Many Canadian junior copper stocks are up significantly in 2024 thanks to a strong copper price.
The second quarter of the year saw momentum carry over from March. Easing inflation and speculation about a manufacturing rebound fueled broad gains in commodities markets, helping to push COMEX copper prices to a record high of US$5.20 per pound, or US$11,464 per metric ton (MT), on May 20.
Prices for the important base metal have also found support on the back of demand growth from the energy sector as wind and solar projects see greater uptake, particularly in China and India.
And even though there has been a slowdown 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.
How have these dynamics affected small-cap copper explorers on the TSXV? Below 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.
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 for the underground operation.
Sandfire describes the project as one of the highest-grade undeveloped copper deposits in the world; a 2020 resource estimate for the project’s Johnny Lee deposit outlines measured and indicated resources of 10.9 million MT grading 2.9 percent copper for a total of 311,000 MT of 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 was a crucial step for Sandfire to continue construction of the mine.
Sandfire is working to improve Black Butte’s economics as it works toward a final investment decision. The most recent news from the project came on April 30, when the company released an exploration update highlighting an intercept of 7.4 percent copper over 9.54 meters, including an intersection of 10.7 percent copper 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 changed its name to Koryx Copper in November 2023. 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. An amended preliminary economic assessment for the asset that was filed on January 8 indicates that Haib has an annual ore-processing capacity of 20 million MT at an 85 percent recovery rate for copper and copper sulfate. That equates to 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 rounds of assay results from exploration at Haib, with the most recent coming on May 15. In the announcement, the company highlights grades of 0.51 percent copper over 137.6 meters, including an intersection of 0.68 percent copper over 72 meters.
President and CEO Pierre Léveillé said the results indicate the deposit’s average grade may exceed the number reported in its existing resource estimate. Assay results for the program’s remaining eight drill holes 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.
Currently Sherridon holds several inferred resources with near-surface targets 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 of T2 surged toward the end of the second quarter when the company said 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 from the company came on July 2, when it announced that it had closed an oversubscribed private placement for gross proceeds of C$5.2 million. Freeport said the funds will be used to complete an internal optimization review of the Yandera copper project and to advance a definitive feasibility study.
Shares of 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 explorer advancing 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 its acquisition of the site in December 2021.
On January 8, the company announced results from the final hole of its 2023 exploration work, returning the highest grading seen in the program. It reported a large 302 meter intersection containing 0.53 grams per MT (g/t) gold, 0.4 percent copper, 1.27 g/t silver and 431.4 parts per million molybdenum.
On May 27, the company commenced Phase 3 drilling at NAK, saying the 15,000 meter program would focus on testing areas surrounding existing mineralization and connecting zones drilled in 2022 and 2023.
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.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.