• ASX in broad rebound; Cettire, Neuren, and Lendlease lead surge
  • Positive sentiment follows Wall Street strength
  • DY6 Metals up 300pc on  Rare Earths find at the Tundulu project in Malawi

 

Aussie shares rebounded pretty much across the board after Friday’s selloff, closing around +0.8% higher on Monday. 10 out of 11 sectors were riding higher, led by Real Estate and Telco sectors. 

 

Source: MarketIndex

 

Local sentiment tracked Wall Street which rallied after the closely-watched University of Michigan Consumer Survey found that Americans are a bit less worried about inflation than they were earlier this month, raising hopes that interest rates might be cut later this year.

“This is a bounce where people are like, maybe things aren’t as bad as we thought, maybe there’s room for the Fed to cut rates and the economy’s going to be OK, and we’re not completely falling apart,” said Rob Haworth of U.S. Bank Wealth Management. 

Among the best performing stocks in the large caps space today was online luxury goods retailer, Cettire (ASX:CTT), which surged 11% after refuting claims about selling counterfeit products.

Cettire responded to an article in The Australian that had brought attention to customer complaints regarding product authenticity and handling processes, some of which are under ACCC investigation. Cettire’s founder, Dean Mintz, denied all allegations and said he was unaware of any investigations.

Neuren Pharma (ASX:NEU) jumped +10% after announcing positive results from its Phase 2 trial of NNZ-2591 for children with Pitt Hopkins syndrome (PTHS). 

The trial showed significant improvements in patients, according to both clinicians and caregivers, across all key areas of the condition. Currently, there are no approved treatments for PTHS, which severely affects patients and their families.

Property developer Lendlease (ASX:LLC) also rallied +10% after saying it will take a financial hit to get out of some unprofitable overseas investments.

The company is writing off up to $1.48 billion, signalling an end to its global plans. To calm investors, Lendlease also announced a $500 million buyback to boost the stock price. In total, Lendlease aims to free up about $4.5 billion, and will focus on local growth here in Australia instead.

Megaport (ASX:MP1) meanwhile, slipped -2% after chairman Bevan Slattery sold $15.9 million worth of shares in the tech company he started. 

 

What else happened today?

Across the region, Asian stock markets rose and the US dollar weakened as investors pivoted to a potential rate cut by the Fede Reserve. 

Markets around the ‘hood  – Hong Kong, China, South Korea, and Japan – found positive trade on Monday, while US equity futures remain stable ahead of today’s Memorial Day break.

Elsewhere, the electric vehicle branch of China’s embattled real estate company Evergrande Group, saw its shares almost double.

Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group surged by +80% following news that it was is in talks with a potential buyer for a stake in the business, and may receive a new line of credit to support its operations.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

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Explorer DY6 Metals (ASX:DY6) was soaring on Monday morning, after revealing that the company has taken a closer look at historic drill samples from the Tundulu project in southern Malawi, and found that the project is – apparently – absolutely riddled with Rare Earths.

This is worth explaining because it’s kind of an awesome story… like buying a second-hand wallet in an op-shop, and finding a winning lottery ticket tucked away inside when you brought it home.The project was initially explored in 1988 by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JCIA), with the drill cores examined, catalogued and stuffed a in drawer somewhere – presumably because back in 1988, JCIA went to Malawi looking for something other than REEs.

There was some follow-up exploration work done at the site, which continued sporadically until 2014 – leaving a juicy tranche of samples to go over with a fresh set of eyes, which were focussed on finding the kind of Rare Earths that are super-fashionable at the moment. In steps DY6, and they’ve taken that historical data and some far more recent  boots-on-the-ground exploration work – and the news there is good.

Drilling intercepts including 101m @ 1.02% TREO from surface, 109m @ 1.06% TREO from 53m and 97m @ 1.35% TREO from surface tell the story – there’s probably a lot of valuable stuff there, close to the surface – which DY6 says compares favourably to Lynas’ (ASX:LYC) Mt Weld deposit.

Anyway – DY6 was up more over +300% today, and that’s the reason why, according to our own Moon Landing, Gregor Stronach. 

Also doing well was Armada Metals (ASX:AMM), on news that a binding agreement has been signed to acquire 100% of the issued capital of Midwest Lithium, an Australian company that currently holds, or has the right to acquire, a 100% interest in 1,098 unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 93km2, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. On completion, Midwest shareholders will hold 50% of the enlarged post capital raising, issued share capital of Armada. The transaction is subject to various conditions, of course, “including execution of long form agreements and the completion of satisfactory legal, financial, tax and technical due diligence by Armada”

Hydrix (ASX:HYD) was also moving well on Monday morning, on news that its wholly-owned subsidiary Hydrix Services has entered into a $2.3m contract with leading European medical company Paul Hartmann, to provide a second round of services to assist with product development.

And Australasian Metals (ASX:A8G) was on the rise, after it announced it has entered into an Option Agreement with Verdant Minerals regarding the Dingo Hole high pure quartz project in the Northern Territory and Queensland.  That operation is known as the Dingo Hole high pure quartz project and A8G has entered an agreement with Verdant Minerals regarding it.

High Pure Quartz HPQ is a rapidly growing minerals sector, and that’s largely due to the material’s high industrial usage in the tech and electronics industry (yes, AI), including for semiconductors, solar panels, optical glass, optical fibres and more.

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Dimerix (ASX:DXB) soared almost +20% after saying Taiba has acquired the exclusive rights to register and commercialise DMX-200 for the treatment of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) kidney disease in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman,  Kuwait,  Qatar,  Bahrain  and  Iraq. Under the deal DXB will receive up to US$80.4m (~A$120.5m) from Taiba in upfront and milestone payments on certain development and sales milestones being achieved.

The company will also receive tiered royalties starting at 30% on net sales.

Polymetals Resources (ASX:POL) and Metals Acquisition (ASX:MAC)  have formed a non-exclusive strategic alliance to extract greater value from both the Endeavor and CSA copper mines in the Cobar Basin of NSW. MAC will also invest up to $5m @ $0.35/share in POL.

Polymetals is surging on the news, by the way, up more than 20% at the time of writing, while Metals Acquisition’s share price is also faring well, up a more modest 4% or so – but still significant considering the size of the company’s market cap, which is in excess of $1.46b.

It’s a very big deal for POL, this, and will see the joint operation treat high-grade zinc ore at Endeavor. POL will also provide MAC with excess water offtake to enhance CSA ore treatment capacity.

And, EMvision Medical Devices (ASX:EMV) has shared an update from its ongoing clinical trials focusing on improving EMVision’s AI algorithms for diagnosing strokes caused by bleeding or blockages in the brain. The interim results from the Stage 2 of the trial showed that the AI algorithm is working well in figuring out if a patient has ischaemia stroke or not (clot or not).

The algorithm was able to spot patterns and features in complex patient data, even in cases of early-onset severe ischaemic stroke, which can be hard to detect on standard brain scans.

This analysis builds on previous positive findings that showed EMV’s AI model performs strongly in identifying if there’s bleeding in the brain (haemorrhage).

 

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Meanwhile, Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS) has decided not to continue developing its EasyScreen Essentials Respiratory Detection Kit for the US market.

This decision comes after assessing the commercial landscape and seeing that other fully automated respiratory tests have already been cleared by the FDA and are widely used in the US.

Since respiratory pathogen testing has decreased in the last 2-3 years, GSS believes its kit wouldn’t compete well in the market. Instead, the company plans to focus on launching the EasyScreen Gastrointestinal Parasite Detection Kit in the US soon.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) has started well drilling at Pad #1 at its advanced Prairie lithium brine project in Saskatchewan, Canada, with production testing expected to start next month.

Culpeo Minerals’ (ASX:CPO) reconnaissance rock chip sampling has confirmed the presence of a large, at surface, copper bearing system at the Vista Montana prospect within its Lana Corina project in Chile after returning results of up to 2.62% copper.

Dimerix (ASX:DXB) will receive up to $120.5m after inking an exclusive license agreement for the commercialisation of its Phase 3 kidney disease drug candidate DMX-200 in several Middle Eastern countries.

DY6 Metals (ASX:DY6) has uncovered further historical data confirming that its Tundulu rare earths project in Malawi is a significant asset after the drill data from 2014 reinforced the REE mineralisation potential within Nathace Hill.

Sunshine Metals’ (ASX:SHN) drilling to test for extensions to the gold-rich Liontown Footwall Lode have unearthed the new copper-rich Sapindinus Lode that is adjacent to four historical shafts.

Zeotech’s (ASX:ZEO) manufactured zeolite agri-soil product have been found to increase organic carbon protection by ~30% while increasing the efficiency of fertiliser application.

Blue Star Helium (ASX:BNL) State 16 SWSE 3054 development well at its Galactica helium project in Las Animas County, Colorado, has successfully intersected 96ft of high-quality gas filled sandstone in the targeted upper Lyons production section. The well, which was successfully drilled to a total depth of 1211ft at the base of the upper sand of the Lyons formation, flowed gas naturally with no water from the target formation during drilling and has been “cleaning-up” since drilling operations were completed.

During drilling operations and while flowing at TD the onsite mass spectrometer recorded elevated helium as expected.

The company is now moving to start pressure and flow testing with gas samples taken during testing sent for laboratory analysis of the reservoir gas composition.

Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN) has appointed its chief executive officer Zac Komur as its managing director with effect from 1 June 2024.

Since joining the company in late 2023, he has been forming a development pathway for the Hamersley iron ore project and reshaping its asset portfolio with the addition of highly prospective Brazilian rare earth projects. Komur has extensive experience in executing large-scale mining development and capital projects, commercialisation of assets, raising capital and running operations in the mining industry. He has also operated in Brazil and ran world-class iron ore operations.

Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) has carried out a process of target generation and refinement at the Duketon gold project that will leverage the knowledge of consultant geologists with long-term experience in the Duketon Belt and its own geological team.

This work has verified the Golden Boulder, Amy Clarke and Southern Star areas as key prospects while generating several new target areas such as Boundary where recently uncovered historical drill intercepts coincide with an interpreted favourable structural setting.

The structural setting at Boundary is analogous to that which hosts the Garden Well deposit to the north.

Step-out reverse circulation drilling is underway at Riversgold’s (ASX:RGL) Northern Zone gold project to enable estimation of a maiden JORC resource.

Gold at the Northern Zone project is hosted in a porphyry intrusion with drilled widths exceeding 100m in true width. An aircore drill program to test the project for supergene gold is also progressing well with 11 holes totalling 783m completed to date.

Toubani Resources (ASX:TRE) has appointed Matt Wilcox as a non-executive director as it progresses the definitive feasibility study for its Kobada gold project in southern Mali.

Wilcox is highly experienced across the gold mining industry, particularly in West Africa, and was previously the chief executive officer at Tietto Minerals where he oversaw the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the Abujar Gold Mine before being acquired by Zhaojin Capital for A$750 million in May 2024.

The company has also appointed current non-executive director Scott Perry as its non-executive chairman while strengthening its DFS owner’s team.

 

TRADING HALTS

Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) – pending an announcement to the market in relation to a capital raising.

Kincora Copper (ASX:KCC) – pending  an announcement in relation to a proposed joint venture agreement.

Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) – pending an announcement in relation to a capital raising.

Emu (ASX:EMU) – pending the release of an announcement regarding an equity raise.

Winsome Resources (ASX:WR1) – pending the release of the details of an upgraded Mineral Resource Estimate.

Western Gold Resources (ASX:WGR) – pending an announcement to the market in relation to a capital raising.

Desoto Resources (ASX:DES) – pending an announcement regarding a strategic acquisition.

OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) – pending an announcement of a Mineral Resource Estimate Upgrade at the Splinter Rock Project

Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) – pending an announcement concerning a capital raising.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Culpeo Minerals, Dimerix, DY6 Metals, Sunshine Metals, Zeotech, Riversgold and New Age Exploration are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article. 

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