Arizona-Sonora (TSX: ASCU; OTCQX: ASCUF) has extended the primary mineralization beneath the Cactus West open pit plan by 330 metres to the south, 150 metres to the southwest and at least 215 metres below the proposed pit envelope. To confirm the extension of the sulphide mineralization envelope, drilling was conducted below leachable oxides and enriched sulphides in previously untested areas.

The program is part of Work 2024, sponsored by Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto The program follows on from ECW-150, which intersected a significant primary sulphide interval 205 metres below the pit shell. A total interval of 432 metres grading 0.45 copper was encountered.

“While our engineering and geology teams remain focused on integrating our MainSpring property into our February 2024 pre-feasibility study, our geoteams continue their exemplary low discovery cost programs. To date, discovery costs for our Cactus porphyry are less than $0.01/lb, forcing us to continue drilling until those costs begin to increase,” said President and CEO George Ogilvie in a news release.

The Cactus Pit is part of the Arizona copper-gold project of the same name. There are three deposits, a waste dump and the former Sacaton mine along a 4 km trend. The project has on-site power, rail and water connections. A simple heap leach project is planned initially.

The 2024 PFS envisages a project with a mine life of 21 years producing an average of 110 million pounds of copper per year. All-in sustaining costs are estimated at US$2.34 per pound of copper. The project will have post-tax free cash flow (undiscounted) of US$3.32 billion (US$2.41 billion).

The project has an after-tax net present value (8% discount) of $708.8 million and an after-tax internal rate of return of 15.3%. The initial construction cost is $708.8 million, followed by ongoing costs of $1.68 billion.

The complete PFS can be found at ArizonaSonoran.com.