History
Ivanhoe Electric listed in 2022, then used Saudi and BHP partnerships and several share raisings to move its Arizona Santa Cruz copper project toward construction.
2022-2023: Listing and the first partner
Ivanhoe Electric's securities were certified for listing on 27 June 2022, clearing them to begin trading. The record is then quiet until January 2023, when the company signed a binding framework with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden). Ma'aden would invest $126.4 million for a 9.9% stake and help fund a new 50/50 exploration joint venture in Saudi Arabia. It was the company's first major strategic partner and its entry into the Middle East. In May a definitive subscription agreement turned that framework into a signed deal.
In February 2023 an updated resource estimate for the Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona lifted contained copper in the higher-confidence (Indicated) category by 82% at the main deposit. It also declared first resources at two neighbouring deposits, East Ridge and Texaco.
2023-2024: Land, cash and new alliances
In May 2023 subsidiary Mesa Cobre agreed to buy about 6,200 acres of land plus water and surface rights next to Santa Cruz, land needed to eventually build the mine. The deal closed at $116.86 million, about $3.6 million below the first price after a survey trimmed the acreage.
To fund development, the company raised about $160 million in September 2023 by selling 11.85 million shares at $13.50. In October Ma'aden topped up its holding, buying 1,513,650 shares at $13.50 for about $20.4 million. Shares on issue stood at 120 million at the end of 2023.
In May 2024 the company signed a three-year exploration alliance with BHP to search Arizona, New Mexico and Utah for copper and other critical minerals, with discoveries able to become 50/50 joint ventures. In September its 90%-owned vanadium battery subsidiary, VRB Energy, agreed a 51/49 joint venture with China's Red Sun Group to make vanadium flow batteries. Red Sun would pay $20 million for its stake plus a further $35 million into the venture. Definitive agreements followed in October.
2025: Leaving Colombia, proving Santa Cruz
In May 2025 the company's Colombian subsidiary, Cordoba Minerals, agreed to sell its remaining 50% of the Alacran copper-gold-silver deposit to JCHX Mining for up to $128 million, $88 million of it in cash at closing. The aim was to concentrate on Arizona. By the latest update the sale was recorded as pending after an amendment in February 2026.
In June a Preliminary Feasibility Study for Santa Cruz showed an after-tax project value of $1.9 billion, a 24% projected return, a 23-year mine life and cash costs of $1.32 per pound. Construction was targeted for 2026 and first copper for 2028.
Funding followed. An October offering at $15 a share raised roughly $144-165 million, more than double the price of February's offering, for the remaining land payments and construction. Shares on issue reached 145.5 million by the end of 2025.
2025-2026: From plans to construction
In December 2025 Mesa Cobre secured a $200 million loan facility from a bank syndicate led by National Bank of Canada, with Societe Generale and Bank of Montreal. In May 2026 Mesa Cobre turned an option into a firm $64.7 million order for a tunnel boring machine from Robbins, for underground development at Santa Cruz.
As of its latest update in July 2026, Ivanhoe Electric had 159,590,259 shares on issue. Its Santa Cruz project was funded in part by the term loan, with construction targeted for the first half of 2026 and first copper in 2028.
Written from the 15 story beats below (2022 to 29 May 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.