Copper miner Tertiary Minerals has reiterated its dogged focus on copper, which it believes is the most important metal in the clean energy transition, being essential in electric vehicles, wind and solar energy technologies, as well as in energy storage solutions.

In a project update issued on November 6, the company said long-term copper shortages have been forecast based on dwindling supply from existing mines and limitations on new mine supply.

“Our focus is on copper. Copper forms the veins and arteries that move electricity, the lifeblood of the green energy transition. The fundamentals for future copper demand are strong and the existing mine supply is on a downward trajectory.

This creates a huge opportunity for copper explorers and miners that, I believe, has been overlooked by the junior and midtier market in the rush for the new generation of energy metals such as lithium and rare earths,” Tertiary Minerals executive chairperson Patrick Cheetham said.

He added that, by contrast, this supply problem had been recognised by all the major mining companies and that Zambia had been the beneficiary of substantial new investment in exploration, mine expansion and redevelopment, encouraged by new government fiscal policies.

The government of Zambia has made clear its ambitious plans to increase copper production from less than 800 000 t/y to three-million tonnes a year by 2032 and is improving its fiscal regime to attract investment. The mining industry has responded to this, with multiple investments of more than $1-billion recently announced for mine expansions and new copper mine developments in Zambia.

In terms of Tertiary’s involvement, the company said it had completed exploration work on all its copper projects in Zambia in the past 12 months. The objective was to complete soil sampling on all its Zambian projects, which had been met, defining a series of high-grade copper-in-soil anomalies.

Priority drill targets have now been defined at three of the company’s in-country copper projects: Jacks, Mukai and Mushima North. Tertiary, through its 96%-held subsidiary Tertiary Minerals Zambia (TMZ) holds options and interests in five projects held by local partner Mwashia Resources. Tertiary also holds a 100% interest in the newly granted Mupala project licence.

“It has been a busy summer for the company in Zambia. We have reported . . . soil sampling results from both the Mukai and Mushima North copper projects in Zambia this summer and similarly at the Jacks project at the back end of 2022, following an initial drill programme. Management has proposed drilling programmes for all three projects, which the board considers to be justified,” Cheetham said.

Tertiary said a term sheet for an earn-in and joint venture (JV) agreement had been signed for deep drilling at the Konkola West project to test for projected extensions of the Konkola-Musoshi copper deposit. Definitive agreements are currently being produced and drill sites are being identified.

Meanwhile, Tertiary’s option on the Lubuila copper project will not be exercised, while a new 100%-owned exploration licence has been granted at Mupala, adjoining the $88.5-million Anglo American and Arc Minerals JV project.

“The foundations we have laid in 2023 will stand us in good stead as we progress to the . . . drill-discovery stage and have generated JV interest in a number of our projects, the first of which we hope to finalise soon at Konkola West,” Cheetham said.