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Lion Copper’s Bear deposit boosts Yerington’s Nevada copper resources

The Bear estimate adds about 6.7 billion pounds of contained copper in indicated material and 8.7 billion pounds in inferred material, expanding Lion’s undeveloped Nevada copper inventory.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Mining

Lion Copper and Gold said an initial resource estimate for its Bear deposit in Nevada places Bear among the state’s largest undeveloped red metal resources within the broader Rio Tinto-backed Yerington project, about 34 km west of Carson City.

Mining.com reports the estimate includes roughly 1.0 billion indicated tonnes grading 0.29% copper, totaling 6.7 billion lb. of contained copper, and about 1.7 billion inferred tonnes at 0.22% copper, totaling 8.7 billion lb. of contained metal. Lion’s CEO John Banning said the result provides a foundation for future engineering studies and creates opportunities to expand and upgrade the inferred resource through additional drilling.

The company also said the Bear resource materially strengthens its copper endowment and expands Yerington’s role among Nevada’s largest undeveloped copper projects. Including reserves from Yerington, Lion’s Nevada copper base totals about 19 billion lb. of global contained copper.

Yerington includes 506.6 million tons of proven and probable reserves grading 0.21% copper, for 2.1 billion lb. of contained metal, based on an August 2025 pre-feasibility study. That study estimated Yerington could produce about 120 million lb. of copper cathode annually over a 12-year life, with a 7% discounted post-tax net present value of US$694 million and a 14.6% internal rate of return on initial capital costs of US$724 million, and both Bear and Yerington are covered by an earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto subsidiary Nuton.

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