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ASX Small Caps and IPO Weekly Wrap: The ASX retreated further into its shell like a grumpy old turtle, again.
News
share
- The ASX 200 has gone backwards again, shedding -1.25% this week
- Consumer Discretionary was where the money was, up 1.5%
- Who won the Small Caps race? Read on to find out…
Local shares have racked up another less than stellar performance since Monday morning, making it three from the past four weeks that the benchmark ASX 200 has gone downhill.
This week, it was to the tune of about -1.3%, and there wasn’t a lot of room for celebrating anywhere other than in the Consumer Discretionary sector – because everything else ended the week well below the waterline.
And even that was something of a surprise, considering the sector started the week with a 40 point drop on Tuesday. Not Monday, Tuesday. It has only been a short week, but it sure doesn’t feel like it on this headachy Friday afternoon.
This week’s been a weird one, with a lot of the market very much at the mercy of the vagaries of the commodity markets – especially on Tuesday when the iron ore miners and the goldies got spanked.
For that, we only need look to our regional-ish neighbours for a reason why – because it turns out that the massive gold-buying spree that China’s been on for a while now has mysteriously, and more importantly suddenly, come to a halt.
China’s central bank ceased all gold purchases in May, and it’s hard to understate how much of a shock that was to the market, pushing spot gold down -3.5% in Asian hours, trading as low as US$2,290 an ounce on Tuesday arvo.
The rush for the exits on gold-related stocks was obvious, and it’s continued through the week, leaving the ASX All Ords Gold Index down -5.7% this week. Which is kind of a lot.
Over the past month, that index is showing a fall of -5.3% – which is also kind of a lot.
A variable iron ore price hasn’t helped the situation much either, and the likes of BHP (ASX:BHP) , Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) , and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) – the heavyweights – took substantial dips.
For the week, BHP was down -1.98%, Rio Tinto fell -3.41 and Fortescue shed – weirdly – 3.41% as well.
WHAT THE SECTORS DID
Here’s what the market sectors did:
As you can see, Materials dragged heavily thanks to the reasons I outlined above, and it was left to Consumer Discretionary to try real, real hard to fix things. It was never gonna happen, though.
It was mostly a couple of the big names at the super-discretionary end of the sector that helped lift it beyond the four-day murk – JB HiFi (ASX:JBH) jumped a handy 6.64% for the week, and Tabcorp Holdings (ASX:TAH) posted a 7.85% rise for the week.
Pretty much all of Tabcorp’s gains came during Friday’s session, on the heels of an announcement that the NSW Government is looking at following Victoria and Queensland’s lead on reforms in the betting industry.
Given that it pushed Tabcorp to a 9.85% jump today, I’m guessing it’s a good thing for the company. I suspect the residents of NSW will be suitably nonplussed.
THIS WEEK’S ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % Week | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRQ | MRG Metals Limited | 0.003 | 200% | $10,100,475 |
| 8VI | 8Vi Holdings Limited | 0.18 | 157% | $7,544,056 |
| NRZ | Neurizer Ltd | 0.013 | 117% | $26,634,029 |
| CE1 | Calima Energy | 0.007 | 98% | $3,798,485 |
| LSR | Lodestar Minerals | 0.002 | 67% | $4,046,795 |
| DXN | DXN Limited | 0.072 | 57% | $14,606,259 |
| BCK | Brockman Mining Ltd | 0.023 | 53% | $213,445,339 |
| CT1 | Constellation Tech | 0.003 | 50% | $4,424,201 |
| JAY | Jayride Group | 0.012 | 50% | $4,017,255 |
| YPB | YPB Group Ltd | 0.003 | 50% | $2,423,884 |
| VBS | Vectus Biosystems | 0.115 | 49% | $5,853,157 |
| BGE | Bridge SaaS | 0.026 | 44% | $3,104,323 |
| SUM | Summit Minerals | 0.365 | 43% | $16,487,117 |
| R8R | Regener8 Resources NL | 0.15 | 36% | $3,591,875 |
| SNT | Syntara Limited | 0.03 | 36% | $34,626,922 |
| ERL | Empire Resources | 0.004 | 33% | $5,935,653 |
| ICU | Investor Centre Ltd | 0.004 | 33% | $1,218,045 |
| KPO | Kalina Power Limited | 0.004 | 33% | $9,945,576 |
| LNU | Linius Tech Limited | 0.002 | 33% | $11,093,481 |
| MHC | Manhattan Corp Ltd | 0.002 | 33% | $5,873,960 |
| NVQ | Noviqtech Limited | 0.04 | 33% | $5,949,239 |
| SRY | Story-I Limited | 0.004 | 33% | $1,505,619 |
| WEL | Winchester Energy | 0.004 | 33% | $4,081,688 |
| TIG | Tigers Realm Coal | 0.004 | 33% | $52,266,809 |
| AI1 | Adisyn Ltd | 0.026 | 30% | $4,443,168 |
| CDT | Castle Minerals | 0.0065 | 30% | $7,346,958 |
| CC9 | Chariot Corporation | 0.2 | 29% | $18,627,561 |
| BDT | Birddog | 0.072 | 29% | $13,126,794 |
| TAL | Talius Group Limited | 0.009 | 29% | $23,250,754 |
| HPR | High Peak Royalties | 0.07 | 27% | $14,564,180 |
| AGC | AGC Ltd | 0.4 | 27% | $91,511,024 |
| SER | Strategic Energy | 0.019 | 27% | $11,361,942 |
| HAS | Hastings Tech Metals | 0.265 | 26% | $44,975,914 |
| T88 | Taiton Resources | 0.145 | 26% | $7,797,309 |
| 1AG | Alterra Limited | 0.005 | 25% | $4,310,732 |
| RR1 | Reach Resources Ltd | 0.015 | 25% | $14,865,333 |
| TMR | Tempus Resources Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | $2,923,995 |
| AXI | Axiom Properties | 0.056 | 24% | $23,799,251 |
| OZZ | OZZ Resources | 0.057 | 24% | $4,811,566 |
| ASV | Asset Vision Co | 0.021 | 24% | $15,242,568 |
| TEG | Triangle Energy Ltd | 0.021 | 24% | $38,082,815 |
| MTC | Metalstech Ltd | 0.265 | 23% | $46,293,875 |
| CMO | Cosmo Metals | 0.048 | 23% | $6,535,981 |
| VRX | VRX Silica Ltd | 0.048 | 23% | $28,271,505 |
| DCL | Domacom Limited | 0.011 | 22% | $4,790,520 |
| EEG | Empire Energy Ltd | 0.25 | 22% | $233,943,907 |
| LTP | LTR Pharma | 0.78 | 22% | $56,324,390 |
| FRE | Firebrick Pharma | 0.068 | 21% | $13,476,165 |
| IGN | Ignite Ltd | 0.085 | 21% | $13,870,903 |
| LBT | LBT Innovations | 0.017 | 21% | $26,937,384 |
There were a couple of Small Caps that banked some bangin’ results since Tuesday, chiefly MRG Metals (ASX:MRQ) , which stacked on 200% following news that it’s signed onto a Joint Venture with Sinowin Lithium to develop its Mozambique Corridor Sands projects (Corridor Central and Corridor South) and its other Mozambique Heavy Mineral Sands projects.
Second place is a head-scratcher… Singapore-based 8VI Holdings (ASX:8VI) has cranked out a huge week, and barely even blipped on our radar while doing it. The company has tripled in price since 05 June, without a skerrick of news as to why.
The ASX issued a speeding ticket, 8VI said “nothing to see here” and I guess that’s that. It’s up 157% this week.
Similarly, NeuRizer (ASX:NRZ) also banked a triple digit win for the week, and earned itself a speeding ticket in the process… it went into a trading halt at 2.30pm Friday, so you’re going to have to wait until Monday to find out what’s going on.
THIS WEEK’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % Week | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1TT | Thrive Tribe Tech | 0.004 | -56% | $1,506,486 |
| GRV | Greenvale Energy Ltd | 0.05 | -41% | $22,936,444 |
| MGA | Metals Grove Mining | 0.044 | -41% | $4,225,794 |
| EOF | Ecofibre Limited | 0.05 | -40% | $20,459,191 |
| AVG | Aust Vintage Ltd | 0.19 | -39% | $48,001,312 |
| PNT | Panther Metals | 0.029 | -36% | $2,527,819 |
| GTE | Great Western Exploration | 0.031 | -35% | $10,440,319 |
| ADS | Adslot Ltd | 0.001 | -33% | $3,224,496 |
| AUK | Aumake Limited | 0.002 | -33% | $5,743,220 |
| AYM | Australia United Mining | 0.002 | -33% | $3,685,155 |
| EDE | Eden Innovations | 0.002 | -33% | $7,356,542 |
| FAU | First Au Ltd | 0.002 | -33% | $3,323,987 |
| NGS | NGS Ltd | 0.002 | -33% | $502,455 |
| PKO | Peako Limited | 0.004 | -33% | $2,108,339 |
| PUR | Pursuit Minerals | 0.003 | -33% | $11,775,886 |
| TKL | Traka Resources | 0.001 | -33% | $1,750,659 |
| BEL | Bentley Capital Ltd | 0.02 | -31% | $1,674,814 |
| AL8 | Alderan Resource Ltd | 0.0035 | -30% | $4,427,445 |
| AU1 | The Agency Group Aus | 0.021 | -30% | $9,000,108 |
| PLC | Premier1 Lithium | 0.019 | -30% | $3,491,482 |
| KM1 | Kali Metals | 0.275 | -29% | $21,757,497 |
| JLL | Jindalee Lithium Ltd | 0.365 | -29% | $23,288,695 |
| AMD | Arrow Minerals | 0.0025 | -29% | $26,348,413 |
| SRR | Sarama Resources | 0.018 | -28% | $1,940,139 |
| FTL | Firetail Resources | 0.083 | -28% | $12,923,022 |
| NTU | Northern Minerals | 0.033 | -27% | $200,973,294 |
| HXG | Hexagon Energy | 0.014 | -26% | $8,719,570 |
| NIS | Nickel search | 0.017 | -26% | $3,843,764 |
| ME1 | Melodiol Global Health | 0.02 | -26% | $728,996 |
| AMN | Agrimin | 0.175 | -26% | $59,015,153 |
| AUR | Auris Minerals Ltd | 0.006 | -25% | $3,336,382 |
| DAF | Discovery Alaska Ltd | 0.012 | -25% | $3,279,286 |
| ECT | Env Clean Tech Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | $9,515,431 |
| GCM | Green Critical Minerals | 0.003 | -25% | $3,409,755 |
| KTA | Krakatoa Resources | 0.012 | -25% | $6,137,394 |
| MEL | Metgasco Ltd | 0.0045 | -25% | $6,244,434 |
| RIL | Redivium Limited | 0.003 | -25% | $8,192,564 |
| SHO | Sportshero Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | $1,853,499 |
| SKN | Skin Elements Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | $1,768,458 |
| VPR | Volt Group Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | $21,432,416 |
| WFL | Wellfully Limited | 0.003 | -25% | $1,478,832 |
| ZMM | Zimi Ltd | 0.015 | -25% | $2,096,917 |
| ERW | Errawarra Resources | 0.083 | -25% | $8,345,098 |
| ARC | ARC Funds Limited | 0.091 | -24% | $3,560,454 |
| ASO | Aston Minerals Ltd | 0.0115 | -23% | $14,245,707 |
| BTH | Bigtincan Holdings | 0.1 | -23% | $64,706,574 |
| AGH | Althea Group | 0.02 | -23% | $9,322,646 |
| GRL | Godolphin Resources | 0.02 | -23% | $4,269,824 |
| NPM | Newpeak Metals | 0.02 | -23% | $2,843,223 |
| NXM | Nexus Minerals Ltd | 0.037 | -23% | $15,562,405 |
HOW THE WEEK SHOOK OUT
Monday 10 June, 2024
MARKET CLOSED for Charlie’s Birfday.
Tuesday 11 June, 2024
Conico (ASX:CNJ) rose on news that it has extended the deadline for its non-renouncable rights offer. This is the seventh time the offer deadline has been extended since the rights offer was first announced on 09 April this year, with the new x7 deadline now set for 28 June, with the deadline to extend the offer again resting on 25 June.
Constellation Technologies (ASX:CT1) was also rising on Tuesday morning, thanks to a an agreement with leading facilities management company Compass Group which will see the deployment of Constellation’s Callisto Food Safety & Compliance product suite for an initial term of two years, with no minimum order quantities.
And medical data and tech company HeraMED (ASX:HMD) gained after revealing that the company has terminated “with immediate effect” its partnership with US-based Fembridge, following both parties being unable to agree on revised commercial terms. It comes after a corporate restructure at HeraMED led the company to approach Fembridge with plans to update the agreement, particularly in connection with provisions that gave Fembridge a broad exclusivity over the US market and payment to Fembridge of US$40,000 per calendar month for provision of business development, sales, and marketing services.
Orthocell (ASX:OCC) has taken a significant step forward in its efforts to introduce its SmrtGraft product to the Australian market. The company has submitted an application to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) seeking approval to commence sales of SmrtGraft, which is designed for tendon repair and regeneration applications. This move comes on the heels of positive results from Orthocell’s tendon regeneration study, which demonstrated that SmrtGraft can reduce the rate of treatment failure and the need for revision surgeries.
Battery and renewables mineral exploration company Belararox’s (ASX:BRX) share price was up nicely after the company provided further evidence of a significant copper porphyry target. This is of “considerable size”, according to the company, and is located at the Malambo prospect at its Toro-Malambo-Toro (TMT) project in Argentina. It shows substantial exploration potential for a large porphyry copper deposit over 800m long, 600m wide, and a depth of about 600m.
Battery minerals company Volt Resources (ASX:VRC) was up a decent amount today after revealing it’s begun production trials for a precursor anode active material for use in EV batteries. Volt is largely focused on its 100% owned graphite and gold projects in Africa, but also has a 70% interest in the Zavalievsky Graphite business with an operating graphite mine and plant in Ukraine. The new chemical purification process is being developed to produce a “high purity active anode precursor material (pAAM)” for use in lithium-ion batteries.
Summit Minerals (ASX:SUM) was another battery mineral making a double-digit climb. Thanks to some high-grade assay results, the company has confirmed the strong niobium potential at its recently acquired Equador niobium and REE project in northeast Brazil. It’s talking rock samples grading as much as 40% niobium, as well as tantalum over a 1.2km strike length.
RareX (ASX:REE) is back in the news, and gains, after announcing an update regarding its “district-scale” Khaleesi niobium and REE project in the East Yilgarn region of Western Australia. The company has found that its geophysical data analysis of “high-quality historical exploration data” from the recently acquired Khaleesi has delivered encouraging early results, highlighting several gravity anomalies and confirming strong potential for niobium mineralisation. RareX is currently reviewing more than 65,000 metres of gold-focused historical air core drilling data from across the project area. The few historical holes assayed for niobium show up to 1,000ppm.
Wednesday 12 June, 2024
Reach Resources (ASX:RR1) jumped on news that it has bitten into high-grade niobium and REEs during the latest program of rock chip sampling at Wabli Creek, Gascoyne, Western Australia. The company says that it has recorded samples up to 17.65% Nb2O5, 0.15% Y2O3, 10.81% Ta2O5, 31.39% TiO2, 0.37% TREO, chipped directly off in-situ bedrock at the site, and stack up well against previous alluvial sampling of 32% Nb2O5 and 2.57% TREO reported in December last year.
One Click Group (ASX:1CG) made headway on the heels of an investor presentation about its One Click Life financial services platform, revealing that the company has seen user growth of 83% to 120,000 users in CY23, which the company expects to continue with increased marketing spend in 2024.
BirdDog Technology (ASX:BDT) lifted on low volume this morning after announcing a selective buyback of 31.6 million shares, which is the totality of Home Made Robots’ interests in BirdDog and represents approximately 16.3% of BirdDog’s issued share capital.
And some big price-boosting news this morning from Inoviq (ASX:IIQ) is an announcement that the company’s Neuro-Net technology can isolate brain-derived exosomes in Alzheimer’s Disease. I’ll let the company explain why it’s big, because they know what they’re talking about…
“Exosomes provide a ‘fingerprint’ of the health or disease status of the parent cell and can cross the ‘blood-brain barrier’, making them promising candidates as diagnostics for neurological diseases. The ability to weaponize exosomes and target them to cells is the end game for therapy and cure.”
Ora Gold (ASX:OAU) rose despite incurring an after-tax operating loss for the half-year ended March 31 2024 – of $1,529,041. This is up from its half-year accounts this time a year ago, which was a reported loss of $876,084.
Nevertheless, the company has had needle-moving news lately, with its binding agreement with the dominant gold miner in the Murchison region – Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX).
That’s an alliance that aims to advance the development of Ora’s Crown Prince deposit into production, and comes with a strategic placement capital raise of $6m.
An updated Mineral Resource Estimate at Crown Prince is due for completion in the September quarter.
Classic Minerals (ASX:CLZ)is having a good day on the back of some news regarding its Forrestania Gold Project (FGP), about 120km south of Southern Cross in WA. Classic has revealed its made a significant gold resource upgrade at the project, after recently announcing the successful grant of mining lease M77/1310 over the project area. This has reportedly upgraded the resource to Indicated, which the company regards as a pivotal milestone towards the further development of Forrestania.
Its combined Indicated Resource (from its Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene prospects) now total 69,966oz gold, with an Inferred resource figure of 227,613oz combined.
Boom Logistics (ASX:BOL) announced the award of a contract with Squadron Energy for maintenance work on wind turbines within Squadron’s wind asset portfolio. The $12 million contract will see the company provide crane support for wind turbine maintenance tasks. The work is expected to commence in 1H FY25.
NICO Resources (ASX:NC1) announced that the Minister for Environment, Reece Whitby, has granted an extension to the previous EPA approval for the Wingellina Nickel-Cobalt Project. This project, located in Western Australia’s Musgrave Ranges, boasts significant reserves of nickel and cobalt and is positioned near BHP’s planned West Musgrave Nickel-Copper Project.
Singular Health (ASX:SHG) announced the launch of its new online DICOM viewer, along with an integration of ChatGPT 3.5 AI. This advancement aims to enhance patient education by providing prompts based on medical imaging records. With this new viewer, Singular’s customers can access their records without needing to download desktop applications, improving medical record management for all.
Thursday 13 June, 2024
MRG Metals (ASX:MRQ) had a solid burst today after it signed a binding joint venture (JV) agreement with Sinowin Lithium subsidiaries, including Sinowin Lithium Cobalt (SLC), to develop its Mozambique Corridor Sands projects and its other Mozambique Heavy Mineral Sands projects. Under the terms, MRG Metals is to be free carried, including all capital expenditure and operating expenditure, through to 440,000 tonnes of annual concentrate production.
Additionally, MRG shall retain equity of 30% of the JV through mine start-up at 110,000 tonnes of annual concentrate production, reducing during production expansion to a floor equity of 20% when the JV production has grown to 440,000 tonnes of annual concentrate.
Pacific Nickel Mines (ASX:PNM) made a strong charge up today after the company announced a significant production milestone at Kolosori, with two nickel ore shipments now achieved monthly. It also has plans to ramp that up further soon in the dry season, to what it deems full production of 1.5mtpa, which would be the equivalent of three ore shipments monthly.
Under the terms of an Offtake Agreement with Glencore, the company receives 85% of the value of the shipment once loaded, with the balance payable upon adjudication at the discharge port. The company has had to deal with challenges such as unseasonal rainfall, but despite this has managed to improve its mining operations and expects stronger production with the arrival in July and August of new equipment including additional articulated dump trucks to facilitate the ramp-up
The company is targeting an average nickel ore grade of 1.7% over the next nine months, as per its Project Feasibility Study.
Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) rose after releasing a trading update to crow about improved sales data from the US, where weekly scan revenue now exceeds US$1m per week with over 24,000 tins sold, up from the Q3 average weekly scan revenue US$750k, and the company’s current position as the #1 best-selling infant formula product on Amazon USA in May 2024.
Tesoro Gold (ASX:TSO) rose after returning grades up to 173g/t gold in first pass drilling at the Drone target, 700m from its 1.3Moz Ternera deposit in Chile. Drone Hill is one of four high–priority drill targets located within a 1.5 km radius of Ternera, and the new find is considered shallow and “very high grade”, comprising the following highlights:
- 1.8m at 77.15g/t Au from 59.2m, including: 0.8m at 173.00g/t Au from 59.2m
- 3m at 2.48g/t Au from 111.0m including 1.0m at 7.06g/t Au from 111.0m
A further four diamond drill holes have been completed, two at the Buzzard target and two at Ternera East, with assay results expected in the coming weeks.
Castle Minerals (ASX:CDT) rose on Tuesday’s news where it announced that it was gearing up for a major gold hunt at its Kpali gold project in the West African Republic of Ghana. Eearlier this week, the company revealed plans for a 3500m drilling operation to test for extensions of mineralisation defined from a series of high-grade past intercepts.First phase holes will test for downdip and strike extensions to previous Castle intercepts which included 22m at 2.85 grams per tonne gold and 17m at 3.4g/t. A mineral resource of 107,000 oz has already been defined at Kpali, and the company anticipates extending the mineralisation significantly.
Firebrick Pharma (ASX: FRE) jumped by almost 20% this morning after announcing the availability of its product, Nasodine Nasal Spray, for sale in Singapore.
Customers can now purchase Nasodine through Firebrick’s dedicated website for Singapore sales at www.nasodine-sg.com.
In Singapore, Nasodine is classified as a topical antiseptic and does not require approval or licensing by Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority (HSA) before being sold.
Doctor Care Anywhere (ASX:DOC) also lifted after announcing an upgrade to its revenue growth guidance for the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
The revised guidance now anticipates a growth range of 10-15%, up from the previously forecasted 5-10%. This adjustment reflects robust consultation volumes observed during the period. As outlined during the Annual General Meeting presentation released on April 29, DOC has been embarking on a strategic restructuring of its clinical operations. This initiative aims to optimise the mix of clinicians and reduce operational costs.
And.. Pioneer Lithium (ASX: PLN) has begun summer field work at the Root Lake Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada. The company’s geological team is conducting targeted mechanical stripping and trenching to uncover rock outcrops at three promising locations on the property. This effort aims to gather vital geological data to plan their upcoming maiden drill program. Pioneer will focus on expanding known lithium-rich pegmatite fields near the property borders, including potential extensions of significant resources at Consolidated McCombe and Root Bay pegmatite fields.
Friday 14 June, 2024
Enterprise Metals (ASX:ENT) was up sharply this morning, with the company in the middle of an entitlement offer to raise approximately $1.42 million (before costs), at a price of $0.004 per new share, and a $0.006 per share option expiring in two years, for eligible shareholders. Any remainders will form part of a top-up offer.
Resouro Strategic Metals (ASX:RAU) made its debut on the ASX this morning, zipping out to a 30% gain before closing the day around +3% higher.
Resouro is an international player – a Canadian-based REE explorer and development company focused on projects in Brazil, including the REE and titanium Tiros Project (90% ownership) and the Novo Mundo and Santa Angela gold projects. The Tiros REE and titanium project is the company’s main focus and covers an area of roughly 450km2 in the Minas Gerais State, one of the leading mining jurisdictions in Brazil. IPO funds will be used to progress a targeted drill program at Tiros, with a significant JORC-compliant mineral resource the ambition.
Tempus Resources (ASX:TMR) has completed the acquisition of the Prescott copper and base metals project, ~100km from American West Metals’ (ASX:AW1) Storm project (17.5 Mt @ 1.2% copper and 3.4g/t silver) in Canada. Investors/shareholders rate this news, to the tune of 25% intraday, and counting. A large airborne geophysical survey is reportedly already underway at the Prescott op, which is scheduled to wrap up in mid-July. And this will be followed by a detailed geochemical mapping program, notes the company.
Pearl Gull Iron (ASX:PLG) was soaring after announcing it’s farming into an an early stage clay rare earths project in Chile, having made strategic acquisition of Huemul Holdings. This will see the company earn up to an 80% interest in NeoRe SpA’s La Marigen project, which is located in a highly prospective area for ionic adsorption clay REE in Chile. The project covers five tenements across a vast area – some 228km2 – and is situated in an underexplored mineralisation belt.
Sun Silver (ASX:SS1) said a drilling contract has been awarded for the company’s prime focus, which is the Maverick Springs silver project in Elko County, Nevada. That’s a highly prospective project with an inferred mineral resource of 292,000,000 oz AgEq at 72.4gt Ag. Alford Drilling, a well-experienced contractor based in Elko, has been hand-passed the work and the first drilling program at Maverick Springs is set to start in the upcoming weeks. Mineral deposits at Maverick Springs are still open in all directions and at deeper levels, offering several drilling opportunities to expand the resource base.
Summit Minerals (ASX:SUM) said first assay results from the company’s Equador project in Brazil have confirmed high-grade niobium and tantalum over a 1.2km strike length. Equador represents just one project within a wider niobium-rare earth tenement package covering 107.47km2 in Brazil’s Borborema Pegmatitic Province (BPP), Paraiba state, a region regarded as one of the world’s most important sources of tantalum, REEs and beryllium.
Due diligence on historical results have turned up standout samples containing 303,400ppm Nb205 (30.34%) and 15,130ppm partial rare earth oxide (1.513%) while multiple pegmatite bodies and many historical workings have been identified during multispectral analysis work.
And finally Calima Energy (ASX:CE1) has bounced back after the previously $80 million market cap company returned about $80 million to its shareholders, and sent its share price plummeting about 97% before the brakes were pulled on.
For what it’s worth, Calima says that it’s just the “market finding equilibrium” and that it was open about both the capital return, and the fact that it plans to continue operating its Paradise Field activities, with about $5-6 million in cash on hand.
IPOs that happened
Resouro Strategic Metals (ASX:RAU)
Proposed Listing: 14 June, 2024
IPO: $8 million at $0.50 per share
The Australian-led Resouro Strategic Metals listed today, and immediately banked a solid 34% gain, which is a great result against a backdrop of tough times for the Materials sector this week.
I have run out of time to wax lyrical, so I’ll leave it to the gloriousness that is Christian Edwards, who covered it all in excruciating detail here.
IPOs that didn’t happen yet
Piche Resources (ASX:PR2)
Proposed Listing: 17 June, 2024
IPO: $10 million at $0.10 per share
Blinklab describes itself as a mineral exploration company with multiple, drill ready uranium projects with the potential to host tier 1 mineral deposits.
The IPO, as listed, will be managed by Euroz Hartleys (Lead Manager).
Pengana Global Credit Private Trust (ASX:PCX)
Proposed Listing: 20 June, 2024
IPO: $250,000 at $2.00 per share
Pengana Global Credit Private Trust is a listed Investment Trust investing in global private debt.
The IPO, as listed, will be managed by Taylor Collison Limited, Morgans Financial Limited, Shaw and Partners Limited. (Joint Lead Managers).
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