Closing Bell: Weak leads, weak banks, a one month low and not enough energy to go round

Benchmark and small cap index down hard
Life on the indices can be hard, unless your in energy, possibly materials
Pearl Gull Iron is an island, literally and figuratively

The ASX200 and its emerging companies sidekick have retreated into a shell of post-Wall Street shock on Thursday with the weight of rising rates also hanging heavily around the necks of gold and banking stocks.

The benchmark lost 1.5% and the small cap (XEC) index 1.8%. Another strong session for the energy sector didn’t do nothing to offset no-one.

US stocks fell overnight, thanks largely to the shock return to the public eye of: Former Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, now masquerading as some kind of European.

“As a result of Russia’s war, global growth will be lower, and inflation will be higher for longer,” said Mathias Cormann overnight.

“Both business investment and private consumption growth have been hit, and the war has further exacerbated supply chain disruptions previously brought on by the pandemic, which is pushing up energy and food prices and causing significant price volatility.”

He’s over at the OECD now. depressing global markets as its Secretary-General. Matthias lowered his global growth forecast. He’ll be back.

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP WINNERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during the trading day).

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.002	100%	2,543,789
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0.0015	50%	2,337,462
PLG	Pearlgullironlimited	0.05	39%	8,214,784
ARO	Astro Resources NL	0.004	33%	3,840,935
ZMM	Zimi Ltd	0.13	30%	135,804
MGG	Mogul Games Grp Ltd	0.0025	25%	6,931,116
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.0025	25%	2,000,000
SGQ	St George Min Ltd	0.042	24%	5,883,040
ILA	Island Pharma	0.185	23%	48,549
AHN	Athena Resources	0.029	21%	97,641,465
MOZ	Mosaic Brands Ltd	0.24	20%	2,964,318
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.006	20%	11,241,133
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.007	17%	998,004
GTG	Genetic Technologies	0.0035	17%	529,622
SPA	Spacetalk Ltd	0.064	16%	266,693
1AG	Alterra Limited	0.015	15%	593,542
SXG	Southern Cross Gold	0.575	15%	3,583,893
ADR	Adherium Ltd	0.008	14%	1,059,485
ADS	Adslot Ltd.	0.016	14%	142,405
DDT	DataDot Technology	0.008	14%	106,880
JTL	Jayex Technology Ltd	0.008	14%	102,563
GLA	Gladiator Resources	0.025	14%	4,455,715
NOR	Norwood Systems Ltd.	0.017	13%	361,210
RAC	Race Oncology Ltd	1.905	13%	502,071
RMY	RMA Global	0.135	13%	39,991

Up about one million per cent on no news is Pearl Gull Iron (ASX:PLG)

First up, what’s fun about Pearl Gull Iron is its mining title over a significant whack of Cockatoo Island.

Cockatoo Island is situated off the coast waaaaay up in Northwest Australia where its ‘rich history of high-grade iron ore mining since the 1950’s’ can be continued in shrouded mystery, if not secrecy.

PLG is drilling into thick, high-grade iron ore goodness at the ‘Switch Pit’, including ~57m grading 68.9% fe from ~80m.

That’s high. The benchmark grade often quoted is 62% fe – anything higher than this can attract a substantial price premium from buyers.

Aside from rare exceptions like Mount Gibson Iron’s (ASX:MGX) Koolan Island mine – right next door to Cockatoo — Australia doesn’t have many high grade hematite resources like those in Brazil or Africa.

Geological and resource modelling has now kicked off and expected to be delivered very soon.

“Once our resource work is complete, we look forward to updating the market with further plans for our high-grade iron ore project,” chairman Russell Clark says.

The $3m market cap minnow is down 30% year-to-date. It had $1.1m in the bank at the end of March.

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) share price is heading in the right direction after telling the market it will be conducing an on-market share buyback, running over the next 12 months with an many as up 4 million Race Oncology shares up for grabs.

And well done Internet of Things (IoT) play Zimi (ASX:ZMM), which is rising nicely following a late May announcement about expanding its product range.

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP LOSERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow fell after making announcements during the trading day).

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Company	Last	%	Volume
ROC	Rocketboots	0.1	-41%	3,162,052
FTC	Fintech Chain Ltd	0.019	-27%	143,951
BBX	BBX Minerals Ltd	0.12	-23%	142,332
1ST	1St Group Ltd	0.007	-22%	3,304,085
BPP	Babylon Pump & Power	0.007	-22%	2,276,678
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.115	-22%	2,463,555
ACU	Acumentis Group Ltd	0.1	-20%	656,069
GLV	Global Oil & Gas	0.004	-20%	25,729,138
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.002	-20%	20,007,073
ODM	Odin Metals Limited	0.017	-19%	1,669,479
WNR	Wingara Ag Ltd	0.045	-18%	43,710
SER	Strategic Energy	0.025	-17%	10,000
WRK	Wrkr Ltd	0.016	-16%	296,417
CDT	Castle Minerals	0.027	-16%	5,840,308
HMG	Hamelingoldlimited	0.11	-15%	287,674
IGN	Ignite Ltd	0.11	-15%	38,770
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.0055	-15%	4,247,089
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.045	-15%	39,662
OPL	Opyl Limited	0.051	-15%	84,607
BEX	Bikeexchange Ltd	0.017	-15%	537,959
SUH	Southern Hem Min	0.017	-15%	350,390
SMS	Starmineralslimited	0.115	-15%	265,000
ARN	Aldoro Resources	0.175	-15%	625,748
SOM	SomnoMed Limited	1.24	-14%	14,406
RLC	Reedy Lagoon Corp.	0.018	-14%	2,204,233

As if to remind us how little justice there is in an open market, not to mention a free media, Indiana Resources’ (ASX:IDA) latest drilling, which by the way, continues to highlight the scale of the Minos prospect within its Central Gawler Craton gold project in South Australia has led the stock price to shed about 7%.

The first batch of assays from its April drill program of 14 holes confirmed shallow, continuous zones of gold mineralisation with top hits such as 14m at 2.56g/t gold from 44m and 24m at 1.41g/t gold from 37m including 1m at 16g/t gold.

While assays are still pending for another five holes, the results to date have already significantly improved confidence in defining a maiden resource estimate for the project.

Gold mineralisation has now been confirmed over a 600m strike length at Minos, which remains open in both directions and at depth.

“The consistent delivery of high-quality results from drilling within the Minos Prospect has been nothing short of sensational, and these latest results continue to demonstrate the potential for the area to host a mineralised system of significance,” technical director Felicity Repacholi-Muir says.

“Importantly, drilling reinforces that mineralisation identified to date commences near surface and is coherent with the clear potential to define additional mineralisation along strike.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

In disturbing news out of northern Mozambique, Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) has reported that there’s been an insurgent attack at a mine project site approximately 200km from Balama in Cabo Delgado province. It’s the second major security incident in the area in the past few days, representing a serious deterioration of safety levels. The news has led to a significant drop in Syrah’s price, which is set to close ~9.0% down for the day.

Closer to home, Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM) has announced that its Australian Strategic Materials (Holdings) Limited subsidiary has decided that South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering is the team to move forward with on the engineering, procurement and construction definition work (EPCD) for the Dubbo Project, with the contract price settling at $46.7m, fixed for three months.

And Gold Road Resources’ (ASX:GOR) bid for its friendly, off-market takeover of DGO Gold Limited (ASX:DGO) has inched forward a little more, with the company increasing its overall holding to approximately 41.90% of the total number of DGO Shares on issue. DGO currently holds 14.4% of market darling De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG), which is sitting on a veritable mountain of shiny stuff that just about everybody wants a piece of.