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Top 5 ASX Copper Stocks (Updated April 2024)
Copper prices began climbing in mid-February after facing headwinds in 2023, and company share prices are benefiting. Here are the best-performing copper stocks on the ASX so far this year.
Copper has hit record highs in recent years, and after setbacks at the start of 2024 its fortune has begun to turn.
Prices rebounded to 14 month highs at the beginning of Q2 on improved global manufacturing data, encouraging economic indicators in China and supply disruptions at key mines. In the longer term, many market watchers see tight supply and higher consumption from sectors like the electric vehicle industry creating a robust outlook for copper.
Against that backdrop, the top ASX copper stocks have put on impressive year-to-date share price performances. The list below outlines the top gainers, and was generated on April 9, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener; all copper stocks listed had market caps above AU$50 million at that time. Read on to learn more about them.
1. Bougainville Copper (ASX:BOC)
Year-to-date gain: 78.57 percent; market cap: AU$240.64 million; current share price: AU$0.625
Bougainville Copper is working to reopen the past-producing Panguna copper complex, which ceased operations in 1989. Panguna is considered one of the largest copper deposits in the world, and according to the company, its successful restart is viewed as a critical component of future economic independence for Bougainville, which is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The country's government holds a 36.5 percent share in the company.
In early February, after much deliberation, Bougainville Copper was granted a five year extension to its Panguna mining licence, which will open the door for advanced-stage prefeasibility and feasibility exploration activities.
The news sent shares of the company spiking to their best year-to-date close of 2024: AU$0.80 on February 2. That's more than double Bougainville Copper's close of AU$0.35 the previous day.
2. Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR)
Year-to-date gain: 24.14 percent; market cap: AU$4.09 billion; current share price: AU$9
Sandfire Resources has an extensive portfolio of copper mines across the globe, including the MATSA mining complex in Spain, the DeGrussa copper-gold mine in Western Australia and the Motheo copper mine in Botswana. The company also has multiple development- and exploration-stage projects.
As a producer of the red metal, Sandfire’s share price has benefited from improving copper prices. It started out the year at AU$7.37 and rose throughout much of the quarter to reach a year-to-date high of AU$9.15 on April 4.
DeGrussa was placed on care and maintenance in mid-2023. However, output at MATSA, which the company acquired in February 2022 for US$1.87 billion, and from the newly commissioned Motheo copper mine, are taking the operation's place as major sources of copper production for Sandfire.
Comprised of three underground mines, MATSA operated at a record rate of 4.6 million tonnes per annum in the first half of Sandfire's 2024 fiscal year, which ended on December 31, 2023. Production came to 28,600 tonnes of copper and 42,600 tonnes of zinc for the period. Meanwhile, Motheo’s production during the same period exceeded its nameplate capacity for output of 16,800 tonnes of copper and 396,000 ounces of silver.
3. Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM)
Year-to-date gain: 22.03 percent; market cap: AU$125.27 million; current share price: AU$0.072
Xanadu Mines is a copper and gold exploration company with several advanced exploration projects in Mongolia. The company’s flagship project is the Kharmagtai copper-gold project, and it's also exploring its Red Mountain porphyry copper-gold project, both of which are in the country's South Gobi region.
In the last quarter of 2023, the company released an upgraded resource estimate for Kharmagtai as part of its work toward completing a prefeasibility study for the project. The new resource estimate stands at 1.3 billion tonnes containing 3.4 million tonnes of copper and 8.5 million ounces of gold, which represents a 15 percent increase in contained copper and a 9 percent increase in contained gold. Xanadu is on track to complete a prefeasibility study and a maiden ore reserve estimate for Kharmagtai by Q3 of this calendar year. On March 25, the company began a 5,000 metre drill program to test five target areas at Red Mountain; it expects to release assay results from that work in June.
Xanadu's share price climbed significantly throughout March, and reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.76 on April 9.
4. Caravel Minerals (ASX:CVV)
Year-to-date gain: 16.67 percent; market cap: AU$110.1 million; current share price: AU$0.21
Caravel Minerals is developing its namesake Caravel copper porphyry project in Western Australia, which it claims is “Australia’s largest undeveloped copper deposit and the fourth-largest copper discovery worldwide in the last decade.”
Caravel recently updated the mineral resource estimate for the project to 3.03 million tonnes of contained copper and an ore reserve of 1.4 million tonnes. The company is working toward completing a feasibility study by the end of this year. In its quarterly report for the period ended December 31, 2023, management states that the “project development timeline remains favourably in line with the forecast copper market supply deficit from 2026-2027.”
Higher copper prices at the start of Q2 boosted Caravel's share price to a year-to-date high of AU$0.21 on April 9.
5. AIC Mines (ASX:A1M)
Year-to-date gain: 6.67 percent; market cap: AU$173.43 million; current share price: AU$0.40
AIC Mines owns the high-grade Eloise copper mine in North Queensland, as well as a portfolio of exploration-stage copper-gold projects in Australia. Eloise started production in 1996, and the company is looking to expand the life of the operation through the development of the nearby Jericho deposit.
In Q3 2023, AIC Mines reported record production of 3,402 tonnes of copper and 1,820 ounces of gold in concentrate, which it followed with record production of 3,759 tonnes of copper and 1,890 ounces of gold in concentrate for Q4.
Positive newsflow and improving copper prices lifted AIC Mines’ share price by 6.67 percent from the start of the year to AU$0.40 on April 9. In late March, the company posted a new ore reserve estimate for Jericho, followed shortly by an announcement that drilling has begun at the recently discovered Swagman prospect, located between Eloise and Jericho.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
- Top 10 Copper-producing Companies (Updated 2024) ›
- ASX Copper Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies ›
- Copper Stocks in Queensland - Investing News Australia ›
- Copper Stocks in South Australia | INN - Investing News Australia ›
- Copper Stocks in New South Wales | INN - Investing News Australia ›
- Copper Stocks in Western Australia | INN - Investing News Australia ›
Melissa Pistilli has been reporting on the markets and educating investors since 2006. She has covered a wide variety of industries in the investment space including mining, cannabis, tech and pharmaceuticals. She helps to educate investors about opportunities in a variety of growth markets. Melissa holds a bachelor's degree in English education as well as a master's degree in the teaching of writing, both from Humboldt State University, California.
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Melissa Pistilli has been reporting on the markets and educating investors since 2006. She has covered a wide variety of industries in the investment space including mining, cannabis, tech and pharmaceuticals. She helps to educate investors about opportunities in a variety of growth markets. Melissa holds a bachelor's degree in English education as well as a master's degree in the teaching of writing, both from Humboldt State University, California.
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