This ASX materials stock is up 700% this year and could be the next big copper winner

ASX materials stock Solstice Minerals Ltd (ASX: SLS) continued its stellar run yesterday. It rose 10% to open the week on Monday. 

The mineral exploration company rose 10% on Monday, and is now up an impressive 770% in the last 12 months. 

Why is this ASX materials stock soaring?

Solstice Minerals is a Western Australian copper-gold explorer focused on its flagship 100%-owned Nanadie Copper-Gold Project (Nanadie). 

It has been one of the copper shares to exploded in the last year.

This has come because investors are simultaneously pricing in record copper prices, tightening supply and a structural demand boom. 

At the same time, AI data centres, electricity grids, EVs, renewables and broader electrification are creating a powerful long-term demand story for copper.

Additionally, U.S. tariff uncertainty has pulled large volumes of metal into America and further tightened availability elsewhere. 

ASX copper miners have relatively fixed operating costs. This means every extra dollar in the copper price can translate into disproportionately higher margins, cash flow and project valuations. 

This has resulted in investors aggressively rerating both established producers and smaller exploration/development stocks. 

Why this stock can keep rising

A new report from Bell Potter has suggested this ASX materials stock still has more room for growth. 

The report highlighted that When the company bought the Nanadie site, the estimated resource was 40.4 million tonnes at about 0.40% copper, plus gold and silver.

However, since then, drilling results suggest that Nanadie is much larger than previously thought.

The mineralised zone is now around 100-200 metres wide, has been drilled to about 840 metres downhole, and extends over at least 1.3 km of strike. It is still open, meaning it could become larger.

In simple terms, Nanadie was originally thought to be a modest copper deposit. Drilling is showing that it could be a much bigger and potentially higher-grade deposit.

If the resource continues to grow and the project can eventually be developed into a mine, the company could be worth substantially more than it is today.

Big upside and buy rating 

Based on this analysis, Bell Potter has initiated coverage on this ASX materials stock with a speculative buy rating and $3.25 valuation. 

From yesterday’s closing price, this indicates an upside potential of approximately 32%. 

We initiate coverage of SLS with a SPECULATIVE BUY recommendation and a A$3.25/sh valuation. Nanadie is a genuinely large and still growing copper- gold system on granted mining tenure in a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction. We expect SLS will re-rate on release of ongoing exploration results and project development studies.

The post This ASX materials stock is up 700% this year and could be the next big copper winner appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Bell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.