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Simon Brown: We're chatting with Jan Nelson, CEO of Copper 360. Jan, thank you for your time today. Recent flair from yourself – you've been doing surface sampling drills. Frankly speaking, we found very high-grade copper deposits. It is located right next to the historic Tweefontein Mine.
Jan Nelson: Simon, yes, you're right. I don't think South Africa is really known for having a lot of surface copper deposits, but this is the second deposit we're drilling and we're seeing an amazing surface copper deposit with great copper values. Found it. So that's really, really good for us.
Simon Brown: When you say “on the surface”, are you literally scratching the surface, or does the mining represent a very shallow depth?
Jan Nelson: I think it's both. This means it is on the surface, so you can start mining from the surface. But these deposits, as we have drilled, are opening up much deeper. And those are pretty big deposits. They are large, 50m x 400m ore bodies, down for 400m, and open-ended.
Simon Brown: That's one thing. It is adjacent to the Tweefontein mine, which was mined from the 1930s to his 1940s. I think it ended around 1950. [with a] Recovery rate is approximately 25%. We know there is copper in the Northern Cape because we were mining it decades and centuries ago.
Jan Nelson: yes. It was actually in the Northern Cape that modern humans discovered the first minerals in South Africa. It was a copper deposit in the north, long before diamonds, gold and platinum. This was a major copper district. At one stage, Goldfields and Newmont sunk a 2,000 meter shaft at the historic Carrollsburg Mine here.
Simon Brown: I didn't know that copper prices were falling so much. Of course, we talked when you came to market with his IPO. You are already in production and have actually increased tonnage and grade at the SX-EW mine. Again, there are really good mineral deposits in this area.
Jan Nelson: Yes, the business has evolved in two parts. The first part was all loose rock left by previous mining companies that mined here and was never really repaired. We found that copper was present in those loose rock dumps. Currently, it is being processed at the SX-EW factory, which manufactures copper plates.
However, we are currently in the process of bringing our own plant, a concentrate plant, into operation. We also purchased the building next door which also has a concentrate plant. It will process sulfite ore from the Rietberg mine. Therefore, we produce copper concentrate from mines, and then copper plates from loose rock at the surface of the earth.
Simon Brown: Why were these mines abandoned? Reminds me of the Gold Fields mine. I think it was around the 90s, and I think that was probably when things were moving forward. Was it because they didn't have the technology? Perhaps gold would have been more exciting?
Jan Nelson: No, I think two things happened. Copper prices obviously fell significantly during this period. And I think from the perspective of Gold Fields and those companies, they're mining on a fairly large scale in order to maintain their overhead structure and the overall structure of the company. Therefore, the mines needed to be of a certain scale for them, and I don't think the mines that were left were large enough to continue.
But certainly, for a young company of our nature, mining at lower rates and focusing on grade rather than volume, we still have huge reserves. So I think they definitely have the technology to deal with these mines. But I think it was a matter of low copper prices, and exploration stopped because these mines weren't of some significant size.
That has continued for the past 15 years under our chairman, Shirley Hayes. Many new discoveries have been made and they are now part of the ore body that we are tracking again.
Simon Brown: If I remember correctly, even when we went public, we were expecting to produce around 15,000 tons within about three years. My sense is that if you read the Sens announcement, the results that came out late last year, you're going to blow it away. It may not take three years, but it will probably increase production over time.
Jan Nelson: Simon, yes. Because the Rietberg mine is bigger than we expected and we have these surface deposits and one or two other big challenges, we think we can increase our copper production within the next three years. thinking about. Up to approximately 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of copper metal will be produced on an annual basis. It will be a big change. But it's because of these large surface deposits that we're getting on the surface that it's easier and cheaper to mine.
However, the results are also amazing. Some sampling was performed at 17%. Wheal Julia has 4-8% copper on the surface.
Simon Brown: And you're already producing. It's still early days and there's a lot more to come. However, you are the one who manufactures and sells it.
Jan Nelson: correct. We are currently selling and manufacturing copper plates. The first copper concentrate plant will be operational from the beginning of next week, and a month later his second plant will be operational again. We therefore aim to produce around 10,000 tonnes of copper metal over the next 12 months. That will be our first milestone.Then raise it to about 30 [000] Over the next two years.
Simon Brown: We've done some fundraising. Have you had enough? Obviously, there's a lot going on. Work in progress. You turn to the Rietberg mine to redesign and reimagine its processing plant. How do you view the city at this point?
Jan Nelson: very good. Since the company went public, he has raised a further R350 million, approximately 80% of which is in debt, so he has been careful not to dilute shareholders. And now we have about R600 million more in facilities. So we have about R800 million in available facilities, which will be applied over the next two years in terms of our capital growth programme.
So we have enough money to do what we need to do over the next two to three years.
Simon Brown: And looking at copper more broadly, going back to the PwC Mine 2023 report, they list copper as one of six metals critical to the global economy. I'm wondering if all this artificial intelligence has copper in the chips that Nvidia makes.
Jan Nelson: Absolutely correct. A lot has been said about things like lithium and manganese in batteries, and rightfully so, but everything needs electricity, and copper carries electricity. Copper is a key element in infrastructure development and electric vehicles, but the world simply doesn't have enough of it.
The recent closure of just one copper mine in South America due to safety concerns caused the price of copper to soar by about $500 a ton, and suddenly the world was once again in a massive deficit. That's why the copper market is so volatile in terms of supply and demand. In other words, there is not enough copper. And, as I said earlier, copper carries electricity, and everything needs electricity.
Simon Brown: yes. I remember a long time ago when my science teacher said, “Copper carries electricity.'' The periodic table is indisputable. ”And you absolutely can’t do that.
The final question is logistics. There are a lot of miners who are struggling with logistics, Transnet, etc. Is it a challenge? Could that have been avoided somehow? You're doing bulk-type products. You talk about tons, not grams.
Jan Nelson: we are very lucky. The first thing I would like to say is that all of our operations are located in Springbok, Northern Cape, and our head office is in Cape Town. Now, there is not a single pothole on the road we drive from Cape Town to the Springbok mines. Therefore, the infrastructure is very good.
But we are lucky in terms of stealing that the robbers who concentrate on taking our copper plates come to the mine gate and take it. So if they drive out of the mine gate, it's no longer our problem.
But the infrastructure is great all the way from Saldanha to Cape Town, so we're lucky there. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about transporting materials past the mine gates.
Simon Brown: I hear you. They come to pick it up and it's their responsibility to get the truck.
Leave it as is. Copper 360 CEO, Jan Nelson, thank you for your time.
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