Highlights
- Blue Moon Metals Inc. (TSXV: MOON; NASDAQ: BMM) signed a definitive agreement on September 22, 2026, to acquire 100% of the Turner copper-gold deposit near O’Brien, Oregon, from Gold Coast Mining Inc.
- Consideration is US$4.7 million in cash plus 4,778,761 Blue Moon shares (about US$27 million), with up to US$7 million more tied to permitting and production milestones.
- Turner’s resource figures come from a 2010 historical estimate that the company has not verified and is not treating as a current mineral resource.
Blue Moon Metals Inc. has lined up a second deposit for the mill it plans to build in Nevada. According to a September 23, 2026 release distributed via PRNewswire, the company signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the Turner copper-gold deposit near O’Brien, Oregon, from Gold Coast Mining Inc.
Turner is a past-producing deposit near the California line. Blue Moon’s case for it is resemblance. The company says Turner hosts the same deposit type and metals as its Blue Moon Mine in Mariposa, California, where a ramp is being driven and underground drilling is under way. The goal is to run both through one processing plant.
Hub, Spoke and a Rail Line
Blue Moon calls this a hub-and-spoke model. Smaller deposits (the spokes) ship material to one central plant (the hub) instead of each building its own mill. The hub here is the company’s Springer complex in Nevada, where it envisions a new 1,800-ton-per-day mill. Material would move mainly by rail. Nothing would be processed in Oregon.
CEO Christian Kargl-Simard said Turner met the company’s screening criteria on scale, timeline and logistics, and pointed to nearby rail as a link with the Blue Moon Mine. He also cited what he called “unquantified cobalt potential.”
None of this is proven yet. Blue Moon says metallurgical, engineering and transportation studies are still needed to confirm whether material from both deposits can be blended, or at least run through the same flotation mill. Flotation uses chemicals and air bubbles to separate metal-bearing minerals into saleable concentrates. The company is targeting the end of 2027 to finish those studies, which would feed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA), an early look at a project’s potential economics. Permitting for exploration drilling and underground development at Turner is expected to take 12 to 18 months.
What the Historical Numbers Show
Turner is a Cyprus-type volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit. These form where hot, metal-rich fluids vented onto ancient sea floors, and they often carry copper, zinc, gold and silver together. Turner’s mineralization sits in three stacked zones with a known strike length of roughly 1,000 to 1,500 feet.
The resource figures come with a large asterisk. They are drawn from a May 2010 PEA prepared to NI 43-101 standards, Canada’s disclosure rule for mining projects. They are historical. Blue Moon’s Qualified Person has not done enough work to verify them, and the company is not treating them as a current mineral resource.
On that basis, the 2010 study reported 2.447 million tons of Indicated material grading 1.25% copper, 2.79 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 2.65% zinc, 9.64 g/t silver and 0.05% cobalt. It added 2.084 million tons of Inferred material at 0.99% copper, 2.73 g/t gold, 2.78% zinc, 19.91 g/t silver and 0.04% cobalt. Indicated carries more geological confidence than Inferred, the lowest tier.
The data behind it is old. The estimate rests on 84 drill holes totaling 19,542 feet, drilled between 1957 and 1989, with a cut-off built on US$900/oz gold and US$2.00/lb copper.
Blue Moon converts those grades to a copper-equivalent (CuEq) figure of 4.97% for Indicated and 4.80% for Inferred. Its basis is CIBC long-term pricing from September 2026 (US$3,570/oz gold, US$5.03/lb copper, US$1.27/lb zinc, US$50.17/oz silver) plus recoveries from the 2010 PEA. Cobalt is excluded. Run the company’s own formula and gold supplies about 59% of the Indicated CuEq grade, by Mining Markets Report’s arithmetic. Copper adds about a quarter. Other companies use different price decks, so CuEq figures shouldn’t be compared across issuers without checking the assumptions.
The designated Qualified Person is Jason Dunning, M.Sc., P.Geo., Blue Moon’s General Manager Special Projects. He is a company employee, not an independent consultant. He considers the historical estimate reliable enough to guide future drilling, since the deposit is open at depth and along strike. Metallurgical work in the 2010 PEA showed conventional flotation could produce copper, zinc and gold concentrates. Cobalt was never tested.
The Price Tag
Blue Moon will pay US$4.7 million in cash, including a US$500,000 deposit due on announcement. It will also issue 4,778,761 common shares, valued at about US$27 million on a 20-day volume-weighted average price of US$5.65. Those shares go out in four equal tranches over the 12 months after closing.
Up to US$7 million more is tied to milestones: US$2 million each on receipt of underground exploration or development permits and of mining permits, and US$3 million six months after commercial production starts.
Turner carries an existing 1.5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty, meaning the royalty holder takes a cut of revenue after smelting and refining costs. No offtakes or streams have been sold. The deal is arm’s length, with no finder’s fees. It still needs TSX Venture Exchange approval, and closing is expected in November 2026.
Blue Moon also disclosed new equity awards in the release: 50,000 stock options to a consultant at C$8.10, 993,146 restricted share units to officers and employees, and 268,586 deferred share units to independent directors.
Sources
Editorial Disclosure
This article is based on a corporate press release issued by Blue Moon Metals Inc. on September 23, 2026, and distributed via PRNewswire. Securities discussed: Blue Moon Metals Inc. (TSXV: MOON | NASDAQ: BMM). Mining Markets Report has not received compensation from Blue Moon Metals, Gold Coast Mining, their management, investor relations representatives, or any third party for the creation of this specific coverage. No staff member, principal, or affiliate of Mining Markets Report holds a position, option, or interest in this security as of the publication date. Resource figures cited in this article come from a 2010 historical estimate that Blue Moon’s non-independent Qualified Person has not verified; the company is not treating them as a current Mineral Resource, and readers should not rely on them as such. Copper-equivalent figures reflect the company’s stated price and recovery assumptions and may not be comparable to figures published by other companies. Statements regarding the expected closing of the transaction, permitting timelines, metallurgical and transportation studies, a future PEA, and the planned Springer mill are forward-looking statements. They are subject to operational risks, geological uncertainties, and regulatory approvals; actual outcomes and timing may differ materially. Mineral exploration and development-stage mining stocks carry a high degree of financial risk and can result in the total loss of invested capital. This overview is published strictly for informational, news-reporting, and educational market context purposes only. It does not constitute an investment recommendation, endorsement, or professional financial, legal, or tax advice.
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