Faraday Copper $73M raise and San Manuel deal: project scale lens for mine planners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Faraday Copper is raising C$100 million via a private placement of up to 23.81 million shares at C$4.20, fully backed by the Lundin Family Trusts and BHP Group, to fund its Arizona copper portfolio and costs tied to acquiring BHP’s San Manuel property. The all‑share San Manuel deal gives BHP 30% of Faraday (about C$300 million implied value) and consolidates San Manuel, a former block cave and open‑pit mine with an estimated 14 billion lb. copper, with the 422 Mt Copper Creek porphyry (0.48% CuEq). Haywood now models a combined district producing 100,000–150,000 t/y copper for decades, lifting its target to C$5.50 as Faraday’s market cap hits C$1.13 billion.
Technical Brief
- Placement priced at C$4.20 per share, matching market open, with closing targeted by 11 March.
- BMO had previously modelled only C$45 million at C$3.00 per share, indicating materially stronger funding terms.
- Copper Creek hosts a 3 km-long porphyry system with 422 Mt measured and indicated at 0.48% CuEq.
- Historic San Manuel block cave–open pit complex produced over 4.5 Mt of copper between 1955 and 1999.
- San Manuel’s current 14 billion lb copper inventory is non‑NI 43‑101 compliant and lacks recent exploration data.
- BHP’s 30% equity consideration includes anti‑dilution rights to participate in future raises, stabilising long-term funding.
Our Take
With Copper Creek’s 422 Mt at 0.48% CuEq sitting in the mid-grade range for US porphyry copper, the implied C$300M valuation for BHP’s 30% stake signals that large strategics are now willing to pay up for sizeable but not tier‑one grades in politically stable jurisdictions like Arizona.
The proximity of the historic San Manuel operation, which produced 4.5 Mt of copper and hosts a large non‑compliant resource, gives Faraday an unusual option set for staged development or future district consolidation, rather than relying on a single greenfield build at Copper Creek.
Among the 1,077 Mining stories in our database, relatively few US copper developers have crossed the C$1B market‑cap mark pre‑construction, suggesting Faraday’s move into that bracket will likely change its peer group, research coverage, and cost of capital dynamics going forward.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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