TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO – (September 2, 2025,)
In April 2019, an agreement to lease 2,400 AF of existing Santa Teresa water rights for use at the Copper Flat Mine by the Company’s wholly owned New Mexico Copper Corporation was entered into. An application to change the point of diversion to the Copper Flat production wells and the place and purpose of use to the Copper Flat Mine was filed in August 2019 with New Mexico State Engineer’s Office (NMSEO) and an administrative hearing was held in August 2023.
The New Mexico State Engineer has now handed down her decision denying the Application. The Company is currently reviewing the decision and considering its next steps in the process.
Since the Application was originally filed with the NMSEO, the Company has been investigating alternative options for more economically favourable and sustainable water management systems for implementation at the Copper Flat Project that would alleviate the need to access any of the Santa Teresa water rights. Those options include dry stack tailings technology allowing for safer and more sustainable waste management at the Copper Flat site. The feasibility of the dry stack technology is now at an advanced stage of evaluation by the Company, and is subject to ongoing further detailed analysis in respect to both the implementation of the technology and permitting.