While several high-profile copper projects in Arizona have been stalled by myriad permitting issues, Cactus’s brownfields status and its location on federal lands should make for shorter permitting timelines.
“Arizona has a mining pedigree,” project director Dan Johnson tells The Northern Miner during a February site visit, while pointing towards notable features in the Arizona desert that constitute the former mining operation or where the new developments will occur. He adds that permitting would not involve the federally mandated Environmental Protection Agency.
While permitting might still be some time into the future, VP for exploration Douglas Bowden says the company is currently looking to build scale. He believes the company could build a compliant resource base of more than 4 million lb. of copper.
To get there, the company is working on upgrading inferred resources at the Parks Salyer deposit with a 46-hole, 32,000-metre drill program at Cactus, located 64 km southeast of Phoenix. So far 35 infill holes for 23,689 metres have been completed.
On February 21, Arizona Sonoran released assays from seven infill drill holes at Parks Salyer, which is located on contiguous land 2 km southwest of Cactus.
