06:59 AM EST, 11/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Arizona Sonoran Copper ( ASCUF ) on Wednesday said it has filed the pre-feasibility study for the Cactus project in Arizona.

The PFS outlined a long-life, economically viable conventional copper operation using open-pit mining and heap leach solvent extraction-electrowinning processing to produce LME Grade A copper cathode.

The operation will produce approximately 103,000 tonnes of estimated average annual copper cathode over the first 10 years of mining, making Cactus the third-largest cathode producer in the U.S.

Capital intensity is US$10,894 per tonne of copper cathodes produced and average annual EBITDA is $574 million. Operational mine life is 22 years.

It has an after-tax net present value discounted at 8% of $2.30 billion and an after-tax internal rate of return of 22.8%. All-in sustaining costs are $1.62 per pound.

Initial mineral reserves are 513 million tons at a grade of 0.52% total copper in the proven and probable category for 5.3 billion pounds of contained copper.