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US preps $1.1B loan for Ivanhoe’s Santa Cruz copper project

Blair McBride | August 24, 2026


A view of the drill site at Ivanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz copper project. Credit: Ivanhoe Electric

Ivanhoe Electric (NYSE-A, TSX: IE) has inched towards receiving $1.1 billion in debt financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to develop its Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona.

The bank increased its potential loan for Santa Cruz by a third compared with a letter of interest from April last year, Ivanhoe reported Monday. The new letter represents the completion of U.S. EXIM’s preliminary due diligence on the project, about 65 km southeast of Phoenix.

“Our country has entered an extraordinary era of demand growth for copper, which is central to all forms of electricity generation, transmission and consumption as well as advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and our national security,” Ivanhoe Electric Executive Chairman Robert Frieldland said in a release.

“At Santa Cruz, we are building a modern American copper mine capable of producing 99.9% pure copper metal, without a smelting process, to support American industry and supply chain security. We appreciate U.S. EXIM’s strong support and will continue to work together as we develop our Santa Cruz Project into America’s next major copper producer.”

Follows Trump support
The EXIM letter comes just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly voiced support for financing Santa Cruz at an Aug. 7 mining roundtable at the State Department. The project could become one of the first major new U.S. copper mines in almost 20 years and comes with an estimated initial cost of $1.24 billion according to last year’s preliminary feasibility study (PFS).

Company shares gained 1% to $16.03 apiece on Monday morning in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of $11.04 to $28.81.

Ivanhoe Electric CEO Taylor Melvin called the EXIM letter a “major milestone” for the project financing process.

“We look forward to working together with the outstanding team at US EXIM towards completion of our debt financing facility.”

September feasibility update
Ivanhoe expects to complete an updated preliminary feasibility study for Santa Cruz next month. The update is to incorporate the plans for underground mine access using a tunnel boring machine and other engineering and development work.

Santa Cruz could produce 72,000 tonnes of copper annually during the first 15 years of a 23-year life, according to the PFS. At $4.25-per-lb. copper, it estimated an after-tax net present value of $1.4 billion, a 20% internal rate of return and cash operating costs of $1.32 per pound.

Site prep
Crews have started clearing roads, building fences and preparing the portal excavation at the site, Melvin told The Northern Miner earlier this month. Box-cut construction is expected to start soon, ahead of the arrival and assembly of the tunnel-boring machine in the first half of next year.

The company plans to start driving the decline in mid-2027 and reach the copper reserve about a year later. Ivanhoe hopes to place the first ore on its leach pads in the second half of 2028 and produce its first cathode in the first half of 2029, Melvin said. Surface work on the crushing, leaching and cathode plants would proceed in tandem with underground development.

Ivanhoe has secured its mine-land reclamation, air-quality, dust-control, aquifer-protection and land-use permits for the initial work. It is applying for the remaining approvals required for surface construction and production.

FireFly’s Green Bay project leads Canada in spending efficiency for copper

Colin McClelland | August 25, 2026

A new economic study and resource update for FireFly Metals’ (ASX, TSX: FFM) Green Bay project in north-central Newfoundland positions it as one of Canada’s top undeveloped copper projects by value and capital efficiency.

The preliminary economic assessment (PEA) gives Green Bay a A$2.2 billion (C$2.1 billion) net present value – discounted at 7% in a base case – as well as an internal rate of return (IRR) of 42% and at initial costs of A$513 million, FireFly reported Tuesday.

Green Bay could produce 1.8 million tonnes per year over a 32-year life.

Top ranking economics

By capital efficiency, Green Bay leads projects in the country with an after-tax NPV more than four times higher than initial capital costs. That’s ahead of Canadian Copper’s (CSE: CCI) Murray Brook-Caribou project in New Brunswick, whose NPV is almost triple its costs.

Canada-wide, Green Bay ranks third by NPV for undeveloped copper-gold projects, behind Seabridge Gold’s (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) KSM in British Columbia in first with C$9.9 billion and Western Copper and Gold’s (TSX, NYSE-AM: WRN) Casino project in Yukon at second.

The study strengthens Green Bay’s potential to become a cornerstone of Newfoundland and Labrador’s mining sector, where no primary copper mines are operating and only one gold mine is in commercial production.

‘World scale’ project

“Once in production, Green Bay has the potential to be one of the biggest copper mines in the world outside those owned by the multi-nationals and diversified mining giants,” FireFly Managing Director Steve Parsons said in a release. “This means FireFly offers investors virtually pure copper exposure via an asset with genuine world-scale in a tier-one location.”

FireFly shares were flat at C$1.87 apiece on Tuesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$1.4 billion. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of C$1.04 to C$2.30.

The PEA assumes a copper price of $5 per lb., a gold price of $3,500 per oz. and a silver price of $44 per ounce.

Green Bay is near the town of Baie Verte, 600 km northwest of St. John’s.

34% more copper

The PEA includes a resource update for Green Bay, which raises contained copper in the measured and indicated categories by 34% to 1.1 million tonnes over the previous estimate from last November. Tonnage rose by 19% to 60.2 million tonnes grading 1.9% copper and 0.5 gram gold per tonne and 4.2 grams silver. Contained gold grew by 66% to 908,000 oz. and contained silver by about 63% to 8.1 million ounces.

Inferred resources declined almost 20% because 69,539 metres worth of underground drill data converted significant amounts of material into the higher categories.

FireFly plans to release a feasibility study for Green Bay in next year’s first quarter, with a final investment decision in the second half of 2027. First concentrate could potentially be produced in mid-2029.

The company also plans to raise A$180 million through equity sales to advance the feasibility study, fund resource growth and other early project works. A$150 million is to be allocated for ASX institutional placement of new shares and the rest on a Canadian bought deal private placement.