• Benchmark lifts on uranium, energy gains
  • Small caps on energy and materials
  • Newcomer Southern Palladium nails debut. Nails. It.

 

The benchmark is higher and the small cap index is a bit higher, but the real action on a lazy winter Wednesday in Sydney is somewhere between a palladium newby and all the uranium in the country.

Really hard to go past how the energy sector is performing in arvo trade on a losing ticket. The benchmark is fading fast into the close, while oil, coal and uranium are all driving the sector almost 4% higher against an overall rise of 0.3% for the top 200.

With the Biden Administration talking up a circa US$4.5bn mission to detach itself from Russia’s enriched uranium imports, the local sector has naturally turned a few heads.

Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) was the hero of the dish, up in double digits as the Global X Uranium ETF rallied more than 6% on the news. Elsewhere on the ASX it is a sea of green for the uranium cohort, led by US-focused GTI Energy (ASX:GTR),92 Energy (ASX:92E),and Peninsula Energy (ASX:PEN).

Oh, the iron ore majors lifted on overnight gains in the price of iron ore, with BHP jumping 3% in morning trade. All four major banks were lower following the Reserve Bank’s larger-than-expected interest rate rise on Tuesday.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP WINNERS

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

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Damn.  Southern Palladium (ASX:SPD) debuted this morning as if they’ve been debuting their whole lives.

The platinum group minerals (PGM) explorer and developer listed this morning with a $19m IPO at $0.50 – beginning public life with a market cap of around $45m and ending its first day at around $60m.

According to the incredible Emma Davies, who’s forgotten more about palladium than you or I will every know, SPD will acquire a 70% interest in private company Miracle Upon Miracle Investments on listing – which holds the Bengwenyama PGM project in South Africa.

It’s a project that currently has a JORC 2012 Inferred Resource of 18.80 million oz (3 PGE + gold) and CEO Johan Odendaal says that after the company’s second phase drilling, they could virtually double that resource.

“The first phase drilling will cover 25,000m and 63 boreholes on the shallower area of the project to bring some of the inferred resources and exploration target up to indicated,” he said.

That’s a likely kick off in the next four weeks to upgrade these resources and allow the start of a feasibility study, Emma says.

Palladium is a rare precious metal that is primarily used in vehicle parts such as catalytic converters.

Oh snap – heres a totally dodgy but essentially wonderful guide, co-written by the jokers above to recovering palladium from your old catalytic convertor.

American West Metals (ASX:AW1) has unearthed its “best assays to date” from the ‘West Desert’ project, including a 105m-long interval of high-grade zinc and copper in hole WD22-03.

According to deputy editor, dancer, dog-owner and shed-maker, Reuben ‘The Thrilling Rhythm’ Adams , Aw1’s No. 4 album from this drill includes such hits as:  16.47m @ 10.22% zinc, 0.26% copper, 0.17g/t gold, 16.24g/t silver, and 48.63g/t indium.

“We are thrilled to share the diamond drill results from WD22-03, as the program continues to define high-grade mineralisation at West Desert, substantially enhancing the resource potential,” AW1 managing director Dave O’Neill says.

“The intersections within WD22-03 display outstanding thicknesses and grade which continue to highlight the significant scale and quality of the West Desert Deposit.

As Gregor pointed out in the morning session,  Rimfire Pacific Mining (ASX:RIM), is up about one million per cent after aircore drilling results stank of battery metals and even a little platinum:

  • 34m @ 0.29% Ni, 0.15% Co, and 101ppm Sc from 6 metres including 16m @ 0.27% Ni, 0.22% Co, and 120ppm Sc from 8 metres
  • 28m @ 0.53% Ni, 0.06% Co, and 41ppm Sc from 5 metres, including 5m @ 0.57% Ni, 0.09% Co, and 56 Sc from 16 metres
  • 9m @ 0.16% Ni, 0.14% Co, and 111ppm Sc from 18 metres

If that wasn’t enough, there’s also multiple shallow platinum (PGE) drill intercepts like these:

  • 44m @ 0.34g/t Pt + Pd from 8 metres including 8m @ 0.87g/t Pt + Pd from 10 metres and 2m @ 1.34g/t Pt + Pd from 12 metres
  • 6m @ 0.72g/t Pt + Pd from 26 metres and 20m @ 0.80g/t Pt + Pd from 52 metres (Hole ended in mineralisation)
  • 4m @ 0.61g/t Pt + Pd from 52 metres (Hole ended in mineralisation)

Rimfire’s share price was up more than 107% in early arvo business.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP LOSERS

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Snapped in twain this morning was medtech Lumos Diagnostics (ASX:LDX), closing 39% lower, a reward for the successful $11.2 million completion of the institutional component of a recent entitlement offer.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Local last-mile delivery specialists Zoom2u (ASX:Z2U) have inked a deal with Bunnings to become part of its product delivery network, following a trial of Zoom2u’s service that appears to have gone quite well. Details of the impact of the deal are a tad nebulous, as it’s all based on how much Bunnings decides to use Zoom2u – and there’s no word on whether consumers will be able to tack a Bunnings sausage-on-a-roll if they’re ordering stuff on a Saturday.

Marquee Resources (ASX: MQR) has let everyone know about results from its Lone Star copper-gold project, where 48-hole phase 1 drilling has turned up some positive samples, including assays for significant zones of high-grade copper and gold mineralisation intersected within broader zones:

10.7m @ 2.4% Cu & 1.0 g/t Au from 111.6m (incl. 5.2m @ 4.1% Cu & 1.9 g/t Au)
9.5m @ 1.3% Cu & 0.9 g/t Au from 230.7m
Marquee also says multiple high grade zones of mineralisation intersected during the campaign include:
44.2m @ 1.3% Cu from 65.8m (incl. 19.8m @ 2.4% Cu)
22.1m @ 1.15% Cu from 140.4m (incl. 8.5m @ 2.1% Cu)
15.54m @ 3.7% Cu & 1.8g/t Au from 48.3m (incl. 2.6m @ 18.5% Cu & 10.4g/t Au)

And wrapping up the last trickle of announcement news for the day, Horizon Gold  (ASX:HRN) says it’s going to lend its majority shareholder Zeta Resources Limited a few bob. Horizon will be depositing surplus cash funds of $5,400,000 with Zeta as short-term, unsecured loans, repayable on call by the Horizon and accruing interest at a rate of 5.00% per annum.

TRADING HALTS

Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA) – pending the release of an announcement regarding the assay results from the recently completed drilling program at its 100% owned Gawler Craton project in South Australia

OncoSil Medical (ASX:OSL) – pending the release of an announcement by the Company about the placement of a shortfall from its non-renounceable entitlement offer that closed on Friday 3 June 2022

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