Overview
True North Copper (ASX:TNC) is a responsible explorer, developer and producer of critical minerals.
Based in a tier-one mining jurisdiction (North Queensland, Australia), TNC is focused primarily on copper and cobalt, with its most significant projects – Mt Oxide and Cloncurry – located within the Mt Isa Inlier region, home to several world-class critical minerals projects.
The company’s global measured, indicated and inferred resources contain: 336,200 tonnes copper, 21,890 tonnes cobalt, 88,000 oz gold, 4.31 million ounces (Moz) silver.
TNC commenced trading on the Australian Stock Exchange mid-June 2023, following a reverse takeover merger with exploration company Duke Exploration in February 2023.
Company Highlights
Tier 1 jurisdiction, Queensland-based copper and cobalt exploration and development company with a global measured, indicated and inferred resource containing: 336.2 kt copper, 21.89 kt cobalt, 88 koz gold, 4.31 Moz silver. Key projects located within Australia’s Mt Isa Inlier region, home to some of the country’s most well-known mining projects. Mt Oxide and Cloncurry Projects benefit from low capex, low-cost production. Cloncurry Project – producing copper sulphate, with a projected production of 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes per annum over a 10-year mine life. Exclusive offtake agreement for all Cloncurry-produced copper sulphate with Kanins International. Prices set at LME rate plus a premium. Mining restart studies for the Great Australia Mine finalised – Q3 2023. Mining recommencement decision – Q4 2023. Great Australia Mine drilling and exploration program – extended structurally controlled, down-dip feeder to mineralisation located beneath the GAM Pit, with notable intersections of copper mineralisation. IP survey conducted over the Greater Australian Target identified four high-order IP chargeability anomalies, with compelling targets for future drill testing. Mt Oxide Project’s Vero Resource contains 15.98 Mt at 1.43 percent copper and 6.91 g/t silver combined measured, indicated and inferred resource, and a separate 9.15 Mt at .23 percent cobalt total combined measured, indicated and inferred resource. First hole of an initial diamond drilling program at Vero Resource intersected 66.5 meters at 4.95 percent copper. Assay results returning throughout Q3 2023.Strong ESG focus across all operational elements including: Hitachi Vantara partnership to improve transparency and data capture while realising business savings through artificial intelligence. Leveraging the Queensland government’s Powerlink-led CopperString 2032 project, which is situated less than 5 kilometres from the Cloncurry project. Rehabilitated TNC mining landforms are being transformed into renewable solar energy sources and will feed into the CopperString network.
Image 1: Visual representation of Mt Oxide Project and Cloncurry Project tenements and resources summary
Projects
Mt Oxide Project
Mt Oxide Project is a highly prospective and underexplored asset, featuring significantly sized, high-grade copper with cobalt and silver mineralisation.
Mt Oxide hosts extensive corridors, including the 11-kilometre copper-cobalt-lead-zinc Mt Oxide corridor and the 8-kilometre lead-zinc (copper-cobalt) Big Oxide corridor. Both corridors offer multiple targets for resource expansion. Additionally, the project has considerable development potential, with a long-strike in both directions and resources open-to-depth.
The Vero Resource forms part of the Mt Oxide Project. It is strongly analogous to 29 Metals’ (ASX:29M) Capricorn Copper deposit, which comprises 62.2 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.8 percent copper and 9 grams per tonne (g/t) silver.
Mt Oxide Highlights:
Significant Reserves: Mt Oxide’s mineral reserves include 228,180 tonnes of copper, 21,200 tonnes of cobalt and 4.26 Moz of silver. Extensive Historical Drilling: The Vero Resource has undergone more than 110,000 metres of historical drilling which has helped TNC confirm its prospectivity and potential with a high degree of confidence. Promising High-grade Mineralisation: The Vero Resource is among the most promising targets within Mt Oxide, with 15.98 Mt at 1.43 percent copper, 6.91 g/t silver and 9.15 Mt at 0.23 percent cobalt. Over 75 percent of Vero is in JORC 2012 indicated status or better. Pre-existing Infrastructure: Mt Oxide benefits from the presence of an existing exploration camp as well as proximity to the Capricorn Copper Mine’s processing plant and power grid.Vero Resource Drill Results (see Tables 1 & 2 and Image 2): The first drill hole of an initial diamond drilling program returned exceptional results, including: 66.50 metres at 4.95 percent copper, 32.7 g/t gold and 685 parts per million (ppm) cobalt from 234 metres, including:20.60 metres at 10.51 percent copper, 63 g/t gold and 1,149 ppm cobalt from 234.60 metres. 8.55 metres at 6.03 percent copper, 51.6 g/t gold and 98 ppm cobalt from 290.15 metres11 metres at 3.06 percent copper, 34.2 g/t gold and 682 ppm cobalt from 357.50 metres, including:4 metres at 6 percent copper, 63.7 g/t gold and 544 ppm cobalt from 357.50 metres.8.55 metres at 6.16 percent copper, 45.9 g/t gold and 140 ppm cobalt from 172.50 metres including:2.80 metres at 14.74 percent copper, 102.5 g/t gold and 54 ppm cobalt from 178.25 metres.
Table 1: MOXD217 significant copper, silver and cobalt geological intercept.
Table 2: MOXD217 significant copper, silver and cobalt intercepts at a 3 percent copper cutoff with 2-metre internal dilution.
Image 2: Cross-section of MOXD217 (10 m clipping window) showing the location of geological and grade composites as well as the updated interpretation of copper grade domains based on the results from MOXD217
Cloncurry Project
Project Highlights:
Fully Permitted: The Great Australia Mine is permitted for compliant, sustainable copper oxide and sulphide production (see Image 3).Extensive Mineral Reserves: Roughly 90 percent of the Cloncurry Project’s 2012 JORC defined resources are situated on granted mining leases for which TNC has all necessary approvals in place. project’s global JORC 2012 compliant resources include 79,040 tonnes of copper, 47,720 oz of gold and 1,860 tonnes of cobalt.Mining restart: Mining restart studies for the Great Australia Mine finalised – Q3 2023. Mining recommencement decision – Q4 2023. Great Australia Mine drilling and exploration: Great Australia Mine drilling and exploration program – extended structurally controlled, down-dip feeder to mineralisation located beneath the GAM Pit, with notable intersections of copper mineralisation. IP survey conducted over the Greater Australian Target identified four high-order IP chargeability anomalies, with compelling targets for future drill testing. Multiple Exploration Targets: High-quality exploration targets on granted mining leases within Cloncurry Project include: Wallace Complex: An undeveloped project within trucking distance to the Great Australia Mine, significant exploration potential and multiple high-grade intersections, including: 12.7 metres at 3.47 percent copper and 1.82 g/t gold from 37.3 metres. 15.9 metres at 2.45 percent copper and 1.98 g/t gold from 68.1 metres. 19 metres at 2.09 percent copper and 0.74 g/t gold from 29 metres.Notlor: An advanced exploration prospect with significant copper intersections along a 2-kilometre trend approximately 9 kilometres from the Great Australia Mine Complex. Mt Norma: A deposit located 40 kilometres by road from the Great Australia Mine Complex. Its total combined inferred and indicated resources are 158,000 tonnes at 1.89 percent copper comprising 91,000 tonnes at 1.76 percent copper and 15.46 g/t silver in situ material. There is also a separate resource of 67,000 tonnes at 2.08 percent copper for out-of-ground heap leach pad and stockpiled material.Infrastructure and adjacent community: Cloncurry is located in close proximity to the Cloncurry township. It also benefits from rail connectivity, sealed roads and affordable grid power.
Image 3: Visual representation of Great Australia Mine complex resources and processing facilities.
Image 4: Cross Sections X-X’ through the 3D IP Chargeability Model showing the high-order chargeability anomaly associated with the Taipan Resource and new anomalies identified in the Greater Australian Target Area
Management Team
Marty Costello – Managing Director
Marty Costello is recognised as one of Australia’s leading project development and sustainability strategists across the resource sector, with more than 20 years of professional experience.
After working for several companies and government departments (domestic and international) managing, developing and implementing environment, sustainability and risk (ESR) programs and policies he established his own environmental consultancy – Northern Resource Consultants (NRC).
In the space of nine years, Costello developed NRC into an industry specialist with more than 25 employees focusing on environmental management and sustainability solutions for the resource sector. NRC delivered agile, best practice ESR strategies and multi-disciplinary environmental and sustainability services for clients like Evolution Mining, Futura, Sojitz, Adani, Red River Resources, CU River Mining, and others.
In 2018, NRC was acquired by SLR, a global leader in environmental and sustainability solutions. The acquisition facilitated considerable additional capability and geographic coverage to SLR’s existing mining and minerals in Asia Pacific business. During his consulting life, Costello was retained by Evolution Mining over an eight-year period to provide strategic project development, ESG advice to the board and executive management team.
Costello holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (environmental management) and Diploma of Applied Science.
Peter Brown – Chief Operating Officer
Peter Brown has held senior management roles in the resources sector, both domestically and internationally, including recent positions at Round Oak Minerals and Diatreme Resources where he oversaw project development and operations. Brown has diverse experience and an impressive track record that demonstrates his ability to successfully deliver projects and foster positive relationships with all project stakeholders.
He has managed discovery programs for gold, copper and chromite in South America, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia, including government and community relations. He also drove improvements and provided training in mine geology, resource evaluation and mine technical services at prominent mines such as Mt Muro Gold Mine, George Fisher Mine and Peak Gold Mines. Additionally, Brown played a significant role in reviving abandoned satellite projects at Peak Gold Mines.
Other achievements include successfully re-permitting and constructing of the 1-Moz Toka Tindung Gold Mine in Indonesia as director of Indonesian companies and general manager at Archipelago Resources; leading the permitting, engineering redesign and construction of the 0.8-Moz Mt Carlton Gold Mine in Queensland; the successful development of Mt Carlton and Pajingo projects, which contributed to the establishment of Evolution Mining; and recommissioning and developing a number of mining projects in the Mount Isa and Cloncurry region.
Rajesh Padmanabhan – Chief Financial Officer
Rajesh Padmanabhan is a highly skilled and experienced CPA-qualified accountant with expertise across a myriad of financial operations. He has many years of corporate governance experience as an executive team member across a variety of roles including as company secretary of an unlisted public company.
Throughout his career, Padmanabhan has held key finance management roles in mining and construction companies, including Constance Iron, Tablelands Mining Group, Barrick Australia (Porgera Operations) and Mastermyne Group (ASX:MYE).
Padmanabhan has more than 30 years’ experience managing company-wide financial operations, implementing streamlined financial processes, ensuring tax compliance and conducting financial analysis to support decision-making. His commitment to delivering results and his ability to navigate complex financial landscapes make him an integral part of the True North Copper team.
Padmanabhan is also an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and recently completed a certificate in governance and risk management from the Governance Institute of Australia.
Sven Sewell – Sustainability & Net Zero Manager
Sven Sewell has over 25 years’ experience working in a range of environmental fields, including environmental consulting, environmental regulation and within the industry.
For the 15 years prior to joining TNC, Sewell held senior environmental positions at several operating mines across northern Australia. At those operations, he was generally the most senior environment, responsible for all aspects of permitting, compliance, rehabilitation and general environmental management. Sewell’s experience in northern Australian mines includes several new and established gold, uranium and bauxite operations.
Sewell holds a BSc (with honours) in environmental science.
Michelle Ellis — Cloncurry Projects Exploration Manager
Michelle Ellis retains over 15 years’ mineral exploration, resource and mining experience predominantly in iron-oxide-copper-gold deposits and terrains across South Australia and Northwest Queensland.
Over the past 11 years, she has actively explored a range of commodities and deposit styles throughout the Mount Isa Inlier.
Ellis has an MSc in economic geology, MSc in environmental management and BSc in applied science – geoscience, and is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Rhonda Freeman – Group Manager (Human Resources)
Rhonda Freeman has more than 18 years’ experience attracting top talent, fostering employee development and helping organisations develop safe and supportive work environments. She has worked extensively across the resource sector, including for large national-wide drilling companies.
Freeman has worked for mining companies across a variety of geological settings including brown coal, black coal, uranium, mineral sands and oil & gas. She brings a diverse skill set specific to the resource sector, having worked across all commercial aspects of drilling operations including as an exploration manager.
Freeman has also developed a number of QA and HSE systems for different projects.