Lumina Metals develops copper project in Poland; will consider WSE listing (interview)

"Lumina is at a very unique time. We have received the C1 category for Nowa Sol deposit. We've received a five-year exclusivity period to use the geological information that we documented. At the same time, we received a five-year exclusivity to submit an application for a mining license. It protects us as an investor and incentivizes us to work towards development of the mine," CEO Jordan Pandoff told PAP Biznes.

"Our discovery is top three of the discoveries worldwide. This is the largest copper discovery in Europe since the 1950s. At the same time, it's in the top two for highest metal content. That's what makes this deposit so unique," he added.

In April 2025, Zielona Gora Copper, owned by Lumina Metals Corp. (formerly operating in Poland under the name Miedzi Copper), received approval from Poland's Ministry of Climate and Environment (MKiS) for the geological documentation of the Nowa Sol copper-silver ore deposit of the C1 mineral deposit exploration category. This opens the way for the development of a project to develop the deposit.

According to data from the Polish Geological Institute, at the end of 2023, the balance resources of copper in Poland amounted to about 57 million tonnes, of which the three deposits documented by Lumina Metals have resources of about 20 million tonnes (including Nowa Sol with over 10 million tonnes).

As the CEO of Lumina Metals pointed out, the company has invested PLN 500 million (EUR 116.9 mln) so far in Poland across all of the deposits.

"The amount of money we're going to spend over the next five years will be much higher," Pandoff told PAP Biznes.

"Once we obtain a permit to build a mine, the construction itself involves much larger spending," he explained, pointing out that development of the mine would take three to four years, so the first copper would come out of the ground three to four years after putting the first stake in the ground.

Asked about the estimated output of copper in Nowa Sol mine, the CEO assessed that although the detailed figures on assumed production have not been published so far, it can be said that the mine would be one of the largest producers in Europe.

"Most likely 70 percent of the production will be copper, 30 percent - silver. There's an opportunity to recover a few other metals: cobalt, platinum and gold but we have to go through the required testing to see if they can be recovered," he said.

The CEO of Lumina Metals said that the company would be open to cooperate with listed copper group KGHM on this project.

"We will be definitely open to speaking with everybody and KGHM, as a national champion, will benefit. A lot of the product that we will produce will ultimately go into KGHM's existing smelting facilities. We are not going to build a smelter," Pandoff stressed.

The CEO pointed out that KGHM does have vast experience in mining this type of deposits in Poland and that Lumina is hoping to be able to work with the group, including the area of technologies and the geological know-how. He assessed that there was an opportunity to grow the industry side by side with KGHM.

Lumina Metals does not anticipate any troubles to obtain financing for the project of new smelter construction.

"Everyone knows that there is a very large deficit of copper in the market. The metal is important for military, electricity, AI and data centres," CEO Pandoff pointed out.

He added that the demand is going to be there, however, it is harder to supply the copper since permits, right incentives for tax and for investment are needed.

"If those pieces all align, investors line up, waiting to be able to put money to build copper mines," Pandoff assessed.

As he pointed out, under the current tax regime put in place in 2012, Poland has seen much less investment in copper than other countries.

"The tax should be amended to accommodate new long-term investments. Firstly, the exponential factor in the copper tax is significantly too high. Secondly, the tax has to be based on net income, not revenues. It should be a function of income as opposed to a function of gross metal that's produced," Lumina Metals' CEO stressed.

"Thirdly, the tax has to include some form of depreciation for initial investment. We're not hoping for elimination of the copper tax. We're hoping for bringing it to a standard that's widely applied in successful mining countries like Canada, Australia, some of the states in the US," he added.

As Pandoff pointed out, in countries successfully developing the mining sector, effective taxation ranges from 30 percent to 50 percent. In Poland, it reaches 80 percent.

"No industry, no business is viable with 80 percent tax," he stressed.

At the same time, as the CEO noted, mining investments generate induced effects that are very significant and long-lasting.

"For example, the employment in mines directly will only be a few thousand people but the total cumulative effect of all jobs created by this investment is 70,000. Many foreign direct investments do not offer that incentive, and many of them can be easily moved to other jurisdictions. You cannot move a mine," he pointed out.

On May 23, Poland's finance minister Andrzej Domanski and state assets minister Jakub Jaworowski announced plans to reduce copper mining taxation.

The government plans to reduce the copper tax from 2026 by changing the formula for its calculation, with the cost to the budget of this reduction being PLN 500 million (EUR 116.9 mln) in 2026, PLN 750 million (EUR 175.35 mln) in 2027 and the same amount in 2028.

The changes also provide for the introduction of a mechanism to deduct costs incurred for capital expenditure from 2029. Over 10 years, the cost to the budget from the changes is expected to amount to PLN 10 billion (EUR 2.34 bln).

According to the announcements of the finance ministry representatives, the first version of the draft of the changes in the taxation of copper extraction is to be ready still in June.

According to the EY report, after changes to the copper tax, Poland could produce over 1 million tonnes of copper in concentrate annually (against average annual output at approximately 400,000 tonnes currently), thanks to the planned greenfield investments of Lumina Metals and The Electrum Group. As stated in the report, these two groups are ready to invest PLN 27 billion (EUR 6.31 bln) in Poland.

LUMINA CONSIDERS ENTERING THE WARSAW STOCK EXCHANGE

Lumina Metals, in parallel with the permitting process, will engage financial institutions - both banks, equity investors and other companies in the mining sector.

"At the moment our immediate goal and our immediate focus is the permitting," Jordan Pandoff stressed.

In order to become a public company, Lumina will seek to obtain capital all over the world. The CEO declared that the company would consider obtaining capital from Polish investors and entering the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

"Most likely we would consider IPO in Warsaw before getting mining permit. A successful listing of a company like ours in Warsaw could be a great opportunity for the Warsaw Stock Exchange to specialise in companies that are developing resources in Europe," Pandoff told PAP Biznes.

As he noted, a lot of resources are being developed in Central Europe, in the Balkans and in Scandinavia, with Warsaw in the geographical centre.

"If Warsaw Stock Exchange had standards designed for mining industries, it could attract more companies like ours and become a resource hub for the entire European Union," Lumina Metals' CEO Jordan Pandoff assessed.

pel/ pr/ ao/ han/