Closing Bell: Tech, Energy weigh down ASX; Schrole up almost 200pc on acquisition deal

Aussie stocks start the week flat; energy and tech sectors lead declines
Investor caution prevails ahead of RBA rates decision
Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets PM in Canberra today

Aussie stocks had a lacklustre start to the week on Monday, down by -0.3%, with declines led by the energy and technology sectors.

Among the 11 sectors, five ended the day in negative territory.

Banks and gold stocks led the winners, but Tech was weighed down by heavyweight WiseTech (ASX:WTC), which fell almost 4%.

Mining giants Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and BHP (ASX:BHP) saw their shares fall after a drop in iron ore prices on Monday, which was amplified by disappointing economic data from China, the biggest buyer of the commodity.

Sentiment was also weighed down by the ongoing heavy rains in southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, which have persisted for seven days and caused water levels to exceed warning levels.

Goldies benefited from a surge in the price of the precious metal. At this time of writing, spot gold traded at US$2325.89/oz, wich is 1% higher than Friday’s close.

Tabcorp (ASX:TAH) rose +1.5% after announcing a new CEO, Gillon McLachlan, the sports administrator who led the AFL for nearly a decade.

Tabcorp says McLachlan has a strong track record of success, after more than doubling AFL revenues from $502 million in 2013 to $1,063 million in 2023, and secured the biggest sports broadcasting deal in Australian history. He expanded the AFL to 18 teams and started the AFLW competition.

Still in large caps, automotive spare parts retailer, Bapcor (ASX:BAP) fell -2% after announcing that it has successfully refinanced $200m of debt facilities due to mature in July 2025. Bapcor has increased this debt facility by $100m to a total of $300m split into tenors maturing in July 2028 and July 2029.

What else happened today?

Across the region, Asian stocks declined as investors weighed the potential impact of political instability in France and other regions, while also awaiting upcoming policy decisions from major central banks.

Shares in Hong Kong initially rose but later retraced gains after China’s central bank decided to keep an important interest rate unchanged , in line with the forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

Meanwhile, PM Albanese met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang today.

Amongst issues discussed was naval safety and improving “military to military communication”.

This conversation followed an incident last month when a Chinese fighter jet released flares near an Australian naval helicopter that was enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea in the Yellow Sea.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
SCL	Schrole Group Ltd	0.445	178%	3,193,936	$5,752,808
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.002	100%	200,000	$2,023,397
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.003	50%	156,197	$3,323,987
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.002	50%	51,000	$2,501,231
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.003	50%	1,000,629	$1,615,923
DUN	Dundasminerals	0.030	36%	855,018	$1,861,817
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.028	33%	836,073	$765,445
HPC	Thehydration	0.013	30%	248,928	$3,049,131
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.013	30%	11,830,648	$8,271,850
ERM	Emmerson Resources	0.055	28%	2,180,780	$23,422,521
ILA	Island Pharma	0.080	27%	437,749	$7,337,545
RR1	Reach Resources Ltd	0.019	27%	13,866,096	$13,116,470
KOR	Korab Resources	0.005	25%	1,618,269	$1,468,200
TMR	Tempus Resources Ltd	0.005	25%	1,000,000	$4,123,995
HMD	Heramed Limited	0.021	24%	1,212,066	$6,685,247
1AG	Alterra Limited	0.006	20%	50,103	$4,310,732
BEL	Bentley Capital Ltd	0.024	20%	21,301	$1,522,558
DGR	DGR Global Ltd	0.012	20%	1,026,609	$10,436,935
HCT	Holista CollTech Ltd	0.006	20%	62,796	$1,394,000
MCL	Mighty Craft Ltd	0.006	20%	584,228	$1,844,546
RIL	Redivium Limited	0.003	20%	921,819	$6,827,137
AKM	Aspire Mining Ltd	0.310	19%	618,854	$131,985,616
AXI	Axiom Properties	0.066	18%	33,169	$24,231,965
PGY	Pilot Energy Ltd	0.021	17%	21,262,725	$21,405,150
ECT	Env Clean Tech Ltd.	0.004	17%	202,053	$9,515,431

Schrole Group (ASX:SCL) saw significant gains today following its announcement of entering into a Scheme Implementation Deed with TES Aus Global, a subsidiary of TES Global. The agreement entails TES Aus Global acquiring 100% of Schrole’s issued capital through a court-approved scheme of arrangement. Investors stand to receive a cash consideration of 48.52 cents per Schrole share. That’s a whopping 203% premium on the closing price of Schrole shares on 14 June 2024 of $0.16, and puts a valuation on the company of $18.15 million.

HeraMED (ASX:HMD) also had a good morning on Monday, boosted nicely by news that its HeraCARE platform has gone live and is currently onboarding mums as part of the implementation of its agreement with Broward Health in Florida, USA.

Pilot Energy (ASX:PGY) rose on news that it has taken commitments of $4.0 million (before costs) in a placement to sophisticated, institutional and professional investors, which will see the company issue 181.8 million fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of $0.022 a pop.

Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM) burst on fresh news regarding its Nobles CIL gold processing facility.

The facility has now begun construction near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory by Emmerson’s Joint Venture partner Tennant Consolidated Mining Group, with the 840,000tpa gold processing facility’s components relocated from Cloncurry in Queensland. They’re now being put together at the Nobles project area.

Emmerson notes the project is expected to generate about 80 jobs during construction and more than 160 jobs after operations ramp up with commissioning of the facility planned for Q2 of 2025. Commercial production is then scheduled to happen in Q4 2025, with Tennant Mining initially focusing on processing existing stockpiles and tailings at the Noble open pit complex then planning to develop other open cut and underground mines in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field.

The deal for Emmerson is a 6% gross production royalty on any gold produced from the JV tenements.

PPK Group (ASX:PPK) surged following a favourable court ruling from the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the Flynn & Anor v PPK Group Limited & Anor case. The judgment mandates PPK to issue 1,136,011 shares to Flynfam Pty Ltd ATF Flynn Family Trust. This issuance is based on a calculation of $500,000 divided by the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of PPK shares over the 30 trading days leading up to the judgment date on 14 June. This outcome aligns with PPK’s expectations.

NT-focused lithium explorer, Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX:LPM), may not be having the greatest year share-price-wise, but the company jumped after announcing that it’s lodged a Mining Lease Application for the future development of its wholly owned Lei Lithium deposit, which is considered one of Australia’s highest-grade lithium discoveries. Lei, within the company’s Bynoe project, is located roughly 71 kilometres south of Darwin by road and currently has a Mineral Resource Estimate of 4.09 million tonnes at 1.43% Li2O.

A technical de-risking work program is currently in progress, which includes environmental studies, and metallurgical testing. Results related to this are expected to be revealed some time in Q3 2024.

South Harz Potash (ASX:SHP announced it has received the spatial planning assessment (in German, the prototypically prosaic Raumverträglichkeitsprüfung), for its flagship Ohmgebirge Potash Development in central Germany.

In any case, this assessment process is regarded as a crucial milestone in Ohmgebirge’s development, which is part of South Harz’s 100%-owned South Harz potash project.

The assessment covers a potential layout for Ohmgebirge almost twice the size of the original design noted in the project’s recent pre-feasibility study.

Metallica Minerals (ASX:MLM); Diatreme Resources (ASX:DRX). While neither of these two stocks alone are absolutely crushing it share price-wise today, together they just about make a double-digit head-turner for their news alone, so we’re including them here.

Diatreme, a Brisbane-based producer of mineral and silica sands based in Brisbane, announced this morning that its takeover bid for high-purity silica sand player Metallica is now unconditional. Some facts around this. Diatreme currently has a relevant interest of 57.34% in Metallica, and its takeover offer (its final one) is scheduled to close on June 25.

DRX is encouraging all remaining Metallica shareholders to promptly accept the offer.

Lunnon Metals (ASX:LM8) said recent drilling at Lady Herial has uncovered significant near-surface gold deposits, including intervals such as 3m at 14.8g/t, 1m at 10.31g/t, 3m at 5.99g/t, and 5m at 4.01g/t. Plans are underway for additional drilling to establish an initial Mineral Resource at the site.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.004	-33%	23,057,288	$5,979,210
NSM	Northstaw	0.020	-26%	88,969	$3,776,646
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.003	-25%	53,903	$9,945,576
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.003	-25%	49,255,769	$10,100,475
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.002	-25%	100,000	$2,596,294
RLC	Reedy Lagoon Corp.	0.003	-25%	99,400	$2,478,163
TD1	Tali Digital Limited	0.002	-25%	4,614,814	$6,590,311
TIG	Tigers Realm Coal	0.003	-25%	200,000	$52,266,809
ANX	Anax Metals Ltd	0.027	-25%	7,363,126	$21,287,416
ASV	Assetvisonco	0.016	-24%	308,219	$15,242,568
AGC	AGC Ltd	0.305	-23%	7,318,729	$93,887,934
SP8	Streamplay Studio	0.007	-22%	972,225	$10,355,614
SER	Strategic Energy	0.015	-21%	21,191,369	$11,361,942
GRV	Greenvale Energy Ltd	0.042	-21%	2,939,012	$24,312,631
TOR	Torque Met	0.160	-20%	1,221,092	$36,645,760
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.004	-20%	1,856,286	$1,883,108
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	122,180	$27,111,136
TAS	Tasman Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	250,000	$3,563,346
SPX	Spenda Limited	0.007	-19%	13,429,210	$34,595,662
SOM	SomnoMed Limited	0.220	-17%	105,263	$57,268,687
IRX	Inhalerx Limited	0.025	-17%	15,000	$5,693,009
ABE	Ausbondexchange	0.020	-17%	228,205	$2,704,035
ION	Iondrive Limited	0.010	-17%	1,674,478	$7,258,279
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.003	-17%	616,827	$25,767,358

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Adavale Resources (ASX:ADD) has expanded its uranium footprint in South Australia, applying for four new exploration licences to secure 2,446 km2 east of Ceduna.

Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88) will acquire the Pearl copper project in Arizona, smack bang in the middle of the world class Laramide porphyry belt.

Iltani Resources’s (ASX:ILT) drilling has extended the Orient West vein system within its Orient project in north Queensland by 550m with three reverse circulation holes successfully intersecting extensive silver-lead-zinc-indium mineralisation.

Marmota (ASX:MEU) is gearing up for exploration at its Junction Dam uranium project and Gawler Gold projects in South Australia.

Aircore drilling at Venture Minerals’ (ASX:VMS) Jupiter discovery has eclipsed all expectations with the whole southern zone delivering high-grade REE mineralisation with a top intersection of 58m at 2723ppm TREO.

Latest drilling at Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) Paris project in WA has extended gold mineralisation by up to 50m from previous intersections, returning assays such as 16.3m at 7.95 g/t gold from 272m. Drilling also made a new shallow discovery in the previously untested 1.5km gap between the HHH and Paris pits, indicating that they may be connected.

Freshly obtained results from historical drilling data at Prospect Resources (ASX:PSC) Mumbezhi project has highlighted similar widths of copper grades to other historical Mumbezhi data sets, confirming enormous prospectivity.

Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) is raising $3m via a placement to fast track exploration and scoping studies at its Whim Creek copper zinc asset in in WA.

Proceeds of the placement will be used for resource extensional drilling at the Evelyn deposit at Whim Creek, along with conducting technical studies to assess the treatment of GreenTech Metals (ASX:GRE) base metal assets as part of the recently formed Pilbara Base Metal Alliance.

Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) has received the final socioeconomic report that forms part of a mining company’s social licence (and its preliminary licence application) for its Ema rare earths project – with public authorities and local social and community organisations supporting and welcoming the development.

Strategic Energy Resources (ASX:SER) has announced plans to commence drill testing of the Achilles 1 Polymetallic Prospect at the South Cobar project in NSW in July.

Experienced US pharmaceutical executive, Dr Katie MacFarlane has been appointed to PharmAust (ASX:PAA) Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Director, with her 30+ years of experience in developing and commercialising pharmaceutical products expected to be invaluable in establishing the company as a global leader in neurodegenerative diseases.

Resouro Strategic Metals (ASX:RAU) made a strong debut on the ASX last week, clocking a more than 30% lift at close of play on Day 1, with its 90 per cent stake in the large-scale, high-grade Tiros titanium oxide and rare earths project in Brazil.

Infill soil sampling at Intra Energy Corp’s (ASX:IEC) Maggie Hays Hill project has defined a high tenor and large-scale gold anomaly along a mineralised trend that extends 1km to the north.

Neurotech International (ASX:NTI) says ASD patients in its Phase 1/2 trial of NTI164 have now been on treatment for more than two years. The results of the Phase 2/3 trial will inform NTI discussions with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to understand its pathway to market approval in Australia as the first market opportunity.

TRADING HALTS

Macarthur Minerals (ASX:MIO) – pending the release of the announcement regarding the rights to mine Hematite.

GTI Energy (ASX:GTR) – pending an announcement in relation to a material capital raising.

Castle Minerals (ASX:CDT) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a capital raising.

Rent.com.au (ASX:RNT) – pending the release of an announcement to the market regarding a capital raising.

Beonic (ASX:BEO) – pending an announcement by the Company in connection with an equity raising.

Winchester Energy (ASX:WEL) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a capital raise.

Adslot (ASX:ADS) – to finalise and execute a pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer.

Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) – pending an announcement regarding exploration results received in respect to its Red Mountain Project lithium projects in Nevada, USA.

G50 Corp (ASX:G50) – pending the release of an announcement by the Company relating to a proposed capital raising.

Infratil (ASX:IFT) – pending an announcement regarding the outcome of a placement.

Enlitic (ASX:ENL) – pending a material announcement in relation to new partnerships.

Besra Gold (ASX:BEZ) – pending an announcement concerning funding from Quantum Metal Recovery Inc.

Sarama Resources (ASX:SRR) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to an equity raising.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Resouro Strategic Metals, Neurotech, PharmAust, Strategic Energy Resources, Brazilian Critical Minerals, Adavale Resources, Golden Mile Resources, Iltani Resources, Marmota, Venture Minerals, Torque Metals, Prospect Resources, Intra Energy Corp, and Anax Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.