The US Export-Import Bank offered Ivanhoe Electric $825 million in potential backing for its Arizona copper mine in April 2025. The bank has now raised that figure to $1.1 billion.
The new document — called a Preliminary Project Letter — is a step up from the Letter of Interest the bank issued four months ago. The company says the letter marks the completion of the bank's preliminary due diligence on the Santa Cruz Copper Project, which sits on private land in Arizona and is designed to produce copper metal on site without a smelting step.
The letter does not commit the bank to anything. Any financing remains subject to the bank's full review and board approval. The company says it expects the board to take up the question in the spring of 2027.
Ivanhoe Electric applied for the funding under the bank's Make More in America Initiative, which supports domestic projects aimed at expanding US production capacity and strengthening critical supply chains.
Shares closed 10.20% higher at $15.78 after the announcement, on dollar volume of about $333,000.
An updated feasibility study for Santa Cruz is expected in September 2026. The company says the new study will incorporate plans for underground access via tunnel boring machine, along with other engineering work completed since an earlier study. The bank's board consideration follows in the spring of 2027.