Overview

Mine Type	Underground
Stage	Permitting
Commodities	Copper Molybdenum
Mining Method	Block caving Panel caving
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	Resolution Copper is one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in the world and has the potential to become one of the largest copper producers in North America. During FY2022, Resolution continued the engineering and permitting phase of the project. The project is subject to a federal permitting process led by the US Forest Service. The US Forest Service published a Final Environmental Impact Statement in January 2021, which was rescinded in March 2022 for the stated purpose of conducting additional analysis and consultation with Native American tribes. The Resolution Copper Project is also required to obtain several state and local permits, including air quality and groundwater protection permits. On 20th September 2022, Stantec has been selected by Resolution Copper Mining LLC to deliver a $16 million feasibility study.

Deposit type

• Porphyry

Summary:

The project is located within a geological region known as the Basin and Range province, near the boundary with another geological region known as the Arizona Transition Zone.

Structural Geology
The Resolution ore deposit, lying about 4,500 to 7,000 feet below Oak Flat, is located in a structural feature called the “Resolution Graben.” A graben is an area that is bounded on the sides by normal faults and is downthrust below those faults. The Resolution Graben is bounded by the West Boundary, North Boundary, South Boundary, Conley Springs, and Rancho Rio Faults.

Resolution ore deposit
The Resolution ore deposit is approximately 64 million years old and is a porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit. It lies approximately 4,500 to 7,000 feet below Oak Flat. As defined by the 1 percent copper shell, the deposit extends over an area of at least 1.2 miles in an east-northeast direction, and 0.9 mile in a north-northwest direction

Rock types with diabase, limestone, and local breccia host and control the strongest copper mineralization. Quartz-rich sedimentary rocks and Cretaceous-Tertiary intrusive rocks demonstrate the strongest molybdenum mineralization. The highest copper grades (greater than 3 percent) are located in the upper central portion of the deposit associated with a large hydrothermal breccia body and hosted primarily in breccia and diabase. The total mineral resource at the Resolution ore deposit is currently estimated (indicated and inferred) to be 1,970 million tons (1,787 million metric tonnes), with an average grade of 1.54 percent copper and 0.035 percent molybdenum (Rio Tinto 2018).

The location and geometry of the mineralization are structurally controlled by several generations of faulting that occurred before, during, and after mineralization. Chalcopyrite is the dominant copper mineral in the deposit, with lesser chalcocite and bornite. Molybdenum occurs primarily as molybdenite. The deposit is associated with hydrothermal alteration and includes a strong pyrite “halo” in the upper areas of the deposit, containing up to 14 percent pyrite.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

Operational metrics

Metrics
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Ore tonnes mined, LOM	....

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Dec 15, 2023
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Total Workforce	Year
......	2021