Canadian firm Western Copper and Gold on Friday announced a strategic equity investment by Japanese group Mitsubishi Materials to advance the Casino project, in the Yukon Territory.

Casino is a copper, gold, molybdenum and silver deposit, about 300 km from Whitehorse. The company is currently preparing to re-enter the Yukon’s environmental assessment process for Casino.

A 2022 feasibility study confirmed the robust nature of the Casino project, which will require C$3.62-billion to build a mine that will operate for 27 years.

Rio Tinto is already a strategic investor in Western Copper. Under the Mitsubishi agreement, the Japanese firm will acquire shares representing 5% of Western's issued and outstanding shares, on an undiluted basis at C$2.63 a share.

The exact number of shares to be issued will depend on whether Rio Tinto Canada elects to exercise its pre-existing right to participate on a pro rata basis in equity financings to maintain its current ownership interest, which, based on public filings, was about 7.84%.

Assuming Rio Tinto elected to exercise its participation right in full, then Western will issue 8 091 390 shares to Mitsubishi for aggregate gross proceeds of C$21.3-million and 878 809 shares to Rio Tinto for aggregate gross proceeds of C$2.3-million.

"We are pleased to welcome Mitsubishi Materials as a strategic investor in the company," said Western president and CEO Paul West-Sells.

“The investment by Mitsubishi Materials is a strong endorsement of the Casino project. We look forward to working with Mitsubishi Materials to advance Casino."

Western remains the sole owner of the Casino project and will continue to be the operator.

The company will use the proceeds of the strategic investment to advance the project and to fund specific areas of study, developed with input from Mitsubishi, with the aim of progressing to a development phase for the Casino project.