Top 5 ASX Copper Stocks in 2026

1. Alma Metals (ASX:ALM)

Year-to-date gain: 100 percent
Market cap: AU$21.04 million
Share price: AU$0.013

Alma Metals is a copper explorer focused on its flagship Briggs copper project in Eastern Queensland.

Alma owns a 51 percent share in the property, which is being explored as part of an earn-in joint venture with Canterbury Resources. Alma can increase its ownership to 70 percent by June 2031.

An updated April 2025 resource estimate shows the Briggs central deposit hosts total indicated and inferred resources of 1.1 million tonnes of copper, 34 million pounds of molybdenum, and 9.2 million ounces of silver.

This metal is contained within 439 million tonnes of ore with average grades of 0.25 percent copper, 36 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum and 0.7 grams per tonne (g/t) silver.

Metallurgical test work completed in April 2025 demonstrates potential copper recoveries of up to 95 percent. Data from the resource estimate and test work were used to complete a scoping study in November 2025, which led the joint venture partners to commit to drilling to enhance the resource and to complete a prefeasibility study.

The most recent exploration results from the property came on January 27, with Alma reporting highlighted grades of 0.25 percent copper, 30 ppm molybdenum, and 0.7 ppm silver over 620 metres from near surface, including an interval of 0.35 percent copper, 17 ppm molybdenum, and 0.79 ppm silver over 30 metres.

Additionally, insider buying from two members of the board has picked up considerably since the start of December, and purchases in January and February were followed by increased trading volume and share price gains.

Over that period, Executive Chairman Alasdair Campbell Cooke indirectly acquired nearly 55 million shares of the company, while Non-Executive Director Valentine Chitalu directly purchased over 11 million shares.

Shares of Alma reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.02 on February 17.

2. Raptor Metals (ASX:RAP)

Year-to-date gain: 76 percent
Market cap: AU$26.68 million
Share price: AU$0.044

Raptor Metals, previously named Eastern Metals, is an exploration company with a portfolio of projects in Canada and Australia. On January 22, Eastern Metals completed its acquisition of unlisted company Raptor Resources, alongside the company’s Chester and Turgeon copper-zinc projects in the Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick, Canada. Eastern changed its name to Raptor Metals and ticker symbol to RAP later that month.

Since the acquisition, the company’s primary focus is its Chester project. Chester comprises 281 mineral claims over 6,176 hectares, and contains a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit with three zones: Stringer, Central and East.

The project hosts a JORC-compliant indicated resource of 4.87 million tonnes of ore grading 1.13 percent copper and inferred resource of 1.82 million tonnes at 1.01 percent copper.

On February 3, Raptor commenced a 2,200 metre diamond drill program at Chester, with a focus on enhancing resource confidence and extending the mineralised zone included in the current resource estimate. The company encountered visual copper in the first two holes drilled at the property, which it says validates the resource base.

The most recent exploration update from Chester came on February 24, when Raptor completed 12 of the planned 15 diamond drill holes, reporting that observations were in line with expectations and initial logging of the first two holes. At the time, Raptor said it expected to complete drilling of the remaining three holes and three metallurgical holes in the coming weeks, and to receive assay results within six to eight weeks.

Shares of Raptor climbed through January and reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.62 on January 30.

3. Auris Minerals (ASX:AUR)

Year-to-date gain: 64 percent
Market cap: AU$51.47 million
Share price: AU$0.041

Auris Minerals is a copper and gold explorer focused on assets in the Bryah Basin of Western Australia. Its holdings in the region consist of three project areas: Morck Well, Forrest and Doolgunna.

In 2025, the company was most active at its Morck Well, which is in close proximity to Sandfire Resources' (ASX:SFR,OTCPL:SFRRF) DeGrussa copper mine. Auris owns an 80 percent interest in the property, with CuFe (ASX:CUF,OTCPL:CUFLF) owning the remaining 20 percent.

According to the project page, key highlights from drilling at the site included assays of 3.5 percent copper over 11 metres, 2.3 percent copper over 9 metres and 1.3 percent copper over 6 metres.

The company has not released news from the project since November 14, when it reported assay results from a rock chip sampling program at Morck Well, including a maximum of 0.88 g/t gold from the Jacques gold prospect.

On January 20, the company noted in its quarterly activities report that its immediate focus was to identify project opportunities to capitalise on market conditions, while expanding its geological team and capabilities.

Shares of Auris reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.45 on January 19.

4. Cobre (ASX:CBE)

Year-to-date gain: 60 percent
Market cap: AU$95.89 million
Share price: AU$0.16

Copper-focused Cobre has a portfolio of assets in Chile, Botswana and Western Australia.

On February 12, Cobre raised AU$60 million and entered into a binding agreement with Minera Salar Blanco to acquire up to a 51 percent stake in the Sierra Atacama copper project in the Antofagasta region of Chile. The 40,000 hectare property hosts an operational underground mine that produces around 400 tonnes of copper cathode per month.

Cobre plans to optimise current operations, including expanding production to around 1,000 tonnes per month, and develop an open-pit mine. The company added that the grounds around the mine site have been largely unexplored and lie in an area that is adjacent to several significant discoveries, including Capstone Copper's (TSX:CS,ASX:CSC,OTCPL:CSCCF) Mantos Blancos copper project.

Additionally, Cobre was active at its Ngami copper project in Botswana last year. In August, it produced a maiden resource estimate with a combined indicated and inferred resource of 11.5 million tonnes of ore containing 60,300 tonnes of copper and 4.3 million ounces of silver at average grades of 0.52 percent copper and 11.6 g/t silver.

In September, Cobre successfully produced copper cathode from Ngami drill core during bench-scale test work using solvent extraction electro winning (SX-EW).

Shares of Cobre reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.225 on February 27.

5. Austral Resources (ASX:AR1)

Year-to-date gain: 45.61 percent
Market cap: AU$174.13 million
Share price: AU$0.083

Austral Resources is a miner, developer and explorer focused on operations in Queensland, Australia.

Its primary site is the Lady Annie mine in Queensland’s Mount Isa region, which includes the Mount Kelly heap-leach and SX-EW circuit. As of an April 2021 resource estimate, the asset’s Anthill deposit contained 47,700 tonnes of copper from 5.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.94 percent. According to the company’s December quarterly report, released on January 27, the site produced 2,644 tonnes of copper cathode over the three month period.

Austral also owns the nearby Rocklands copper project, which hosts a mine and processing plant that is on care and maintenance. The company says it is on track to restart operations in mid to late 2027.

Once restarted, the facility has a nameplate capacity of 3 million tonnes per year and is permitted to process third-party ore from throughout the Cloncurry and Mount Isa region.

On February 16, Austral entered into a binding document with Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTCPL:GLCNF) to acquire the Lady Loretta mine, located adjacent to Lady Annie. The mine is primarily a zinc mine and will be shuttered upon completion of the acquisition. Austral pursued the acquisition due to the prospective nature of the site, as copper mineralisation extends from Lady Annie onto the Lady Loretta tenure, which has not been previously explored for copper.

Under the terms of the agreement, Austral will gain a 100 percent share in the property in exchange for US$40 million and a 2.5 percent net smelter return on all copper oxides and sulphides. Additionally, Austral will enter into an offtake agreement with Glencore for all copper produced from the site.

Shares of Austral reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.14 on January 19.