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.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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