“Since 2009, when I became President, we had been working on the Schaft Creek project in north-western British Columbia, slowly grooming it to the point where a major producer could step in as the operator of the project. That moment came last year when, in July, we concluded a joint venture agreement with Teck Resources Limited,” explains Chairman, President and CEO of Copper Fox Metals, Elmer B. Stewart.

Teck was indeed the most logical choice to take on this role by virtue of the option agreement that had been in place between the two parties since 2002. The completion of the joint venture agreement also resulted in Copper Fox Metals receiving cash payments from Teck in the order of $24 million.

“The terms of the joint venture call for a total of $60 million in cash payments, the first of which being $20 million plus an additional $4 million for expenses incurred at Schaft Creek in relation to the port and storage facility, and the acquisition of other mineral lands,” Stewart continues. “The next $20 million is to be received on the date a production decision is made, while the remaining $20 million is to be received on completion of the construction of all facilities at Schaft Creek. The funds from the first $20 million have allowed us to provide a small dividend to our shareholders and given us sufficient capital for two to three years of exploration work on our Arizona projects and cover G&A expenses.”

The Arizona projects he refers to are the Van Dyke copper oxide deposit and the Sombrero Butte project, which were acquired by the company in 2012 and early 2013 respectively. Located in the Globe-Miami Mining District of Arizona, the Van Dyke property was first developed in the early 1900s, when a shaft was sunk to a depth of 1,692 feet, and is reported to have produced 11.8 million pounds of copper between 1929 and 1945 from copper oxide mineralization with a reported grade of 5.0 percent copper.