Directors' Trades: Is the resources boom fading? These directors evidently don't think so

The majority of ASX directors that made trades worth $100,000 or more came from the resources sector.

Commodities, such as gold and iron ore, have rallied amidst COVID-19 and been credited with helping Australia endure COVID-19 in an economically strong position.

But some have been on the way down in recent months and others that were struggling pre-COVID, such as potash, were hit further and have continued to lag.

But these directors took a leap of faith in their company.

Code	Company	Director	Change	Date	Volume	$	What
MTH	Mithril Resources	Stephen Layton	Buy	8 February	5,000,000	$100,000	On market
KIS	King Island Scheelite	Christopher Ellis	Buy	5 February	4,545,456	$250,000	Placement
BCB	Bowen Coking Coal	Matthew Latimore	Buy	4 February	5,000,000	$270,000	On market
CNJ	Conico	Gregory Solomon & Douglas	Buy	5 February	3,497,223	$104,917	Rights Issue
CLB	Candy Club	James Baillieu	Buy	9 February	14,225,245	$1,807,335	On market, placement & conversion
LYC	Lynas	Amanda Lacaze	Sell	3 February	700,000	$3,532,130	On market
OZM	OzAurum Resources	Martin Holland	Buy	8 February	700,000	$143,076	On market
SO4	Salt Lake Potash	Tony Swiericzuk	Buy	11 February	500,000	$200,000	Placement
SO4	Salt Lake Potash	Ian Middlemas	Buy	11 February	3,000,000	$1,200,000.00	Placement
SO4	Salt Lake Potash	Philip Montgomery	Buy	11 February	1,250,000	$500,000	Placement
LIT	Lithium Australia	George Bauk	Sell	12 February	3,031,684	$468,161	On market
GPR	Geopacific Resources	Ian Clyne	Buy	12 February	595,238	$250,000	Share Subscription
1AG	Alterra	John McGlue	Buy	9 February	3,000,000	$150,000	On market
WBT	Weebit Nano	Ashley Krongold	Buy	12 February	200,000	$538,165	On market
CLB	Candy Club	Chi Kan Tang	Buy	9 February	4,166,667	$504,458	Placement
CLB	Candy Club	James Baillieu	Buy	15 February	3,513,228	$646,656	On market
TWD	Tamawood	Lev Mizikovsky	Buy	16 February	117,355	$411,916	On market
BNR	Bulletin Resources	Robert Martin	Buy	12 February	5,300,000	$371,000	Off market
HGO	Hillgrove Resources	Murray Boyte	Buy	15 February	3,225,806	$100,000	Placement
FOD	Food Revolution Group	Matthew Bailey	Buy	5 February	2,857,143	$100,000	Off market
NAM	Namoi Cotton	Tim Watson	Buy	17 February	672,500	$208,475	On market
BGL	Bellevue Gold	Stephen Parsons	Buy	19 February	300,000	$230,850	On market
BGL	Bellevue Gold	Kevin Tomlinson	Buy	19 February	140,000	$106,400	On market
ABB	Aussie Broadband	John Reisinger	Sell	19 February	1,600,000	$4,160,000	On market
ABB	Aussie Broadband	Phillip Britt	Sell	19 February	1,600,000	$4,160,000	On market
PLT	Plenti	Daniel Foggo	Buy	19 February	167,091	$185,660	On market
BBN	Baby Bunting	Matt Spencer	Sell	24 December	400,000	$2,184,000	On market

The most notable resources buyers

Three of these came from potash aspirant Salt Lake (ASX:SO4) which has spent several months trying to kickstart its Lake Way project in WA’s Goldfields region. The company is expecting the introduction of the first feed salts to its process plant to occur in March.

Salt Lake directors Tony Swiericzuk, Ian Middlemas and Phillip Montgomery bought $200,000, $1.2 million and $500,00 respectively in their company’s latest capital raising.

Two others were Stephen Parson and Kevin Tomlinson from Bellevue (ASX:BGL) who bought $230,850 and $106,400 respectively.

Bellevue has been one of the gold sector’s greatest success stories but has halved from its all time highs. But the company is still reporting solid exploration results from its project and is planning its Stage Two Feasibility Study.

Ian Clyne of PNG-focused Geopacific Resources (ASX:GPR) bought $250,000 in shares as part of a share subscription agreement.

Gregory and Douglas Solomon from Conico (ASX:CNJ), which is one of the few gold explorers with ground in Greenland, bought $104,917 of shares in their company’s rights issue.

Martin Holland, who hails from one of the ASX’s newest gold explorers OzAurum (ASX:OZM), bought $143,076 of his company’s shares on market soon after his company’s $12 million IPO.

Robert Martin from Bulletin Resources (ASX:BNR), another WA gold explorer, bought $371,000 off market.

Topping the lot was Lynas (ASX:LYC) director Amanda Lacaze who parted with $3.5 million of her shares in the rare earths giant.

The one other seller was George Bauk from Lithium Australia (ASX:LIT) who sold $468,161 in shares.

Non-resources buyers and sellers

There were also some noteworthy buyers in other sectors.

The stock that saw the most trades was US focused sweets wholesaler Candy Club (ASX:CLB).

This company listed two years ago and has lagged for much of its listed life but recently surpassed its IPO price as its pivot from the B2C to B2B market began to pay off.

James Baillieu made two separate trades in the past fortnight. First $1.8 million in a placement, then another $646,656 on market. His colleague Chi Kan Tang bought just over $500,000 on market.

Speaking of food stocks, there were two others that saw a director make a six-figure buy.

First was health food distributor Food Revolution Group (ASX:FOD) which saw Matthew Bailey buy $100,000 in shares off market and second was cotton processor Namoi (ASX:NAM) whose director Tim Watson bought $208,475 in his company’s share on market.

Phillip Britt and John Reisinger from recent listed telco Aussie Broadband (ASX:ABB) parted with $4.1 million each, which they sold to institutional investors.