Florence Copper charts a new course for US copper production - ME Feature Article

As demand for copper continues to climb alongside the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), electrification and advanced manufacturing, the United States faces growing pressure to secure domestic supplies of the metal. Analysts expect global copper demand to increase sharply over the next two decades, as the production of electric vehicles, renewable energy and AI data centers ramps up. At the same time, new copper mines have become increasingly difficult to develop. In central Arizona, one project is taking a different approach. Located in the town of Florence between Phoenix and Tucson, Florence Copper recently became the first major new source of U.S. copper in more than a decade. In early 2026, the project began commercial operations after spending years developing its copper recovery process at a test stage. Rather than relying on an openpit or an underground mine, the operation uses in situ copper recovery (ISCR), a process that extracts copper from underground without blasting, hauling or constructing tailings facilities. The project is the world’s first greenfield commercial ISCR copper project and produces London Metal Exchange (LME) Grade A copper cathode on site, which allows the finished product to move directly to U.S. manufacturers without off-site smelting. Not only is Florence Copper a new copper operation that will help strengthen domestic mineral supply chains, but it is also a testament to whether certain copper deposits can be developed using a lower-impact approach. Traditional copper mining typically involves removing large volumes of rock from an openpit or underground workings before processing and transporting concentrate to a smelter. However, Florence Copper’s in situ process eliminates many of those steps. “Rather than extracting and processing massive quantities of mineralized rock, the ISCR process at Florence Copper leaches copper minerals into solution below ground before pumping a copper-rich solution to surface and processing it into pure copper cathode sheets on site,” said Sophie Dessart, manager of communications and public affairs at Florence Copper. The process takes place between 122 and 365 m (400 and 1,200 ft) below the surface within a naturally fractured copper oxide deposit saturated with groundwater. Operators inject a mildly acidic solution, comparable in acidity to household vinegar, through a series of wells. As the solution moves through the orebody, it dissolves copper minerals before recovery wells pump the copper-rich solution back to the surface. At the surface, the solution enters a solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) plant, where it is refined into LME Grade A copper cathodes. Once the copper has been removed, the remaining solution is recycled back into the wellfield, creating a closed-loop process that repeats throughout the life of the operation. Although Florence Copper only began commercial production this year, development of the deposit stretches back more than five decades. Copper was first identified on the property in 1969 after geologists recognized evidence of mineralization near Poston Butte. Its initial investigations focused on conventional mining methods before companies began evaluating the site’s potential for in situ recovery during the 1990s. In 2014, Trekor Metals (formerly Taseko Mines) acquired the project, and in 2017, construction of a production test facility began. Two years later, the pilot operation produced its first copper cathode using ISCR. Over the next several years, the facility safely produced more than one million pounds of copper while generating operational data that helped engineers refine commercial design. “The production test facility played a critical role by allowing Florence Copper to demonstrate the safety, effectiveness, compliance with permit conditions and overall environmental responsibility of the ISCR process while also generating valuable operational data to optimize performance at commercial scale,” said Dessart. The company completed construction of its production facility in fall 2025 and produced its first copper cathode in February 2026. Dessart said the project reached its construction and commissioning phase on schedule and within roughly 4 percent of budget. Florence Copper now expects to reach full production in 2027, with the capacity to produce 85 million pounds of copper annually. Over its projected 22-year mine life, the operation is expected to produce more than 1.5 billion pounds of copper cathode. At full production, the project is expected to increase U.S. copper cathode output by 5 percent compared with 2025 levels and make the country’s third-largest copper cathode producer. The timing of Florence Copper’s commercial launch coincides with a period of growing concern about future copper supply. According to S&P Global’s 2026 report, “Copper in the Age of AI: The Challenges of Electrification,” global copper demand could increase roughly 50 percent by 2040, reaching 42 Mt/a (46 stpy). The report projects that AI infrastructure alone will require significant volumes of copper, with a single hyperscale data center consuming as much as 50 kt (55,000 st). Without substantial new investment, the report warns the world could face a copper supply deficit approaching 10 Mt (11 million st) by 2040. But with the addition of Florence’s production, the U.S. could add a significant amount of the critical mineral to its domestic supply. “Florence Copper is emerging as a critical new source of U.S.-produced refined copper at a time when global demand is accelerating significantly,” said Dessart. “We are proud to serve as a new domestic source of U.S. copper, helping strengthen supply chains, support economic growth and ensure that the materials essential to electrification, innovation and national security are produced here at home.”