Arizona Sonoran Copper Company: Back to the Mine

After four decades of dormancy, the newly renamed Cactus Project is ripe for redevelopment. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company, based in Tempe, AZ is setting the stage for the big new dig.

Written by Amy Milshtein

Produced by Stephen Marino

Everything old is new again at the Sacaton Mine located just west of Casa Grande, AZ.—starting with its name. Now known as the Cactus Project, this long-dormant mine is gearing up for productivity once more, thanks to new owner Arizona Sonoran Copper Company. (For those keeping count, Arizona Sonoran Copper Company is also new, in name at least. The change represents a rebrand of Elim Mining Incorporated.)

That is a lot of activity around a nearly 40-year-old open pit described as a “taxpayer liability in 2019” by Arizona Sonoran Copper Company COO Ian McMullan in an article in AZO Mining.

Much has turned around in the few short years since then. According to that AZO Mining story, an economic study based on the 2021 Preliminary Economic Assessment and as conducted by Rounds Consulting Group, the project’s 18-year operating life would result in an economic impact of more than $8.5 billion - the equivalent of a Super Bowl’s economic activity every other year for nearly two decades.

Not one to measure economic success by “Super Bowls,” Arizona Sonoran Copper Company president, CEO, and director

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“The success of the project to date building an excellent team including Samuel Engineering and Stantec. been able to keep within our drilling industry cost per meter drilling with to Ruen Drilling. Last year we produced and Preliminary Economic Assessment both Samuel Engineering and economics on the Project. We completing a Pre-Feasibility Study are confident of producing highlighting the economics date has been contingent upon including our partners Ruen Drilling, Stantec. On the drilling front we’ve drilling budget and have leading with great productivity thanks produced a maiden resource Assessment with the assistance of and Stantec that showed robust

We are now in the midst of Study with the same partners and producing a quality technical report economics of the Project.” President, CEO, and Director

George Ogilvie puts the numbers in more mining-friendly terms. “Based on the Cactus Project alone, our average annual production that’ll come out of the pre-feasibility study is probably going to be close to 35,000 short tons or 70 million lbs of copper cathode production, which is about a 15% improvement over and above what we had in the PEA at 56 million lbs.” (That 70 million lbs works out to around $273 million U.S. dollars in annual revenue at the current spot Copper price of $3.90.) The company has also discovered a nearly 3 billion pound deposit known as Parks Salyer within the project boundary, in addition to the 3.5 billion pounds at Cactus, which is currently being added into the pre-feasibility study due around year end.

A (Mineral) Rich History

Located at the convergence of three major geological zones in western Pinal County, the area’s mineral riches were originally discovered by the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) in 1961. ASARCO mined the sight from 1972 to 1984, processing 38 million tons of primary copper ore through a floatation mill. This produced 400 hundred million pounds of copper along with 759,000 ounces of silver and 27,000 ounces of gold.