Initiating Coverage
We are initiating coverage on NorthIsle Copper and Gold Inc. (TSXV:NCX) with a BUY rating and C$0.90 target price. NorthIsle’s flagship North Island Cu-Au-Mo project, located on the northern tip of Vancouver Island, features I&I resources of ~8.6B lbs CuEq that supports a large, open pit operation with attractive economics – including an after-tax $1.1B NPV8%. The PEA contemplates a 75,000 tpd operation producing an average of ~100M lbs Cu and 100k oz Au per year. In our view, this is a highly developable mine in a tier-one jurisdiction, particularly given NorthIsle’s focus on ensuring ESG is at the core of its strategy. We believe stringent ESG standards will be a key requirement for any mine that gets built in a tier-one jurisdiction in the future, thus reinforcing this approach.