Many Canadian junior copper stocks are up significantly in 2024 thanks to a strong copper price.
The second quarter of 2024 saw carried-over momentum from March. Easing inflation and speculation of a manufacturing rebound fueled broad gains in commodity markets, helping to push COMEX copper prices to a record high of US$5.20 per pound, or US$11,464 per metric ton, on May 20.
Prices have found support over demand growth from energy sectors as wind and solar projects see greater uptake, particularly in China and India.
Even though there has been some slow down in the pace of electric vehicle growth, automakers have begun increasing their production of hybrids, which also require more copper than vehicles with internal combustion engines.
With the demand for copper set to soar within the next several years, has this elevated pricing helped small-cap copper explorers on the TSXV?
These are the five best-performing junior copper stocks since the start of 2024. Data for this article was gathered on April 24, using TradingView’s stock screener, and all companies had market caps of over C$10 million at that time. Read on to see what’s been moving their share prices.
1. Sandfire Resources America (TSXV:SFR)
Year-to-date gain: 283.33 percent; market cap: C$353.06 million; share price: C$0.345
Sandfire Resources America is a copper development company focused on its Black Butte copper project located east of Helena, Montana, in the US. In 2021, a state district court revoked the company’s mine operating permit for Black Butte, halting construction activities of the underground mine.
Sandfire describes the project as one of the highest grade undeveloped copper deposits in the world; a resource estimate for the project’s Johnny Lee deposit completed in 2020 reported measured and indicated resources of 10.9 million metric tons (MT) grading 2.9 percent copper for a total of 311,000 MT contained copper.
Shares of Sandfire soared following a February 26 decision by the Montana Supreme Court to reinstate the company’s mine operating permit. The win is a crucial step for Sandfire to continue the construction of its mine.
Sandfire is working to improve Black Butte’s economics as it works towards a final investment decision. The most recent update from the project came on April 30, when the company released an exploration update that highlighted high-grade copper intercepts of 7.4 percent copper over 9.54 meters, including an intersection of 10.7 percent over 6.26 meters.
Shares of Sandfire Resources America reached a year-to-date high of C$0.395 on May 13.
2. Koryx Copper (TSXV:KRY)
Year-to-date gain: 268.89 percent; market cap: C$38.47 million; share price: C$0.83
Formerly Deep-South Resources, the company announced in November 2023 that it would be changing its name to Koryx Copper to better represent its core values. The company is focused on the advancement of copper exploration projects in Namibia and Zambia.
Its flagship asset is the Haib copper project located in Southern Namibia near the border with South Africa. In an amended preliminary economic assessment released on January 8, the company indicated 20 million MT per year of ore processing with 85 percent copper recovery for a yearly production of 38,337 MT of copper and an additional 51,081 MT of copper sulfate.
Since the start of 2024, Koryx has published several assay results from exploration at Haib, with the most recent coming on May 15. In the announcement, the company highlighted grades of 0.51 percent copper over 137.6 meters, including an intersection of 0.68 percent copper over 72 meters.
According to Koryx President and CEO Pierre Léveillé, the results indicate the deposit’s average grade may exceed the one reported in its existing mineral resource estimate. Assay results for the remaining eight drill holes from the program have yet to be released.
Shares of Koryx reached a year-to-date high of C$1.13 on June 10.
3. T2 Metals (TSXV:TWO)
Year-to-date gain: 230.43 percent; market cap: C$10.98 million; share price: C$0.38
T2 Metals is a copper exploration company that has spent 2024 focusing on advancing its Sherridon copper, gold and zinc project near Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada.
T2 holds an option agreement with Halo Resources to earn a 90 percent interest in the property, which consists of 28 mining claims and one mineral lease over 4,968 hectares. The site was home to the Sherridon/Sherritt Gordon mine and hosts multiple volcanogenic massive sulfide-style ore deposits.
Today, Sherridon hosts several inferred resources with near-surface targets discovered having been identified with limited drilling activity. T2 has been working to advance exploration activities in early 2024, with the latest update coming on March 1, when it reported assays of 1.18 percent copper or 7.4 percent copper equivalent over 23.5 meters, including an intersection of 2.48 percent copper or 25 percent copper equivalent over 8.67 meters.
Shares in T2 surged toward the end of the second quarter when the company released news on June 7 that it had received a C$300,000 development grant from Manitoba’s Mineral Development Fund to advance exploration at Sherridon. The company said planning and permitting were underway for both follow-up drilling and testing additional targets on the site.
T2’s share price reached a year-to-date high of C$0.41 on July 7.
4. Freeport Resources (TSXV:FRI)
Year-to-date gain: 200 percent; market cap: C$18.45 million; share price: C$0.075
Freeport Resources is focused on the advancement of its Yandera copper, gold and molybdenum project located in Madan, Papua New Guinea. Yandera covers an area of 245.5 square kilometers and has been explored since the 1960s. Freeport acquired the project in August 2021, when it bought out Carpo Resources and its subsidiary Era Resources.
A 2017 prefeasibility study commissioned by Era projects a net present value of US$1.04 billion with an internal rate of return of 23.5 percent and a payback period of five years and eight months. It also shows measured and indicated resources of 2.81 million MT of contained copper equivalent and a projected mine life of 20 years.
This past February, Freeport announced that it had been granted a two year extension for its exploration license from the government of Papua New Guinea.
The most recent news came on July 2, when the company announced that it had closed an oversubscribed private placement and for proceeds of C$5.2 million. Freeport said the funds would be used to complete an internal optimization of the Yandera copper project and to advance a definitive feasibility study.
Shares in Freeport reached a year-to-date high of C$0.09 on July 3.
5. American Eagle Gold (TSXV:AE)
Year-to-date gain: 179.25 percent; market cap: C$75.59 million; share price: C$0.74
American Eagle Gold is a copper and precious metals exploration company working to advance its NAK property in Central BC, Canada.
Hosted within the Babine copper-gold district, the NAK property has seen historical exploration dating back to the 1960s. American Eagle completed the acquisition of the site in December 2021.
On January 8, the company announced results from the final hole of its 2023 program, which returned the highest grading seen in the program. It reported a large 302 meter intersection containing 0.53 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold, 0.4 percent copper, 1.27 g/t silver and 431.4 parts per million molybdenum.
On May 27, the company announced it had commenced its phase 3 drill program at NAK. The company said the 15,000 meter drill program would be focusing on testing areas surrounding existing mineralization and connecting zones drilled in 2022 and 2023 programs.
In an update from the project on July 2, American Eagle said that it had discovered a copper-bearing outcrop in a previously untested zone in the southeastern region of the project area.
Shares of American Eagle reached a year-to-date peak of C$0.81 on May 9.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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