With copper prices rising to fresh multi-year highs, many major mining companies are looking for the next big copper deposit in a safe tier-1 mining jurisdiction. Barrick CEO Mark Bristow stated that his company is underinvested in Canada and actively looking to acquire tier-1 or tier-2 assets in the country. In addition, exploration expenditures in the Canadian province of British Columbia are increasingly shifting towards copper as the base metal stands to benefit from the electrical vehicle revolution and infrastructure stimulus programs across the globe.
Yesterday, Goldman Sachs proclaimed the dawn of a new commodity super cycle, and UK consultancy Roskill expects that global copper demand will grow from a little under 30 million tonnes in 2020 to 38 million tonnes by 2030, an increase of 28%. With copper recently moving back above US$3.50/lb and forecasts pointing to demand increasing further over the coming years, it’s safe to say that the next big copper discovery in a tier-1 jurisdiction will find a slew of bidders.
Depending upon who you ask the copper supply/demand balance is set to go into a large deficit sometime between 2024 and 2026:
And without new mine supply coming online that deficit is poised to only grow wider over the next decade:
Source: CD Fund
Copper is undeniably in a major long term bull market that is poised to only gain steam over the next decade. This puts a premium on copper assets, especially copper assets in premium mining jurisdictions.
This brings me to Libero Copper & Gold (TSX-V:LBC, OTC: LBCMF) Libero is a junior mining company that is focused on acquiring copper deposits and exploration assets in the Americas. The company’s projects include both Big Red, a new copper-gold discovery in British Columbia, Canada and the Mocoa copper-molybdenum deposit in Colombia. A pit constrained resource at Mocoa contains 636 million tonnes of 0.45% copper equivalent at a cut-off of 0.25% copper equivalent containing 4.6 billion pounds of copper and 511 million pounds of molybdenum. Libero is planning on drilling Mocoa this year to expand mineralization along strike and at depth. Regional copper anomalies will also be drilled for the first time as porphyries typically occur in groups. Mocoa is in the Jurassic porphyry belt which also holds the Mirador mine and Solaris’ Waritza deposit.
However, Big Red is the main topic of this article, as it comprises 20 contiguous claims totaling 26,000 hectares in northwestern British Columbia. Located in the Golden Triangle (70 kilometers north of Galore Creek and 100 kilometers west of Red Chris), it is a geological province of impressive copper and gold mineralization. Some of the most famous mines in Canada are in the Golden Triangle, including Premier, Red Chris, Snip, Brucejack and Eskay Creek.
Copper and gold, epithermal gold and silver and volcanogenic massive sulfide styles of mineralization have all been recognized at Big Red, which indicates a large mineralized system has been preserved from erosion. The primary copper-gold targets are peripheral to a distinct large magnetic-high feature and coincide with a radiometric potassium anomaly, copper, gold, silver and molybdenum anomalies and a mapped Jurassic aged porphyry intrusion.
Although the area has been explored since the 1800s, this is the first time the entire project has been consolidated under one operator. Successful sampling programs have been undertaken the past six decades on individual claims. Thirty five assessment reports have identified multiple copper and gold and epithermal gold targets.
Once, a five-year exploration permit for geophysics and drilling was received in September 2019, Libero's initial work program included prospecting over a large area, continuous rock chip samples, and a ZTEM electromagnetic airborne survey. Of the nearly 900 surface samples Libero collected from the exploration of the property, 19 target areas with anomalous gold-silver-copper (and other pathfinder elements) were identified. Libero's samples, in addition to the 3,671 historical samples, were analyzed for a suite of 35 elements, allowing for multi-element characterization of anomalies.
These targets were further advanced with detailed mapping and sampling during 2020 with an initial drill program of 24 holes over 3,500 meters.
Two weeks ago, Libero released results from the first hole drilled into the Terry copper porphyry target at Big Red and the results are highly encouraging. Hole BR-20-022 intersected 24.38 meters grading 0.38% copper, 0.06 g/t gold, and 2.22 g/t silver (0.45% CuEq) from surface. This hole was mineralized throughout but was lost at only 24 meters depth. Hole BR-20-023 re-drilled the hole to a depth of 120 meters. Assays for five additional holes at Terry are pending, the longest of which tests down to a depth of 183 meters. Preliminary on-site XRF measurements carried about by Libero indicates that the remaining holes are mineralized throughout with comparable grades and further substantiate the scale and grade of this new discovery.
Assays are expected next week from the remaining five holes at Big Red. If the results do indeed confirm a new, and potentially economic porphyry discovery at Big Red, then I expect the summer 2021 exploration season at Big Red to get a lot of attention in the junior mining sector.
Libero's Big Red porphyry copper-gold discovery in British Columbia's Golden Triangle
In addition to the rich historical exploration of the Golden Triangle and recent success in Big Red’s sampling, Libero is led by an experienced team. CEO Ian Slater has over twenty years of experience in the mining industry, particularly as an entrepreneur who has founded numerous companies. Previously, Slater was the Managing Partner of both Ernst & Young's Canadian and Arthur Andersen's Central Asian Mining Practices. He is also a Chartered Accountant.
The board of directors includes Rob Pease who was head of global projects at Placer Dome and built the Mt. Milligan porphyry copper project in BC. And Bill Bennet who served as the Minister of Mines in BC for 16 years.
Thomas Mumford, Ph.D, P. Geo, has recently joined to supervise the 2021 Big Red drilling program. Dr. Mumford has years of experience managing drill programs in the Golden Triangle including as VP Exploration at Scottie Resources.
I have purchased Libero shares on the open market and believe the company’s current US$10 million market cap does not fully value the potential that exists at Big Red and Mocoa.
Disclosure: Author owns shares of Libero Copper & Gold at the time of publishing and may choose to buy or sell at any time without notice. Author has been compensated for marketing services by Libero Copper & Gold Corp.
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