Marimaca Copper Corp. reported a C$20 million ($15.1 million) equity investment by Mitsubishi Corp. by way of a non-brokered private placement. The company said the proceeds will be used to advance and accelerate the development of the company’s Marimaca copper project located in Chile’s Antofagasta region.
“This investment is a strong endorsement of the quality of the Marimaca project from an exceptionally well-respected and established stakeholder in the Chilean copper industry,” said Hayden Locke, president and CEO, Marimaca Copper.
Mitsubishi’s investment will de-risk the next phase of development and provide funding to accelerate progress toward a definitive feasibility study and permitting, Locke explained.
The Marimaca project has the potential to deliver a meaningful new supply of copper in the near term, explained Taro Abe, general manager, base metals for Mitsubishi Corp. “Of particular importance to us are the sustainability credentials of the project, which we believe will be a source of very low carbon intensity copper,” Abe said.
During May, Marimaca updated its mineral resource estimate for the Marimaca oxide deposit, which incorporates 28,374 m of new drilling data. The company has completed 139,164 m of drilling since discovery in 2016. Total measured and indicated resources currently stand at 200.3 million metric tons (mt) at 0.45% copper for 900,000 mt of contained copper. Of that, 0.24% or 488,000 mt is acid soluble.
The company also recently appointed José Antonio Merino as managing director, Chile and interim CFO. Prior to joining Marimaca, Merino served as general manager of business development for SQM, one of the world’s largest lithium producers, which is also based in Chile.
