Morning Briefing: Copper Maintains Momentum, Ivanhoe Electric

Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing. I am Michael McCrae filling in for Trevor Hall. 

It's Wednesday, September 23rd.

United States stock futures remained relatively flat to slightly positive. Dropping oil prices have been a positive, while the hawkish stance by the Fed is tempering stock gains. 

Copper is having a good September. The metal is hovering around $6.73 per pound. It recently extended a multi-session rally, gaining roughly 2% to 3% over the past month and remaining up more than 40% year-over-year. 

Last week, U.S. Metal News reported that Chile, the world's dominant producer, hadits weakest second-quarter output in at least 19 years and its full-year production forecast is cut for a second consecutive quarter. Tariffs have also helped push the metal.

Gold is red again, down 0.78% today to $4,342. The metal is off 7% for the month. 

We will get to the news from the miners and explorers in a moment, but first a mention of today's sponsor:

Today's episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by…Equinox Gold

Equinox Gold is a growth-focused gold producer operating mines across the Americas. With cornerstone assets like the Greenstone Mine in Ontario and the Valentine Gold Project in Newfoundland & Labrador, Equinox is advancing a new generation of large-scale, long-life gold operations. Learn more about their portfolio and development pipeline at equinoxgold.com.

Here’s what you need to know today. 

Ivanhoe Electric's 2026 Preliminary Feasibility Study for its 100% owned Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona outlines a high-grade underground mine with heap leach processing to produce copper cathode without smelting, with initial capital of $1.43 billion, a 1.08% life-of-mine grade, C1 costs of $1.47 per pound, AISC of $2.28 per pound and average output of about 75,000 tonnes a year over the first 15 years, with first cathode targeted for 2029. The headline after-tax NPV of $3.5 billion and 30% IRR rests on a spot copper price of $6.79 per pound, while the study's own $4.75 base case cuts those figures to an NPV of $1.5 billion, a 19% IRR and a 4.8-year payback (NYSE American: IE). News Release

Integra Resources reported new near-mine drill results from its producing Florida Canyon Mine in Nevada, building on the 74% Mineral Reserve increase in its July 2026 technical report and 30,140 metres of RC drilling completed so far this year. The strongest intercepts came from the Inter-Pit saddle between the Central and Radio Tower pits, including 1.30 g/t gold over 62.5 m and 0.59 g/t over 167.6 m, while the newly accessible Madre Shear North Target beneath the North Dump returned 0.48 g/t over 54.9 m. CEO George Salamis called these some of the best intercepts since Integra acquired the mine, and the company plans 7,000 m of drilling at the Standard Mine area 8 km south to test targets outside the current footprint. (TSXV: ITR) News Release

Dryden Gold's hole DGR-058 at Gold Rock in Ontario returned 7.88 g/t gold over 12.70 m at about 65 m true depth, including 46.05 g/t over 1.90 m, which the company says confirms high-grade continuity over 350 m of strike on the Elora structure between the Jubilee and Pearl zones, though intervals are core lengths with unknown true widths and uncut assays, and the 1.90 m high-grade core accounts for most of the hole's roughly 100 gram-metres. CEO Trey Wasser said the near-surface continuity and down-plunge success, including 1.35 g/t over 12.0 m at about 300 m depth on the BM1 structure, now allow the company to begin evaluating open-pit potential at a system that has grown from 3 mineralized structures to 15 over the 2025-2026 drill programs. News Release

Tocvan Ventures reported that hole JES-26-175 at the El Mezquite trend on its Gran Pilar project in Sonora returned 106.8 m of 0.50 g/t gold and 3.5 g/t silver within a broader 271.5 m envelope of 0.26 g/t gold starting 1.5 m downhole, about 130 m north of the August discovery hole. It is the third significant hole along a corridor now traced for roughly 1,400 m and open along strike and at depth, sitting 1.6 to 1.9 km east of the company's permitted 50,000-tonne heap-leach pilot facility, with true widths estimated at 60 to 80% of drilled widths(CSE:TOC). News Release

Brixton Metals has signed an option to acquire 100% of the 1,460-hectare Silvergruvan silver-polymetallic property in Sweden's Bergslagen district from arm's length vendor McKnight Resources, a historical mining area dating to the 1600s that the company compares geologically to Boliden's Garpenberg mine, where silver made up 47% of 2025 revenue. Brixton can earn the property over three years by issuing $1.5 million in shares, priced at no less than $0.50, and spending $3.3 million on exploration, after which McKnight retains a 2.0% NSR that can be bought down to 1.0% for $1.5 million, subject to TSXV acceptance (TSX-V: BBB). News Release

Vizsla Copper has staked the 25,274-hectare Miller copper-gold porphyry project about 140 km north of Prince George, a 100% owned, royalty-free land package contiguous with Centerra Gold's producing Mount Milligan mine. The road-accessible ground includes the Fred, RPF and Lake targets on its eastern block, where Mount Milligan's main transmission line and access road cross near the highest priority targets (TSXV: VCU). News Release

Talisker Resources began trading today on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol TSKFF, moving up from the OTCQB (TSX: TSK). News Release

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That's it for today everyone. Have a great day. Stay safe.