Executive Interviews

Asian Metal: Could you please briefly introduce your company and its copper resources?

Gordon Thompson: Copper 360 is located in the Namaqua region of South Africa's Northern Cape Province. Our ore is hosted in granite, with approximately 70% bornite and the remaining 30% chalcopyrite. After Jan Nelson discovered significant recoverable copper value in old waste rock dumps in the Nababeep area, he raised funds to build a SX-EW copper processing plant. Subsequently, SHiP Copper Pty Ltd formally established Copper 360 Ltd. through a reverse takeover of Big Tree Capital Limited (BTCL). In December 2025, the company completed a recapitalization with ZAR 400 million in new capital, significantly reducing historical debt and optimizing its royalty structure. In the same year, the company produced 1,000 tonnes of copper. Copper 360 has now prioritized a shift to underground primary sulphide mining and is executing an exploration program to increase resource confidence. We are currently mining at the Rietberg Mine, in the "Glory Hole," with a monthly mining capacity of 20,000 tonnes. The ore is processed at the MFP2 plant, which also has a capacity of 20,000 tonnes per month. Another, more advanced plant, MFP1, has a designed capacity of 25,000 tonnes per month and is currently 80% complete. Besides copper, the ore also contains minor amounts of gold and silver. Our sulphide flotation recovery exceeds 90%, with excellent performance. The company currently has 1.5 million tonnes of copper resources across a vast mining area of 19,000 hectares. Copper grades range from 0.7% to 1.8%. The ore body is shallow, extending from the surface down to approximately 400 meters, with numerous copper outcrops on the surface. Our medium-term goal is to achieve 5,000 tonnes of copper per annum, and our long-term goal is 20,000 tonnes per annum. Considering our resources can support mining for approximately 75 years, we cannot fully unlock this potential on our own. Therefore, as an established copper producer, we believe that through strategic partnerships, we can accelerate the realization of value from our copper resources.

Asian Metal: What products do you currently offer?

Gordon Thompson: Our main product is copper concentrate, which contains four metals: copper, gold, silver, and sulphur. The sulphur is converted into sulphuric acid for use in our hydrometallurgical process. In addition, we have a small hydrometallurgical plant, currently on care and maintenance, which can produce 100 tonnes of copper cathode per month. Only 9% of the company's total resources are oxides; the rest are sulphides. We plan to upgrade the solvent extraction circuit, add a CCD circuit, and expand the electrowinning tankhouse capacity to match the scale of the ore body. However, the company's core business remains focused on copper concentrate production.

Asian Metal: What advantages do you have compared to other African producers, such as those in the DRC and Zambia?

Gordon Thompson: Compared to producers in the DRC and Zambia, we have several fundamental advantages. First, our ore is hosted in granite, not laterite. The laterite in the DRC and Zambia contains a lot of clay, making processing very difficult, whereas the granite environment provides cleaner, easier-to-process ore. Second, our ore contains no cobalt. Our sulphide flotation recovery exceeds 90%, which is unachievable in the DRC. Furthermore, we don't need to use drying equipment – our concentrate drains naturally, with moisture content between 10% and 15%, which can drop to 9% under sunlight, whereas dryers are mandatory in the DRC. On costs, our average mining cost per tonne of rock mined is almost half of the DRC's USD180 per tonne (from mine through plant to plant discharge). According to our feasibility study, the expected cost to produce one tonne of copper concentrate is USD6,400 to USD6,500. Labour costs are much lower than in Zambia and the DRC, and we operate in South African Rand, not US Dollars. With 12 old mines on our property, we can leverage existing development and infrastructure to maintain low operating costs. Our goal is to be 25% lower in production costs than our competitors. Infrastructure-wise, we have good roads and transport conditions. For power, we have diesel generator sets as backup. Over the last 18 months, loadshedding has improved significantly, with no outages during this period, so we haven't needed to use diesel generation. Regarding the rainy season, our mine is in a desert area; the Northern Cape receives very little rain. The rainy season lasts only two to three weeks each October, with light rainfall – compared to the DRC's six months of non-stop rain.

Asian Metal: How do you handle logistics?

Gordon Thompson: Logistics costs from mine to port are borne by the off-taker, as we sell at the mine gate on an ex-works basis. We have three deep-water ports available: Cape Town, approximately 470 km south of the mine site; Saldanha Bay, about 130 km away; and Walvis Bay in Namibia, about 1,000 km away.

Asian Metal: How does the rainy season affect your production?

Gordon Thompson: As mentioned, the mine is in a desert area with very little rainfall. The rainy season lasts only two to three weeks each October, with light rain, so the impact on production is extremely limited and manageable. During rain, we suspend haulage operations, but mining continues; we resume haulage once the rain stops.

Asian Metal: What is your pricing model, and who are your main buyers?

Gordon Thompson: We sell copper concentrate to international off-takers at the mine gate, with pricing based on the prevailing LME copper price. Gold and silver are also settled as a percentage of LME prices, although gold content is very low. Our copper concentrate grade is attractive, at around 30% copper, with moisture content between 10% and 15%, which can drop to 9% under sunlight. The prices we achieve are much higher than typical market levels in Tanzania, where 30-35% grade concentrate sells for only USD2,500-2,800 per tonne. Chinese smelters currently have strong demand and are willing to pay a premium for our product. The company has a long-term contract covering the entire mine life with a very supportive off-taker, so all our concentrate is currently off-taken. However, this pricing advantage brings a problem: it discourages us from building our own plant. Because the returns we get from flotation alone are already equivalent to the metal value we would get from further processing, we lack sufficient incentive to invest in downstream processing beyond flotation.

Asian Metal: What is your outlook for copper prices and market demand?

Gordon Thompson: In the short term for this year, I believe the concentrate market will remain in deficit. As long as there is a gap between Chinese smelter capacity and the available copper concentrate supply on the market, copper prices will remain firm. In the medium to long term, over the next two to ten years, due to the electrification of transport and communication systems, I expect strong copper demand to last at least another decade. There is no substitute for copper; it is the lowest-cost metal for transporting electricity. Meanwhile, producers are facing difficulties. Ten years ago, 2.5% copper grades were common, and good profits could be made at USD3.50 per pound. Now, average grades have fallen significantly, costs continue to rise, and major producers like Los Bronces in South America are struggling to maintain output. LME copper prices recently reached as high as USD12,500-13,000 per tonne – a level I have never seen in my career. I expect this trend to last at least another decade. As a mining professional, my core task is to keep production costs as low as possible. If I can produce at 25% lower cost than my competitors, I will be able to survive regardless of price fluctuations.

Asian Metal: What type of investment or partnership are you seeking?

Gordon Thompson: We have 19,000 hectares of mining rights – please note, these are fully converted mining rights, not exploration rights. Having full mining rights over such a large and attractive ore body is a unique advantage. The relevant permits and environmental work are already in place. There are many different types of deposits across our property. We are open to partnerships. A partner could come in through a feasibility study and start mining operations immediately. A partner could choose to join and grow with our existing plant, or build a standalone plant – the partner can decide the specific approach. However, we have no intention of selling the mining rights; this position is non-negotiable, as the mining rights are like a "birth certificate" for the company. After we complete our expansion over the next three to five years, we will consider exporting products directly to other countries, including China. Currently, the company sells mainly through local traders.

Asian Metal: Thank you for your wonderful insights. We wish your company great success.

Gordon Thompson: Thank you very much.