What’s the magic formula for turning a disused mine into a valuable asset?
Well, it often involves breakthrough technologies that unlock previously inaccessible ore.
But just as importantly, it involves the arrival of higher commodity prices, making extraction worthwhile.
And that’s the revolution taking shape right now.
Where new innovations in mining tech are set to collide with higher commodity prices.
Let me explain why this could emerge as a unique opportunity in the coming months…
The abandoned ore
When I say ‘abandoned ore’, I mean those deposits that have sat idle for years.
Projects that have been shelved because mining is either too difficult or not economically viable.
Companies owning these projects have been gathering dust for years, forgotten by the market.
These ‘idle juniors’ trade as cheaply as tiny explorers… companies without assets and nothing more than a patch of dirt.
Except there’s something much more valuable within these companies versus an explorer…A REAL asset.
Ore that’s sitting in the ground and ready to be TRANSFORMED into cash.
These juniors are priced like explorers but hold no exploration risk!
That’s because the market has NOT factored in their ability to transform forgotten deposits into cash quickly.
As I mentioned, the powerful combination of tech innovation and higher commodity prices could propel these companies toward development.
So, who are they?
Which ASX companies stand to benefit as new technologies converge alongside higher commodity prices?
We’ve dubbed them the ‘transformers’
Companies unlocking previously inaccessible ore.
But before we reveal the exact details, let me take you back 7,000 years so you can understand how innovation has shaped opportunities in mining!
Known as the Sumerians, this ancient civilisation discovered a way to extract a ‘new’ type of metal.
These early innovators found that crushing and heating the raw ore extracted a material we now know as copper!
A durable material that was easy to work into weapons, farming implements, ornaments, and jewellery.
This innovation wasn’t trivial…
The Sumerians had discovered a technique we now call ‘smelting.’
And how these ancients generated high enough temperatures to smelt ore remains a mystery, even today.
But perhaps the most remarkable aspect…
What these ancient people discovered thousands of years ago remains the primary method of extracting metal from rock today!
But there was a catch…
You see; to smelt ore, you need fresh rock, what we call sulphide ore.
In other words, rocks that haven’t been exposed to the elements like rainfall.
Exposure tends to turn copper ores into a green-like rock in a process called oxidation.
For millennia, ‘oxidised ore’ was no more useful than the surrounding barren waste rock…relegated to giant waste rock dumps.
Miners need fresh rock to smelt ore and extract copper.
That can mean digging 50 metres or more below the surface, beyond an area geologists call the ‘weathered zone’.
A mining revolution takes place
But that all changed in the mid-1980s when an innovation in copper processing took place.
Known as solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW), it finally gave miners the means to process this shallow, oxidised ore.
Simply put, SX-EW uses leaching, a method of dissolving ‘useful ingredients’ in a solution using sulphuric acid.
The breakthrough handed miners a windfall… The weathered ‘waste’ rock was suddenly a valuable resource.
Sitting close to the surface meant it was far more accessible and cheaper to extract.
The oxidised ore was also soft, relatively easy to dig up, and required less energy to crush.
So, who benefitted the most?
‘Electrowinning’ was a game changer in copper supply… Centuries of old mining waste suddenly held immense value.
Copper miners with vast amounts of waste rock sitting on their tenements now had access to billions of pounds of relatively easily accessible copper.
This means that the value of these companies changed overnight!
It was a matter of installing these facilities close to the mountains of waste rock and processing them into valuable copper.
And just like the 1980s breakthrough, a new era of winners is emerging in the wake of new mining innovations.
It’s part of a special report we’ve put together, scouring the market for specific ASX names that could benefit from this trend.
We’ve dubbed the potential winners ‘transformer stocks’.
Companies looking to convert unloved deposits or waste rock into a valuable resource.
So, how will they do that?
The innovations
Take drilling…
Some companies are now using hyperspectral scanning machines that can analyse drill cores in minutes — work that used to take weeks or months for teams of geologists.
This means they can map out these forgotten deposits faster and cheaper.
Then there’s the CSIRO-developed neutron technology that gives instant analysis of the surrounding rock in the drill hole — no more waiting weeks for lab results.
And when it comes to getting minerals out of the ground…
They’re using a revolutionary technique called ‘heap leaching’, which employs specialised microbes to extract the gold. This method replaces old, toxic cyanide methods, which were typically expensive and hard to get approved.
But here’s what really changes the game…
These miners can now send automated drill and blast machines and driverless trucks deep underground — into areas that were too dangerous or expensive to mine in the past.
Combining all these breakthroughs, you’re not just looking at better technology…
You’re looking at deposits once written off as ‘uneconomical’, suddenly becoming highly profitable treasure troves.
And remember — this is just the beginning. These transformers aren’t just making mining more efficient…they’re literally rewriting what’s possible in the industry.
‘Transformers’ are companies that specialise in using modern technology to transform abandoned reserves into literal treasure.
Whether reviving old deposits or squeezing every drop out of currently active mines, this could be the next big paradigm shift in mining.
To unlock the names of FOUR ‘transformer’ ASX stocks set to ride this trend, you can do so by watching our unique presentation here.
Enjoy!
Regards,
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James Cooper,
Editor, Mining: Phase One and Diggers and Drillers
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