Investors want quality copper stocks, Peak Minerals is on the radar

Peak Minerals is advancing what is shaping up to be a large copper sulphide system at a time that investors are scrambling to gain exposure to top quality ASX-listed copper plays as the market continues to take off.

Copper has edged gold out of the spotlight for the moment as a serious deficit of major new discoveries plays out and demand continues to shoot up thanks to huge infrastructure spending by China and the increased uptake of renewable energy and electric vehicles.

In the past 12 months, the copper price has jumped 95 per cent. Experts like Goldman Sachs are predicting it will hit $US10,500 a tonne in the next 12 months, while Trafigura — the world’s biggest copper trader — expects the metal to hit $US15,000 a tonne in the coming decade.

ANZ said in a research note recently that the outlook for copper remains strong.

“Demand from new growth sectors, such as renewable energy and EVs continues to rise. Supply side issues are also ramping up,” ANZ analysts said.

The booming copper market is drawing investors in right now but there is a distinct lack of quality ASX copper exposure when compared to the likes of say gold.

Peak Minerals (ASX:PUA) is one of a small number of ASX-listed copper plays advancing project developments in a rapidly rising market, and investors are taking notice. In the past 12 months shares have shot up over 270 per cent.

Peak Minerals (ASX:PUA) share price chart

Even prominent mining investor Tolga Kumova has joined the register of this junior and is a major shareholder.

Peak is having early success at its Copper Hills project in Western Australia, recently intersecting broad copper sulphide mineralisation in maiden drilling.

The company completed a seven-hole, 1,633m reverse circulation program (including two pre-collars) in early December to test multiple targets prospective for hosting oxide copper and magmatic copper and nickel sulphide mineralisation.

Top drill hits from the program included 37m at 0.67 per cent copper from 90m, including 11m at 1.25 per cent copper, and 1m at 1.53 per cent copper from 120m.

Drilling at the Copper Hills prospect has confirmed mineralisation is increasing at depth, with analytical data supporting a magmatic source to the mineralisation.

Peak this week reported positive results from a 2195m, four-hole diamond drilling program at Copper Hills aimed at testing the source of surface mineralisation.

Drilling confirmed that the Lady Alma intrusive system is mineralised, with multiple zones of magmatic copper sulphides evident in the drill core.

Drill core from the recent drilling program showing a band of semi-massive chalcopyrite with blebs of pyrrhotite from 899.1m. Pic: Supplied.

The magmatic copper sulphides are structurally controlled and displaced from the original source, with the preliminary orientation of copper sulphide veining suggesting the source lies to the northwest of current drilling at Lady Alma.

Armed with this new information, Peak will undertake down-hole electromagnetics (DHEM) in mid-April to determine the source of the original EM anomaly and vector in on the more prospective units of the intrusive system at Lady Alma.

“The board is extremely pleased with the preliminary results of this drilling, which has proven the system is mineralised and hosts magmatic copper sulphides,” managing director Wayne Loxton said.

“With these diamond drill holes now cased and a DHEM crew commissioned to site, the company can rapidly progress on these positive exploration leads and start refining its geophysics targeting both within the Lady Alma prospect and across the multiple intrusions of the broader Copper Hills project.”

Peak also previously identified several lookalike targets, giving it multiple high-priority exploration opportunities.

The Copper Hills project in the Meekatharra region is surrounded by some well-known big mines and deposits like Andy Well, Bluebird, Gabanintha and Barrambie.

Copper Hills in the Meekatharra region. Pic: Supplied.

The near-surface mineralisation identified to date at the Copper Hills and Lady Alma prospects within the broader Copper Hills project appears to indicate a number of similarities to that of the adjacent Gabanintha gold mine.

However, the key difference is that the Copper Hills and Lady Alma prospects are relatively copper-rich with limited gold compared to the Gabanintha mine.

Previous exploration has identified a 3km prospective corridor defined by a combination of drilling, geochemistry, electromagnetic geophysics and historical mine workings.

In mid-October last year, Peak Minerals exercised an option it held to acquire Greenrock Metals and its portfolio of nine projects in three key areas spanning 1,289sqkm in the East Kimberley, Earaheedy Basin and the Mid-West mining centre of Meekatharra.

This article was developed in collaboration with Peak Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.