BUTTE — Copper continues to remain well over $4 per pound, which is good news for Montana Resources in Butte, and officials say they're about 80 feet away from some of the highest-grade copper that Butte has ever seen, which is good news for those in the mining industry here in the Mining City.

“Everybody’s excited about getting there. The team out in the pit has exceeded expectations; they have just hit it hard,” said Mike McGivern of Montana Resources.

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The vein of copper is located on the far east end of Montana Resources property and can be seen from I-90. It contains a very high grade of copper and the company will be able to extract more of it.

The company moved about 54 million pounds of copper last year, but they expect to move more than 70 million pounds of this higher grade copper.

“And we’ll be in that for a few years, so we’ll see copper-pound production beginning later in the year go up for about the next three years,” said McGivern.

Montana Resources is also relieved the Trump administration's plan to impose tariffs on Canadian imports has been delayed. Montana Resources does about 60 percent of its business with a smelter in Quebec and if Canada imposed tariffs on American goods, it could have an effect.

“With our business model, we could pivot if we need to, if all the sudden there was a problem with tariffs and Canada deciding not to accept copper concentrates, we could pivot and ship it someplace else,” McGivern said.

Copper prices are expected to average 4.14 a pound while molybdenum will be just over $18 per pound in 2025.