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Element 29 Chases a Billion-Tonne Copper Porphyry in Peru with a $60M Budget: CEO Richard Osmond

MiningStockEducation.com Oct 8, 2026 28:55

Summary

Element 29 is testing whether Elida is a cluster of porphyries big enough to double its 321-million-tonne pit toward a tier-one target.

About $47 million raised in 2026 plus $11 million in warrants gives Element 29 close to a $60 million budget for years of drilling.

Deep drilling at Zone 1 shows more chalcopyrite and less pyrite with depth, a vector suggesting the deposit's best part is still untested.

The guest argues copper faces a supply gap: new mines take 15 to 20 years while demand grows by roughly a million tonnes a year.

Metallurgical testing and an upgraded resource estimate, run by a Quebec engineering firm, are the next de-risking steps toward a preliminary economic study.

Richard Osmond's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Osmond argues Elida can become a tier-one deposit — doubling the pit toward roughly a billion tonnes at about 0.5% copper equivalent (~5 million tonnes of contained copper) — funded by a budget approaching $60 million.
  • He believes the system's best zone is still unhit: rising chalcopyrite-to-pyrite ratios with depth (hole 37's final 93.8 m ran 0.74% copper) vector toward the core of what he sees as a cluster of at least three porphyry centers.
  • He argues Elida may be the first mineralized Eocene porphyry discovered in Peru, and the first-ever permitted hole at Zone 4 is about to test a second mineralized center about a kilometer west of Zone 1.
  • He sees copper in a supply-driven bull market: Chilean output reportedly down from about 9 to 7 million tonnes a year, 15-20 year mine-build timelines, and electrification demand he says would require roughly a new Escondida every year.
  • He stresses the social and infrastructure case: a five-year host-community access agreement signed in April 2025, about 40 local hires on rotation, a hydroelectric plant with a power line within 15 km of site, and no expected arsenic penalty in the concentrate.

Brian Lenny's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Lenny discloses he is a personal investor in Element 29 and says the project's location is what first drew him to the story.
  • He calls the deep Zone 1 drill results — 1,500 m-plus holes around 0.58% copper equivalent — among the best drill results in the world this year.
  • He rates Element 29's strategic shareholder list, including Randy Smallwood, Alex Gubbins, Ross Beaty, and George Brack, as among the strongest of any junior under a $500 million market cap.
  • He frames the setup as a supply-driven copper bull market paired with a catalyst path of ongoing drill news, met work, and a resource update in the next year.