PolarX’s Alaskan copper push backed by Northern Star

PolarX (ASX:PXX) has spiked +11% in afternoon trade on the news that it’s charging ahead with its Alaska Range copper project. With financial muscle from Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) to boot, and a cracking scoping study in hand, they reckon they’re sitting on something pretty special.

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Sitting just north of the Denali Highway, about 250 kilometres from Anchorage, the massive 22-mile-long land package is split into three key areas: Caribou Dome, Senator, and Stellar.

Caribou Dome, down the southwestern end, is already showing it’s no lightweight, boasting 7.2M tonnes of measured, indicated, and inferred resources at an average 3.1% copper (that’s 224,375 tonnes) and 1.5M oz of silver at 6.5 grams per tonne.

Not far off on the Stellar property is the Zackly skarn deposit. It adds another 4M tonnes of copper-gold-silver mix into the mix, grading 1.1% copper, 1.6 g/t gold (213,000 oz) and a healthy 12.6 g/t silver (1.6M oz).

In between the two sits the early-stage Senator prospect, where rock chip sampling has already turned up eye-catching results – with copper grades as high as 12.1%. Not bad for a spot that’s barely been touched.

Backed by a scoping study updated in early 2024, PolarX is planning a 750,000-tonne-per-year mill, set up right near Caribou Dome.

This central mill would chew through ore from both Caribou Dome and Stellar, and the forecast numbers are nothing to sneeze at: 148,155 tonnes of copper, 102,577 oz of gold, and 1.38 million oz of silver over a 9.5-year mine life.

“We’re talking strong numbers,” the company says – including a pre-tax NPV of US$418 million (A$625 million), an impressive 73.9% IRR, and a payback period of just 1.6 years. Pretty tidy economics.

And with Northern Star tipping in A$4.92M and holding a 16% stake, there’s clearly some serious belief in the project.

Recent drilling at Caribou Dome has backed that up, too, the company says, with hits like 15.5m at 7.4% copper and 21.4 g/t silver in CD24-003.

“We’re extending the high-grade zones at depth,” says PolarX.

Next steps? Refining mine plans and metallurgical test work to boost copper recoveries.

Watch this space.

PXX has been up 9.5% at $104.80 in afternoon trade.

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