(Kitco News) - NorthIsle Copper and Gold CEO Sam Lee is hoping British Columbia returns to its copper roots.
Last month Lee spoke to Kitco at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference 2023. Lee's company is focused on a target near a closed BHP Billiton copper mine on north Vancouver Island.
Before global copper production was dominated by the big South American copper mines that gained their stride in the latter half of last century, Lee noted that B.C. was a key copper producer.
"It was a very prolific region back in the '70s," said Lee. "Most people don't know this, but the mine used to be a top five copper producer in the world and then of course everything migrated down to South America in the '70s, '80s and '90s when you had assets like Escondido."
NorthIsle Copper and Gold (CVE:NCX) is focused on copper-gold porphyry deposits on northern Vancouver Island. The company recently completed an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its 100%-owned North Island Project. Highlights of the 2021 PEA were an after-tax of C$1.1 billion net present value at US$ 3.25/lb Cu. Initial capital is C$1.4bn over a 2-year construction period. Annual production for the first six years is 112mlb Cu; 112koz Au and 2.7mlb Mo.
The company is now working on its pre-feasibility study.
Due to the old mine, the infrastructure is good with roads, power and ports all accessible. The project is a short drive from the community of Port Hardy.
With the trend of onshoring bringing resource production back to North America, Lee hopes that his project will find favor.
Coverage of Vancouver Resource Investors Conference 2023 sponsored by First Mining Gold.
