals in Porphyry Deposits, GSC Open File 6181). Many ques-tions remain however, as to the origin and habit of this metal.

Production details on minor metals such as rhenium in concentrates are available from some mines, although their economic impact is not generally published. Global supply of rhenium, traditionally recovered from smelter flue stacks, has diminished in response to environmentally driven removal of the stacks. Alternative methods of this metal's recovery are not always practical if the molybdenite is not sufficiently enriched in rhenium, making it even more rare.

When a copper mine produces a molybdenite concen-trate, the rhenium is carried along and concentrated with it. Importantly, the result can be a concentrate with grams to ki-lograms of rhenium in a tonne of molybdenite. The USGS 2010 Minerals Yearbook states: “potential molybdenum producers continued to look at ways to increase the value of future pro-duction since the collapse in the molybdenum price. For some, producing by-product rhenium is a strong possibility.”

What is the impact of having rhenium-enriched molybde-nite? For Happy Creek Minerals Ltd., we have identified strong rhenium enrichment in Zone 2 of the Rateria property in the Highland Valley district of British Columbia. A number of drill holes are calculated to contain between four and nine kilo-gram rhenium per tonne of molybdenite (refer to news releases from February 19, 1010, June 11, 2012, and January 14, 2013). With rhenium prices currently around $4,000 per kilogram, and for demonstrative purpose only, the calculated potential rhenium value in a tonne of pure molybdenite concentrate is about $16,000 to $36,000. This is near to, or exceeds the value of, the molybdenum in this potential concentrate. What would it be if rhenium prices again reached 2007 levels of $9,000 per kilogram?

Zone 2 is still at an early stage of discovery, however, the high rhenium enrichment observed is an encouraging aspect of the project and an important consideration during explo-ration and development. Today, a number of large-producing mines are seen to be upgrading their mills, and some mention increasing molybdenum (and rhenium) recovery. For some mines, rhenium and other minor metals can make a substan-tial contribution to extending mine life and profitability.

For more information contact Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. at 460-789 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, V6C 1H2 Phone: 604-662-8310. Email: [email protected] Website: www.happycreekminerals.com. Y

22 CopperWorks 2013

Copper is one of the main commodities clients ex-plore for with Energold Drilling. Given its diverse application within infrastructures and housing, cop-

per prices stayed at profitable levels compared to production costs. However, with new discoveries becoming more remote, scarce, and demanding socially, as well as environmentally, mining clients have found themselves to be in a difficult situa-tion. How do you maximize your mineral exploration budget?

By turning obstacles into opportunities, Energold has cap-tured this wave of increased social responsibility of projects, and in turn has grown at a spectacular rate with clients that are looking for a balance between reliable drilling results and positive social impact locally.

In Peru, Energold has been successfully drilling for Candente Copper at its Cañariaco project, located in the prov-ince of Lambayeque in the Andes. The team had to overcome difficult terrains that are irrigated by heavy rains and rivers, which make it extremely difficult to drill as the land is both unconsolidated and unstable. With a conventional rig that is both large and immobile, the mobilization cost would have been significantly more and largely inaccessible given the steep and varied nature of the drill program (see drill location map in red dots). With the Energold mobile rig, the crew was able to set up and move easily due to the lightweight and small foot-print of the rig. With Energold Peru on the project as a partner, Candente has drilled over 72,000 metres in and 240 drill holes, achieving a 7.5 billion pounds NI 43-101 compliant resource of copper (Measured and Indicated), plus 1.4B pounds Inferred Porphyry Copper Deposit, developing the Cañariaco into a true world-class copper project.

Energold Drilling, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the largest and fastest growing global drilling con-tractors. It has grown from a humble gold exploration junior

resource company with projects in the Dominican Republic with one rig 10 years ago, to a global commodity exploration powerhouse, with operations and clients in 22 countries en-compassing metals, energy, oil sands, and water. In recogni-tion for this growth, founder and president Fred Davidson was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2012 in the metals and mining sector, as well as other ac-colades such as the Fastest Growing Business in BC, PDAC’s Environmental Excellence in Exploration, and the Toronto Stock Exchange’s Top 50 Venture Companies.

With a list of clients that include the largest global min-ers, such as BHP Biliton, Goldcorp, Barrick and McEwan Mining, to the quality junior companies such as Candente and Goldquest, Energold services a wide range of commodities and complies with the strictest environmental, health, and safety regulations.

Energold’s fleet of 100 modular rigs that can be carried to site and assembled an in hour has revolutionized an industry that used to contract bulldozers and tractors to haul rigs to the site, often destroying farmlands and the local environment. Further, each Energold modular rig employs between 15 to 20 drilling assistants that are hired from local villages, providing valuable transferrable training and skills to the local residents.

Davidson believes that commitment to clients and local partners is key to the success of every program.

“Energold is the largest frontier driller globally, and we are leveraging that successful reputation into conventional, energy, and water drilling. We believe the world will continue to need commodities and our rigs are the most capable when the proj-ects are remote and lacking infrastructure. Our value proposi-tion is clear for clients in maximizing dollars into the ground by saving on helicopters and infrastructures (power lines and road), while building excellent relationship with locals.” Y

Energold Drilling Corp –global specialty mineral drilling contractors

Mexico Drill Project showcasing a mobilized and set up drill operation at 1,500 elevation and no trees cut.

Drilling on the rock surfaces at high altitudes in Chile (salt lake) – over 3,000 metres elevation with jagged rock surfaces and challenging terrains.

Zone 2 Drill HighlightsInterval Cu Mo Ag Re Au

Hole ID metres % % g/t g/t g/tR08-01 113.0 0.33 0.002 1.48 N/A 0.05includes 6.4 1.65 0.017 9.38 5.20 0.03R08-05 126.0 0.46 0.008 1.71 N/A 0.10R09-06 20.2 0.18 0.048 0.80 3.45 0.04R11-36 152.5 0.26 0.008 1.21 0.67 0.07R12-01 92.8 0.30 - 1.5 0.02 0.15R12-02 152.5 0.35 0.004 1.7 0.57 0.06

Zone 1 Drill Highlights Interval Cu Ag

Hole ID metres % g/tR10-12 120.0 0.38 1.49R10-13 145.3 0.25 1.33R11-1 95.0 0.67 3.6R11-6 100.0 0.35 2.2R11-8 250.0 0.25 1.6

R11-11 102.5 0.43 2.9

• 6.5 km from a Producing Pit • 157 sq km Adjoining Canada’s Largest Copper Producer

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