The Next Major Copper Discovery: Unveiling Mexico’s Untapped Copper Potential
An unexplored region in the hills of Oaxaca, Mexico, at the site of an ancient volcanic eruption, could yield a mountain of high-grade copper
A small company with massive leverage to rising copper prices with projects in Mexico and Chile
Vortex Metals’ (TSX:VMS, OTCQB:VMSSF) initial exploration results hint at what could be promising new discoveries in Mexico and Chile
Company Highlights
World-Class Copper Exploration Portfolio
The inclusion of an emerging VMS belt project and a developing brownfield copper project offers exposure to different stages of mineral exploration.
Advanced Copper Brownfield in Chile
Fully permitted copper project in Choapa Province of Chile, in close proximity to El Espino mine, with an estimated value of US $380 million and annual expected production of 26,000 mt of copper and 13,000 oz of gold.
Emerging VMS Belt Potential in Mexico
Leverage to emerging volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) belt with potential for significant copper discovery.
No Energy Transition Without Copper
To date, humanity has mined 620 million tonnes of copper. Looking forward, we are expected to extract approximately 11,000 million tonnes by 2050—triple what has been mined historically.
However, it’s been years since a substantial new deposit has been found.
In fact, the amount of new copper deposits discovered during the past 15 years, 143 metric tons, is less than was discovered in 1991 alone.
As you’d assume, the mismatch between discoveries and the forecast for demand looks set to squeeze supply.
Such a supply crisis could slam the brakes on the transition to clean energy. Stop it cold. It is fair to say that the energy transition starts and ends with copper.
Enter Vortex Metals founder, the late David Jones – a world-renowned geologist, credited for developing a geological model responsible for numerous mineral discoveries in Mexico.
Upon setting foot on Oaxaca’s mineral-rich expanse, Jones was captivated by the possibility of what lay beneath. This abundant stretch of land, forming part of a larger volcanic belt, remained relatively unexplored. And he was certain that he was the first geologist to lay eyes on this mountain.
“No significant exploration has been carried out, ”Jones told BNamericas.
What Jones saw hinted at the potential for a vast new copper mine. A mine that would potentially yield some gold as well.
Had this geological area been in the United States or Canada, it would likely have been discovered years ago.
Jones had a right to be excited. He was already an internationally renowned geologist, and believed Oaxaca would be the site of a project worthy of his nickname…
“The Mine Finder.”
It was a nickname well known across the industry, a reputation built on a deep understanding of geology and a sixth sense on where to find mineralization.
In essence, the model that Jones used predicted where rich deposits would develop within ancient underwater volcanoes.
Scientists call these mineral-rich zones Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) deposits.
Not long after, Jones’ geological model was credited with leading the discovery of the Los Filos mine in Mexico – now owned by Equinox Gold, a public company with a $1.5 billion market cap.
Los Filos is one of the world’s largest gold mines with a total resource of 7.43 million ounces as well as a 52.54-million-ounce silver resource.
Jones’ model is also responsible for multiple discoveries in what is now known as the 20-million-ounce Guerrero Gold Belt in Mexico.
Sadly, Jones passed before a spade could be sunk into his prized Oaxaca projects and prior to receiving the test results from some of his gossan (an oxidized rock exposure) samples, which came back at up to 10% copper. This mineralized gossan provides a stellar drill target for potential high grade mineralization.
The company Jones founded to explore this territory now holds his mineral leases that form two separate properties in what was once remote Oaxaca.
That company is Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTCQB:VMSSF).
Vortex Metals has two copper projects in Oaxaca…
The Riqueza Marina project
The Riqueza Marina project is sizable, encompassing approximately 30,000 acres or ~46.5 square miles, distributed over three mineral leases.
The Zaachila project
The Zaachila project covers roughly 8,000 acres, translating to ~12.6 square miles.
Jones firmly believed the Riqueza Marina and Zaachila projects would become his largest, most significant copper discoveries, and Vortex Metals is determined to fulfill his legacy.
The company has recently concluded its new phase of surface exploration on the expansive Riqueza Marina project, with initial trenching and grab sample results generating significant anticipation.
At Zaachila, the company recently announced local community approvals to advance the Copper-Gold project, and it will soon begin the application for a very anticipated drill program.
The timing is ideal, considering the billions of dollars now being funneled towards the total overhaul of global energy infrastructure, including Electric Vehicle (EV) production and net-zero goals. The common thread in this transition is copper.
The Metal Of Electrification
Demand for copper is being driven by the same phenomenon that has sent markets for lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite soaring.
It’s all in the efforts of modernizing the U.S. energy grid, as well as driving the shift to cleaner, more sustainable sources.
From expanding access to EVs and laying a network of charging stations, to supplementing the grid with solar and wind-generated power – each of these steps is going to require large amounts of copper.
Just take a look at wind power. It alone is the reason the world will quickly need to double its copper mining output to 50 million metric tons a year.
A single wind turbine today has an installed capacity of 3 megawatts. Each megawatt needs three metric tons of copper. That’s nine tons per single turbine.
In the U.S. alone, in 2023, there were wind 40 projects under development that will deliver 47,606 megawatts, and an additional 5,039 MW of potential capacity in the planning stage. That means this year’s demand for copper was 157,935 metric tons of copper.
Global Energy Monitor only tracks wind projects larger than 10 gigawatts. And a gigawatt is equal to 1,000 megawatts. There are currently 1,807 planned wind-generated gigawatts across the globe. They’ll need close to 1,000 tons of copper… and this is just a start.
There are 447,000 megawatts of planned offshore wind power by 2032. But offshore means miles and miles of copper cable for each turbine to deliver it power to shore. That means 31 tons of copper for every 3 megawatts, or about 4,620 tons.
It’s important to note that traditional electric generation is also being upgraded – a massive endeavor requiring millions of metric tons of copper by itself.
The global electricity grid needs to double in size by 2050 to meet net-zero targets. That’ll take an estimated 427 million metric tons of copper.
In the U.S., modernizing the vast countrywide network of transmission and distribution lines is forecast to require 2.4 million metric tons, covering a length of 600,000 miles.
This is why resource experts are largely bullish on copper.
Mark Lewis, the chief sustainability strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management, was just as bullish. He told The Guardian, “It feels like any market you look at investors want to buy.” Lewis went on to say that the next 30 years should be copper’s “super cycle” thanks to a worldwide acceptance of clean and green energy.
Daniel Major, an analyst at Swiss bank UBS, said the roll-out of electric cars and shift to cleaner energy will be “the key megatrend” driving copper in the years ahead.
S&P Global’s IHS Market reported, “copper demand is projected to grow from 25 million metric tons a year in late 2022 to about 50 million metric tons by 2035.”
And as an added bonus, copper is also at the heart of the construction industry for plumbing, another infrastructure project in dire need of updating.
As a result, every year the gap between supply and demand is growing wider.
And that record-high level of demand will continue to grow to 53 million metric tons by 2050.
That leads us to a disturbing fact.
Some of the world’s largest copper mines are seeing their reserves dwindle.
Because of that, they’re having to slow production due to major capital-intensive projects to move operations from open pit to underground.
According to Kitco, those transitions include the world’s two largest copper mines, Escondida in Chile, and Grasberg in Indonesia… the same is said to be happening with Chuquicamata, the biggest open pit mine on earth.
Without new capital investments, Commodities Research Unit predicts global copper mine production will drop from the current 21 million metric tons to below 12 million metric tons.
That would lead to massive shortfall just when expansion is needed most.
Even worse, expectations are that more than 200 copper mines will run out of ore before 2035, with not enough new mines in the pipeline to take their place.
It’s a chronic gap Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTC:VMSSF) could help fill.
No Red Metal, No Green Revolution
Now, here’s a less-considered consequence of an expanded electric fleet in the U.S…
EVs go nowhere if their batteries can’t be charged.
In order to orchestrate a national shift to EVs, a lot has to change.
It means the need for more than 2 million public charging stations soon – by 2030.
Those charging stations will require a lot of copper, most of which goes into the cord that connects the charger to the EV.
A single level 2 charger, which can full charge an EV in five hours, contains about two pounds of copper.
A level 3 charger, which can charge an EV to 80% in less than 30 minutes, contains 17.6 pounds.
Now, consider this…
The U.S. is just part of the larger picture.
The World’s Economic Forum says there could be as many as 350 million EVs on the road across the globe by 2040.
The EVs alone will require somewhere in the neighborhood of 31.5 million tons of copper.
At 176 pounds a piece, there’s about twice as much copper in an average EV as there is lithium. The lithium weighs in at only about 80 pounds.
Then keeping them powered will take about 490 million chargers – that’s the total between home as well as public sources.
BloombergNEF agrees with that forecast and suggests that the majority of those 490 million will be home chargers or slow chargers with about 1.5 pounds of copper in them.
The world will need 365,700 tons of copper to support that number.
As for fast charging, a recent report by Navigant Research, forecast that the number of global DC fast charging stations is expected to grow from just over 40,000 in 2019 to more than 530,000 by 2029.
That’ll require another 4.66 million tons of copper. And quickly too.
2029 is just around the corner.
It’s a shocking reality that only until very recently has started to garner attention…
One that MINING alerted the world to last November.
Essentially, they claimed that expanding the copper supply was not an insurmountable goal, but it will take major investments in copper exploration, at a scale that has never before been attempted.
Then they wrote this:
Any copper junior with a deposit of significant size and grades, will have no problem attracting a major or mid-tier acquirer, that can help finance a future copper mine and bring it to commercial production.
That’s why a new-to-the-market company such Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTC:VMSSF) could find themselves on Wall Street’s radar quickly, should upcoming drill programs in Mexico and Chile prove successful.
Aggressive Exploration Program Planned
Already, David Jones and his team have made a preliminary pass through both the Riqueza Marina and Zaachila properties, producing 847 rock samples, 766 soil samples, 1,124 gravity stations, and 93 line-kilometers of magnetics.
Jones then hand-selected five high-potential target areas based on the geology, geochemistry, and geophysics.
The current geological team, led by established geologist and close friend and confidante of Jones, Rob Johansing, has confirmed those key targets.
At this point you may be wondering…
What was it about the Riqueza Marina and Zaachila projects that made Jones so excited?
There are two answers.
Geology is the first. As noted, Riqueza Marina and Zaachila are Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide structures.
VMS deposits are widely considered to be some of the richest sources of base metals such as copper. They can also produce economic amounts of gold and silver.
The second reason Jones was excited is that Riqueza Marina and Zaachila are in a remote part of Oaxaca.
Jones may not have been the first human to lay eyes on them, but he was likely the first expert VMS geologist to explore them.
$7.7 Billion In Copper And More To Come
VMS deposits are found worldwide and often form in clusters or “camps,” following the tectonic plate boundaries in areas of ancient underwater volcanic activity.
Currently, this region of Mexico is being touted as home to one of the world’s largest VMS deposits.
There, in the State of Zacatecas, Agnico Eagle has partnered with Teck Resources on a project that’s estimated to contain 105.2 million metric tons of proven and probable mineral reserves, including an average grade of copper at 1.12%.
Teck and Agnico believe a mine could yield 63,000 tons a year of copper, over a 15-year mine life.
Today, copper trades at $3.70 a pound, or $8,154 a metric ton, meaning if that copper sold at today’s price it would be worth $7.7 billion.
On top of that, there are some peer-reviewed scholarly journal papers on a collection of massive VMS deposits in Campo Morado, Mexico, about 400 miles northeast of Oaxaca and Vortex Metals.
Another peer-reviewed article concludes that the Campo Morado area, and Oaxaca where Vortex is exploring, are the primary Mexican locations of massive VMS deposits.
This fortunate location has the potential to push Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTC:VMSSF) into the forefront of the world’s copper industry.
80% Stake In A Working Chilean Copper Mine
If its Oaxaca properties weren’t enough, Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTCQB:VMSSF) upped its profile in March of 2024 when it signed a definitive agreement with SCM Ventana Minerals Group, to purchase an 80% option in the advanced, fully permitted, Illapel Copper project, located in the Choapa Province of Chile.
Consisting of a 30-square mile property, at very low altitude, the Illapel project enjoys superb infrastructure, in close proximity to El Espino mine, with an estimated value of US $380 million and annual expected production of 26,000 mt of copper and 13,000 oz of gold.
Just 8.5 miles south of the El Espino Copper-Gold project, valued at approximately USD $400-miIlion based on a recent purchase of a 23% stake for $90 million, in the joint venture that will own the project.
The Illapel Project is also adjacent to a smaller mining operation owned by the Ventana Group (the vendors of the project).
Known as the Rio 27, the mine and its near-site processing plant has processed more than 400,000 metric tons of ore with an average grade of 1.39% copper.
Vortex Metals’ agreement with SCM Ventana provides it a right of first refusal on the Rio 27 Mine and processing facility.
Plus, the Illapel Copper project holds a huge advantage.
Due to its proximity to a fully operating mine, it’s fully permitted for drilling and exploration, with Vortex Metals planning on aggressively drilling Illapel starting Q3-2024.
Management Team With A History Of Success
has 42 years international experience in exploration, and mine development. He spent 16 years with BHP and BHP Billiton as Manager, North America Copper Exploration; Leader, Global Porphyry Copper Exploration; and Manager, Latin America Exploration.
From 2008 to 2010 he was Corporate Manager, Exploration for Hochschild Mining PLC of Peru where he developed a new program of international exploration throughout the Americas from Canada to Patagonia.
Kevin Ma is a seasoned Chief Financial Officer with over 15 years of experience in corporate finance, strategic go-public initiatives, and management advisory services for both public and private companies. He has played a pivotal role in securing over $500 million in corporate financing and mergers and acquisitions transactions. Kevin’s previous roles include Director of Finance at Alexco Resource Corp and CFO at First Cobalt Corp. He currently serves on the board of several Canadian public companies.
has over 24 years of experience as a senior executive within the mining industry. He Executive Chairman of numerous public companies including Underworld Resources Ltd, which was sold to Kinross Gold Corp for $138,000,000. He has developed an international banking and financing network that includes extensive contacts with both institutional and retail investors. Mr. Williams currently serves as a director, President and CEO of Vendetta Mining Corp as well as being a Founder and Executive Chairman of Aftermath Silver.
Mr. Fürst, a partner and board member of Banco de Chile since its 2019 NYSE listing. Banco De Chile is Chile’s largest private bank, founded in 1893 with over US$ 12 billion market value. Based in Santiago, it operates 400+ branches and 1900+ ATMs nationwide. His mining sector expertise spans 18 years, focusing on Ventana Minerals and Terra Services. He is also a partner and director of Mall Plaza, the largest owner and operator of shopping malls in Latin America.
is a management professional with an MBA in Finance from the prestigious McGill University in Montreal. His background includes more that 25-years’ experience in capital markets, entrepreneurship and investing. He is a co-founder of Gravitas Group of companies. Moreover, Mr. Ranjan has been involved in launching several public and private enterprises in the areas of capital markets and growth investing. He currently serves on the boards of several public and private companies.
When you closely examine Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTC:VMSSF) as part of your due diligence, consider these attributes:
David Jones, a legendary geologist, found Vortex Metals’ Riqueza Marina and Zaachila projects in a newly accessible part of remote Oaxaca, Mexico.
Jim Franklin, the lead technical advisor, has done extensive work on these projects, especially on Zaachila project. His research on VMS deposits landed him a place in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.
What Jones found were copper grades that hint that the Riqueza Marina and Zaachila projects could someday yield rich copper deposits. He felt if they had been anywhere else in the world, they would likely already be drilled and mined for copper.
Critical news will be released in the coming months as Vortex Metals begins a comprehensive exploration drilling program in Chile and Mexico.
Copper is at the heart of the green energy revolution… if the decarbonization drive fails, the consulting firm Deloitte suggests that would cost the global economy more than $178 trillion over the next 50 years.
MINING set the stage for a decades-long bull run on copper, saying “Any copper junior with a deposit of significant size and grades, will be attractive to a major or mid-tier acquirer.”
Vortex Metals is a clear, easy-to-understand opportunity.
If you are intrigued, then now is the right time to do your due diligence on Vortex Metals (TSX:VMS, OTCQB:VMSSF). Download their corporate presentation, and be the first to receive updates from the company.