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Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Wednesday December 2.
This gold-copper focused explorer has stumbled upon a significant lithium soil anomaly at the ‘Big Hill’ project, about ~70km from the world class ‘Pilgangoora’ (ASX:PLS) and ‘Wodgina’ (ASX:MIN) mines in WA’s Pilbara region.
The 1.5km by 500m anomaly also sits in the same rock types as these two big operations, CNB says.
First pass drill testing of the Big Hill lithium and gold soil anomalies are being planned. Heritage clearances are complete, and drilling will take place “as soon as practicable”.
“We are in unexplored lithium and gold elephant country at Big Hill and look forward to first pass drilling of the Big Hill soil anomalies as quickly as possible,” CNB managing director Rob Watkins says.
“While we remain extremely excited about our gold prospects in the Pilbara, we cannot ignore a walk-up lithium drill target of this ilk which has presented itself at Big Hill.”
In late November the company launched a 10,000m drilling blitz on the ‘Strelley’ gold project, also in the Pilbara, and the ‘Greater Duchess’ copper-gold project in Mt Isa, Queensland where CNB could be tickling the edges of a Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) system.
It had $5.2m in the bank at the end of the September quarter. The $35m market cap stock is flat over the past month, and down ~30% year-to-date.
Another goldie dipping a leg into the lucrative lithium exploration game.
In September, a review of old exploration data uncovered “multiple exploration opportunities” at the ‘Ravensthorpe’ lithium project, 12km from Orocobre’s (ASX:ORE) ‘Mt Cattlin’ operation in WA.
Early-stage rock sampling has now confirmed the presence of spodumene at the ‘Deep Purple’ and ‘Creek’ pegmatite outcrops, with results up to 6.54% Li2O. More results are pending.
BNR also found a new, +300m long pegmatite 2km south of ‘Deep Purple’. They’re calling that one ‘Big Pegmatite’.
“The potential for pegmatites as seen on our first field trip augers well for additional pegmatites to be found,” BNR chairman Paul Poli says.
“The Ravensthorpe Lithium Project is a great addition to our portfolio, and we are keen to advance the exploration at this exciting prospect as quickly as we can.”
BNR had $7.7m in cash and liquid investments at the end of September. The share price of this $20m market cap stock is treading water over the past month, and year-to-date.
(Up on no news)
What a great year for Coda, which listed on the ASX in late October 2020.
In June 2021, the discovery of a major IOCG system at Emmie Bluff Deeps – part of the ‘Elizabeth Creek’ copper project in South Australia – was a significant re-rating event.
The $75m market cap stock is now up ~180% on its IPO price.
Iron oxide copper gold ore deposits (IOCG) — like BHP’s Olympic Dam mine or more recent Oak Dam discovery — can be tremendously large, and simple-to-process concentrations of copper, gold and other economic minerals.
Drilling kicked off at Emmie Bluff Deeps in May 2021 and have been spinning continously ever since. Drilling is expected to continue into the new year, COD says.
“The data being accumulated from the drilling is beginning to reveal the presence of multiple stacked lodes and a high-grade, bornite-dominated core surrounded by classic IOCG copper sulphide zonation,” COD said late October.
Sitting atop and adjacent to this new find is the more advanced ‘Emmie Bluffs’ copper-cobalt deposit, where a resource estimate is “imminent”.
COD had $17.8m cash at the end of September.
The copper explorer rerated in March after hitting 29.5 metres of copper sulphides at the advanced 1.5Mt Canbelego project in NSW, a joint venture with miner Aeris Resources (ASX:AIS).
Highlight hits include 18m at 3.4% copper, including 14m at 4.4%.
Down the road is the 2Mt ‘CZ’ deposit, where HLX is also “hitting copper in just about every hole”.
CZ has been of particular focus for the company over the past quarter, managing director Mike Rosenstreich says.
“CZ sits in a major regional copper bearing structure, and we believe strongly in the prospectivity for deposits like Aeris’ long-lived Tritton operations which includes the new high-grade Constellation and Kurrajong discoveries,” he says.
Drilling is ongoing, and there are lots of assays to come from both projects, HLX said late November.
It had $3.7m in the bank at the end of September. The $26m market cap stock is down 25% over the past month, and up 50% year-to-date.
The lithium-focussed Metalstech (ASX:WR1) spinoff has enjoyed a strong start to listed life, gaining 40% since hitting the bourse yesterday.
WR1 raised around $18m to advance three lithium projects – Cancet, Adina and Sirmac-Clappier – in the prime jurisdiction of Quebec, Canada.
The majority of that money will be spent on exploration and drilling over the next two years, managing director (and lithium veteran) Chris Evans says.
“Two of our primary goals are to establish a maiden JORC resource on our ‘Cancet’ project and then do scoping and feasibility studies to advance it towards production,” he says.
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