Fabled Copper Corp. (FABL:CSE) is continuing to see high grades in fieldwork samples from its Muskwa copper project in British Columbia.
The company said during site visits last year, samples at the Eagle Creek copper occurrence yielded results as high as 21.9% copper (Cu). Other samples included 19.85% Cu and 15.55% Cu.
In a video on the company's website, President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Hawley put the results in perspective.
He said 21.9% copper works out to about 481.8 pounds per ton, and 19.85% would be 436.7 pounds per ton. The price of copper on Friday was just under US$4 per pound.
"There's a lot of money per ton," he said.
Fabled has applied for permits to start drilling on the project but is now sifting through mounds of surface work data from 2022 — such as surface samples, geophysical surveys, and birds'-eye views from drones.
The demand for copper is expected to double from about 25 million metric tons (Mmt) in 2021 to about 50 Mmt by 2035, according to a report last summer by S&P Global.
A two-person field team consisting of a geologist and a geo technician visited the eastern extension of the Eagle Creek copper occurrence twice last summer, Hawley said. A total of 10 float samples were collected, of which three assayed greater than 0.5% Cu.
At stake is the company's piece of the copper revolution, as the red metal helps drive the new green economy.
The demand for copper is expected to double from about 25 million metric tons (Mmt) in 2021 to about 50 Mmt by 2035, according to a report last summer by S&P Global. Electric vehicles (EVs), their charging infrastructure, solar panels, wind, and batteries all require much more copper than fossil fuel-based technology.
EVs themselves use more than three times as much copper as gas-burning cars.
All of that is going to mean new production — and investment — will be needed.
"Based on industry-wide capital intensity data, we calculate that some US$196 billion of investment will be required," a market analysis issued by RFC Ambrian last year said. "Of this, US$80 billion is for greenfield projects, and US$116 billion is for brownfield projects, of which US$71 billion is simply for replacement capacity. A further US$35 billion of investment will be required to close the supply gap."
A History of High Grades
These aren't even the highest grades returned from Muskwa. The results of 2021's fieldwork, which mapped a total of 19 areas at the site, included a sample of 27.2% Cu.
Muskwa is in northwestern British Columbia near the Yukon border. It consists of the Toro, Bronson, and Neil claim blocks. All three were explored in the early 1970s before rockslides and snowfields arrested further development. One vein was developed and partly mined — 498,000 tons were milled with a head grade of about 3% Cu.
Those earlier results pushed industry veteran Hawley, who has more than 35 years of experience, to explore the Muskwa further.
"This is not normal," he said at the time. "You don't get this much copper concentrated in one area."
A total of 59 areas were mapped and sampled property-wide during the 2022 fieldwork campaign, the company said. During one trip, float sample D-723551, taken at a 1,553-meter elevation, consisted of 60% quartz, 39% chalcopyrite, and 1% bornite. It returned 19.85% Cu.
Float sample D-723598, taken at 1,678 meters, returned 0.77% Cu. But on a freshly broken surface, the rock was brassy yellow with moderate malachite, 70% massive chalcopyrite, and 1% bornite. It returned 21.9% Cu.
At East Eagle Creek, float sample D-723607 was taken at the 1,557 meters elevation. It consisted of semi-massive sulfides with quartz, minor carbonate, abundant azurite, and malachite copper alteration with 60% chalcopyrite and 35% quartz. This sample returned 15.55% Cu.
New Economy's Wires Need Copper
According to the S&P report, copper is "the metal of electrification" and essential to all green energy plans.
"Bottom line? We gotta find more copper," newsletter writer Rick Mills wrote.
"While a variety of metals and rare earth elements have received a great deal of attention by governments, media, think tanks, and universities, one of the most underappreciated critical minerals is also one of the most familiar and most fundamental — copper," the report's authors wrote. "Deeper electrification requires wires, and wires are primarily made from copper."
The amount of copper that will be required by 2050 will be more than all the copper consumed by the world between 1900 and 2021, it said.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*"Bottom line? We gotta find more copper," newsletter writer Rick Mills wrote. "That sentiment is clearly shared by some of the world’s largest copper companies, who are doing everything they can to expand existing mines and acquire prospective new deposits as they seek to replace their rapidly depleting copper reserves and resources."
Ownership and Share Structure
According to Yahoo Finance, about 3% of the company is held by insiders. They include Director Luc Pelchat with 1.19% or 2.06 million shares, David Smalley with 0.86% or 1.5 million shares, and President and CEO Hawley with 0.65% or 1.12 million shares, Reuters said.
The rest, 97%, is retail.
Fabled Copper's market cap is CA$1.74 million, with 173.7 million shares outstanding, 168.8 million of them floating. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.055 and CA$0.005.
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1) Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He or members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
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