Another working week, another bunch of sporting disasters with English people in them.

Thankfully, it’s all over now, and the weekend beckons. But there’s always room for a recap – here are the Stockhead stories that kept you clicking through all the sport, politics, intrigue, social media griping and oh, wait, maybe just one more look at that Top Gun II trailer:

1 – This blockchain technology might end counterfeited artwork

Yes, this is a “Special Report”, which means Security Matters pays us to give their announcements a little bit of extra love. But that can also mean we’re privy to some extra detail on some extra cool s..t our clients might be working on, such as SMX’s “track-and trace” technology.

That tech allows any solid, liquid or gas to be invisibly and irrevocably ‘marked’ using a chemical-based barcode. It can then be read and stored via a blockchain record, allowing its owners to keep an eye on moving parts over supply chains.

Think “farm to plate” meals where you know exactly which farm your rib eye came from. Or in the case of a recent patent application, the detection of microplastics in the agriculture sector.

And this week, a kind of holy grail. Security Matters has filed a patent in the US for polymers used in the detection and authentication of artwork, including fine and ancient art.

“This extends to the canvas or paper it is painted on, the paint itself or the frame it is displayed in,” Haggai Alon, SMX founder and CEO, said.

That is actually cool. Anyway, you lot liked it.

2 – Uranium demand is the big winner as US President rejects import cap

US President Donald Trump doesn’t believe his Secretary of Commerce’s finding that importing uranium is a national security threat.

BUT, he does agree that not producing enough uranium in the US is a national security issue.

Make of that what you will. But from an investing POV, all you need to know is that because Section 232 has taken 18 months to get to this point, US utilities have been unable to write contracts.

Here’s why that makes Australian uranium producers such as Mike Young think there are only two possible outcomes for the locals back here – “good and better”.

3 – Hot Money Monday: The most in-demand stocks on the ASX right now

As well as an ace picture of buses jumping boxes with explosions in the background:

Picture: Getty Images

Hot Money Mondays is an important spanner in every small cap investor’s toolbox.

That’s because changes in the RSI are often reflective of market reactions to market announcements or changes in earnings forecasts.

Except this week, because peeps keep buying into small-cap gold explorer Tribune Resources (ASX:TBR), and it’s topped the list with an RSI reading of 90.5.

The company hasn’t made any announcements to the market since late May.

Investors were also a bit more focused on healthcare stocks than usual. Eight other stocks posted an RSI above 80 this week and five of them were in healthcare.

And on the cold side, there’s a couple of notable names – early 2019 darlings sunscreen maker Advance Nanotek (ASX:ANO) and buy now, pay later platform Splitit (ASX:SPT).

4 – Short & Caught: Here’s why it’s worth watching a stock’s ‘short interest ratio’

There’s a reason why we’re not all on a beach in the Bahamas sipping large cocktails and watching our stocks. It sounds easy, but it’s hard to make money.

You have to learn things. Things like how to watch a stock’s ‘short interest ratio’, like we decided to do this week.

There’s an explainer here about how to calculate it, but as for why, the ratio measures how many days it would take for all the shares being shorted to be traded at current volumes.

And when we applied it, a number of new stocks appeared. Here’s what we found.

5 – Money Talks: This expert’s top commodity picks are gold, diamonds and rare earths

The other option is to just copy someone with a proven track record of making piles of cash.

Someone like Warwick Grigor, executive chairman and managing director of Sydney-based private investment bank Far East Capital.

This week, Grigor gave us the inside running on his gold, diamonds and rare earths stocks, and noted that light rare earths aren’t that big a deal, “it is NdPr that China is running out of”.

Here’s where he’s plumping, and if you’re a bit sick of the gold and rare earths trope, MineLife founder and senior analyst Gavin Wendt has some alternatives for you here.

6 – Petal to the metal: How ‘phytomining’ could transform mine waste into big $$

Remember that time you found a block of land on Tassie’s West Coast that was absurdly cheap, then later realised it’s probably because it’s been a mine tailings dumping ground for the last 50 years?

If you’ve got access to a seed bank for hyperaccumulator plants like Alyssummurale, you might want to revisit that block.

UQ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute researcher Dr Philip Nkrumah is currently developing phytomining technology at the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, and it’s some kind of fascinating field.

Hyperaccumulator plants have the unusual ability to absorb and concentrate metals from soil at high levels. High levels, as in up to 16 per cent nickel in their sap, like you can see here:

Source: Wikimedia Commons

In fact, one study claims an Australian nickel phytomine could make about $11,500 in clear profit per hectare, per harvest. A gold phytomine could make $26,000 per hectare.

Why are you still here, reading this?

7 – Barry FitzGerald: With uranium set to jump, Boss is racing to get Honeymoon over the production line

Barry FitzGerald braved icy conditions at the Melbourne Mining Club’s Cutting Edge series to bring you this uranium update, so pay attention.

Michael Alkin at the US uranium-focused hedge fund Sachem Cove Partners is an industry guru, and he reckons the uranium price needs to nearly triple from today’s (spot) price of about $US25/lb.

Which Aussie producer are you going to back? The safest might be “all of them”, but if you’re looking for a small explorer with big ambitions, Garimpeiro rugged up to hear about what Boss Resources (ASX:BOE) had to offer.

For starters, it’s under the guidance of someone well-known for uranium success stories, former Husab developer Duncan Craib.

If you’d rather just listen to Fitz chew the fat, his fireside natter with lithium producer ioneer Ltd’s MD Bernard Rowe is also well worth settling in for:

8 – The Explorers: Chalice Gold Mines’ Alex Dorsch on making millions from drilling… and when they might actually mine

Let’s just get this out of the way early – Alex Dorsch is clearly way too young and really, really good-looking to be managing director of a multimillion-dollar success story.

Fortunately, there’s an app for that, so:

Picture: Someone, somewhere in Russia

Sorry Alex.

Now we concentrate on how amazing the company he MDs, Chalice Gold Mines, is. Because although it clearly says “Gold Mines” on the box, Chalice hasn’t actually ever mined anything, ever. Yet it holds about $34m in cash and investments; it also hasn’t raised any capital since about 2011.

And in 2012, it sold its Zara gold project in Eritrea, Africa, to a Chinese-Eritrean consortium for about $US115m.

What sorcery is this? (Along with that which keeps him looking like he’s just finishing college.)

The clue lies in the words “Zara gold project“. This is a fascinating interview, promise.

9 – Top 10 at 10: These ASX stocks are in the groove this morning

Are you catching our Top 10 at 10 posts in the morning, even though they come out around 10.19?

We know you are, actually, because there’s a chunk of them sitting in our most read for the week.

For those that are missing out, tune in around 10.19am – or watch our Twitters – and we’ll let you know who’s trying to get a sneaky headstart on the ASX every morning.

And we have a very good reason why it’s inaccurately named. Because we like the sound of “Top 10 at 10”, and the ASX opens at 10am. But stock tickers are added alphabetically, and it takes around 15 minutes for all of them to get on the board.

That’s our story, and we’re sticking with it. Here are some other popular fast-starters during the week – Southern Gold (ASX: SAU) on Wednesday, and White Rock Minerals (ASX: WRM) on Tuesday.

10 – The Secret Broker: Why it’s worth paying extra for a little bit more love

Years of broker abuse from fat boy lunches, red wine and after-dinner ports will eventually take their toll.

Eventually, you’ll cave in to a massage, and inevitably, they’ll become regular massages.

The Secret Broker is already well down the road in this, but has realised there’s more than a cash price that needs to be paid – as in, ageing massage therapists also have their problems.

In TSB’s case, he has to listen to Ron’s woes about how he managed to lose his and Mrs Ron’s entire life savings in a ‘second mortgage high income fund’. And it’s an old, old story that TSB has heard too many times.

Here’s how he helped Ron’s story finish with a happy ending, and maybe yours will too.

If you’re prepared to pay for a little extra love…

That’s quite enough for this week. Thanks for being a Stockhead, rest up.