Copper (COPPER) Price on Solana

Gunnison Copper has submitted an amended Mined Land Reclamation Plan (MLRP) application for its open-pit Gunnison Project in Cochise County, Arizona, and expects approval from the Arizona State Mine Inspector before the end of 2026. The filing marks the first of three state permits required to reach full permitting status. The company's roadmap targets submission of an Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in Q1 2027, with approval expected by Q1 2028, followed by an Air Quality Permit (AQP) submission in mid-2027 and approval by mid-2028, bringing the project to fully permitted status.

The Gunnison Project is designed for conventional open-pit mining with heap leaching and SX/EW processing to produce copper cathode, drawing on a Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of over 846 million tons grading 0.33% copper — representing roughly 5.19 billion pounds of contained copper. A preliminary economic assessment placed the project's NPV8% at $2 billion with a 3.9-year payback period. As domestic copper demand grows alongside energy transition and manufacturing investment, securing regulatory approvals for a large-scale U.S. source of refined copper cathode adds a tangible near-term milestone to the domestic supply pipeline.

Gunnison Copper Corp. and Nuton LLC — Rio Tinto's copper technology venture — have revised the Stage 2 mine plan at Johnson Camp Mine (JCM) in southeast Arizona to incorporate approximately 3 million additional tons of mineralized material, to be extracted between 2027 and 2029. The updated plan maintains the existing demonstration schedule while enhancing project economics, with Nuton agreeing to pay Gunnison $8 million in Q4 2026 to reflect the value created through the optimization. Johnson Camp is capable of producing up to 25 million pounds of copper cathode annually, with operations fully funded by Nuton.

CEO Craig Hallworth said the optimized plan "supports continued operations, preserves critical workforce and technical capabilities, strengthens the long-term outlook for the project." The development adds incremental near-term copper supply from a U.S. domestic project at a time when new production is in demand globally, and signals continued commitment from Rio Tinto's Nuton venture to scaling heap-leach copper extraction technology in North America.

Global X, managed by Mirae Asset Global Investments (Hong Kong), listed Hong Kong's first dedicated copper mining ETF on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on September 15, 2026. The fund trades under tickers 3014 (HKD) and 9014 (USD) at an issue price of US$1 per share, tracking the Solactive Copper Miners Index — a free-float market-cap-weighted benchmark of up to 30 global copper mining companies, each capped at a 7% individual weighting.

The ETF positions itself around secular demand for copper tied to AI infrastructure and data center buildout. Dennis Fok, Co-CEO and CIO of Mirae Asset Global Investments (Hong Kong), said the fund offers investors "diversified access to the companies at the heart of global copper supply." Mirae Asset's parent manages approximately US$439 billion in assets globally.

Cyprium Metals has begun acid commissioning of heap leach pads at its Nifty Copper Complex in Western Australia, marking the first acid application to the site in nearly two decades after operations halted in 2009. The solvent extraction facility is substantially mechanically complete, and the electrowinning plant has finished major equipment installation, with first copper cathode production targeted for Q4 2026. The company's Phase 1 Cathode Restart Project is designed to produce approximately 6,000 tonnes of copper cathode per annum.

The restart of a previously dormant operation adds incremental supply at a time when copper demand from electrification and renewable energy buildout remains elevated. Beyond Phase 1, Cyprium is evaluating an expansion to roughly 20,000 tonnes annually using existing heaps, oxide stockpiles, and shallow pit material at Nifty, which could make the project a more meaningful contributor to Australian copper output over the medium term.

Algo Grande Copper Corp. reported a significant Phase II drilling result at its Adelita Project in Sonora, Mexico, part of the prolific Arizona-Sonora copper belt. Hole AG-CG-PH2-002 intersected 30.23 metres grading 1.5% copper equivalent (0.83% Cu, 47.3 g/t Ag, 0.40 g/t Au) from 146.70 metres depth, with a high-grade core of 3.55 metres at 9.4% CuEq and a peak 1.2-metre interval grading 15.8% CuEq (9.84% Cu, 638 g/t Ag). The result sits 100 metres shallower than Phase I intersects, expanding the mineralized footprint at the Cerro Grande target.

Mineralization occurs in garnet-dominant skarn hosting bornite, chalcopyrite, and chalcocite, and the hole also encountered a porphyry intrusion consistent with a classic skarn-porphyry system. VP Exploration João Rocha described the result as "the result we were drilling for." Algo Grande's Phase II program is designed for approximately 7,200 metres across 15 holes, with assays pending on multiple additional holes.

Freeport-McMoRan is targeting a phased return to full output at its giant Grasberg underground mine in Indonesia following a fatal incident roughly a year ago. The company restarted operations in October 2025, accelerated to a larger restart in March 2026, and is now guiding for 65% capacity in the second half of 2026, 80% by mid-2027, and near-full capacity by end of 2027 after modifying material-handling systems for long-term efficiency. Grasberg is one of the world's largest copper and gold deposits, so its return to full throughput represents a meaningful addition to global refined copper supply over the next 18 months.

On the domestic front, Freeport — which accounts for roughly 70% of U.S. refined copper output — is deploying a proprietary leaching technology that recovers copper from previously mined stockpiles without requiring smelter capacity. The process currently yields around 200 million pounds per year, but the company believes an estimated 40 billion pounds of recoverable copper sits in existing U.S. stockpiles, pointing to a potential ceiling of 800 million pounds annually as additional proprietary additives complete testing in late 2026 and early 2027. Combined with a proposed Bagdad mine expansion, Freeport projects U.S. production could rise roughly 60% over three to four years. The company is also pursuing inclusion of copper in the federal 45X tax credit, which could provide up to $500 million in annual incentives and accelerate the domestic build-out further.

Metal Energy Corp. (TSXV: MERG) has mobilized a second diamond drill rig to its NIV Copper-Gold Project in British Columbia's Toodoggone District, doubling drilling capacity for the roughly four weeks remaining in the 2026 season. The company has completed six holes totalling approximately 4,200 metres since the first-ever drill campaign at NIV began on June 29, with a planned program total of 6,000 metres and the flexibility to add additional metres. The 12,500-hectare property sits 32 km south of Centerra Gold's Kemess mine.

CEO Charlie Greig said the second rig allows the team to follow up on its best holes and more fully test what it describes as an impressive 5 km length of the NIV system. Metal Energy reports a treasury exceeding $9 million and is backed by two major mining companies as 9.9% strategic investors each, positioning it as fully funded for 2026 exploration.

Camden Copper — formerly Denkai America — operates a plant in Kershaw County, South Carolina that the Department of Defense identified as "a single point of failure" in the domestic copper foil supply chain. The facility is the only North American producer of a specific precision copper foil used in circuit boards, batteries, consumer electronics, and military systems including planes, missiles, and radars. In November 2024, under globalization pressure that had pushed most production to lower-cost Southeast Asian facilities, the company announced closure by February 2025. Dallas-based critical minerals firm Principal Mineral Co. stepped in to acquire the plant in April 2025, two months after learning of the planned shutdown.

The rescue highlights a structural vulnerability in US copper processing: even as raw copper supply receives significant policy attention, downstream fabrication capacity for specialized forms — including the tight-tolerance foil required for advanced electronics — has eroded sharply. Principal Mineral's COO Wes Spurlock noted that replacing such a facility would require up to five years, making preservation of existing capacity a national security priority. The story underscores that domestic copper demand security depends not just on mining output but on maintaining the processing infrastructure needed to convert copper into the precision materials defense and electronics supply chains actually require.