“The technical report updates the economics of the project, which benefits from significantly lower energy costs and several engineering changes, including the use of desalinated water instead of seawater,” the company in Canada said. “The report also includes the addition of cobalt to resources minerals.” Darren Pylot, president and CEO of Capstone, said in a statement that “there is a shortage of large-scale and high-quality copper projects, and the completion of our updated technical report comes at an ideal time.”

“Capstone, with the support of Kores, is initiating a strategic process for Santo Domingo that will evaluate alternatives related to ownership of the project, and we will consider the potential of transmission opportunities, given that the gold reserve and the cobalt resource help to finance the project,” he added. Despite having an environmental permit since 2015, Santo Domingo was slowed down in its development due to the volatility of the price of copper.

“We are advancing in engineering and have received three of the five longlead construction permits, and the rest is expected to be received by 2019,” the company said. “We are aiming for Santo Domingo to be ready for construction in early 2020.”