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Good morning everyone, and welcome to 29 April, 2024 – an important date in the history of having a gossip on the phone, as it was on this day in 1930 that Britain and Australia were finally linked by telephone.

It was a memorable day for everyone involved, and rumour has it that the first ever phone call between the two countries was a made by Australian cricket captain Bill Woodfull, who called his English counterpart Percy Chapman, to tease him for having a stupid girly name and double-check that it would still be okay to crash on his couch when the Aussie cricket team toured there later in the year.

So brutal was the sledging that Chapman never really recovered, leading to him losing the captaincy to the more manlier-named Bob Wyatt, who promised to exact a terrible revenge while stroking the back of poor little Percy’s hand, and feeding him cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off – the closest thing Britain had to over-the-counter pain relief at the time.

But Wyatt’s reign at the top of the English team would also prove to be shortlived, after it was decided that he was far too ugly to be captain, replacing him with Douglas Jardine, who in turn also swore to exact revenge for Woodfull’s long distance sledge, while drawing a sad face in the paper bag that selectors had made Wyatt wear over his head to hide his hideous visage.

Jardine eventually did get to take the Aussie cricket team to task in the 1932-33 Ashes tests, instructing his bowlers to employ a new tactics that became known as “bodyline”, which was hugely controversial as the only helmets Cricket Australia had access to in those days were a half-dozen Brodie Mark I steel helmets that had managed to survive being relentlessly plinked at by Turkish sharpshooters at Gallipoli.

Rattled by Jardine’s overt cheating, Australia went on to lose that Ashes series 4-1, but at the cost of the English captain’s standing in the community.

Jardin was eventually dumped from the English team altogether, and – after surviving a concerted effort by a number of horrified cricket fans at Dunkirk during World War 2, Jardine eventually realised that his life was as good as over.

Broke, destitute and despised around the world, the only option available to Jardine was at the very bottom of the barrel – and thus, he lived out the rest of his days as a cricket journalist.

The good news for you is that you won’t have to sink to the unfathomable depths of being a journalist to get the info you need this morning before the ASX opens – because it’s all right here at Stockhead, such as Eddy Sunarto’s illuminating chat with stock picking wizard Mark Minervini, and Josh Chiat’s profile of super-explorer Mark Creasy.

And I, gentle reader, have spent several gruelling minutes compiling some data, digits and highlights – all listed below – to help prep you for a happy Monday on the bourse.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,349.60 (+0.03%)

Silver: US$27.22 (+1.58%)

Nickel (3mth): US$19,100.00/t (-0.30%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,852.69/t (+0.63%)

Oil (WTI): US$83.72 (-0.05%)

Oil (Brent): US$89.29 (+0.21%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$110.16/t (+0.28%)

AUD/USD: 0.6531 (-0.10%)

Bitcoin: US$63,578.40 (+0.19%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

If you missed Bevis Yeo putting the gassy cat among the pigeons, here’s his wonderful view at what’s happening in the Australian energy market.

 

 

FRIDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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Friday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Infinity Mining (ASX:IMI) reported a 2,700oz maiden resource at Great Northern, part of the 63,000oz Central Goldfields project. IMI is aiming for a resource of 500,000oz across the project area, which comprises 10 mining and prospecting licences in the Eastern Goldfields region of WA. The small explorer reckons the 63,000oz uncovered so far has “good mining potential” because the gold starts at surface, is wide enough and of sufficient grade for open pit mining.

American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) has received an indicative, conditional and non-binding proposal from a NASDAQ-listed Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) to acquire the company’s 100% owned subsidiary Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc, which holds the company’s 2.34 billion tonne Halleck Creek Rare Earth Project. The proposal would have resulted in Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc. being listed (via a combination) with the SPAC as a separate entity on the NASDAQ. ARR’s board says it will look into the proposal to ensure optimal returns to shareholders.

Earths Energy (ASX:EE1) posted a solid rise in the wake of the company’s statement on Wednesday that “recent significant government initiatives and policy updates that align with the company’s strategic vision for growth of the renewable energy sector.

Similarly, Belararox’s (ASX:BRX) quarterly report on Wednesday has carried momentum through to this morning’s session, after the company assured investors that its three projects, one each in Agentina, New South Wales and Western Australia, are all tracking well.

Osteopore (ASX:OSX) is moving rapidly again today (up +29.4% this morning) after getting another speeding ticket from the ASX about a sudden rise earlier in the week, which the company countered with some nonchalant whistling and a “nowt to see ‘ere, guvnor”.

Australia’s only ASX-listed music company, Vinyl Group (ASX:VNL),  announced that RealWise Group Holdings (RGH) has elected to convert its convertible note into VNL ordinary shares. Following this week’s EGM where shareholders approved the option to convert the convertible note in full or in part by RGH, the full principal balance of $6,955,413 will be converted into stock at a conversion price of $0.04482 per share. The resulting conversion will see RealWise Group Holdings become the largest shareholder of Vinyl with an approximate 34% holding.

Loyal Lithium (ASX:LLI) says the Trieste Lithium Project is taking shape with Dyke #04 returning more thick near-surface high grade drill assay results. The now completed winter drilling program has recorded many notable near-surface sub-perpendicular results including: 32.8m of 1.2% Li2O from 27.6m, and 31.8m of 2.2% Li2O from 2.9m.

WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) announced that assays from broad-spaced RC and diamond drilling have extended the shallow high-grade blanket of niobium mineralisation to the east at Luni. Best new intersections from 200m spaced drill holes in the east include: 3m at 4.0% Nb2O5 and 73m at 0.8% Nb2O5.

And in the large cap space, dual-listed gold major Newmont (NYSE:NEM ASX:NEM, TSX:NGT) produced 2.2Moz in the first quarter of 2024, generating over US$1.4 billion in cash. The US$50bn capped behemoth declared a dividend of US25c/sh for the quarter. Full year guidance is unchanged at 6.93Moz at US$1400/oz all in sustaining costs.

 

FRIDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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TRADING HALTS 

Iron Road (ASX:IRD) – Pending the release of an announcement in relation to a significant transaction related to its Cape Hardy Industrial Port Precinct development.

Nexion Group (ASX:NNG) – Pending an announcement regarding a material acquisition.

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