Lunchtime small cap wrap: who's on top and who's getting crushed

Here are the key ASX small cap gainers and losers at 1pm AEST.

The ASX Small Ords was up 0.5 per cent at 2667 by 1.20pm AEST.

In the green

A $3 million investment has seen Alta Zinc’s (ASX:AZI) stock surge from 1.1c to 1.7c to lead the winner’s list at lunch Friday.

The stock was trading at 1.4c by 1pm AEST — still up 27 per cent.

The cornerstone investment will go towards the development of Alta Zinc’s Gorno Zinc Project in Northern Italy.

A restart of mining at the project would use existing infrastructure to make it more cost-effective and quicker.

In the no-news-is-good-news department, blockchain investor First Growth Funds (ASX:FGF) gained 20 per cent to 1.8c with no announcements.

Last month First Growth announced its investment in blockchain security platform GlobalGuard — a project backed by listed ICO advisor Digital X (ASX:DCC).

The fund aims to invest in quality blockchain assets — a move that saw it surge to highs of 4c when it was announced in January.

Gas-turned-lithium junior Eneabba Gas (ASX:ENB) was up 20 per cent to 1.2c without any news.

Last month Eneabba announced a move into lithium in Argentina, sending shares to 2c — but since then they have largely traded back at 1c.

Abundant Produce (ASX:ABT) announced a supply agreement with fellow small cap JAT Energy (ASX:JAT) last week — but today its shares jumped sharply from 30.5c to 38.5c despite a lack of further news.

That’s down from a high of 63c in November however.

Senegalese junior gold miner Bassari Resources (ASX:BSR) was up 17 per cent on news it had secured $16 million for its Makabingui gold project.

The stock traded as high as 2c at midday but slightly cooled to 1.9c by 1pm AEST.

The project was ready for the start of early development activities and could now go forward thanks to the credit financing facility.

ASX Code	Name	% Change	Price Fri 12pm AEST	Volume

AZI	Alta Zinc	27	1.4c	3 814 030
FGF	First Growth Funds	20	1.8c	20 623 040
ENB	Eneabba Gas	20	1.2c	2 143 940
ABT	Abundant Produce	19	36.5c	26 380
BSR	Bassari Resources	17	2c	30 668 208

AQS	Aquis Entertainment	-27.5	2.9c	16 000
ALY	Alchemy Resources	-19	1.7c	12 801 023
OAR	Oakdale Resources	-15	2.2c	286 660
ENR	Encounter Resources	-14	6c	100 000
ZYB	Zyber Holdings	-14	1.2c	240 500

In the red

Casino operator Aquis Entertainment (ASX:AQS) has dropped 27.5 per cent to trade at 2.9c after the ACT government raised concerns about the redevelopment of its Canberra Casino.

It has until May 14 to progress the unsolicited bid it lodged in 2015. The bid concerns a $330 million rebuild of the casino including 500 pokies — but under new casino laws the casino would have to forfeit one in three licences it bought.

Alchemy Resources (ASX:ALY) slipped 19 per cent to 1.7c at 1pm AEST.

Alchemy said drilling had returned anomalous gold mineralisation results at several prospects on its Karonie Gold project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. That’s given the company sufficient confidence to undertake a larger drilling program across the rest of the project.

Oakdale Resources (ASX:OAR) fell 15 per cent to 2.2c and Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) by 14 per cent to 6c — both on no news.

Mobile security play Zyber (ASX:ZYB) was trading down 14 per cent to 1.2c.

Last month it told shareholders it was not progressing with its investment but would continue to review opportunities to further develop its platform and portfolio of product offerings.