+730% and it "hasn't even started" — Copper Giant's 1.1 billion-tonne bet
From the core shack at Mocoa, Copper Giant's CEO argues the two old overhangs — "not big enough" and Colombia's politics — are gone: the resource cleared a billion tonnes, a pro-US president signed a supply-chain MOU on day 31, Trafigura took an offtake before any PEA, and the company is funded to a construction decision it thinks could come in about three years.
One-line take: a CEO talking his own book, but with concrete milestones. Mocoa is now 1.1 billion tonnes of near-surface copper-moly — past the threshold where majors and governments pay attention and "the first 20 years" of a mine can be designed. Colombia's new president has come out "extremely, extremely strong" (a US supply-chain MOU on day 31), Trafigura signed a 10-year offtake for 20% of future concentrate before a PEA, and the company holds ~$45M plus ~$14M of in-the-money warrants against a ~$50M path to a construction decision. PEA by year-end, PFS in ~a year, then Colombia's post-PFS environmental filing: "a construction decision under existing policy in three years." His market call: copper is in a structural, not cyclical, shortage, and the equities haven't caught up (COPJ +20% vs copper +15%) — "you haven't missed the boat."
1. Stocks & names mentioned
Copper Giant is Harris's own company, so its row is his book, not an outside view. Dundee (spoken "Daenerius") is named as a major shareholder but not rowed; the name is uncertain from the auto-transcript. Frank Giustra (backer), Robert Friedland and Mark Gibson (a Copper Giant director) are people, not rows.
| Ticker | Name | Research | View | What he said | At |
|---|
| CGNT.V | Copper Giant Resources | STK | Positive | His own company (CEO). Up ~730% in a year and "it's still really early in the story." Mocoa passed 1 billion tonnes (now 1.1B) — "the first 20 years of a project," big enough for majors and countries to care, ending the "Mr. Miyagi problem." Funded to a construction decision (~$45M cash + ~$14M warrants vs a ~$50M path), fourth rig arriving and a fifth planned, PEA due by year-end, and "a construction decision under existing policy in three years." It sits in a 130,000-hectare land package with nine untested targets. | 04:08 |
| Copper | Copper (commodity) | — | Positive | A "massive structural change," not the usual cycle: too few deposits, new ones deep underground, and "at the highest price you've ever seen in copper… they're expecting total production to go down" — proof price alone can't pull supply. Demand is layered: electrification (90% of use), EVs and grids, then AI data centers, and nations scrambling to secure supply chains. "It could run a decade." | 06:36 |
| Trafigura | Trafigura Group (private commodity trader) | — | Neutral | Cited as evidence, not a stance — a 10-year offtake for 20% of future copper and moly concentrate, signed before any PEA and the day before Colombia's inauguration. "The second-largest trader in the world is saying, I don't care. I need to make sure that I've got my foot in the door. Which tells you how tight things are." | 11:40 |
| CDB.V | Cordoba Minerals (Alacrán, Colombia) | STK | Neutral | Used as the permitting precedent rather than a pick: Cordoba got its Alacrán environmental permit in "basically a year under process," which is how he gets to a Mocoa construction decision in ~three years once the PFS is filed. | 13:33 |
| IE | Ivanhoe Electric | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Passing mention — only in director Mark Gibson's résumé (COO of Cordoba and Ivanhoe Electric, Friedland's chief geophysicist for 15 years), whose view is that few places have Colombia's under-explored copper endowment. | 04:59 |
| COPJ | Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF | SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Cited as evidence, not a stance — COPJ up ~20% against copper's ~15%: "you haven't seen that really super leverage yet to copper price." The euphoric phase of a metals bull in the equities "is definitely going to come." | 20:37 |
2. Talking points
00:27 The two overhangs are gone
- Historically "not enough believers": the resource was 600Mt ("big but not big enough") and Colombia had four years of a "not-so-friendly administration," though the underlying legislation never changed — "it's just been the mouthpiece."
- Day 32 of the new president: "extremely, extremely strong," including a US MOU on securing supply chains signed the day before. Mocoa now has "a better chance than most at becoming a mine."
02:42 On site: from hoping to executing
- The core shack at "the Y" handles up to ~1.5 km of core; rigs went from one to three this year, a fourth arrives this month.
- "In the past you had to hope for a nice drill hole or hope who gets elected, and today it's all about execution."
04:08 Why a billion tonnes matters
- Majors and countries start paying attention, and you would rarely design a starter mine bigger than that — "that's the first 20 years."
- The "Mr. Miyagi problem": small enough to self-build is fine, big enough interests many parties; in between "you're squashed like a grape." Passing 1Bt last November was the catalyst.
- Giustra: Colombia "will be the jurisdiction everybody will be paying attention to in the next four years. It will be a boom."
06:36 Copper: a structural, not cyclical, shortage
- Supply: too few deposits, new ones deep, and production expected to fall this year even at record prices.
- Demand: electrification (still 90% of use), EVs and charging, AI data centers; governments "grow out of" deficits, which "all requires copper."
- Supply-chain security: China holds ~60% of smelting; new Western smelters still need feed. Giustra: "don't buy what the countries tell you to buy, buy what the countries are buying."
10:15 Colombia as the US's natural copper ally
- Historically the US's top ally in South America, its longest-running democracy, and a short hop to Miami or Los Angeles; the Canada feud pushes the US to look elsewhere.
11:40 Trafigura's offtake before a PEA
- 10-year offtake on 20% of future copper-moly concentrate: the message is that the world's second-largest trader wants its "foot in the door" now. "More companies than there are deposits" — a musical-chairs scramble.
12:42 A political window and a three-year path
- Near-surface, infrastructure in place (230 kV lines, a road, nobody living on the deposit), political will and the cycle all aligned.
- Colombia allows the environmental filing after a PFS (~a year away); Cordoba's Alacrán permit took about a year. "A construction decision under existing policy in three years."
14:34 Access and logistics
- Miami → Bogotá → a regional airport ~30 minutes away, then the site in a day. ~60 boxes of core a day come off the hill; man-portable rigs are supplied on foot, by donkey or by helicopter.
15:45 The $31M financing: funded to a decision
- ~$45M in treasury plus ~$14M of in-the-money warrants against a ~$50M total path to a construction decision; ~2 years of runway, faster if accelerated.
- A fifth rig is planned so drilling isn't the bottleneck; some money goes to the 130,000-ha district with ~nine untested targets around Mocoa's first 6,000 ha.
17:21 What the PEA must show
- That the billion tonnes is mineable, not just in the ground.
- That the capex-to-NPV ratio is financeable: a high-grade core near surface lets them start big and expand in stages instead of spending everything on day one.
- "De-risk, de-risk, de-risk": $25–50M a year against billions of potential value, with the outcome "a whole lot more under our control."
19:59 Equities haven't levered to copper yet
- COPJ ~+20% vs copper ~+15%: no real leverage yet. Euphoria "is definitely going to come."
- Closing: a decade-long structural story — "you haven't missed the boat on this one."
3. In plain English
CGNT.V — Copper Giant Resources Positive
Copper Giant is an exploration company with one big asset: Mocoa, a deposit in southern Colombia containing about 1.1 billion tonnes of rock with copper and molybdenum near the surface. Harris runs the company, so this is his sales pitch, but the milestones are real: the deposit is now big enough that large miners and governments pay attention, and a major commodity trader (Trafigura) has already agreed to buy part of the future output.
What's left is to show it can be built profitably. First comes an early economic study (the PEA) by year-end, then a more detailed one (the PFS) about a year later, which in Colombia is enough to apply for the environmental permit. He says the company has the cash to reach a build decision in about three years. The big risks: politics in Colombia can change again, and the mine will cost far more than the company has, so it will likely need a partner or a buyer.
Copper — the metal Positive
Copper carries electricity, so every power line, electric car, and data center needs a lot of it. Harris's point is that mines are getting older and lower-grade, and new discoveries are deep and slow to build, so supply is actually expected to fall this year even though prices are at records. When a higher price can't bring on more supply, he argues, prices have further to go, and the countries that need copper most are now racing to lock it up.
Built from the public YouTube interview (auto-transcript saved in the transcript; fillers removed) — wording is Harris's and the interviewer's own. Harris is Copper Giant's CEO and speaks for his company. For personal study — not investment advice. © ITM Trading for source material.