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Overview
Interra Copper (CSE:IMCX, OTCQB:IMIMF, FRA:3MX) is an exploration and development company with prolific assets in Canada and Chile, both tier-1 jurisdictions.
Interra’s two exploration properties in British Columbia, Canada – Thane and Chuck Creek – demonstrate significant potential to increase shareholder value as they are explored. The 20,658-hectare Thane project is located in the Quesnel Terrane of Northern BC and contains six high-priority target areas with significant copper and precious metal mineralization, including high-grade silver and gold. The approximately 3,356-hectare Chuck Creek asset also has historical silt sample concentrations up to a significant 58,600 parts per billion (ppb) gold.
In September 2023, Interra entered into a non-binding letter of intent for a potential 80-percent earn-in and joint venture agreement with ArcWest Exploration for its Rip Copper-Molybdenum Project in Central BC. The 2,309-hectare Rip project is located in Stikine Terrane in a prolific belt of Late Cretaceous (Bulkley Plutonic Suite) porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits, which includes Imperial Metals’ Huckleberry Mine, 33 kilometers to the southwest and presently on care and maintenance. The Bulkley porphyry belt also includes the Whiting Creek, Poplar, Seel and Ox Cu-Mo (gold-silver) deposits.
The company’s three copper assets in Chile are all within a prolific Chilean copper belt: Tres Marias and Zenaida in the Antofagasta Region, and Pitbull in Tarapaca Region. With a significant land package spanning 16,250 hectares, Interra’s Chilean projects are in the company of some of the world’s largest mines owned by global mining firms, including Glencore, Anglo American, Teck Resources and BHP. As the top global producer of copper responsible for 28 percent of the world’s supply, Chile’s mining-friendly policies and established infrastructure provide confidence in the potential development of Interra’s Chilean copper assets.
Interra Copper completed Phase 1 of the drilling program at Tres Marias, which began on May 24, 2023, with six RC holes totalling 1,896 meters drilled. Samples were sent to ALS Global in Santiago for analysis.
An expert leadership team leads Interra toward fully exploring its assets and increasing shareholder value.
The leadership team is backed by an advisory board of notable mining industry experts that include Mike Ciricillo who has served as president of Freeport McMoRan Africa and as head of worldwide copper assets for Glencore (LON:GLEN); Rich Leveille whose last corporate position was senior vice president of exploration for Freeport-McMoRan, Dave Garofalo who has led the biggest mining names Goldcorp, Hudbay Minerals, Agnico-Eagle Mines and Inmet Mining in different capacities; and Dr. Mark Cruise who founded and led Trevali Mining from an initial discovery phase into a top-ten global zinc producer. It is also important to note that director Rick Gittleman has held notable positions at Glencore SA and Freeport-McMoRan Africa.
Company Highlights
Interra Copper is an exploration and development company with prolific assets in Canada and Chile, both tier-1 jurisdictions with mining-friendly regulations, existing infrastructure and skilled local workforce.Two exploration properties in British Columbia, Canada – Thane and Chuck Creek – demonstrate significant potential to increase shareholder value as they are explored, and include six high-priority target areas with significant copper and precious metals mineralization.Interra is negotiating an 80-percent earn-in and joint venture agreement with ArcWest Exploration for its 2,309-hectare Rip Copper-Molybdenum Project in Central BC.Interra’s three copper assets in Chile are all within a prolific Chilean copper belt: Tres Marias and Zenaida in th Antofagasta Region, and Pitbull in Tarapaca RegionAn experienced management team backed by special expert advisors with the depth of expertise necessary to realize the full value of its asset portfolio.
Key Projects
Canada
Interra Copper owns two projects in Canada with early-stage exploration in proven copper districts. Both assets have blue-sky potential as exploration continues.
Thane Project
The Thane Copper Project in British Columbia covers 20,658 hectares and has received US$5.5 million in exploration investment. The promising project is right between Kerness and Mt. Milligan copper mines. Located in the Quesnel Terrane of Northern BC, Thane contains six high-priority target areas with significant copper and precious metal mineralization, including high-grade silver and gold.
Chuck Creek Project
Interra Copper’s second BC project covers 3,357 hectares and borders Tasekao’s prolific Yellowhead project, which has an estimated 817 million tonnes of resources.
Chile
Tres Marias Copper Project
The company’s flagship copper asset is a mid-stage asset covering 16,250 hectares and is 30 kilometers north of BHP’s prolific Spence Mine. Tres Marias is located in Antofagasta, Chile, a prolific copper belt. The asset is drill-ready, with three large priority targets identified. Historical drilling conducted at the property returned significant copper assays, including: 2.4 meters at 3.1 percent copper and 19 parts per million (ppm) silver, and 4 meters at 4.5 copper and 121.5 ppm silver. Interra completed its phase 1 drilling program at Tres Marias, with six RC holes totalling 1,896 meters drilled. Samples were sent to ALS Global in Santiago for analysis.
Pitbull Copper Project
Located in Tarapaca, Chile, the early-stage Pitbull asset covers 2,000 hectares and is 25 kilometers north of Anglo-American/Glencore’s Collahuasi mine. The project is located in an upper Eocene-lower Oligocene copper belt at around 3,800 to 4,100 meters with year-round elevation. This is a geological zone similar to the prolific Callahuasi mine and indicates the asset’s potential. Initial samples showed high anomalous values in copper. Results include 4.9 percent and 2 percent copper from two veins and 0.94 percent copper in chips from drill holes, in addition to gold, silver, lead and zinc.
Zenaida Copper Project
The Zenaida asset is in Antofagasta, Chile, a prolific copper belt. Zenaida is an early-stage exploration project covering 1,800 hectares with significant blue-sky potential. Historical geophysical results show promising geological formations that warrant further analysis. Interra Copper will follow up on historical results as it proceeds with exploration in the future.
Management Team
Chris Buncic – Director, President and CEO
Chris Buncic was a co-founder and CEO of Alto Verde Copper. He was president and CEO of Ascendant Resources where the team acquired and restored profitability to the El Mochito mine in Honduras and greatly advanced the exploration efforts of the Lagoa Salgada project in Portugal. He has served in senior management roles at several Canadian corporations in the technology and resources sectors for the past ten years. His experience includes six years in Institutional Equity Research at leading Canadian independent full-service brokerage firms Cormark Securities and Mackie Research Capital. Buncic is a CFA charter holder and has an MBA from Schulich School of Business and B.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and the CFA Society.
Jason Nickel – Director and COO
Jason Nickel is an experienced mining executive, engineer, investor and entrepreneur with a diverse 25-year mining background in operations, engineering, feasibility and exploration/development of venture capital projects. Most recently, he held a position as mine manager for a significant Canadian emerging gold producer, leading the production and development of new underground and pit operations. He has provided management and consulting services to the industry since 2008 and has been heavily involved with several junior resource public companies and mining project start-ups, mainly in BC and the Arctic. Since 2011, Nickel has served on four TSXV / CDNX / CSE venture company boards. He holds a degree in mine engineering from UBC and a GDBA in business administration from SFU Segal Graduate School of Business. His previous experience includes several roles from mine planner, senior mine engineer, mine foreman, to chief engineer, mine manager and vice-president, primarily in copper and gold operations and projects.
Rick Gittleman – Director
Rick Gittleman is a legal, government relations and public affairs executive with over 35 years of experience advising multinational companies on M&A, project finance, mining, oil and gas, agriculture and power projects across the globe. Most recently he served as Senior Executive overseeing legal issues and stakeholder engagement at Glencore SA where he developed corporate strategies to improve relations with government, community and civil society stakeholders at mine sites in Chile, Peru and Argentina. Preceding that, Gittleman held the position of senior vice-president for legal affairs and stakeholder engagement at Freeport-McMoRan Africa, where over his 7-year tenure oversaw the Tenke Fungurume mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo from development through to full commercial production. He also has 20 years’ experience as a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld where he worked on merger, acquisitions and project finance in the energy and mining sectors.
Oliver Foeste – Chief Financial Officer
Oliver Foeste is the founder and managing partner of Invictus Accounting Group and brings over 10 years of financial reporting and executive experience across numerous industries including junior exploration and mining companies. Foeste has held senior management and executive positions in multinational and small capitalization companies listed in Canada and the United States.
Dr. Thomas Hawkins – VP of Exploration
Thomas Hawkins is a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 as a registered professional geologist (EGBC) who has nearly 20 years of international experience identifying, assessing, and advancing mineral exploration projects. He graduated in 2004 from Imperial College, London, with a Master’s in Geology and Geophysics, and gained a PhD in geology in 2012 from the Natural History Museum, UK. Hawkins has extensive experience managing projects in Ghana, Mexico, Canada, USA, UK, and Kazakhstan. Most recently, Hawkins was part of the Kenorland Minerals team that discovered the Regnault deposit and was vice-president of exploration of Northway Resources, a Vancouver-based Alaska exploration company. In 2018, as president of Vanmin Development , Hawkins discovered the Vanadium Pass deposit in British Columbia. His PhD research furthered the understanding of the Central Asian deposit camps and IOCG-type deposits.
Oscar Oviedo – Country Manager, Chile
Oscar Oviedo is an exploration geologist with over 20 years of experience in the exploration and discovery of copper deposits in Latin America. Oviedo most recently served as project geologist for Freeport-McMoRan South America Ltda. In Chile, he played an integral part in the discovery of the Don Manuel copper project over his 13-year tenure. He spent seven years as an exploration geologist at Minera Phelps Dodge of Peru SAC. where he was involved in the discovery of the Haquira deposit. Oviedo holds a degree in engineering geology from the National University of San Agustin in Peru.
David McAdam – Director
David McAdam has over 30 years of finance and operations experience in large and small capitalization companies, where has been the financial lead in raising over $250 million in equity and securing over $100 million in debt. He has been the chief financial officer of several public and private companies including several public and private BC-based mining companies (one a Vancouver-based TSX company with producing assets in South Africa and public reporting across the TSX-AIM-JSE exchanges).
Scott Young – Director
Scott Young has worked as a corporate governance and communications consultant since 2000 in the technology, mining and pharmaceutical industries, with clients trading on both Canadian and American stock exchanges. In 2020 he was an in-house consultant with Alda Pharmaceuticals which was named in the TSXV Top 50 listed companies the same year. He was the managing director of Sonoma Resources, which completed a reverse takeover of Element Lifestyle Retirement in December 2015.
Advisors to the Board
Mike Ciricillo – Special Advisor
Mike Ciricillo is a mining executive with over 30 years of operational and project experience, having lived and worked on five continents throughout his career. He began his career in 1991 at INCO in Canada and later joined Phelps Dodge in 1995 which was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan. There he served in positions of increasing responsibility in the United States, Chile, The Netherlands, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the DRC, He served as president of Freeport McMoRan Africa and spent five years at Tenke Fungurume from the construction phase into the operations phase. He then joined Glencore in 2014 as head of copper operations in Peru, followed by the role of head of copper smelting operations, and eventually, he was placed in the role of head of Glencore’s worldwide copper assets. He is currently president of the natural resources sector for the NANA Corporation in Alaska.
Dr. Mark Cruise – Special Advisor
Dr. Mark Cruise is a professional geologist with over 27 years of international mining experience, in Europe, the Americas and Africa. Cruise founded and was chief executive officer of Trevali Mining where under his leadership, the company grew from an initial discovery into a top-ten global zinc producer with operations in the Americas and Africa. He has served as vice-president for business development and exploration, COO and CEO for several TSX, TSX-Venture and NYSE-Americas listed exploration and development companies.
Rich Leveille – Special Advisor
Rich Leveille has a lifetime’s worth of experience in the mining sector, having grown up in major copper camps in the western US where his father worked for Kennecott. He has a BS in Geology from the University of Utah and an MS in geology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He worked for a progression of companies including AMAX, Kennecott, Rio Tinto, Phelps Dodge and Freeport-McMoRan in the US and internationally, where he was directly involved with and/or managed teams that made several major discoveries. His last corporate position was senior vice-president of exploration for Freeport-McMoRan, based in Phoenix. Leveille retired in September 2017 and has devoted his time since then to hiking, backpacking, fishing, writing, advocacy for immigrants and geological consulting.
David Garofalo – Special Advisor
David Garofalo is currently chairman and CEO of Gold Royalty, chairman of Great Panther Mining, and chairman and CEO of the Marshall Precious Metals Fund. Formerly, he was the president and CEO of Goldcorp, and previously president, CEO and director of Hudbay Minerals, (2010-2016), senior vice-president of finance and CFO and director of Agnico-Eagle Mines(1998-2010) and treasurer of Inmet Mining (1990-1998). Garofalo was recognized as the Mining Person of the Year by the Northern Miner in 2012 and was named Canada’s CFO of the Year by Financial Executives International Canada in 2009.