Santo Domingo Feasibility Study: 24% IRR

A 24% after-tax IRR ranks this project in the upper half of the 26 copper developments we track, clearing the ~15% hurdle that typically unlocks project finance with room to spare. That rank is the headline, but it is not an outlier: it is a solid, financeable return in a peer group where nothing here is exceptional. For an investor, the more instructive read is what that rank implies about risk-adjusted value, not raw yield, and that brings the funding question to the fore.

The constraint that matters most is the size of the company relative to the build. At a US$7.39B market cap, this is a mid-cap with nine projects in our tracking universe, not a single-asset junior stretched by one development. That diversification changes the calculus: the company can absorb cost overruns or schedule slips on this copper project without existential strain, and it has the balance sheet to carry the financing process. The feasibility-stage estimate, with its typical plus or minus 15% band, carries real weight here because the study is build-ready, not a scoping-level sketch. The Atacama Region jurisdiction is a known, mining-friendly environment, which de-risks the permitting pathway relative to higher-risk geographies.

The two-sided risk is the price deck. The study assumes P65 Fe (CFR China) of $110/t and a long-term $3,000/oz gold price, while the live copper spot sits at $6.52/lb; if copper softens toward the study's implicit assumptions, the 24% IRR compresses, but if prices hold or rise, there is upside the study does not capture. The market cap gap cuts both ways: a diversified mid-cap with nine projects may not be pricing this single asset aggressively, or the market may be discounting the dilution and execution risk of a large build. The single question that decides whether this works is whether the company can fund the construction without diluting away the value the 24% IRR promises.