In a significant reversal, Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. now says it will initially export all unrefined copper concentrate produced at its proposed Copper World mining complex rather than converting the concentrate into refined copper on site for sale to U.S. markets.
“100% of the copper produced at Copper World during the first (four) years will be in the form of concentrate and sold externally,” Hudbay states in a Sept. 9 Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) technical report required by Canadian securities regulations.
However, what Hudbay is now telling regulators and investors about its production plans is not what it is telling the public through its website, where the company continues to state that Copper World will be dedicated to producing finished copper for U.S. markets.
“The Copper World Complex has been designed to meet the growing copper demand in the U.S. through the onsite production of “Made in America” copper cathode, which is expected to be sold entirely to domestic U.S. customers,” Hudbay’s website states.
No difference at the Hermosa Mine in the Patagonia Mountains. Why give away AZ resources to have foreign nations make all the money abroad? AZ today is a semiconductor power house where billions of dollars are invested every year to add more value with a gallon of water than any other commodity industry while creating tens of thousands of jobs, not a few hundred. Critical minerals can be found anywhere where there is less damage done to public health and environment while demand always disappears because of less critical alternatives, like replacing manganese based EV batteries with lithium iron phosphate ones. Damage due to such opportunistic endeavors is the price to be paid when lobbyists run the government and dictate local supervisors.
IT IS TIME FOR THE US AUTHORITIES TO STEP IN AND DECLARE COPPER A STRATEGIC METAL WHEREBY ALL COPPER CONCENTRATES FROM THROUGHOUT THE USA CAN NOT BE EXPORTED FOR SALE TO TO THIRD PARTIES FOR REFINING AND PROCESSING . HUDBAY CAN BUILD AN ELECTROLYTIC FACILITY TO TREAT THEIR CONCENTRATE AND THEREBY PRODUCE SEMI REFINED COPPER METAL . A SIMILAR PROCESS WAS USED BY NORANDA’S GASPE MINE IN CANADA . HUDBAY IS LOOKING FOR THE WAY THAT SUITES THEM BEST . CONCENTRATES ARE SOLD FOR CASH RETURNS AND NO FURTHER INVESTMENT COSTS . IF THE US IS SERIOUS ABOUT ITS STRATEGIC METALS INVENTORY , THEY MUST BUILD IT FROM WITHIN THE COUNTRY .