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Earlier today, Elon Musk said this:
No change in copper production is required for the transition to sustainable energy.
Lithium refinement needs to increase dramatically, but lithium ore itself is extremely common throughout Earth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2023
Two points there, both of which are arguably wrong. And argue people did.
It didn’t take long for the experts to rebut.
Interesting that @elonmusk has done more to create #lithium demand via @Tesla & more to limit lithium supply than anyone on the planet by continuing to make foolish comments about how abundant lithium is in the earth’s crust – discouraging investment. First principles??? https://t.co/1sy7POcSA4
— Joe Lowry (@globallithium) January 23, 2023
True. But *mining* this extremely common element needs to increase as or more dramatically as refining. If #Tesla wants to scale at 40-50%/yr – & permanently lower operating costs – it needs to vertically integrate its #lithium #hydroxide plans w/ its own #Spodumene rock https://t.co/uc8FUXjcaK
— Howard Klein (@LithiumIonBull) January 23, 2023
I don’t see how Elon can be correct. It’s not like the is a huge excess supply of copper being mined. If demand goes way up due to EVs, more supply will have to be brought on stream to prevent prices from soaring.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) January 23, 2023
Meanwhile, lithium stocks caught a bid today with major players like Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) jumping 6%.
Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Allkem (ASX:AKE) also surged by 4% each as major brokers upgraded the sector.
In the US last week, the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.66% – the index a third consecutive week of gains for the index – led higher by shares of Netflix and Alphabet.
On Friday, Google parent Alphabet joined a chorus of tech giants announcing massive job cuts, amplifying fears that the UK may slip into a recession this year.
Netflix’s stock jumped 8.5% after the streaming giant reported strong subscriber growth that handily topped expectations.
“This week could be pivotal,” Principal Asset Management chief global strategist Seema Shah said.
“It seems like the market narrative is shifting from a focus on the Fed at the end of its hiking cycle to the growth slowdown.”
European stocks rose on Friday, the pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.35%, the French CAC 40 advanced 0.63%, and the German DAX climbed 0.76% as investors reacted positively to news from the tech sector.
India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.39% to close at 60621.77, dragged by losses in consumer goods and financial stocks amid concerns over a global economic slowdown.
Chinese financial markets are closed this week for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNJ | Conico Ltd | 0.0185 | 106% | 180,321,471 | $13,094,713 |
| AYI | A1 Invest & Res Ltd | 0.002 | 100% | 4,855,729 | $18,421,946 |
| ICN | Icon Energy Limited | 0.014 | 75% | 7,962,720 | $6,144,109 |
| ANL | Amani Gold Ltd | 0.0015 | 50% | 1,050,000 | $24,693,441 |
| BKG | Booktopia Group | 0.275 | 34% | 1,076,587 | $28,158,656 |
| RBR | RBR Group Ltd | 0.004 | 33% | 4,164,126 | $4,220,214 |
| SZL | Sezzle Inc. | 0.715 | 32% | 4,762,794 | $111,598,937 |
| HT8 | Harris Technology Gl | 0.021 | 31% | 2,418,831 | $4,772,728 |
| PGD | Peregrine Gold | 0.585 | 30% | 438,466 | $17,438,350 |
| MEI | Meteoric Resources | 0.091 | 30% | 57,160,068 | $106,840,816 |
| ENX | Enegex Limited | 0.037 | 28% | 2,052,732 | $4,898,565 |
| RVT | Richmond Vanadium | 0.295 | 26% | 262,054 | $20,258,834 |
| DEM | De.Mem Ltd | 0.15 | 25% | 1,401,348 | $29,328,760 |
| LML | Lincoln Minerals | 0.022 | 22% | 12,313,377 | $10,349,706 |
| GSR | Greenstone Resources | 0.034 | 21% | 23,434,289 | $30,088,211 |
| LMLND | Lincoln Minerals | 0.017 | 21% | 3,567,751 | $11,220,694 |
| ZIP | ZIP Co Ltd.. | 0.825 | 21% | 29,878,066 | $520,448,788 |
| MLS | Metals Australia | 0.058 | 21% | 16,277,821 | $29,137,737 |
| KOB | Kobaresourceslimited | 0.18 | 20% | 1,471,102 | $11,400,000 |
| CPT | Cipherpoint Limited | 0.006 | 20% | 950,000 | $4,692,569 |
| LGP | Little Green Pharma | 0.215 | 19% | 467,812 | $47,773,489 |
| CR9 | Corellares | 0.033 | 18% | 1,621,123 | $8,850,545 |
| BMM | Balkanminingandmin | 0.375 | 16% | 137,841 | $14,438,975 |
| C1X | Cosmosexploration | 0.45 | 15% | 3,678,822 | $9,750,000 |
| EEL | Enrg Elements Ltd | 0.03 | 15% | 92,618 | $24,128,048 |
The biggest winner was Conico (ASX:CNJ) who’s joint venture with Greenstone Resources (ASX:GSR) at Mt Thirsty in WA has returned “outstanding” new cobalt, nickel, and scandium drilling results, including 15m @ 0.45% Co, 0.91% Ni, 5.42% Mn and 40.9g/t Sc from 45m.
That’s the sixth best cobalt intercept in Australia for 2022, the JV says.
The potential addition of scandium to the advanced Co-Ni Mt Thirsty project may also provide a valuable by-product revenue stream.
Scandium oxide — essential for hydrogen fuel cells — currently sells for US$930,930/t.
Booktopia (ASX:BKG) has released plans to deliver around $12-15 million of annualised improvements to its earnings (to be primarily realised in FY24) by improving margins, postage and advertising costs, reducing lease obligations – oh and 30-40 redundancies which it says should save $4-5 million per year.
“Booktopia is focused on building a profitable, sustainable business in the interests of all stakeholders and is committed to delivering the Next Gen CFC in 2023 which will position the Company for the challenging online retail conditions in the near term,” chairman Peter George said.
“Letting some of our talented staff go as part of these cost cutting initiatives is a disappointing but necessary step in these economic times.”
And for the second month in a row, Sezzle (ASX:SZL) achieved positive Net Income and Adjusted EBTDA.
The company increased its revenue for December 15.7% year-on-year to US$13.6 million and improved its adjusted EBITDA to US3.8m, compared to a loss of US$24.5 million in Q421.
Sezzle Premium now has over 122,000 active subscribers, with active subscriptions remaining relatively stable during the holiday season.
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OXX | Octanex Ltd | 0.004 | -43% | 5,391,653 | $1,812,844 |
| GLE | GLG Corp Ltd | 0.33 | -35% | 26,787 | $37,791,000 |
| ERG | Eneco Refresh Ltd | 0.012 | -33% | 144,028 | $4,902,450 |
| GLV | Global Oil & Gas | 0.001 | -33% | 219,696 | $5,143,196 |
| MEB | Medibio Limited | 0.001 | -33% | 5,495,250 | $4,980,891 |
| NTL | New Talisman Gold | 0.002 | -33% | 3,312,034 | $9,381,676 |
| WBE | Whitebark Energy | 0.001 | -33% | 1,409,911 | $9,697,329 |
| CCE | Carnegie Cln Energy | 0.0015 | -25% | 1,344,307 | $31,285,147 |
| GNM | Great Northern | 0.003 | -25% | 60,000 | $6,836,204 |
| ADG | Adelong Gold Limited | 0.014 | -22% | 25,164,647 | $8,258,801 |
| AQX | Alice Queen Ltd | 0.002 | -20% | 2,527,128 | $5,500,625 |
| IS3 | I Synergy Group Ltd | 0.016 | -20% | 550,911 | $5,781,607 |
| ADR | Adherium Ltd | 0.0045 | -18% | 2,226,032 | $27,386,911 |
| EDE | Eden Inv Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 2,170,460 | $16,387,643 |
| MSI | Multistack Internat. | 0.01 | -17% | 22,000 | $1,635,647 |
| DMG | Dragon Mountain Gold | 0.011 | -15% | 361,250 | $5,130,732 |
| BGP | Briscoe Group | 4.2 | -15% | 11,454 | $1,102,095,651 |
| CHK | Cohiba Min Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 141,966 | $12,412,709 |
| SEQ | Sequoia Fin Grp Ltd | 0.525 | -14% | 871,160 | $82,383,260 |
| TSN | The Sust Nutri Grp | 0.019 | -14% | 116,725 | $2,653,340 |
| SMX | Security Matters | 0.195 | -13% | 10,000 | $37,780,095 |
| KYP | Kinatico Ltd | 0.085 | -13% | 165,011 | $42,554,772 |
| GFN | Gefen Int | 0.061 | -13% | 30,000 | $4,767,009 |
| DCX | Discovex Res Ltd | 0.0035 | -13% | 285 | $13,210,272 |
| GPR | Geopacific Resources | 0.028 | -13% | 3,320,841 | $16,678,116 |
The Market Herald (ASX:TMH) – capital raising
Athena Resources (ASX:AHN) – capital raising
Okapi Resources (ASX:OKR) – announcement around a strategic investment
Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) – capital raising
Raiden Resources (ASX:RDN) – proposed asset disposal
Dreadnought (ASX:DRE) – pending exploration results
Laybuy Group (ASX:LBY) – application to be removed from the official list of ASX
Kula Gold Limited (ASX: KGD) reports that the helicopter VTEM and a drone magnetic survey has produced images that has an ‘eye’ structure at its 100% owned Westonia Project, 5km from the Edna May Gold Mine in WA following its initial survey exploration program late last year.
“What an exciting grass roots prospect that the company is about to drill test at the Westonia Project adjacent to the ~2moz Edna May Gold Mine,” KGD executive ffficer Ric Dawson said.
“Our team has acquired, processed and now interpreted three different forms of exploration techniques to develop a model to target and commence drilling this week.”
Catalina Resources (ASX:CTN) has announced several board changes. Geologist Michael Busbridge has joined the board as a technical director replacing Davide Bosio who has resigned due to other professional commitments, while executive director Sanjay Loyalka has become executive chairman .
CTN said Busbridge has more than 40 years of experience in the mining industry including managerial positions in now delisted Normandy Mining Ltd along with Barrick Gold Australia and Teck Australia.
CTN said he has an invaluable mix of gold, nickel, copper, lead and zinc, lithium, REEs, graphite and oil exploration experience throughout Australia coupled with several years as a mine / development geologist in gold and nickel mines.
And tech stock DUG Technology Ltd (ASX: DUG) has announced a US$3.2 million deal over five years to provide its interpretation software to Brazilian-based oil and gas company Petrobras.
DUG said the deal has been sold through its local agent and partner on the project GPB Serviços Sísmicos LTDA.
“This is a significant deal for DUG, not only does this provide us with an uplift in overall software sales from a long-term contract, but it also demonstrates the capability and appeal of our software to the world’s largest oil and gas companies,” DUG managing director Matt Lamont said.
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