The $60m hunch: Why smart money’s pouring into mystery hunt

A global miner is pouring cash into this stock as it seeks to increase its exposure to the next big discovery. Investors have 60 million reasons to look closely, writes Craig Dickson.

Global miner Northern Star has a big stake in this explorer.

Demand for copper is only going one way: up.

We know our big miners like BHP are very keen for copper assets and now we see Australia’s biggest gold miner moving to get in on the act.

For investors, this means opportunity if we know where to look.

Building a copper mine

Building a copper mine is like getting your kid through school – it takes somewhere around a decade, costs a lot, people lose some of their hair and the end result is kind of what was expected, but somehow different.

Proving up a mine is hard work.

Depending on which study you look at, it takes somewhere between 10-20 years for a copper project to go from discovery to mine.

Big companies have enough to worry about with managing multiple operating mines, they don’t want to be directly exposed to the uncertainty of mineral exploration proving up a new deposit.

But, there’s no question that big miners need to keep adding operations to their portfolio to both replace ageing mines and expand their business.

A golden copper opportunity

Mineral exploration is a tough business.

Most exploration fails to find something that can be turned into an actual mine.

This is why exploration stocks can provide such huge financial rewards.

Many investors and traders on the ASX put money on exploration stocks, but don’t understand how these companies actually develop targets or if the information the company is providing is even worthwhile.

That’s pretty scary.

One way we can increase our chances of backing a company that proves up the next big deposit is to look at who the big, proven companies are backing to do just that.

Enter Northern Star (NST), PolarX (PXX) and the Alaskan Range Joint Venture.

Northern Star is looking to increase its copper mining prospects..

The Alaskan Range JV

PXX are a $50M market cap explorer that shot to fame in December 2022 when NST announced their first investment into the company taking a 10 per cent stake.

Since that time, NST has continued to increase their holding in PXX to the current 13.98 per cent.

The current proposal for the Alsakan Range JV would see NST commit a potential total of USD$39M (approx. AUD$60M) into the coffers of PXX from the end of November 2025 to March 2029.

This money would fully fund all exploration and feasibility studies at the Alaskan Range project.

The total funding amount of this deal is more than the current market cap of PXX and it won’t dilute shareholders.

This is something we rarely see.

The PolarX ASX release September 2025 Quarterly Activities Report

In return NST get both exposure to potential increases in PXX’s share price and up to a 70 per cent share of the Alaskan Range project. NST get a cheap way in to a potential large copper project while PXX receive full funding support and technical expertise.

So what does PXX have that NST want?

PXX aren’t starting right now as an explorer with nothing.

Currently they have the Alaska Range project (copper) in Alaska where NST is interested, and their other project called Humbolt Range (gold, silver) in Nevada.

Humbolt Range is not part of their funding deal with NST so PXX will have to fund any work on this project in the traditional manner.

Their land is right near some big gold mines and looks highly prospective.

Currently they have a drill program running on a target that is so big they can’t cover it all in a single drill program and will have to come back next year to drill the other half.

Results for the drilling will probably start coming through in January 2026.

Alaska Range, where NST is interested, has a very good known copper resource across two deposits (Caribou Dome and Zackley).

Many companies would love to have a copper resource like that of PXX – good grade, decent size.

A 2024 financial study found that a mine at the Alaska Range project could be highly profitable with its current deposits, but this is just the beginning according to PXX and NST.

The Alaska Range project area runs over 35kms with many targets that look very similar to the two known deposits.

There is a lot of drilling possibilities here to keep PXX spinning the rigs for a couple years, and this is exactly what they will do.

Right now there are drill assays in the lab with results possibly dropping in December.

PXX will drill fast in the coming two years to increase the scale of the project before moving on to the next level of financial studies to develop a potential mine.

And remember – NST pays for it all!

NST doesn’t want a small to mid-size operation that a smaller company would be glad to have.

They want a big discovery, a big operation that can move the dial on copper production.

As investors we could scour the ASX listings for other small companies and try to understand what their potential for a large-scale project might be, or we could listen hard to the experienced players and take heed of their lead.

Do you think NST see something of significant value here over the next few years?

I have a $60m hunch that they do.

DISCLAIMER: Information and opinions provided in this column are general in nature and have been prepared for educational purposes only. Always seek personal financial advice tailored to your specific needs before making financial and investment decisions.

Originally published as The $60m hunch: Why smart money’s pouring into mystery hunt