Alma Metals (ASX:ALM) is commencing a new drilling campaign at the Briggs Copper project in Queensland (Briggs), which is one of Australia’s largest undeveloped copper projects and has the potential to be a future mine comparable to many of the world’s top-tier porphyry operations.

Investors have reason to be confident

Briggs already has an MRE of 2Mt copper at an 0.15% cut-off grade, and last year’s drilling delivered stellar results which validated Alma’s geological thesis. The current 12–15-month campaign supports a Pre-Feasibility Study, running in parallel with metallurgical test work, geotechnical assessments & environmental baseline studies.
The program’s aim is to convert the predominantly Inferred resource into Indicated and Measured categories, test depth extensions where mineralisation appears stronger and drill high-priority extension targets that could lift the resource.

The Copper Crunch makes Briggs more appetising

The tightening copper market is steadily reshaping the investment landscape, and we believe it plays directly to the strengths of Briggs. Global inventories are thinning, new large scale discoveries are scarce, and demand continues to rise, driven by conventional markets and accelerating decarbonisation. The supply gap is already attracting serious capital: Harmony Gold acquired MAC Copper’s CSA mine in New South Wales and Kinterra Capital acquired ASX-listed New World Resources to secure the high-grade Antler copper project in Arizona.

Well-capitalised acquirers are paying significant premiums for copper assets in Tier-1 jurisdictions, which is precisely the value proposition Briggs represents. When supply is constrained, scale and simplicity matter and Alma is one of the very few companies advancing a project with potential to contribute to easing the crunch.

A future project could have a >$2.9bn NPV

Without ascribing a value to Alma, our model for a future copper operation at Briggs, updated for current copper prices and opex assumptions, derives an NPV of A$2.9bn. We think Alma could trade at a low- to mid-teens percentage of the NPV once a PFS is released in 2027, with nearer term upside driven by upward momentum in copper prices and exploration results. Please see page 13 for the key risks associated with Alma.