Ivanhoe Electric buys private land by copper project in Arizona

Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Electric (TSX: IE; NYSE: IE) said on Thursday it will buy 6,205 acres of private land for US$120.5 million by its Santa Cruz copper project near Casa Grande, Arizona.

The company said the large area of flat land, which includes associated water rights, was ideally suited for renewable solar energy. Ivanhoe Electric has said it plan to utilize to solar power at the project.

“This is a significant step towards realizing our vision of developing a high-grade, low carbon dioxide footprint underground copper mine on private land,” Friedland said in a statement.

Ivanhoe said it also holds the option to acquire all the mineral titles contiguous with the acquired surface lands. 

The Santa Cruz deposit remains by far the largest deposit on the Arizona property, with indicated resources totalling 223.2 million tonnes grading 1.24% total copper and inferred resources totalling 62.7 million tonnes grading 1.23% total copper.

Arizona became Ivanhoe Electric’s home in December last year, when the company opted to trade its Vancouver, Canada head office location for one in the mining-rich state.

Ivanhoe Electric owns or holds stakes in nine electric metals developments across the U.S., including the Tintic project in Utah, which holds copper, gold and silver. 

The firm is focusing on boosting the U.S. supply of critical minerals, where the government is boosting efforts to secure local supply of critical minerals and metals used in the batteries that power electric vehicles and in infrastructure needed to support the transition to a greener economy.

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced in April US$16 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to bring critical mineral supply chains to America and reduce reliance on competitors like China.

Additionally, the government has said that nations with trade agreements with the U.S. will be able access some of the Inflation Reduction Act’s benefits, which offers some US$369 billion in handouts and tax credits over the next decade for clean-energy programs in North America.