Canadian Copper shared on Oct. 28 that it has signed a term sheet and exclusivity agreement to acquire the Caribou processing plant complex from the New Brunswick government for $6.2 million. The company has already made a deposit of $225,000, and the deal is set to close on July 11, 2025. 

According to the company, the transaction will serve as a significant step forward in speeding up production and derisking at its Murray Brook copper-zinc-lead-silver deposit, situated 10 kilometres from the Caribou complex, and that it plans to process ore from the deposit at the plant. 

The complex is comprised of a 3,000-tonne-per-day milling facility, which includes a primary grinding circuit with one semi-autogenous grinding mill and one ball mill. The site also includes two regrinding circuits with three ISA mills and one ball mill. 

Additionally, the site includes a differential sulfide flotation plant and reagents preparation and addition systems, metallurgical and geochemical laboratories, a tailings management facility, an underground mine that the company will leave dormant and will not be part of its plan to restart operations at the complex, connected grid power and a water supply for operations. 

“By integrating our large Murray Brook deposit with an already-permitted and constructed Caribou complex that operated as recently as August 2022, we aim to significantly reduce the schedule, capital cost and permitting time required to produce copper, zinc and lead concentrate from Murray Brook,” said Simon Quick, chief executive officer of Canadian Copper, in an Oct. 28 press release. “The combination of a large open pit polymetallic mineral resource with a nearby processing plant represents a material acceleration and derisking effort to create a new leader in critical metals production in Eastern Canada.” 

The Murray Brook deposit includes measured and indicated sulfide resources of 21.1 million tonnes graded at 0.45 per cent copper, 0.91 per cent lead and 2.49 per cent zinc. 

Following the Caribou mine’s shutdown in August 2022, it was placed into care and maintenance in January 2023. Environmental compliance and plant maintenance activities have been handled by the New Brunswick government since its closure. The mine went into receivership after its parent company, Trevali Mining Corp., financially collapsed and filed for creditor protection. 

Canadian Copper and multiple consultants finalized an audit of the complex on Oct. 2, and Canadian Copper has hired Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC, Pierre Lacombe P.Eng and P&E Mining Consultants Inc. to undertake the design, development and processing of the Murray Brook deposit. A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) is expected to be released sometime during the first half of next year.  

Necessary copper flotation equipment has been purchased and permitted but has yet to be installed. The installation of the equipment will be evaluated as part of the company’s PEA.