A copper mining project near Mount Lemmon has received a financial boost from a Japanese company, and land has been purchased.
Nittetsu Mining will invest up to $27 million in the future Oracle Ridge mine and manage the joint venture with upcoming exploration and drilling.
Its partner, Eagle Mountain Mining, entered into the joint agreement in early April. Later in the month, a $10 million land sale near the Pinal County line, was recorded in Pima County records.
“We are eager to commence technical activities with the goal of bringing the mine back into production,” Shinichiro Mita, Nittetsu’s general manager of overseas mineral resources, said in a statement. “Nittetsu and Eagle Mountain have a strong working relationship, and we are pleased to be partnering together on this attractive asset.”
People are also reading…
Eagle Mountain has been exploring restarting the copper mine for the past year.
“Through patience, perseverance, and a bit of creativity, we canvassed a deal that was acceptable to all parties,” said Fabio Vergara, executive director of Eagle Mountain. “We are delighted by this outcome.”
The Oracle Ridge copper mine site is on the north side of the Santa Catalina Mountains, near Mount Lemmon.
The Oracle Ridge project site is about 45 miles north of Tucson near San Manuel and home to a copper mine that was one of the world’s largest in the 1980s and produced over 700 million tons of ore.
It is classified as a “skarn deposit,” which means copper mineralization is hosted in other limestones and marbles. It also contains silver and gold.
Its resources are reported to be about 380,000 tons of copper, 10 million ounces of silver and 142,000 ounces of gold.
In a neighboring project, Faraday Copper is exploring reopening the original San Manuel mine in conjunction with the Copper Creek Project in the Galiuro Mountains, about 15 miles away.
Nittetsu is the second large Japanese company to invest in Arizona mines.
Last year, Mitsubishi Corp. pledged $600 million toward the construction of six open-pit mines at the Copper World mining project in the Santa Rita Mountains.
Another new Arizona mine, South 32 Hermosa in the Patagonia Mountains, will extract zinc, manganese, lead, silver and copper, deemed critical minerals by the U.S.
Arizona is experiencing a revival of interest in mining this year, driven by high prices for precious metals, specifically copper and lithium for electric vehicles, green energy and materials in AI data centers.
The mining industry in Arizona provides a $21.1 billion impact in the state, as the supplier of about 70 percent of the nation’s copper and significant amounts of gold, silver, lead, zinc, lithium, potash and gypsum, according to the Arizona Mining Association.
Tucson is a major player in mining resurgence with several companies opening offices locally, along with suppliers to the industry and the University of Arizona's mining and engineering, geoscience and Tech Park, creating a pipeline of graduates.
Across the border, Sonora is a prolific mining region with many companies maintaining offices in Tucson.
Tucson are sees uptick in home foreclosures
