PDAC 2015 Watch List: Copper Companies to Keep an Eye On

Coming up quickly is the 2015 PDAC International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange. Copper companies will represent a respectable portion of the over 550 exhibitors that will be at the conference, and it might be tough for base metals investors to keep track of who’s attending from the space. With that in mind, Resource Investing News has put together lists of key companies attending across a variety of sectors.

Here’s a look at some of the copper companies attending the show:

• Copper Fox Metals (TSXV:CUU) — Booth 2713 — Copper Fox holds a joint venture with Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B,NYSE:TCK) on the Schaft Creek project in British Columbia and owns a 100-percent interest in the potential in-situ recovery Van Dyke copper project in Arizona. In December, the company released an inferred resource estimate for Van Dyke, which CEO Elmer Stewart talks about in this recent interview. Stewart will be presenting March 3 at 2:20 p.m. in room 803.

• Copper Mountain Mining (TSX:CUM) — Booth 2406A — Pegged as a company to watch by Stefan Ioannou of Haywood Securities, Copper Mountain recently released its 2014 year-end results. In the report, it highlights the importance of the installation of a secondary crusher at its Copper Mountain mine in British Columbia.

• Entrée Gold (TSX:ETG) — Booth 2712 — Entree holds a number of copper and gold projects, primarily in Nevada and Mongolia. Its key assets include the Lookout Hill project in Mongolia, which surrounds Rio Tinto’s (NYSE:RIO,ASX:RIO,LSE:RIO) Oyu Tolgoi project, and the Ann Mason project in Nevada.

• Excelsior Mining (TSXV:MIN) — Booth 2712 — Recently named a TSX Venture 50 company and picked by Eric Coffin of HRA Advisories as a company to watch, Excelsior is currently developing the Gunnison in-situ recovery copper project in Arizona. The company is targeting full production at the project by 2018.

• Highland Copper Company (TSXV:HI) — Booth 3214 — Highland Copper is focused on exploring and developing copper projects in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Last December, the company secured a royalty agreement with Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX:OR) for its White Pine North project.

• Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS) — Booth 2846 — Nautilus has garnered plenty of attention for its foray into underwater mining. The company claims to be the first to explore the ocean floor for polymetallic massive sufhide deposits.

• Nevada Copper (TSX:NCU) — Booth 2604A — The company is currently developing its Pumpkin Hollow project in the Yerington district of Nevada. It’s expecting a faster permitting process on the back of the approval of a key land swap bill that came through in December.

• Nevsun Resources (TSX:NSU) — Booth 2608A — An analyst favourite, Nevsun recently released a significant increase in resources at its Bisha mine in Eritrea.

• PolyMet Mining (TSX:POM, NYSE MKT:PLM) — Booth 2705 — Polymet is developing its NorthMet copper-nickel-PGM project, located in the Duluth Complex in Northeastern Minnesota.

• Tintina Resources (TSXV:TAU) — Booth 2145 — Tintina recently reported that prefeasibility work is underway at its Black Butte copper project in Montana.

• Western Copper and Gold (TSX:WRN) — Booth 2144 — Western Copper and Gold is currently advancing its billion-tonne Casino project in Canada’s Yukon. Premier Darrell Pasloski recently mentioned the project in an interview with Resource Investing News regarding mineral exploration in the territory.

Others attending the conference include Callinan Royalties (TSXV:CAA) (Booth 2213B), Carmax Mining (TSXV:CXM) (Booth 2349), Candente Copper (TSX:DNT) and larger miners such as Hudbay Minerals (TSX:HBM) (Booth 2907) and Imperial Metals (TSX:III). Rio Tinto (Booth 2100) and KGHM International (TSX:QUX) (Booth 2131) will also be making appearances.

All in all, over 60 copper companies will be attending the conference. Click here for the full list of copper companies from PDAC.

Though the copper price hasn’t been too spectacular as of late, plenty of analysts and firms still have a positive outlook for the red metal in the medium to long term. And with BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP,ASX:BHP,LSE:BLT) cutting 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes of production out of the market due to issues at its Olympic Dam operations, copper companies could definitely be worth a look for investors attending the conference.

Click here to see which INN clients will be at PDAC.

Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.