Calgary, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. - November 29, 2021) - Copper Fox Metals Inc. (TSXV: CUU) (OTCQX: CPFXF) (‘Copper Fox’ or the ‘Company’), through its wholly owned subsidiary Desert Fox Copper Inc., are pleased to provide an update on its 100% owned Van Dyke in-situ copper recovery (“ISCR”) project located in the Globe-Miami Mining District, Arizona. Montgomery & Associates (“Montgomery”), a water resource consulting firm headquartered in Tucson, AZ, completed an Order of Magnitude (+/-30%) estimate of the timeline, costs and data/surveys required to complete the hydrogeological portion of the pre-application and formal permitting process for the Van Dyke project.

Highlights

The Underground Injection Control Permit and Aquifer Protection Permit are the primary permits to be obtained.
The pre-application phase is estimated to take between 2-3 years, this will be followed by a 1.5-2 year permitting process after the applications are submitted.
Engineering costs are estimated at $US3.9 million for the pre-application phase and $US1 million for the post-submittal phase.
Logging the drill core from the Azurite target indicates that sampling of the last 40m of core from DDH AZ-3 should be completed.
Elmer B. Stewart, President and CEO of Copper Fox stated, “Copper Fox, in conjunction with Montgomery, is currently working on scheduling meetings with the EPA and ADEQ to obtain preliminary comments to further define the scope of work and other concerns, all fundamental to establishing next steps for the project. The drill holes required for the hydrogeological investigation can also be used to obtain additional analytical results and samples to better inform the metallurgical and geotechnical variability within the deposit and to advance the project to the pre-feasibility stage. The 40m interval of secondary copper at the bottom of DDH AZ-3 is encouraging and supports the expansion potential of the Van Dyke deposit to the southwest.”

Background to the Data Gap Study
The Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”), announced in early 2021, demonstrated robust project economics and concluded that the Van Dyke deposit has the potential of becoming a mid-tier copper project. The PEA recommended advancing the project to the pre-feasibility stage with an estimated budget of $US15.5 million including permitting and wellfield pilot testing.

Permitting Considerations
Permitting of a resource project in the United States includes investigating the current and long-term effects of the proposed project on surface water, groundwater, cultural and biological resources and air.

In the pre-application phase, Hydrogeological/Water Quality/Air/Biological/Cultural data are collected to support the formal application and other requirements of the EPA/ADEQ. On submission of the formal permitting application, the EPA/ADEQ completes an in-depth review of the technical data presented in the permitting application followed by a public comment period. An overview of the two primary permits to be obtained is described below:

Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) Permit issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) addresses the design, construction, integrity, and closure of injection/recovery wells to protect underground sources of drinking water from injection fluid migration. The UIC permitting process requires details of aquifer characteristics, groundwater flow, geochemistry (including baseline) demonstration of fluid injection hydrodynamics control, operations, monitoring, closure, and post closure monitoring.

Aquifer Protection Permit (“APP”) issued by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) covers mining related discharge (or potential discharge) from mine facilities with potential to discharge to groundwater.

Montgomery OOM
Montgomery completed an Order of Magnitude (+/-30%) estimate of the timeline and engineering costs to complete hydrogeologic studies to support the UIC and APP permits for the Van Dyke project. The study outlined the status of the project and recommends a seven-stage approach as set out below;

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https://copperfoxmetals.com/news/copper-fox-provides-update-on-van-dyke-project-105301/