Here are the key ASX small cap winners and losers at lunchtime Tuesday June 12.

The ASX Small Ords hit a new seven-year high today of 2,868.6. It was up 6 points at 2,858.9 at 12.50pm AEST.

MOST TRADED

Atlas Iron (ASX:AGO) was the most traded small cap on the ASX today after much larger rival Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) took a further 15 per cent chunk of the struggling junior iron ore producer – raising its stake to 19.9 per cent.

The shares dropped 5 per cent to 3.8c by 1pm AEST.

The move is part of an attempt to block Mineral Resources’s (ASX:MIN) “friendly” takeover of Atlas.

While Fortescue is not commenting further on the matter, UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock believes Fortescue’s motivation is Atlas’s 63 per cent stake in the 50 million tonne per annum export facility being built in Port Hedland.

GOING UP

Marindi Metals (ASX:MZN) jumped 33 per cent to 1.6c after finding six ounces of gold nuggets at its Bellary Dome conglomerate gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The company told investors today they are just like the ones found by Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) and Canadian partner Novo Resources at their projects in the Pilbara.

“The stratigraphic position of the conglomerates within the Bellary Dome project is similar to the gold-bearing horizon at the Comet Well/Purdy’s Reward projects – that is, a sequence of conglomerates and other sediments directly above Archaean basement and below the Mt Roe Basalts,” boss Simon Lawson said.

Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) gained 25 per cent to 25c in early Tuesday trade after positive results from initial drilling at its Vares project in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The drilling had delivered a “combination of highest grade and thickest intercept to-date” including 64 metres at 4.6 grams of gold per tonne, 537g/t of silver and 10.8% of zinc.

Adriatic’s CEO Geraint Harris said the “exciting” results were “some of the highest grade polymetallic results on the ASX” and “had the potential to add significant tonnes to any future resource”.

Talent quest host MSM Corp (ASX:MSM) moved ahead 25 per cent today after telling shareholders it was “reducing costs and expanding reach”.

MSM last month raised the curtain on a move into cryptocurrency-style digital tokens and talent management – after emerging from a four-month ASX suspension.

It’s also working on an Indian lauch of its online “Megastar” talent search quest which will bring in a minimum of $US500,000 per year plus 15 per cent of any profits under a joint venture agreement.

MSM said it had just closed a successful capital raising of $3.6 million.

Here’s a snapshot of the best performing ASX small caps at 12.30pm AEST Monday Jun 12.

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ASX code Company Price change today (12.30pm AEST) Price (Tue 12.30pm AESTR) Market Cap Volume
MEM MEMPHASYS 1 0.002 5.1M 29M
VPR VOLT POWER GROUP 0.5 0.003 20.6M 5M
NIU NIUMINCO GROUP L 0.5 0.003 6.0M 21M
MNB MINBOS RESOURCES 0.5 0.003 10.6M 9M
LNY LANEWAY RESOURCE 0.5 0.003 8.4M 8M
JKA JACKA RESOURCES 0.5 0.003 1.9M 403k
AIY AUTHORISED INVES 0.375 0.066 10.6M 438k
SMA SMARTTRANS HLDS 0.333333333333 0.004 19.7M 500k
MDX MINDAX 0.333333333333 0.008 4.4M 63k
SRO SHAREROOT 0.25 0.005 5.5M 900k
S3R SERPENTINE TECHN 0.25 0.005 2.9M 13M
RRS RANGE RESOURCES 0.25 0.005 30.4M 3M
HDY HARDEY RESOURCES 0.25 0.005 6.1M 2M
DDD 3D RESOURCES 0.25 0.005 3.3M 9M
CLZ CLASSIC MINERALS 0.25 0.005 6.9M 1M
RVY RIFT VALLEY RESO 0.2 0.024 15.8M 308k
DW8 DAWINE 0.2 0.006 2.9M 1M
CTM CENTAURUS METALS 0.2 0.012 23.0M 33M
ADT ADRIATIC MET-CDI 0.179487179487 0.23 25.5M 2M
MZN MARINDI METALS L 0.0833333333333 0.013 21.4M 16M
MSM MSM CORPORATION 0.0833333333333 0.026 10.3M 696k
CLV CLOVER CORP 0.0483443708609 1.583 249.4M 81k
A3D AURORA LABS 0.0446428571429 0.585 36.6M 22k
LIT LITHIUM AUSTRALI 0.04 0.13 52.6M 258k
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GOING DOWN

Rex Minerals (ASX:RXM) fell 26 per cent to 12.5c after announcing it had completed a $6 million placement at 11c.

Rex is issuing 54.5 million new shares at 11c — a 35 per cent discount to last week’s closing price.

It now plans to “invite existing shareholders to invest in the company through a Share Purchase Plan at the placement price of 11c per share”.

AVZ Minerals (ASX:AVZ) continues to be sold down after chairman Klaus Eckhof offloaded 32.5 million shares over three days last week.

The news sent the share price of the Congo-focused lithium explorer down more than 42 per cent last Thursday.

AVZ shares were down another 7 per cent to 9.8c today compared to a 52-week high of 37c.

Here’s a snapshot of the best performing ASX small caps at 12.30pm AEST Monday Jun 12.

Swipe or scroll for full table. Click headings to sort data:

ASX code Company Price change today Price Jun 12 (12.30pm AEST) Market Cap Volume
OEX OILEX -0.25 0.003 8.0M 2M
NWE NORWEST ENERGY -0.25 0.003 13.5M 331k
AYM AUSTRALIA UNITED -0.25 0.003 5.1M 114k
RXM REX MINERALS -0.235294117647 0.13 37.5M 602k
BHL BOYUAN HOLDINGS -0.206896551724 0.46 199.0M 23k
SLX SILEX SYSTEMS -0.203703703704 0.215 46.0M 1M
TKF TIKFORCE -0.2 0.004 969.3k 2M
SUR SUN RESOURCES NL -0.2 0.004 3.8M 500k
NSE NEW STANDARD ENE -0.2 0.004 3.6M 530k
LCY LEGACY IRON ORE -0.2 0.004 7.3M 200k
SBR SABRE RES -0.2 0.012 5.5M 62k
RWD REWARD MINERALS -0.189189189189 0.15 25.1M 174k
TNY TINYBEANS GROUP -0.175 0.495 15.7M 12k
FYI FYI RESOURCES LT -0.16 0.105 23.2M 295k
TZL TZ -0.15 0.17 14.1M 280
NSL NSL CONSOLIDATED -0.142857142857 0.012 45.5M 2M
ALT ANALYTICA -0.142857142857 0.006 21.2M 621k
GLE GLG CORP -0.135135135135 0.16 13.7M 11k
NML NAVARRE MINERALS -0.130434782609 0.06 20.3M 187k
AVZ AVZ MINERALS -0.0666666666667 0.098 196.2M 30M
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