TMH: Marimaca Copper Corp. (TSX:MARI) is a well-oiled machine, attributing its success to a strong board and two private equity backers at the vanguard of mining investment.
Here with us today to talk about Marimaca’s new copper discovery in Chile, is the head of corporate development, Nico Cookson.
Before we get on to your most recent announcement, could you break down for us the advantages of being located in the Antofagasta region of Chile, and explain your low-cost, high-margin processing model?
NC: Of course. One of the key value attributes of Marimaca is just the project’s location and what that means for access to infrastructure. So, we are located in the Antofagasta region but the project’s location itself means we are very close to all the required infrastructure needed to build a copper mine. So that’s power, water, skilled mining workforces and close to both the major mining hubs of Antofagasta and the town of Mejillones.
TMH: Yesterday you announced a C$20 million equity investment by Mitsubishi Corporation; can you sum up why Mitsubishi is investing in Marimaca, and what this means for the company going forward?
NC: Yesterday we announced a Canadian $20 million strategic investment from Mitsubishi Corporation. Mitsubishi is one of the leading and most highly respected strategic copper investors in Latin America and their existing portfolio speaks to this, and I think Mitsubishi recognized a lot of the key attributes that I just mentioned when it comes to Marimaca in terms of what drives value for the project being so close to infrastructure and what that means for execution risk and also our timeline to production, which relative to our corporate development peers is relatively near term. We’re targeting delivery of first copper by the end of 2027.
TMH: And how does Marimaca intend to use the proceeds of the investment?
NC: So the proceeds from the Mitsubishi investment will be used to continue to de-risk the project and what that means is accelerating into our definitive feasibility study workstream, as well as the permitting workstreams that are currently ongoing right now and these two items very much represent our critical path towards moving towards a construction decision at Marimaca.
TMH: Operationally, the company reported in December that it is looking into sulphide exploration at the Marimaca Oxide Deposit. How has this work been unfolding?
NC: That’s correct. The project as defined to date is an oxide project, which means we mine and leach copper from oxide mineralization producing a copper cathode. At the end of last year, we released some very exciting exploration results from below the oxide cap. The first time we had intersected sulfides at the Marimaca deposit. So, in the first and second quarter of this year, we’ve been completing a small follow-up exploration program on these initial sulfide intersections. So, we’re waiting on final assays from that program, and it’ll be released to the market accordingly once we have those back.
TMH: You’re also currently working through permitting workstreams. Are you able to divulge any details of the permits the company is focusing its efforts on?
NC: Correct. So, we are working towards our project permit submission targeting end of this year for that submission end of 2023, early 2024 and what that basically means is all of the data collection and all of the preliminary engineering work that will inform that permitting submission. So that’s been a core focus for the company on top of both the infill and exploration drilling programs for the last 12 months and for the next 12 months.
TMH: Anything you would like to add about the company I forgot to ask about?
NC: No, I think once again to reiterate, we’re very happy to have brought one of the pre-eminent corporate investors being Mitsubishi Corp. on board and we’re excited for accelerating into the continued de-risking events being the definitive feasibility study and the permitting workstreams.
TMH: It’s been a pleasure; thanks for speaking with us today, Nico.
To learn more about Marimaca Copper Corp., go to marimaca.com.
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