Faraday’s 18B-lb Arizona copper district: design, capex and risk notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Faraday Copper is acquiring BHP’s former San Manuel mine in Arizona, consolidating it with the adjacent Copper Creek project into a district-scale copper play targeting more than 18 billion lb. of contained metal and potential output of about 150,000 tonnes of copper per year over 40+ years. The San Manuel package includes a past-producing operation that milled roughly 800 million tonnes at 0.66% Cu, 109 sq. km of private land, existing rail, gas and power, and a water-supply agreement, but no surviving core, forcing at least 23,000 metres of confirmation drilling starting Q4 2026. Faraday plans two open pits and two underground mines using shared processing and infrastructure on the rehabilitated San Manuel site, funded initially from its C$126 million cash and term deposits, with BHP to hold 30% on a fully diluted basis and a right to a board seat.
Technical Brief
- Historical dataset comprises ~440,000 m of drilling, with core discarded, forcing complete re-drilling for classification.
- San Manuel previously processed ~800 Mt at 0.66% Cu, producing >4.5 Mt copper before closure in 1999.
- Copper Creek PEA (May 2023) reports 421.9 Mt M&I at 0.45% Cu plus 83.6 Mt inferred at 0.34% Cu.
- Recent Copper Creek campaign completed 88 holes totalling 22,510 m, paused in June due to acquisition and summer storms.
- Development sequence envisages initial oxide processing at San Manuel, then Copper Creek open pits, followed by underground from Copper Creek and San Manuel–Kalamazoo.
- Faraday held $94.2 M cash and $32 M term deposits at 30 June, funding work programmes into early 2028.
- Ownership post-deal: BHP ~30% fully diluted with board nomination right; Lundin family trusts ~18% equity.
Our Take
The March US$100 million financing backed by BHP and Lundin family trusts, referenced in the 23 February 2026 related piece, effectively pre-funds Faraday Copper’s next drill and study phase at Copper Creek while locking in two long-term, technically sophisticated shareholders for the 18-billion-lb Arizona district build-out.
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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