Ivanhoe Electric received a Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) outlining the potential to provide up to $825 million in debt financing for the development of the Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona.
The project aligns with the EXIM Bank’s Make More in America initiative, which is intended to increase the United States’ supply of critical minerals to foster economic growth and strengthen national security through domestic resource production.
“The United States urgently needs more domestically produced copper to support the rapid expansion and rebuilding of its electric transmission and transportation infrastructure, national defense capabilities, and technologies of the future,” said Ivanhoe Electric Executive Chairman Robert Friedland.
“Santa Cruz is positioned perfectly to be a source of pure copper cathode to help the United States achieve its strategic mission of greater self-reliance on domestic production of critical metals.”
Ivanhoe Electric said it continues to pursue additional government support programs, including the EXIM Bank’s Supply Chain Resilience Initiative and the Section 45X advanced manufacturing production tax credit. It is also assessing EXIM Bank’s interest together with other financing alternatives available to it for the development of Santa Cruz.
The team at Santa Cruz, which includes Fluor as project lead, remains on schedule to deliver the project’s preliminary feasibility study in June.
Source: Ivanhoe Electric