Top 5 ASX Copper Stocks (Updated May 2023)

1. Copper Search

Year-to-date gain: 77.78 percent; market cap: AU$28.43 million; current share price: AU$0.32

Junior explorer Copper Search (ASX:CUS) is targeting projects prospective for battery metals, specifically copper. The company’s Peak project is located in South Australia's Gawler Craton, which is rich in copper and gold.

So far in 2023, Copper Search is focusing a drill campaign on identifying large-scale iron-ore-copper-gold (IOCG) targets. IOCG deposits often hold highly valuable concentrations of copper, gold and uranium ore.

2. Xanadu Mines

Year-to-date gain: 66.67 percent; market cap: AU$83.53 million; current share price: AU$0.05

Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM,TSX:XAM) 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.

In 2023, the company is performing an 18,000 metre discovery exploration drilling program at Kharmagtai with the goal of upgrading the current open-pit mineral resource areas to at least an indicated classification. The information gained from the program will also inform the geometallurgical and geotechnical models needed to complete a prefeasibility study( PFS) and maiden ore reserve estimate for the project.

3. Celsius Resources

Year-to-date gain: 47.06 percent; market cap: AU$53.07 million; current share price: AU$0.025

Exploration and development company Celsius Resources (ASX:CLA)has a portfolio of copper and gold assets located in the Philippines, Namibia and Australia. The company's flagship Maalinao-Caigutan-Biyog (MCB) copper-gold project is held under its Philippine subsidiary Makilala Mining Company.

In May, Silvercorp Metals (TSX:SVM,NYSE:SVM) proposed an acquisition of Celsius Resources, and the two companies entered into a non-binding agreement while they complete due diligence.

"Together, we have the potential to demonstrate and realise our commitments to all our shareholders and stakeholders to see the development of Celsius’ mineral assets, particularly our flagship MCB Copper-Gold Project with the Balatoc Indigenous Community in Kalinga, Philippines, through fruition," Celsius Executive Chair Julito Sarmiento commented.

4. Caravel Minerals

Year-to-date gain: 34.21 percent; market cap: AU$91.87 million; current share price: AU$0.255

Caravel Minerals (ASX:CVV) is developing a large-scale, long-life copper porphyry project in a previously unexplored region in the southwest of Western Australia’s Yilgarn Craton. The company's cornerstone asset is the Caravel copper project.

Work on a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Caravel is currently underway and is slated for completion in the first half of 2024. Recently, the company shared that PFS processing work has confirmed the suitability of the process flowsheet ahead of the start of engineering for the DFS.

5. Anax Metals

Year-to-date gain: 33.65 percent; market cap: AU$30.32 million; current share price: AU$0.072

Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) is focused on the exploration and development of base metals and gold assets. The company currently has three active projects in Western Australia, with its Whim Creek copper-zinc project being the most advanced.

Anax Metals released a DFS for Whim Creek in early April 2023, demonstrating "a technically and economically robust polymetallic project and strategic processing hub development in the Pilbara."