Goldman Sachs analysts are tipping the copper price to keep rising, despite the metal just topping its June high.

ASX mining shares with exposure to copper include Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), Oz Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL), Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR) and Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH).

Rio shares are leaping 1.4% today, while Sandfire Resources shares are leaping 1.21%. Hot Chili shares are leaping 5.06% and Oz Minerals shares are 0.02% in the green at the time of writing.

So what is the outlook for the copper price?

Copper price tipped to jump higher

The copper price hit US$9,000 a tonne this week on the London Metal Exchange, its highest level since June.

However, a Goldman Sachs commodities analyst is tipping it to reach US$11,500 a tonne by the end of the year and US$15,000 in the long term.

Commenting on Bloomberg TV, Goldman head of commodities research Jeff Currie said:

Our target end of year is US$11,500…but longer term, we are in line with Trafigura, we see US$15,000 a tonne.

You know, there's a structural imbalance in these markets. You are likely to see peak copper supply in 2024.

Oz Minerals operates the Prominent Hill copper and gold mine in South Australia. In December, Oz Minerals advised Prominent Hill ore reserves have lifted 23% to 59 Mt at 1.4% copper equivalent. BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) is proposing to acquire 100% of Oz Minerals, with a scheme meeting expected to take place in late March or early 2023 this year.

Rio Tinto explores copper from multiple projects globally and produced 138,000 tonnes of copper in the third quarter of 2022. This was a 10% lift on the third quarter of 2021. Sandfire is also developing multiple copper projects in the USA, Botswana, Spain and Australia. Hot Chili is developing the Costa Fuego copper hub in Chile.

Why is copper tipped to go higher?

Goldman's Currie highlighted the role of copper in decarbonisation, describing copper as "the new oil". He said:

You cannot decarbonise the world and use electricity to the extent we expect without substantial copper consumption.

Meanwhile, China's reopening is also being slated as a possible reason for investor optimism in the copper sector.

Marex analyst Alastair Munro, also commenting on Bloomberg, highlighted the impact of increased demand from China. He said:

You've got more of these commodity trade adviser and discretionary fund bids on copper. There has been Chinese buying onshore.

Share price snapshot

The Rio Tinto share price has leapt 13% in the last year

Oz Minerals shares have slid nearly 3% in the past 52 weeks.

Sandfire Resources shares have descended nearly 9% in the past year.

Hot Chili stocks have plummeted 45% in the last year.

The post Goldman tips continued surge in copper price. Which ASX mining shares might benefit? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

ASX copper shares are having a mixed day on the market today. Copper prices fell overnight, however Morgan Stanley has also improved its outlook on copper.

Copper miners on the ASX include OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL), Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR) and Copper Mounting Mining Corporation (ASX: C6C).

Other copper explorers include Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN), BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH)

Let's take a look at what's impacting ASX copper shares today.

Improved copper outlook

Morgan Stanley has improved its copper price prediction for the long term, The Australian reported today.

The broker has lifted its long-term copper outlook by 15% to US$7,540, according to the publication. Analysts said:

Our new bottom-up modelling suggests 2030 copper and aluminium demand could be 24 per cent and 26 per cent higher than current levels.

However, with investment in new supply lagging, we see larger deficits ahead, driving stronger medium-term prices.

Sandfire Resources shares are climbing 0.48% today, while BHP shares are lifting 1% and Chalice Mining shares are rising 0.47%.

However, Copper Mounting Mining shares are falling nearly 4%, while Hot Chili shares are down 3%. The OZ Minerals share price is 0.02% in the red at the time of writing.

Copper prices fell nearly 1% to US$7,803 per tonne overnight amid concerns inflation could drive up the US dollar, impacting commodities. WisdomTree analyst Nitesh Shah, in comments cited by mining.com, said:

If the US is raising rates faster than other countries, that will exert upward dollar pressure and all commodities priced in dollars will take a hit

The post What's with ASX copper shares on Thursday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

ASX copper shares are sinking amid the commodity dropping to its lowest price in 19 months.

Copper explorers in the red today include Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR), OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: OZL) and Austral Resources Australia Ltd (ASX: AR1). Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) shares and Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (ASX: C6C) are also lower today.

So what is going on with these ASX copper shares?

Copper prices slide

The Sandfire share price has shed 5.42% while Oz Minerals shares have slid 2.58%. Meanwhile, the Austral share price has fallen 7.37%, Hot Chili shares have lost 6.33%, and Copper Mountain is down 6.92%.

Copper prices fell to a 19-month low amid recession fears, Bloomberg reported.

Copper closed at US$7,670 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. However, during the day, the copper price shed 5.1% to US$7,597 a tonne, its lowest point since December 2020.

Global recession concerns are "continuing to predominate on the metals markets", Commerzbank AG analyst Carsten Fritsch told Bloomberg. He added:

Sentiment in US industry is becoming more gloomy, in other words; we interpret this as a sign that the US economy is losing momentum

Commenting on base metal prices, ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch said copper "led the sector lower". In an ANZ Research report, she added:

Sentiment was further hit following the new outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, one broker has upgraded the OZ Minerals share price from hold to add, as my Foolish colleague Brendon reported this morning. The broker thinks the company's shares are "far too oversold".

The post ASX copper shares in the red as copper price sinks to 19 month low appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) share price is soaring after the miner announced an offtake agreement for its Chilean copper site.

Hot Chili is an ASX-listed copper exploration and development company operating in Chile's Atacama Region.

At the time of writing, the Hot Chili share price is up 17% at $1.60. To compare, the broader S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 0.74%.

So, what did the copper explorer announce?

Largest shareholder to buy 60% of copper production

Hot Chili has announced it will enter into an offtake agreement with its largest shareholder, Glencore. The agreement covers 60% of future copper concentrate production from Hot Chili's Costa Fuego copper-gold project.

As of August last year, Glencore holds a 9.96% stake in Hot Chili.

Costa Fuego is a large-scale copper site that includes the Cortadera copper site and the Productora copper-gold project.

Chili says the site is ideal in a "low altitude, coastal range of Chile, infrastructure rich, low capital intensity" area.

The agreement will be in place for eight years and effective from the start of commercial production.

During that time, Glencore will be able to have Board representation and participate in a technical steering committee, as long as it maintains at least a 7.5% stake in Hot Chili.

What did management say?

Hot Chili managing director Christian Easterday said:

The quality of Costa Fuego continues to be externally validated with Glencore's 2021 equity investments and the execution of this Offtake Agreement on commercially competitive terms.

We ensured project financing flexibility with 40% of our first eight years of concentrate production remaining uncommitted ahead of initiating project financing discussions in 2022, following completion of the Costa Fuego Pre-Feasibility Study.

Glencore's expertise and support is welcomed and is an important part of our strategy to successfully transform the Company into a material copper-gold producer.

Hot Chili share price snapshot

The Hot Chili share price has seen a volatile 12 months, trickling down by 32%. In fact, the shares hit a 52-week low of $1.25 just last week.

The company has a market capitalisation of $149.77 million.

The post Heating up: Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) share price leaps 17% on new copper deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Key points

• The Hot Chili share price shed almost 7% today
• The company has executed a letter of intent for port access
• Copper prices have fallen nearly 2%

The Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) share price lost some of its spice today. The ASX mining company's shares ended the day down 6.74% at $1.73 apiece.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) sunk 2.27% today.

Let's take a look at what might have impacted the company today.

Port negotiations commence

The Hot Chili share price plummeted today despite the company releasing what appeared to be a positive announcement.

The miner, which is exploring for copper in Chile, South America, signed a letter of intent with Puerto Las Losas SA (PLL) to negotiate port access and port services.

Hot Chili requires access to the port to progress its Costa Fuego copper development hub in Chile. PLL will pay for a study looking into the use of its port for the shipping of copper and other materials at the project.

Speaking on the announcement, Hot Chili country manager and chief legal counsel Jose Ignacio Silva said:

Securing port services will be a major step forward for Costa Fuego. Leveraging off existing port infrastructure will materially reduce Costa Fuego's environmental footprint during construction and operations.

As no new port or areas will be required for construction or subject to environmental permitting, we expect a positive impact to our construction capital requirements and overall permitting/construction timelines.

Hot Chili said PLL is looking to present the company with a binding offer for port services in 12 weeks or fewer. If this goes ahead, the companies will start operations in the final quarter of 2025.

Falling copper prices could have also have impacted the Hot Chili share price today. Copper has dropped 1.78% from US$4.5825 on 20 January to US$4.501 per Lbs at the time of writing.

Hot Chili share price snapshot

The Hot Chili share price has sunk 14% in the past year. In the past month, it has gained 1.47% but has fallen around 5.5% this week.

Meanwhile, the broader ASX 200 index has returned around 5% over the past 12 months.

The post The Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) share price cooled by 7% today. Here's why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

You might have noticed that the Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) share price was burning hot last week — or was it?

Market watchers saw the copper developer's share price seemingly surge a massive 4,455.5% last Friday. It increased from 4.5 cents to $2.05 in a single session. But that was just an illusion.

The company recently completed a large share consolidation, decreasing the number of shares it has outstanding at a ratio of 50:1, rounded up to the nearest full number. Thus, the value of each share increased about 50 times over.

However, the last 2 sessions have seen the company's stock in the red.

At the time of writing, the Hot Chili share price is back to $2.02, having fallen 4.6% yesterday and another 1.46% today. This is despite no news being released by the company.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped 0.6% yesterday and is flat at the time of writing today. Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) fell 0.7% yesterday and is currently sporting a 0.13% dip.

What's going on with the Hot Chili share price?

Hot Chili reduced its outstanding shares ahead of its plan to list on the Canadian venture stock exchange (TSXV).

By having fewer shares outstanding, the company states it has a more effective capital structure and appropriate share price ahead of its dual listing.

At the end of the consolidation, the company had about 87.5 million outstanding shares, down from approximately 4.4 billion.

As a result, the Hot Chili share price is far higher than it was a fortnight ago. Though, the company's market capitalisation remains relatively unchanged at 176.85 million.

In October, Hot Chili said it was on track to debut on the Canadian exchange before the end of 2021. Its new share price puts it in a similar position as its TSXV-listed peers.

However, the company hasn't released any word to explain its stock's recent tumble. In fact, the last time the market heard price sensitive news from Hot Chili was 1 November when it provided an update on its activities over the September quarter.

Right now, the Hot Chili share price – adjusted after the consolidation – has fallen 3.8% year to date. It has also dropped 14% over the past 30 days.

The post Why is the Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) share price losing its spice lately? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) share price is on the move today. Hot Chili's shares were up 19% earlier in the day before giving back some of those gains. In later afternoon trading the share price is up 10.81%.

This follows on from the company's ASX release this morning detailing the promising results of its first mineral resource estimate for its Cortadera project in Chile.

The big gains will come as welcome news to long time shareholders, who witnessed a 75% collapse in the share price from late January through to early April. Since 2 April, the Hot Chili share price has surged 310%. That's enough to put shareholders up 2.5% year to date.

For comparison the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is down 7.2% since 2 January.

What does Hot Chili do?

Hot Chili is primarily a copper explorer, though the company keeps a keen eye on its gold and silver resources as well. As its name implies, Hot Chili's projects are located in Chile, in what the company labels Region III along the coastal range.

The company's stated goal is to establish a central copper hub named Costa Fuego. This hub would encompass its 3 projects, Cortadera, Productora and San Antonio.

Hot Chili has a market cap of $89 million.

What did Hot Chili announce to the ASX to see its share price soar?

This morning Hot Chili announced promising results from the first mineral resource estimate (41% indicated and 59% inferred) for its Cortadera project. This represents one of only two major copper discoveries reported across the globe in the past 4 years.

The results indicated 724 million tonnes grading 0.48% copper equivalent for 2.9 million tonnes of copper; 2.7 million ounces of gold; 9.9 million ounces of silver; and 64,000 tonnes of molybdenum.

The company noted that the maiden Cortadera resource adds 451 million tonnes grading 0.46% copper equivalent. It said this now positions Hot Chili with the largest copper mineral resource and amongst the largest gold mineral resources for any emerging ASX companies.

Addressing the results, Hot Chili's Managing Director Christian Easterday said:

The Cortadera resource estimate is a strong achievement given the company only executed a deal to acquire the privately owned discovery in February 2019… Generating a 451Mt maiden Resource for Cortadera a mere 14km away from our established Productora deposit (273Mt Resource) demonstrates the sheer scale of Hot Chili's Coast Fuego copper hub.

Cortadera has a high grade core of 104Mt grading 0.74% copper equivalent and this has strong potential to continue growing rapidly with further drilling… We look forward to an exciting 12 months ahead with further drilling results and resource growth.

With the company planning a second mineral resource estimate for Cortadera in 2021, Hot Chili's share price is one to watch.

The post Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) share price up 11% following this announcement appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Since its August 2016 initial public offering at 20 cents per share the stock is down 25%, which is the kind of atrocious return likely familiar to many of the site's users.

In fairness to its owners it did post a net profit of $361,000 on revenue of $2.2 million for the six month period ending December 31 2018, although both numbers were down 46% and 10% respectively on the prior corresponding period.

For the most recent period it also paid no dividend, compared to payments of 1 cent and o.5 cent per share for the two prior periods.

However, as a profitable business it's a long way ahead of many of the companies discussed on its message boards.

The site makes most of its money from advertising and as an 'investor relations tool' for ASX-listed companies seeking exposure to its substantial user base of retail punters and investors. For example micro-cap or 'speculative' ASX companies will commonly use paid advertisements to promote themselves to site users.

Generally though the site is not much more than a tax on the gullible, as its normally less-sophisticated users tend to promote speculative businesses that are not investment grade.

However, there's no doubting its popularity among day or technical traders as a source of tips, guesses, or opinion on stocks at the speculative end of the market,

Overall, as you can probably guess, I'm not a buyer of HotCopper shares…

The post Down 14%: Here's why the Hotcopper share price just hit a 52-week low appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.