Gold and energy the champs in last week’s ASX small cap winners and losers list

ASX Small Cap Winners Oct 23-27

Petrel Energy investors were big winners last week after the minnow reported the first ever confirmed discovery of oil in Uruguay.

The news caused Petrel (ASX: PRL) shares to skyrocket 92 per cent higher to 2.4c.

Petrel drilled its Cerro Padilla 1 well in Uruguay’s Norte Basin, to a depth of 845 metres, confirming 2 metres of oil saturated sand at 793 metres.

Explorers have sought oil there since the early 20th Century. More than 175 exploratory wells have been drilled and 50,000km of seismic exploration completed in the area.

Tag Pacific (ASX: TAG) finished the week 57 per cent higher at 9.5c after flagging it would build a 1 megawatt hour (MWh) battery south of Sydney as part of a future-proofing plan by the network operator.

The battery, which Tag says will be the biggest in NSW, will support a residential development in West Dapto, near Wollongong.

Pilbara gold hopefuls were once again in the spotlight with Elysium Resources jumping 56 per cent to 1.4c for the week.

Perth-based Elysium (ASX: EYM) is chasing “Witwatersrand-style” conglomerate-hosted gold in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The Witwatersrand Basin is South African geological formation that houses the world’s biggest known gold reserves, producing 2 billion ounces or about half of gold ever mined.

Elysium  told investors it was buying unlisted Hardey Resources and its four projects including 512 sq km of Fortescue Group rocks in the Pilbara.

The Fortescue rocks in the Pilbara Craton are known to host gold and other minerals.

Meanwhile, another gold junior Maximus Resources poured its first gold bar from a recently refurbished plant near Coolgardie in Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia.

The stock (ASX: MXR) finished 50 per cent higher for the week at 1.5c.

Apollo Consolidated (ASX: AOP) posted “exceptional” drill results after getting an intercept of 25 metres at 6.80 grams of gold per tonne at a project in Western Australia. Other holes saw intercepts of up to 15.95 grams.

Apollo finished the week 49 per cent higher at 26c.

Here are the best performing ASX Small Cap stocks for Oct 23-27

ASX Small Cap Losers Oct 23-27

Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) failed to excite investors despite a feasibility study finding its Karlawinda project to be a robust, high-margin project.

The company is targeting first gold from by June 2019. However, the stock finished the week 26 per cent in the red closing Friday at 5.8c.

Meanwhile, major shareholder and director of Redbank Copper (ASX:RCP) Mike Fotios loaned the company up to $1 million with an interest rate of 8 per cent per annum for working capital.

The company must repay the loan within 10 days of a capital raising.

Rebank finished the week at 0.15c, down 25 per cent.

Here are the worst performing ASX Small Cap stocks for Oct 23-27