Is Wilcox the New EV Mining Hub?

Recent mining and mining explorations around Wilcox have increased massively. What are these mining companies looking for? Copper and lithium. Copper and lithium demand is expected to increase substantially over the next 10 years as the EV market grows quickly. 

A 4 billion pound plus copper deposit has been discovered near Wilcox. The deposit is a rare formation that will NOT be mined through the typical open pit approach. The in-situ approach will be used which will be almost entirely underground and without any mining shafts. The state operating permit was issued in 2017 and the infrastrucure has been in the works for the past few years. We can expect cathode production to start this year or next year. 

The initial capex is much lower than expected due to the property being purchased out of recievorship for $8,000,000. The total capex is expected to be around $50,000,000. The mine is expceted to be in production for 24 years and have a 40% IRR. 


Click the link below to watch a video on in-situ copper mining
Excelsior Mining Hydrology Video 2013 - YouTube

Exceslior Mining is publicly traded and the photos are from the Excelsior website

A recent land and mineral rights assemblage has been acquired near the Wilcox Playa. Stria holds 100 per cent ownership of the Willcox Lithium project, located in Cochise County, Arizona. Acquired through the purchase of Pueblo Lithium LLC from AGR-O Phosphate Inc. in 2014, the property is comprised of 61 lode mining claims. Click below to read more about Stria and the Wilcox lithium project.
Willcox-Lithium/Arizona – Stria Lithium

As automotive manufacturers move into Pinal County, Southern Arizona is positioned perfectly with large and dense copper and lithium deposits to serve the vehicle manufacturing companies such as Lucid, Nikola,  and ElectraMeccanica in Pinal County. Pinal and Maricopa are expecting to attract more EV manufacturers as there is plenty of land and power and the logistics infrastructure is primed for large scale manufacturing with rail, interstates and quick access to Mexico.