Hercules hires Hudbay deal team: Leviathan copper project lens for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Hercules Metals has hired former Arizona Sonoran Copper CEO George Ogilvie and six ex-colleagues who led the Cactus project to a US$1.4 billion sale to Hudbay, tasking them with advancing the Leviathan porphyry copper discovery in Idaho. Leviathan’s system has been drilled over more than 1 km strike, up to 750 m width and 500 m vertical extent, with discovery hole HER-23-05 returning 185 m at 0.84% Cu including 45 m at 1.94% Cu, beneath an epithermal silver system. Barrick-backed Hercules controls 404.7 sq. km along a 73-km copper belt with surface mining rights, road access and three 260 kV transmission lines crossing the property, but no resource or economic study yet, giving the new team a blank technical slate.
Technical Brief
- Discovery hole HER-23-05 also reported 111 ppm Mo and 2.6 g/t Ag, ending in mineralisation.
- Hercules estimates current drilling has tested only ~20% of the Leviathan porphyry target footprint.
- Leviathan was identified in 2023 beneath an overlying epithermal silver system, implying stacked mineralisation styles.
- Site lies near Cambridge, roughly two hours by road from Boise, simplifying future logistics and workforce access.
- Surface tenure includes mining rights plus existing roads and three 260 kV transmission lines crossing the property.
- Barrick-backed consolidation assembled 404.7 sq. km along a 73 km copper belt, enabling district-scale targeting.
- Incoming team previously raised >US$300 million to advance the Cactus copper project before Hudbay’s acquisition.
- Cactus’ 2025 resource totalled 1.04 Bt M&I at 0.48% Cu plus 211.7 Mt inferred at 0.37% Cu.
- Hercules granted 18.65 million five-year options at C$0.59, equal to ~5.4% of current shares.
- Management split assigns Paul to exploration drilling while Ogilvie’s group leads resource definition, studies, permitting and financing.
Our Take
The 16-fold value uplift achieved at Arizona Sonoran’s Cactus project, under the same executive group now at Hercules Metals, signals that Leviathan’s early drill profile and 73 km belt position are likely being framed for a similar ‘resource growth plus de-risking’ rerate path rather than a quick flip.
Idaho copper projects are relatively under-represented in our copper- and silver-tagged coverage compared with Arizona, so Leviathan’s 404.7 sq km land consolidation along a defined belt could make Hercules one of the few regionally scaled copper names competing with Arizona-focused developers for US domestic supply narratives.
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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