London, July 6, 2026, 14:04 BST
- East Star traded up 10.98% at 4.55p, showing a 4.40p/4.70p bid-offer spread. About 4.9 million shares changed hands on delayed data, according to .
- Volume for the stock was roughly 0.9% of the 550.0 million shares outstanding. The price gain put about £2.5 million onto the market cap, based on share-count figures.
- No East Star RNS appeared after June 30. The most recent operations update on the company site was the June 24 Verkhuba JV notice.
East Star Resources PLC LON:EST gained 10.98% to 4.55 pence in Monday trading, touching a new one-year high. The Kazakhstan copper and gold explorer saw the move on delayed retail market data. The FTSE All-Share shed 0.22% according to Fidelity’s market feed.
The key figure here isn’t just the uptick, but the size of it. lse.co.uk listed a 0.30p spread, which is 6.818% of the bid price and makes up close to two-thirds of Monday’s 0.45p rise. Volume came in at 4,933,949 shares—value about £224,000 on the 4.55p quote. But the move bumped up the company’s market cap by roughly £2.5 million.
| Monday London tape | East Star | Comparator / read-through |
|---|---|---|
| Share price | 4.55p | up 10.98% |
| Bid / offer | 4.40p / 4.70p | spread sits at 6.818% |
| Reported volume | 4.93 mln shares | represents roughly 0.9% of issued shares |
| Market value | £25.03 mln | added £2.5 mln during the session |
| FTSE All-Share | — | dipped 0.22% |
Nothing new showed up in East Star’s Investegate filings after June 30. The most recent was a voting rights update showing 550,012,922 shares and voting rights, with the company saying it held no shares in treasury.
So Monday’s jump had more to do with re-pricing and liquidity than any fresh statement from the company. For a pre-revenue explorer like this, equity is set against project milestones, not profits. East Star’s numbers for 2025: no revenue, a loss before tax of £2.301 million, £442,000 cash at year end, and net assets at £2.435 million.
| Valuation check | Figure |
|---|---|
| Current market cap against estimated 2025 net assets | about 10.3x |
| Market cap per tonne of stated Verkhuba copper | about £106/t |
| Market cap per tonne on East Star’s 30% copper stake | about £355/t |
| Reported revenue as percent of market cap change | about 9% |
East Star said June 24 it had set up Verkhuba Limited at the Astana International Financial Centre. Xinhai moved A$500,000, hitting the first funding milestone. Licence transfer is ongoing and rigs were sent out, the company said.
Chief Executive Alex Walker said forming the JV company, securing the first funding, and starting drilling are “important milestones.” He called the drilling the JV’s “first major technical work programme.” Investegate
| Verkhuba metric | Company figure | Derived read-through |
|---|---|---|
| JORC inferred resource | 20.3 mln tonnes | Used as the base for copper valuation now |
| Copper grade | 1.16% | Works out to about 235,000 tonnes of copper in the ground |
| Zinc grade | 1.54% | Roughly 313,000 tonnes zinc contained |
| Lead grade | 0.27% | Estimate at about 55,000 tonnes of lead in resource |
| East Star retained production stake | 30% | Gives East Star around 70,600 tonnes copper share |
| Xinhai estimated investment | about $65 mln | East Star says it’s fully carried to production |
The resource counts as inferred, not a reserve. The market wants to see execution—licence transfer, drilling data, and converting resources into a mine plan. East Star said it plans to drill about 5,000 metres at Verkhuba. The company said that should help with resource definition, mine planning and feasibility studies.
