Stocking stuffers: 10 copper stocks valued under $15m

Copper is looking red hot out to 2050, with demand tipped to hit 50Mt and prices set to soar to US$17,000/t.

Stuff these in your stocking: 10 red hot copper low caps. Pic via Getty Images.

• Copper price could hit US$17,000/t by 2033 as demand soars

• Analysts reckon the commodity could outperform this decade

• Here are 10 stocks with a market cap under $15m on the hunt for copper

Demand for copper is going gangbusters. The consensus is that we’ll see big shortages for the red metal due to rising demand for poles and wires to service renewables, electric vehicles, urbanisation and AI.

By 2050, BHP (ASX:BHP) predicts copper demand will rise 70% to 50Mt, with the energy transition accounting for 23% of demand and digital applications making up 6%.

Traditional uses of copper (replacement demand, urbanisation) will account still for 71%, (down from 92% today).

On the pricing front, back in September, the Bank of America’s independent analyst lifted its price target for the metal beyond US$10,000/t for 2025.

And by the time October rolled round, the price had powered past that magical US$10,000/t mark thanks to China’s stimulus announcement in October.

But we could see prices surge even further, since producers Chile and Peru have stagnated and are looking down the barrel of long approval timeframes and the supply side looks set to struggle to catch up to demand.

US$17,000/t is the eye-popping copper price Fitch’s BMI Commodity Insights thinks we’re going to see by 2033.

That would outstrip historical records by around US$6000/t, ushering a new copper-plated age for the mining industry.

At the time of writing the three-month LME copper contract was priced at US$9052.50.

BMI’s latest copper outlook note suggests we could see a seasonal end-of-year rally, but that’s actually nothing to get too excited about, because the copper price has surged on the final five trading days of the year, before falling on the last trading day of the year for the past nine years in a row.

But back to that supply lag, discovery rates have also slowed. According to analysis by S&P Global, just 14 deposits of 500,000t copper or more have been discovered in the past decade, just 3.5% of the total.

4.2Mt alone have been added by significant deposits discovered since 2019, with exploration spending still 34% below its 2012 peak last year – despite the recognised need for new copper discoveries to fuel the energy transition and growth of data centres.

By 2030, ANZ thinks copper demand will hit 38.1Mt, up from usage rates the International Copper Study Group thinks will add up to 27.8Mt in 2025, thanks to expanding wind and solar infrastructure in China.

All of that equates to a bullish copper outlook for a commodity that independent analysis suggests will outperform in the years ahead.

So, now that we’ve established the outlook, let’s have a squiz at some sub-$15m market cap juniors on the hunt for the next big copper discovery.

10 copper explorers under $15m

Alma Metals (ASX:ALM)

Market cap: $9.3m

The company owns 51% of the Briggs copper project joint venture in Queensland, having satisfied stage 2 earn-in requirements (namely completing a bunch of drilling) back in October.

The project boasts a 415Mt resource at 0.25% copper and 31ppm molybdenum, with more than 1Mt of contained copper.

Grades like those are more than economic in many porphyry copper mines being operated today in places like Canada and Peru, but Alma is also finding higher-grade pockets in drilling close to surface.

Plus, the project is just 60km from the deep-water port of Gladstone, Queensland and close to multiple high-power voltage power lines, a heavy haulage railway, gas pipelines and major roads.

The plan is to move to Stage 3 of the earn-in to increase to a 70% stake through additional project expenditure of $10m by June 30, 2031.

In the meantime, a resource update to increase confidence to the indicated category is in the works, which will set the scene for a scoping study.

Stavely Minerals (ASX:SVY)

Market cap: $10.8m

The company is looking for copper at its namesake Stavely project in Victoria, specifically around historic intercepts at the Junction prospect, which included 35m at 3.44% copper and 26g/t silver from 24m to end-of-hole.

Diamond drilling has recently returned results including:

• 14m at 3.24% Cu, 34.5g/t Ag from 34m, including 8m at 4.62% Cu and 49.5g/t Ag from 34m, and 2m at 6.47% Cu and 59.5g/t Ag from 36m;
• 48m at 1.60% Cu and 14.8g/t Ag from 2m including 8m at 2.53% Cu and 26.1g/t Ag from 34m;
• 40m at 1.59% Cu, 13.0g/t Ag from 10m including 6m at 3.79% Cu and 18.8g/t Ag from 24m; and
• 1m at 5.20% Cu and 34.2g/t Ag from 60m.

Diamond drilling is also underway at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect.

Culpeo Minerals (ASX:CPO)

Market cap: $4.8m

This year the company made a 454m at 0.93% copper equivalent discovery at its Lana Corina project and has recently acquired the Fortuna project, which hosts nine promising exploration targets.

Both projects are situated in the Coquimbo region of Chile and contain significant outcropping high-grade copper mineralisation which offers multiple walk-up drill targets.

There’s a bunch of world-class copper mines in the country – the largest producer in the world. Coquimbo alone boasts major mines such as the 350,000tpa Los Pelambres, owned by Antofagasta – about the same output as BHP’s (ASX:BHP) entire South Australian copper division.

Back in October, surface trenching at the El Quillay South prospect at Fortuna turned up thick intersections of copper including a best sample of 46m at 0.9% CuEq.

Drilling is going to kick off at the Vista Montana prospect, along with a litho-geochemistry survey at the La Florida prospect and reconnaissance exploration of high-priority areas within the Fortuna project.

Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2)

Market cap: $6m

Last month EM2 announced it had relinquish ownership of less than 20% of its acreage over the Oracle Ridge project in Arizona, USA, but still holds the tailings dam and private/patented claims critical for any future restart activities.

The company is now focused on exploring its Silver Mountain and Wedgetail projects – Wedgetail basically being a rebranded area surrounding Oracle Ridge.

At Silver Mountain, the company has received drill permits over the Scarlet area, targeting host large-scale porphyry-style mineralisation.

Notably, Silver Mountain is on the Laramide Arc, a northwest-southeast trending geological feature that hosts world-class porphyry copper mines such as Freeport-McMoRan’s Bagdad and Rio Tinto’s Resolution deposit. Surface samples has already returned high-grade assays including 64g/t gold, 445g/t silver and 15% lead across a 0.5m vein.

The company has also identified the potential sale of existing tailings from Wedgetail following a study by technology provider Auxilium Technology Group, which found they are benign and can be made into various marketable products.

This opens a unique and non-dilutive funding pathway for EM2, with the ~1Mt of tailings’ high carbonate content make them suitable for use as an additive or filler for a variety of cemented products, including drywall boards, high strength concrete, mortar and road base.

A Phase 3 study has started to produce enough test material for potential customers to assess its suitability for their needs and establish product pricing.

Helix Resources (ASX:HLX)

Market cap: $13m

Earlier this year, HLX found prospective ‘Tritton-style copper-gold’ at the Collerina copper trend, part of its Eastern Group Tenements near Nyngan in NSW.

It’s got a whopping chunk of land that covers 1570km2 directly south and along strike of Aeris Resources’ (ASX:AIS) Tritton processing facility and several operating copper-gold mines.

Some 600 augur sample assays confirmed both copper and gold mineralisation and the explorer said it was continuing infill and extension augur sampling, AC drilling and detailed assessment of the anomaly to delineate future targets.

“The results demonstrate this is a major prospective zone and the signatures we are observing in the data are consistent with signatures for Tritton-style copper gold deposits,” Helix MD Kylie Prendergast said back in August.

The company also recently made a deal with Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) to farm-in for an 80% interest in their Central Cobar tenement by spending $2.8m.

Pan Asia Metals (ASX:PAM)

Market cap: $11.7m

Another explorer with a Chilean copper play, PAM recently reported up to 8.9% copper (and 50ppm silver) from rock chip sampling at its Rosario copper project – which is about 10km north of the El Salvador copper mine, which has been in operation since 1959.

Notably, greater than 50% of rock chips have copper values in excess of 0.10%, with an average grade of 2.06% copper and 12ppm silver. And 33% of rock chips have copper values in excess of 0.75%, with an average grade of 3.15% copper and 18ppm silver.

The company said the results are compelling and demonstrate the large scale nature of highly elevated copper across much of the Rosario project area.

“With grades up to 8.9% copper and 33/100 averaging 3.15% copper with a 0.75% copper cutoff, the rock chip results are compelling and support the work conducted by previous explorers,” PAM MD Paul Lock said in early December.

“The program yielded many rock chip samples with elevated copper values inherently associated with observed green (malachite) and blue (chrysocolla) secondary copper minerals as well as local copper sulphides.

“The recently reported expansion of PAM’s holdings at Rosario, with an additional ~61km2 in applications, positions PAM to capture extensions of the high grade trends at Rosario.”

Drill targets will be prioritised following collation of geochemical and IP results, with around 2,000m planned in early 2025.

PAM also recently entered into a binding capital commitment agreement (facility) with New York-based Global Emerging Markets Group for a four-year, $35m equity investment commitment which will provide the company with a reliable source of equity funding to see it through to a resource and pre-feasibilty study at the project.

Noronex (ASX:NRX)

Market cap: $5.4m

This copper junior has ASX giant South32 (ASX:S32) on board to find it some Kalahari copper belt discoveries in Namibia via a $15m earn-in and JV deal.

It owns one of the larger deposits in the Kalahari copper belt, the 10Mt at 1.3% Cu Witvlei project which is down the road a ways from Sandfire’s Motheo and the now Chinese-owned Khoemacau mine, together producing around 90,000t of copper a year and rising.

The company is currently exploring the Fiesta project, where a 5,000m drilling program is underway (funded by S32).

First assays from the first four RC holes have already returned up to 1.23% copper and 138g/t silver.

Once the program has wrapped up the rig will move on to test some promising targets in a completely undrilled geological belt at the Damara project, defined by a recent gravity survey.

Basement margins host major copper deposits in the Central African copper belt in Zambia and Congo, with the company of the belief that this geology could potentially also deliver new discoveries in the Kalahari copper belt.

Pic: Kalahari Copper Belt with Noronex tenement holding showing the Humpback-Damara licences subject to the new South32 earn-in agreement. Source: NRX

CuFe (ASX:CUF)

Market cap: $9.3m

The company hosts a combined 7.3Mt at its 1.7% Cu Gecko and Orlando copper-gold deposits in the NT.

And back in October, CuFe, Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM) and Tennant Minerals (ASX:TMS) formed a strategic alliance to collaborate on their copper, gold and critical metals development opportunities in the Tennant Creek Region of the Northern Territory.

The aim is to investigate the potential for development of a single, multi-user processing facility for copper, gold and critical metals for their mineral resources and recent high-grade exploration discoveries in the region.

Basically, it would provide a shorter – and more economic – path to production should any of the companies make a discovery.

“We are pleased to have signed a strategic alliance agreement to investigate the potential for a single multi-user processing facility for copper, gold and critical metals for our mineral resources and others recent high-grade exploration discoveries in the Tennant Creek region of the Northern Territory,” CuFe executive director Mark Hancock said at the time.

“With the historical high-grade Orlando and Gecko deposits, which produced over 127,500t of copper and 232,000oz of gold, the remaining mineral resources form the backbone of the alliance, while the ability to also leverage from the recent high-grade discoveries by Tennant Minerals and Emmerson in the region provides a unique development opportunity.”

Map: Tennant Creek district showing the location of CuFe’s, Tennant Minerals’ and 100% Emmerson’s projects and area covered by Emmerson’s exploration JV (EEJV) with TCMG. Source: CUF

Anax Metals (ASX:ANX)

Market cap: $8.7m

Anglo American-backed Anax Metals holds an 80% interest in the previously producing Whim Creek copper project in WA where it's targeting a low capex development thanks to a bunch of existing infrastructure.

Develop Global (ASX:DVP) holds the balance of the project, where previous studies on a restart of Whim Creek have indicated pre-production capital costs of A$71 million for an eight-year operation producing 55,000tpa of concentrate at AISC of A$3.28/lb, based on a reserve of 4.6Mt at 1.36% copper and 2.3% zinc.

Based on a copper price of US$9223/t, the project returned an NPV of $270 million and an IRR of 55%, with life-of-mine free cashflow forecast at $410 million.

At US$9900/t, the pre-tax NPV increases to $357 million with an IRR of 74%, while free cashflow would be around $520 million.

Whim Creek could become a Pilbara base metals hub. Anax is also working with Develop, GreenTech Metals (ASX:GRE) and Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) with a view to process ore from their respective deposits nearby.

In September the company flagged that a review of historical exploration had identified several high-potential volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) drill targets at the Evelyn deposit – with RC drilling planned in the near-term.

AusQuest (ASX:AQD)

Market cap: $10.5m

This explorer has been around since 2003, and is in its eighth year as an exploration partner of choice under a strategic alliance agreement (SAA) with S32.

Under the SAA, South32 provides up to $US4.5 million in funding to earn up to a 70% interest in exploration projects (plus 10% on completing a pre-feasibility study) worked up by AusQuest, which receives a 15% fee.

South32 doesn’t take up what’s on offer under the SAA all the time and should it withdraw from a project, AusQuest assumes 100% ownership.

Implicit in all that is that the exploration projects forwarded to South32 to consider must have multi-billion dollar discovery potential.

There are currently five exploration projects managed by AusQuest which sit under the SAA umbrella including the Coober Pedy copper-gold project in South Australia’s iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) province  – home to BHP’s Olympic Dam, Carrapateena and Prominent Hill mines.

The plan is to conduct a large-scale induced polarisation survey next year to identify possible sulphide mineralisation ahead of drilling the best targets.

The company also holds the Cangallo project in Peru where copper-gold porphyries and manto copper targets will be drilled in the new year, with eight holes for ~2,500m planned.

Originally published as Stocking stuffers: 10 copper stocks valued under $15m