Gunnison Copper Corp. (TSX: GCU) (OTCQB: GCUMF) and Rio Tinto venture Nuton LLC have been selected to receive $13.9 million in tax credits under the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit Program to expand production from the Johnson Camp mine in Arizona.
Gunnison Copper controls the Cochise Mining District containing 12 known deposits within an 8 km economic radius, in the Southern Arizona Copper Belt. The competitive process for funding was managed by the U.S. Department of Energy as advisor to the IRS, which selected recipients based on an extensive review of each project.
The Johnson Camp mine is under construction, with first copper production expected in mid-2025. The asset is fully funded by Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto venture, with a production capacity of up to 25 million pounds of finished copper cathode annually.
Rio developed its Nuton copper heap leaching technologies to deliver increased copper recovery from mined ore and access new sources of copper such as low-grade sulphide resources and reprocessing of stockpiles and mineralised waste.
“This tax credit will allow us to produce significant quantities of copper metal domestically in the United States to directly supply American production in a variety of critical industries such as energy and defense,” Gunnison Copper CEO Stephen Twyerould said in a news release.
The 48C tax credit is part of the $10 billion in funding under the Inflation Reduction Act to intensify clean energy manufacturing and recycling, industrial decarbonization, and critical materials projects in the US.
“The goal of 48C is to support projects that achieve a cleaner and more sustainable energy future. At Nuton, our ambition is to redefine how copper is produced by applying nature-based technologies that achieve more positive social, economic and environmental outcomes,” Nuton CEO Adam Burley said.
“Our first industrial-scale deployment of the Nuton technology at Johnson Camp is a major step on the journey to achieving that ambition.”
Source: MINING.COM – Read More
