From Fox Business: The United States has a copper problem. Simply put, the U.S. uses a lot of it and there aren’t enough American mines to pull it out of the ground fast enough. But Ivanhoe Electric is moving toward becoming the first U.S.-based company to open a copper mine stateside in over a decade – and with copper prices shooting to record highs, the timing couldn’t be better.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March hoping to add copper to the critical minerals list, which would expedite permitting and offer tax incentives to mining companies. And on July 8, the president announced a 50% tariff on copper imports starting Aug. 1.
The U.S. only produces about half the copper it uses, ranking fifth in production behind Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru and China. Part of the reason is that it takes an average of 29 years for copper mines to begin production, due to a lengthy permitting and approval process.
Ivanhoe Electric will be able to open its Santa Cruz Project by 2028. That’s a brief eight years since the project started.
“It’s like tomorrow in mining terms,” said Taylor Melvin, president and CEO of Ivanhoe Electric.
“It’s incredibly, incredibly fast and incredibly efficient,” he added. “One of our great advantages is being on private land here in Arizona. It allows us to have a much more streamlined permitting process, which allows us to have a more accelerated timetable to construction and production.”
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