PolarX [ASX:PXX] has made headway in the market today on the news of a jump in resource estimates for their Alaskan copper and silver projects.
A rise in mineral resource estimate for the Caribou Dome project shows a 160% increase to 224,375t contained copper and additional 1.5Moz silver.
This is a 2.6 times increase from the 2017 resource estimate — showing similar high-grade concentrations of copper.
Combined with the nearby Zackly project, the total Alaska Range mineral resource estimate is now at 11.2Mt — containing 269,000t copper, 213,000oz gold, and 3.13Moz silver.
PXX shares are up by 13.8% on the news at $0.0175 per share at the time of writing.
PolarX has a market cap of AU$20.3 million and has seen its shares slide alongside the wider sector this past year.
Source: TradingView
Big find, bigger potential
It’s been a tough year for Australian small-cap mining as commodity prices fell by 14% in the first quarter of 2023.
PolarX along with the sector has seen double-digit share price slumps since the beginning of 2023 — with PXX shares down minus 15% YTD.
PolarX has seen sideways share price movement in the last six months. This comes after a short-lived 360% surge in December last year on news of a 10% stake from gold giant Northern Star Resources [ASX:NST].
However, investors have since remained wary as rising interest rates have dragged commodity prices down.
Despite this, the announcement today has seen PXX trading volumes and prices surge.
PolarX is now undertaking a revised scoping study to assess the merit of processing mineralisation from both Alaskan projects.
PolarX Managing Director, Jason Berton remarked:
‘The new mineral resource estimate at Caribou Dome is a very exciting milestone for PolarX as the company progresses its Alaskan assets from exploration to mine development.
‘This is a game-changing advance which again shows Alaska Range has project scale with huge scope to keep growing resource inventory.’
With a further 18 kilometres of evident mineralisation within the project area, PolarX’s potential to discover additional high-grade deposits and expand its resource base looks promising.
What this means for PolarX
As the gloom begins to shake off the commodities market, PolarX stands in a strong position for further growth.
Investors should be wary as some bumps in the road ahead may still be ahead.
According to the Swiss investment bank, UBS:
‘Following the recent sell-off, we believe the copper market is closer to a fundamental inflection point. We forecast only a modest market surplus in 2023, moving to a growing deficit from 2025.
‘This increases the risk of material price upside over the next two-three years (potentially creating a ‘lithium moment’ for copper).’
Watching this discovery will be Northern Star Resources [ASX:NST], which acquired a 10% stake in PolarX in December last year at an issue price of $0.8 per share and holds neighbouring projects in the Alaskan Ranges.
Looking forward, what’s next for PolarX?
With government net-zero policies looming and future EV growth set to break new highs — the future demand for copper is only set to grow.
Despite this, S&P Global Market Intelligence shows that new copper discoveries have fallen by at least 80% since 2010.
With the demand for copper to explode in the next decade — this could be one to watch.
Source: Wood Mackenzie
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