Who’s going catfishing this weekend?

No we’re not talking about that awful situation with soap star Lincoln Lewis, but this guy who caught a tarpon with his arm.

Our serving suggestion is to listen with the sound off, because the videographer’s screeching will peel the paint from your walls and the wax from your ears.

Here’s what you might have missed on Stockhead this week, but everyone else didn’t, and liked the most.

1. How to make share trading your side-hustle

A Sydney writer once said over coffee in a small Bondi cafe that if you’re not independently wealthy, you’ve got to be up at 5am or in bed at 2am everyday to make your side hustle work.

(We would argue just read Stockhead everyday, but we’re probably a little biased.)

In any case, becoming Secret Broker-rich (or at least, as rich in experience) from the stock market requires a bit more effort than taking tips from dubious randoms on Hot Copper.

So here are nine tips to get you going.

Ten if you count repeated ASX share game winner Angie Ellis’ expertise.

 

2. Science just found a way to make hydrogen with less energy

Was it the Ghostbusters gif or the fact that you guys just adore all things hydrogen?

We’ll probably never know.

What we do know is some scientists in Queensland reckon they might have found a way to make hydrogen more cheaply.

Right now the proto-industry is hoping renewable energy will help them supply a cleaner, greener fuel that makes them lots of money, delivers some Nobel prizes, and generally turns them into environmental heroes.

We’re a wee way away from that yet, because using renewable → hydrogen is mad expensive.

But if the Queenslanders can deliver on the cheapness, maybe they can make up for the whole Adani thing.

Here’s all you need to know about the most cutting edge hydrogen science today.

3. When the Nullarbor heats up, these are the small caps with first-mover advantage

Sorry, you’re still investing in Pilbara companies?

Pfft, the Nullarbor is where it’s at, with its super cute seahorse-shaped mineral discoveries and proximity to actual centres like Perth and South Australia.

Anyway, enough abuse of the Pilbara, we’re sure it’s very nice with all of the gold nuggets lying all over the ground, even though it’s too hot to go outside to pick them up.

The Nullarbor. It’s firing people’s imagination this week because BHP (ASX:BHP), as well as Chalice Gold Mines (ASX:CHN) and Red Metal (ASX:RDM), are picking up turf in the area.

As our resources guy Reuben Adams says, one decent mineralised intercept could be all it takes to turn the Nullarbor into the next exploration hotspot.

So keep your eyes peeled for news of discoveries.

 

4. How federal bureaucrats nearly cost Australia its second heavy rare earths project

The whole ‘is your R&D rebate claim legal’ saga has sent a wrecking ball through all industries that aren’t biotech, since the latter got a sweet exemption from changes that came in last year.

But miners have been vocally hard hit.

They are peeved that activities once considered ‘R&D’ are being knocked back, and Northern Minerals boss George Bauk is no exception.

They’re trying to set up here or in the US a unit that can separate rare earths in order to sell them separately, specifically dysprosium – the stuff used in the permanent magnets required for the motors in electric vehicles.

At the moment Australia has exactly zero downstream facilities to do anything more to rare earths than dig them up and ship them off.

So Bauk is pretty peeved that two years worth of R&D rebate claims have been knocked back.

It’d be like the government coming after your franking credits after you’d already spent them on a cruise for the husband and kids.

This is the story of how Australia nearly lost half of its entire rare earths industry.

 

5. Why Australia’s rare earths industry needs an ‘Elon Musk’

Sticking with the Northern Minerals/rare earths thing — because you guys love it and because resources editor Angie East was up there taking pics this week — we even managed to get an Elon Musk reference in.

Not, we’re afraid, to the pot smoking, the short seller chain jerking, or the US securities regulator’s endless frustration with the man.

But the fact that if an Elon Musk type could just pop up and start doing for rare earths what he did for lithium, that’d be ace, thank you next bye.

Lithium prices may be making you weep into your EOFY tax losses, but you’ve got to admit that initial EM run was amazing. And that’s what Bauk wants for rare earths.

 

6. This is who’s rocking the phosphate game right now

This is actually a story about how organic heritage carrots could feed the world, but somehow turned into an article about strip mining on Nauru.

Rock phosphate, for those who don’t know, is used to make fertiliser. It’s ancient dried up bird poo or guano, which a generation of us will know all about from Ace Ventura: When nature calls.

But in its raw form it’s one of the only things, aside from manure, that organic farmers are allowed to use but more importantly, good quality stuff is hard to come by in places that aren’t a war-torn corner of Morocco, or Russia.

And even more interestingly, there are a very small handful of companies on the ASX that are doing it.

So next time you’re Masterchefing your organic artichoke hearts over a single $12 chicken breast (because organic=good=expensive) think about where that rock phosphate came from.

Or just read this article and then you’ll know.

 

7. Dr Boreham’s Crucible: Next Science wants you for the war on bacteria

Chronic wounds kill more people annually than cardiac issues, with half of the patients undergoing amputations not surviving another year.

That’s because bacteria get in, infect, and before you know it, you’re dead.

And you thought we were living in the future.

Dr Boreham takes a look at recently listed Next Science’s (ASX:NXS) bacteria science and in his inimitable fashion, makes disgusting (or fascinating, depending on where you’re sitting) bugs sound more interesting than a drive in a hydrogen car over the Nullabor.

Infectious flesh-eating bacteria was probably the most interesting topic discussed on Stockhead this week; read all about it here.

 

8. History shows that crowdsourcing mineral exploration actually works

Back in the day crowdsourcing a mineral find meant following all of the other hopefuls to the next site and praying you find a nugget before you die of hunger, malnutrition, rebellion, or disease.

Today, a bunch of people sit in an office and ask the Internet.

In Australia, a company called Unearthed is trying to do what a Canadian company called Goldcorp did in 2000 — harness the crowd and find 8moz of gold.

They’re doing it with Oz Minerals (ASX:OZL) and offering $1m to find new exploration targets at Mt Woods, near Oz Minerals’ high grade Prominent Hill copper-gold mine in South Australia, using the miner’s private 5 terabyte exploration database.

It’s not the same as a 10-bagger, but definitely an idea that’s right up the alley of the hard rock fans out there.

 

9. Barry Fitzgerald: Trap for investors in record Aussie gold price

Normally Barry is all about the opportunity but this week he had a warning for those among you who are being seduced by $2000+ gold.

Don’t pay too much for the leading producers.

The game now is being played out in the small and mid cap space.

And who are those small caps? The man defers to Credit Suisse in this instance, which likes Evolution and Alacer.

This is what to watch for in a gold rush and who you may want to be watching.

 

10. The Secret Broker: Ore body, or a body? Not all that glitters down a hole is gold

It’s been a golden week for gold bugs but when the Secret Broker tried to get in on the game, it didn’t quite turn out as he expected.

Think a slow Mediterranean island, the Mafia, and an unfortunate discovery.

Needless to say, he learned his lesson about gold investments: don’t be seduced by the prospect of good Italian pasta on the Med or promises of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This is what the Secret Broker learned about how to find a gold mine without a history with organised crime.

 

That is all. Enjoy your weekend and remember: always keep your arms inside the boat.