Alpha Copper Corp. (ALCU:CSE;ALCUF:OTC) has released assays for 11 of 13 holes from 2022 fieldwork and diamond drilling at its Indata project in British Columbia.
With results for two holes still on the way, company officials said there were some surprises in addition to the copper mineralization they were looking for, such as an unexpected zone of molybdenum.
“What the (molybdenum) discovery means is yet to be determined, but what it tells us is the Indata is chock full of minerals, from gold vein targets to copper porphyry, to now molybdenum,” Alpha President and Chief Executive Officer Darryl Jones told Streetwise Reports. “Indata holds some massive value, and we will be working on putting a budget together for 2023 to unlock some of that.”
Molybdenum is used in many clean, renewable energy generation and storage technologies, including wind, geothermal, solar, nuclear, and hydroelectric.
Reuters senior metals columnist Andy Home said molybdenum has a much smaller market than copper, with the production of just 300,000 tonnes in 2018.
“Even though its average use in a wind turbine is just 0.15% of mineral composition, a surge in both wind and geothermal power generation would translate into cumulative demand growth of 800,000 tonnes over the same period,” Home said.
The Catalyst: Copper Zone Is ‘Main Focus’
More than 2,140 meters were drilled at Indata. Hole IN22-82 intersected 173.6 meters grading 0.23% copper (Cu) starting at 2.9 meters, including 28.9 meters grading 0.47% Cu, the company said.
The copper mineralization in the Lake Copper zone occurs without any accessory metals in significant concentration, Alpha said. The open-ended footprint for the zone measures 900 meters by 400 meters.
In addition, the company said hole IN22-84 test a carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) target about 2 kilometers north of the Lake Copper zone and 7 kilometers north of hole IN22-74. Now named the Dover area, results showed it is permissive for both CRD and carbonate-hosted precious metal styles of mineralization.
The molybdenum discovery at hole IN22-74 has been named “Area 74.” It intersected 30.8 meters grading 0.1% molybdenum equivalent (0.16% MoS2, or molybdenum disulfide) starting at 113.7 meters, including 7.5 meters grading 0.32% molybdenum (0.51% MoS2 equivalent) starting at 113.7 meters.
“We will monitor the (molybdenum) markets and see how the year unfolds for it, but our main focus is still on the Lake Zone copper porphyry,” Jones said.
The depth and lateral extent of the molybdenum mineralization, which occurs without significant copper, is unknown, the company said. The final sample in the hole returned 0.043 percent molybdenum.
Green Economy Metals Needed
Copper and other elements like molybdenum are needed to help the world move from fossil fuel engines to electric vehicles (EVs), as well as for other parts of the green economy. EVs require at least three times as much copper as regular cars.
According to a recent report from S&P Global, copper demand is expected to double from about 25 million metric tons (Mmt) today to about 50 Mmt by 2035.
“The chronic gap between worldwide copper supply and demand projected to begin in the middle of this decade will have serious consequences across the global economy,” authors of “The Future of Copper” wrote. “In the 21st century, copper scarcity may emerge as a key destabilizing threat to international security. Projected annual shortfalls will place unprecedented strain on supply chains.”
Through 2050, 47.3% of the molybdenum used by energy technology will go to wind power, 41.7% geothermal, 4.8% to nuclear, 3.2% to solar, 1.8% to coal, 1% to gas, and 0.3% to hydro.
“Molybdenum makes an important contribution to sustainable development as a metal, as an alloying element, and as a constituent of chemical products,” according to the International Molybdenum Association.
Okeover Results, CAVU Purchase
In December, Alpha also completed its drilling program at its Okeover project in British Columbia with the goal of reconfirming historical drilling data as the company pushes toward updating and publishing a new resource this year.
Assays are expected back for those drilling results as soon as February.
“We believe the company stands to benefit from the global trend toward electrification, which will require increased copper production to meet the demands of the worldwide green economy,” Combaluzier wrote about CAVU before the sale.
Just last month, Alpha closed on its acquisition of CAVU Energy Metals Corp. (CAVU:CSE; CAVVF:OTC; 5EO:FSE), which brought the Star and Hopper projects.
Star is a multi-target copper-gold porphyry project in the Golden Triangle with 106.98 meters graded at 0.77% Cu in one hole. Over 13,000 meters of modern drilling have been completed there, and it is fully permitted for 200 drill sites until 2026.
Hopper is a 74-kilometer multi-target porphyry copper-molybdenum project in the Yukon with “significant copper-gold-silver peripheral skarn mineralization,” Alpha said. The best intercept there has been was 22.28 meters at 1.405% Cu.
“These could be multibillion-pound copper deposits,” Jones said.
CAVU was “well-positioned” before the purchase to make a significant copper discovery, Red Cloud Securities analyst Taylor Combaluzier wrote on Aug. 11.
“We believe the company stands to benefit from the global trend toward electrification, which will require increased copper production to meet the demands of the worldwide green economy,” Combaluzier wrote about CAVU before the sale.
Ownership and Share Structure
Streetwise Ownership Overview*
Alpha Copper Corp. (ALCU:CSE;ALCUF:OTC)
About 85% of the company is held by insiders, and the rest is retail, Alpha said.
Top shareholders include Mango Research & Management Inc., which holds 2.49%; the CEO Jones, who holds 1.54%; and Daniel Matthews, who owns 1.11%, according to Reuters.
The company has about 52 million shares outstanding, 48.9 million of them free-floating, with a market cap of CA$10.66 million. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$1.09 and CA$0.19.
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