Copper prices have risen through the second half of 2025 amid concerns of rising supply and demand and hit new highs on the COMEX and LME in late January.
These concerns arise from increasing demand for copper from urbanization, the energy transition, and the growing need for artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure.
Increased demand last year was met by significant supply-side disruptions, leading to the temporary closure of two of the world’s largest copper mines, Grasberg and Kamoa-Kakula. Additionally, concerns continue about aging copper mines and a short pipeline of future sources of new copper production.
The price of a three-month copper contract on the London Metals Exchange hit a record high of US$13,952 a tonne on January 29.
These factors are providing support for Australian copper mining and exploration companies in 2026.
The list below outlines the best performing copper shares on the ASX. This was prepared using TradingView on March 17, 2026 stock screener. Copper stocks with a market capitalization of more than AU$10 million at that time were considered.
1. Alma Metals (ASX:ALM)
Year-to-Date Profit: 100 percent
market cap: AU$21.04 million
Share Price: AU$0.013
Alma Metals is a copper exploration company focused on its flagship Briggs copper project in eastern Queensland.
Alma has a 51 per cent stake in the property, which is being explored as part of a joint venture with Canterbury Resources. Alma can increase its ownership to 70 percent by June 2031.
Updated April 2025 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) reported that the Briggs Central deposit has total indicated and inferred resources of 1.1 million tonnes of copper, 34 million pounds of molybdenum and 9.2 million ounces of silver. These are contained in 439 million tonnes of ore with average grades of 0.25 per cent copper, 36 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum and 0.7 grams per tonne (g/t) silver.
metallurgy test work Capability demonstrated to be completed in April 2025 copper recovery Up to 95 percent. Data from the MRE and test work were used to complete scoping study In November 2025, that committed the joint venture partners to conduct drilling to increase the resource and complete pre-feasibility studies.
most recently exploration results Alma’s report from the property on January 27 highlighted grades of 0.25 per cent copper, 30 ppm molybdenum and 0.7 ppm silver from 620 meters near surface, with an interval of 0.35 per cent copper, 17 ppm molybdenum and 0.79 ppm silver over 30 metres.
Additionally, there has been a significant increase in insider buying from two board members beginning of decemberand in shopping January And february This was followed by an increase in trading volume and a rise in the share price.
During that period, executive chairman Alasdair Campbell Cook indirectly acquired about 55 million shares in the company, while non-executive director Valentine Chitalu directly purchased more than 11 million shares.
Alma shares reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.020 on 17 February.
2. Raptor Metals (ASX:RAP)
Year-to-Date Profit: 76 percent
market cap: AU$26.68 million
Share Price: AU$0.044
Raptor Metals, formerly Eastern Metals, is an exploration company with a portfolio of projects in Canada and Australia.
Eastern Metals on 22 January completed its acquisition Unlisted company Raptor Resources, with the company’s Chester and Turgeon copper-zinc projects in the Bathurst mining camp in New Brunswick, Canada. eastern changed its name The ticker symbol for Raptor Metals and RAP at the end of that month.
Since the acquisition, the company’s primary focus has been on its Chester project. Chester consists of 281 mineral claims over 6,176 hectares, and includes volcanic giant sulphide deposits with three zones: Stringer, Central and East.
The project hosts a JORC-compliant indicated resource of 4.87 million tonnes of ore grading 1.13 per cent copper and an inferred resource of 1.82 million tonnes at 1.01 per cent copper.
Raptors announced this on February 3 began A 2,200 meter diamond drill program at Chester, focused on increasing resource confidence and expanding the mineralized area included in the current MRE.
The company encountered visible copper in the first two holes drilled at the property informed On February 10, it said that this resource validates Aadhaar.
most recently Exploration Update From Chester came February 24, when Raptor announced it had completed 12 of the planned 15 diamond drill holes, reporting that observations were in line with expectations and preliminary logging of the first two holes.
At the time, Raptor said it expected to complete drilling of the remaining three holes and three metallurgical holes in the coming weeks and receive assay results within six to eight weeks.
Raptor shares soared in January and reached a year’s high of AU$0.62 on January 30.
3. Auris Minerals (ASX:AUR)
Year-to-Date Profit: 64 percent
market cap: AU$51.47 million
Share Price: AU$0.041
Auris Minerals is a copper and gold exploration company focused on assets in the Bryga Basin of Western Australia. Its holding in the field consists of three project areas: Mork Well, Forest and Doolgunna.
In 2025, the company was most active at its Mork well, which is close to Sandfire Resources’ (ASX:SFR, OTC PINK:SFRRF) Degrusa copper mine. Auris holds an 80 per cent stake in the property, with CuFe (ASX:CUF, OTC PINK:CUFLF) holding the remaining 20 per cent.
According to the project page, highlights of drilling at the site include assays of 3.5 per cent copper over 11 metres, 2.3 per cent copper over 9 metres, and 1.3 per cent copper over 6 metres.
The company has not released any news related to this project since November 14. Reported Assay Results From a rock chip sampling program at the Mork Well, including a maximum of 0.88 g/t gold from the Jacques Gold Prospect.
On January 20, the company noted in its Quarterly Activities Report Its immediate focus was to identify project opportunities to capitalize on market conditions, while expanding its geological team and capabilities.
Auris shares reached an all-time high of AU$0.45 on 19 January.
4. Cobre (ASX:CBE)
Year-to-Date Profit: 60 percent
market cap: AU$95.89 million
Share Price: AU$0.16
Cobre is a copper exploration, development and production company with a portfolio of properties in Chile, Botswana and Western Australia.
On February 12, Cobre announced it had raised AU$60 million and entered into binding agreement To acquire up to a 51 percent stake with Minera Salar Blanco in the Sierra Atacama copper project in the Antofagasta region of Chile.
The 40,000 hectare property has an operating underground mine producing approximately 400 tonnes of copper cathode per month. Cobre plans to optimize existing operations, including increasing production to approximately 1,000 tonnes per month and developing an opencast mine.
Cobre said the grounds surrounding the mine site have not been extensively explored and is located in close proximity to several significant discoveries, including Capstone Copper’s (TSX: CS, ASX: CSC, OTCPL: CSCCF) Mantos Blancos copper project.
Additionally, Cobre was active last year at its Ngami copper project in Botswana. In August, it produced Maiden MRE With a combined indicated and inferred resource of 11.5 million tonnes of ore containing 60,300 tonnes of copper and 4.3 million ounces of silver at an average grade of 0.52 per cent copper and 11.6 g/t silver.
In September, Cobre successfully produced copper cathode from the Nagami drill core bench-scale testing Work using Solvent Extraction Electro Winning (SX-EW).
Cobre shares reached an all-time high of AU$0.225 on 27 February.
5. Australian Resources (ASX:AR1)
Year-to-Date Profit: 45.61 percent
market cap: AU$174.13 million
Share Price: AU$0.083
Austral Resources is a mining, development and exploration company focused on operations in Queensland, Australia.
Its primary site is the Lady Anne mine in the Mount Isa region of Queensland, which includes the Mount Kelly Heap Leach and the SX-EW Circuit. According to the April 2021 MRE, the asset’s Anthill deposit contained 5.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.94 per cent at 47,700 tonnes of copper.
according to the company december quarter reportReleased on January 27, the site produced 2,644 tonnes of copper cathode over a three-month period.
Australia also owns the nearby Rocklands Copper Project, which hosts a mine and processing plant that is under care and maintenance. The company says it is on track to resume operations in mid-to-late 2027.
Once operational again, the facility has a nameplate capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum and is permitted to process third party ore from the entire Cloncurry and Mount Isa region.
On 16 February, Australia announced that it had entered into an agreement binding document With Glencore (LSE:GLEN, OTCPL:GLCNF) to acquire the Lady Loretta mine located near Lady Anne. The mine is primarily a zinc mine and will be closed upon completion of the acquisition.
Australia said it pursued the acquisition due to the prospective nature of the site, as copper mineralization extends from the Lady Anne to Lady Loretta tenure, which had not previously been explored for copper.
Under the terms of the agreement, Australia will receive a 100 percent stake in the property in exchange for US$40 million and a 2.5 percent net smelter return on all copper oxides and sulphides. Additionally, Australia will enter into an offtake agreement with Glencore for all copper produced from the site.
Shares in Australia reached an all-time high of AU$0.14 on 19 January.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, do not currently hold any direct investment interests in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
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