Copper is the latest commodity to go on a tear.
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After dropping to multi-year lows in the wake of last year’s Covid lockdowns, the red metal has more than doubled from $2.00/lb. to $4.20/lb.
Indeed, copper prices have increased by almost a dollar just since the start of 2021, and as the five-year price chart below shows, it’s trading at its highest levels in years.
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In the near term, the trend reflects renewed optimism about a vaccine-revived global economy and the expectation that the US and China, among other countries are about to go on a copper-intensive infrastructure binge.
Add in a depreciating U.S. dollar thanks to massive debt loads…the overwhelming new demand coming from the electric vehicle revolution…and supply constraints due to years of under-investment… and this copper rally appears to be the early stage of a secular, years-long bull run.
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Which brings us to the obvious question: What’s the best way to leverage a copper bull market?
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While major mining companies can offer some leverage, they tend to be more diversified bets on commodities in general.
By contrast, copper-focused juniors with tight share structures have the ability to turn exploration success and soaring copper prices into very highly leveraged plays on the trend.
And scanning the universe of copper explorers, few companies can match the combination of compelling assets, a full treasury and significant undervaluation offered by Libero Copper & Gold (LBC.V; LBCMD.OTC/LBCMF.OTC).
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A Key Copper Discovery In BC’s Golden Triangle
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The Libero story started to get really interesting late last year, when a drilling program on its Big Red project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle encountered a large new copper target.
Dubbed the Terry discovery, this target was identified by surface samples as high as 5.5% copper and 0.5 g/t gold. Mapping has also outlined an area of outcrop at Terry more than a kilometer in diameter.
Better still, the discovery holes for Terry have tagged into what looks like a deep, porphyry-style copper-gold-silver target.
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As you can see from the cross-section above, all four of the first holes drilled at Terry hit significant mineralization beginning at or near surface.
Highlights included 120 meters of 0.41% copper-equivalent and 80 meters of 0.43% copper-equivalent.
Simply put, these are the kind of interval lengths that suggest the presence of a large porphyry system.
And the best part? The depth potential of this mineralization is by no means proscribed — the RC rigs Libero used for these initial holes were unable to drill to optimum depths to explore such a large porphyry target.
Thus, one of the key catalysts for Libero’s share price this year will be a planned, 5,000-meter diamond drill program that will both step out on this discovery and probe it at depth.
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Plus:
A Massive Copper-Moly Resource In Colombia
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If the Terry discovery at Big Red was the only piece of the Libero story, it would still make the company an excellent drill hole speculation.
But there’s more to Libero…much more.
Indeed, the company’s valuation is anchored by a large, open-pittable copper porphyry resource called Mocoa that it controls in Colombia.
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That inferred copper-moly resource stands at 636 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper-equivalent (4.6 billion pounds of copper and 511 million pounds of molybdenum).
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Historic drilling includes uber-long intersections like 0.67% copper-equivalent over 634 meters and 0.59% copper-equivalent over 779 meters.
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Those results are comparable with those from other copper projects in this belt, including Corriente’s Mirador (sold for C$690 million) and the Wartiza project owned by Solaris Resources, whose current market cap is ~C$775 million.
Can Libero realize that level of value for Mocoa?
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The jury’s still out — but it’s clear from the scale of the resource already outlined that it is exactly the kind of deposit that attracts takeout interest.
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And Mocoa has room to grow. Management hopes to drill-test the Mocoa resource where it remains open for expansion — in particular the already-identified, large-scale mineralization to the west.
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And More:
Exciting New Property Brings Year-Round Exploration
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This already impressive project portfolio grew recently with the acquisition of the large Esperanza porphyry copper-gold property in Argentina’s San Juan Province.
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Esperanza lies within the Huachi mining district near 11 other significant copper projects. Data left by prior operators includes numerous samples in excess of 1% copper, with grades up to 8% copper.
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But here’s the key: A 2018 discovery hole hit 387 meters of 0.78% copper-equivalent beginning at surface…but poor market conditions at the time meant the operator was never able to follow up on these results.
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Now, Libero plans to do exactly that, with a 5,000-meter drill program on Esperanza that will begin within weeks.
There’s plenty of potential here. Copper has been encountered so far over 1,800 meters of strike at Esperanza and step-outs to the east and west of the previous drilling seem especially promising.
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Hugely Undervalued…For Now
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As if all this weren’t enough, Libero has another copper project called Big Bulk in BC that will see 2,000 meters of drilling of its own this year.
That’s right, Libero moves into its 2021 field season with no less than three large-scale copper projects that will see drilling and another with a world-class copper-moly resource.
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And the timing is perfect: The company recently conducted a 5-to-1 share rollback and concurrently raised C$7 million in an over-subscribed private placement, so it’s fully funded to accomplish this year’s comprehensive exploration programs.
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In short, Libero is exactly the type of copper play smart investors will be looking for as the copper bull run continues and the major miners look to expand their project pipelines:
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• LBC has four great projects with either extensive resources or big-scale potential.
• Thanks to the geographic diversity of those projects and its planned drill programs, Libero is going to make news soon and throughout the year.
• And yet, with all this going for it, Libero has yet to respond to the big surge in copper prices. Its market cap is still relatively tiny in relation to its considerable copper resources and assets.
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That valuation mismatch makes this explorer perhaps the smart-money play on rising copper prices.
But it’s a bargain that isn’t likely to last, making now the time to build a position in Libero Copper & Gold.
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