Our next presenter is James Palmer, CEO of 29Metals . James has more than 25 years' experience across operational, technical, strategy, and BD roles in a career that spans multiple commodities. With a chemical engineering background, James' career history includes roles with BHP, WMC, and MIM, which is now Glencore, including Asset President and General Manager roles in operations, technical, strategy, and BD. Over to you.
Great, thank you. Always great to be back in [CAL] and here at Diggers, and great to be presenting on 29Metals, some of our progress and plans. Thank you to the conference team, and thanks for everyone here in attendance, both here and online. You can read that at your leisure. Why invest in 29Metals? Because, as the world electrifies, we're going to need a lot more copper. At 29Metals, we've got a lot of copper. Two Australian-based assets, Golden Grove here in WA , and a growth option, Capricorn Copper, in Queensland. Golden Grove is a fantastic 50,000+ ton copper equivalent asset, producing 20-odd thousand tons per annum of copper, substantial zinc, and other handy byproducts like gold and silver. We're growing production year on year, 7% up for copper, 15% up for zinc, 7% up for gold, 2024 versus 2025 guidance.
Currently valued at circa $400 million and really supportive major shareholders, EMR Capital, Boomer, and AustralianSuper, who hold approximately 60% of the register. A compelling opportunity. Copper, as the world transitions towards electrification, we're going to need a lot more copper. We've got Dr. Copper moving with GDP as always, but now we've got Dr. Copper plus electrification plus data centers, all up against supply constraints, which equals upwards pressure on prices. Copper supply is increasingly constrained. It's becoming harder to find, lower grade, and harder to mine. Across the industry, we're certainly seeing those that have copper want even more, and we're certainly happy to be in that part of the world.
The copper story itself, I won't talk too much around, very clear as to why you can be bullish, particularly in a room like this, but I do want to talk to our assets and some of the things that I think should be attracting ASX investors to 29Metals. Golden Grove, our key producing asset, provides investors exposure to 50,000 tons of copper equivalent production, well-located, established asset, over 30 years of operating history. Golden Grove is a world-class VMS system, 54 million tons in mineral resources. Xantho Extended, you can see on this chart with the blue dot, nearly 5% copper equivalent grade, and that's where the investment in recent years has been to ramp up our highest grade ore source. Xantho Extended continues to ramp up. It's delivering meaningful high-grade tons to the mill, which is meaning more metal, higher cash margins as the ramp-up of Xantho progresses.
Excitedly, we're also in the process of establishing a new mining front for the first time in 30 years, Gossan Valley . I was up there last week, box cut getting ready to go. Really exciting that for such an established VMS system, we now have another opening into that. It's the second highest in the reserve, and we're bringing that into the mine plan from late 2026. The asset does have an impressive history of growth. Production started at the Scuddles mine in 1990, a shade under 11 million tons there in resources. Roll forward 30 years, and even with all of that depletion, the resource today has increased in tonnage five-fold and increased with contained copper seven-fold. It's had a long life, and it's got a lot of life left.
We're particularly looking forward to getting into Gossan Valley and extending this track record of mine life extensions, which remains open at depth. Since the IPO of 29Metals , Golden Grove has undergone substantial investment. Xantho Extended has been the most recent investment, Gossan Valley to come. These are our two highest grade ore sources, and they're going to come into the mine plan, but also everything on the surface. Surface infrastructure such as paste plants, triple sequential flotation, most recently long-term tailings, that we've now got a decade of tailings that will lower the life of mine tailings deposition costs for the life of the mine and beyond. Xantho Extended, our highest grade ore source, is ramping up. Gossan Valley , our second highest grade ore source, coming into the mine plan the next 18 months.
Together, an optimized mine plan for Golden Grove, delivering higher grades, higher metal production over the coming years. We already are on a journey to improve operationally and improve financial outcomes at Golden Grove, driven by the ongoing ramp-up of Xantho Extended. You can see from 2023- 2024, Golden Grove delivered a 10% reduction in unit costs, a 155% increase in EBITDA, and a 16% increase in copper equivalent growth for copper and zinc. We're guiding ongoing metal production improvements, 7% up for copper, 15% up for zinc, and moving in the right direction as we continue to get the drumbeat of production going for Golden Grove. I've spoken to the significant investment. This coincides with diminishing headwinds from pre-IPO commitments and IPO costs. You can see on this chart, some of the pre-IPO zinc offtake agreements, gold hedges, stamp duty payment all fade away.
From a $60 million cash flow headwind in 2025, down to $20 million in 2026, and then gone. Once through these, all of that cash flow will not be going to offtakers or government, but going directly to our balance sheet. In addition to the ongoing ramp-up of Xantho Extended and the delivery of the Gossan Valley project, we're refocusing our attention on exploration. At Golden Grove, exploration spend is moving from $4 million in 2024 to between $10 million- $14 million in 2025. This means that Gossan Valley focuses on grade control drilling to firm up the initial stages of the mine plan, and the team continues to test for resource extensions and near mine exploration targets across Gossan Hill and Scuddles to continue to optimize and extend the life of the mine plan.
You can see the growth in resources of our two existing mining fronts, Scuddles and Gossan Hill , over the last 30 years, which speaks to this track record of mine life extensions at Golden Grove. For the first time in 30 years, opening a new mining front with Gossan Valley . The resource remains open at depth. Once underground, the team is looking forward to testing for resource extensions and building on Golden Grove's long history of success. Golden Grove, long life and a lot of life to come. Lots to like about Golden Grove. Capricorn Copper production is currently suspended due to the impact of the extreme weather event in 2023. We're working towards rebasing the asset in preparation for a future successful and sustainable restart of operations.
The size of the prize is significant: 64 million tons in mineral resources, 1.2 million tons of contained copper, established surface infrastructure, established development directly to the ore body. I've touched it. It's in the highly prospective Mount Isa inlier. Over the last two years, the asset has presented some challenges, but on a look-forward basis, we see an immense amount of value to be unlocked at Capricorn Copper. We just need to deal with the water on the surface so that we can realize the value of the significant copper endowment underground. When it was operating in 2021 and 2022, the asset generated $110 million and $66 million of EBITDA and was running at an all-in sustaining cost of $3.70 per pound. You can see at today's prices it would be a very profitable operation.
What do we need to do to rebase the asset and set up for a sustainable restart? One, we need to reduce the water levels on site, which do remain elevated since the impact of the extreme weather event. Two, we need a long-term tailings solution to set the asset up for long-term success upon restart. Once we get these two things in place, we'll then progress a study for preparedness for a restart of operation. We are making very good progress. We reduced the water levels by over 1.3 GL since March last year when we suspended operations. It's a huge amount of water, and certainly speaking to people outside, you can see this thing can and will be a mine again.
We're below the maximum operating level, a really important milestone towards resetting the compliance footing of the asset and it does position the asset towards dewatering the underground workings of the sub-level cave Esperance South. Since the extreme weather event, we've continued to invest in critical infrastructure to ensure that we're building a more resilient Capricorn Copper as we progress the asset towards a future successful and sustainable restart of operations. Improved water treatment infrastructure, enhanced water diversion infrastructure, all investments made to progress the imperatives for a restart of operations and rebuild a more resilient Capricorn Copper. If the same thing happens, you don't get the same result. As I said earlier, the size of the prize is significant. 64 million tons of mineral resources, 1.2 million tons of copper, surface infrastructure, underground infrastructure.
The last two drilling campaigns have delivered some world-class intercepts: 48 m at 2.7% copper, 36 m at 3.9% copper, and 7 m at 4.8% copper. The potential at Capricorn Copper is unquestionable. We just need to deal with the water so that we can realize the value of the copper underground. In closing, the heart of the opportunity at 29Metals is copper. As the world electrifies, we are going to need a lot more of it. Against this backdrop, where quality assets are hard to come by, we are uniquely positioned with two very large copper endowments, both with lots of geological upside in a low-risk jurisdiction here in Australia. We would certainly say that 29Metals is worth a look. If you've already had a look, it's probably worth another look because things are potentially very different going forward than looking back. Thank you.