The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Aug. 13, edition that Mitsubishi has agreed to pay $600-million (U.S.) for a 30-per-cent interest in a proposed United States copper project being developed by Hudbay Minerals. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that shares of the Canadian company soared to the highest in more than 14 years. "Securing Mitsubishi as a 30-per-cent partner in Copper World is an important milestone for Hudbay as we establish a long-term strategic partnership to advance this high-quality copper project toward sanctioning and to unlock significant value in our copper growth portfolio," Hudbay chief executive officer Peter Kukielski said Wednesday in a statement. Shares of Hudbay surged as much as 23 per cent to touch $16.69, the highest intraday since April, 2011. Earlier this year, Hudbay commenced a process to sell a minority portion of its flagship Copper World project in Arizona. That drew expressions of interest from investors in Saudi Arabia as well as the United Arab Emirates and Japan, according to the CEO. The deal with Mitsubishi comes as miners and trading houses race to boost their exposure to copper.