A drill rig at the Nussir project in northern Norway. Credit: Blue Moon Metals
Blue Moon Metals (TSXV: MOON), a Vancouver-based junior advancing the Nussir copper project in Norway, has secured at least $140 million in financing from Hartree Partners and Oaktree Capital to fund early works.
The capital package comprises a $25 million bridge loan already in place, followed by a $50 million senior secured term loan, a $70 million precious metals stream, and up to $20 million in equity for further development and execution, Blue Moon said on Wednesday.
The financing to cover engineering, long-lead equipment, underground development and working capital is spearheaded by Hartree, a global energy and commodities trading house, and Oaktree, a Los Angeles-based asset manager with $205 billion under management and a stake in Hartree. Nussir, which has been designated an EU strategic critical raw material project, is a rare new low-cost copper project under pre-construction targeting a September 2027 startup.
“This partnership reflects the strength of our project, the ongoing support of our strategic partners, and the confidence in our team’s ability to deliver across the asset base,” CEO Christian Kargl-Simard said in a release. “We expect to announce at least one additional strategic financing package over the next two months covering investment over Blue Moon’s portfolio of assets.”
Shares in Blue Moon Metals fell 4.2% to C$3.42 apiece in Toronto by Wednesday afternoon, as wider markets declined, for a company market value of C$180 million.
Finnmark region
Blue Moon is advancing an underground decline and early access blasting at Nussir in the rugged Finnmark region 1,370 km north of Oslo by air. Basic plant engineering is expected to be completed this year at the site. Detailed engineering is to follow in 2026.
Nussir’s underground operation would cost about $330 million to build, according to a 2023 JORC (Australian rules) feasibility study. It shows a post-tax net present value of about $665 million at an 8% discount rate and outlines a 25-year mine life. Average annual production is expected to reach about 25,000 tonnes of copper concentrate with additional silver and gold by-products.
The project would have C1 cash costs of about $1.38 per lb. of copper over the life of mine, placing it in the lower quartile of the industry cost curve, according to the JORC report. The all-in sustaining cost was estimated at about $1.60 per pound. The low costs reflect the project’s high copper grade, straightforward metallurgy and access to existing infrastructure in northern Norway.
Nussir features a stratabound copper-silver-gold system along a nearly 9-km mineralized strike. The 2023 design calls for an initial 1.5-million-tonne-per-year throughput, expanding later to about 3 million tonnes per year. Metallurgical recoveries are expected to be in the 90% range for copper.
Resource
The Nussir deposit holds 28.7 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.02% copper, 12.3 grams silver per tonne and 0.12 gram gold for 292,000 tonnes copper, 11.4 million oz. silver and 108,000 oz. gold, according to an NI 43-101 (Canadian rules) report issued in January. Inferred resources add 32 million tonnes grading 1.01% copper, 14.6 grams silver and 0.14 gram gold for 324,000 tonnes copper, 15 million oz. silver and 143,000 oz. gold.
Three km away, the Ulveryggen deposit hosts 4.05 million indicated tonnes grading 0.65% copper for 26,300 tonnes copper, and 3.7 million inferred tonnes at 0.68% copper for 25,000 tonnes of red metal, according to the same report.
Norwegian company Alta Kobberverk mined around 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes grading about 1% copper from Ulveryggen, then known as Repparfjord, from 1972 to 1979 when it went out of business, according to the Geological Survey of Norway. Ore was shipped south to Sulitjelma for processing.
Brownfield sites
Blue Moon is also advancing two other polymetallic projects: the NSG copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit in Norway and the Blue Moon zinc-gold-silver-copper project in California. All three are being developed on brownfield sites with existing infrastructure.
Kargl-Simard joined the company last November after leading Adventus Mining (now part of Silvercorp Metals (TSX, NYSE: SVM) in Ecuador. He said Nussir is unusual in being shovel-ready after 20 years of engineering, permitting and drilling work.
“While many companies talk about building copper mines, very few are doing it – we’re one of them,” the CEO told The Northern Miner in July. “There are only a handful of new copper mines under construction globally right now, and Nussir positions us strongly in that rare category.”