White Pine Copper has completed a pre-feasibility study for its proposed White Pine North mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, setting out a 26-year mine plan and an estimated $905.5 million in initial capital costs. The company is targeting a final investment decision in the second half of 2027 and commercial production in 2030.
The study marks a step toward development, but the project has not received its major permit approvals or a final commitment to build. White Pine Copper says it has submitted its major applications to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and has begun a feasibility study targeted for completion by mid-2027.
Underground, the proposed mine would process approximately 5.4 million tonnes of ore annually at steady state. White Pine Copper projects production of more than 45,000 tonnes of payable copper per year, along with silver recovered from the ore.
Probable mineral reserves of 137.9 million tonnes underpin the mine plan. That figure is distinct from the company's larger estimate of 191.2 million tonnes of mineral resources. Resources include material that has not been classified as reserves, and the company says no inferred resources are included in the study's economic analysis.
The project is planned for the historic White Pine copper district, where mining ceased in 1995. The proposal includes reuse of existing tailings storage infrastructure. White Pine Copper says that approach would reduce the project's environmental footprint compared with a new site, a claim that remains relevant to the broader push to shorten domestic copper supply timelines as well as to the state's review of the proposed facilities and their management.
The pre-feasibility study estimates a $1.38 billion post-tax net present value, using an 8% discount rate, and a 23.1% internal rate of return. These are modeled outcomes, not returns the project has earned.
Its financial case assumes long-term prices of $4.97 per pound of copper and $53.69 per ounce of silver, price levels that sit well above where other domestic copper expansions have penciled out their own economics. The company's sensitivity analysis identifies metal prices, ore grade and recovery rates as the factors with the greatest effect on projected economics. The model also assumes full equity funding and includes no financing costs, leaving the eventual funding structure to be determined before construction.
Beyond the $905.5 million initial investment, the study estimates $863 million in sustaining capital over the mine's life and $160 million for closure. Added together, those three figures put total project capital above $1.9 billion before operating costs.
A feasibility study is due by mid-2027, followed by a final investment decision later that year and roughly 30 months of construction before commercial production, under the company's current schedule. Each stage depends on further technical work, regulatory decisions and the company's ability to fund the project, a sequencing challenge similar to what other domestic critical-materials projects are navigating on their own permitting and capital timelines.
For companies tracking domestic copper supply, the study provides a more defined potential source and development timeline. It does not yet establish when White Pine North will enter the market. The next consequential milestones are the outcome of Michigan's permit review and the investment decision the company expects to make in 2027.
