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Good morning everyone, and welcome to 03 May, 2024 – an important date in ancient astronomy, as it was on  this day in 1374BC (so, like… 3,400 years ago) that there was a lunar eclipse.

We know this, because it was seen by Mesopotamian astronomers, who wrote “On the day of the new moon, in the month of Hiyar, the Sun was put to shame, and went down in the daytime, with Mars in attendance.”

Ancient Egyptian astronomers also saw it, but they wrote “Bird. Bird. All Seeing Eye. Man Walking Backwards” which doesn’t translate nearly as well.

Luckily for you, you won’t need to cower from the disappearing sun in mortal fear, nor will you need a torch to find the info you need to get today off to the best possible start, as Jess Cummins looks at whether lithium carbonite prices are really going to triple by the end of the year, and Cam Drummond’s looks into who’s prepping to follow BHP into the wilds of the South American copper boom.

And Eddy Sunarto’s done a cracking job of laying out the land in the US, where it’s looking like all your legal weed dreams are closer than ever to reality.

Plus there’s all the data and digits and highlights listed below to help prep you for what’s very likely to be Friday, unless I’m horribly mistaken.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,304.35 (-0.60%)

Silver: US$26.36 (-1.08%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,618.53/t (-1.85%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,826.07/t (+0.36%)

Oil (WTI): US$79.55 (+0.70%)

Oil (Brent): US$84.10 (+0.80%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$117.27/t (+5.37%)

AUD/USD: 0.6530 (-0.04%)

Bitcoin: US$57,703.10 (-0.97%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

There’s a lot happening up the big end of town, and Josh Chiat’s Monsters of Rock had the guts of it covered yesterday. Here’s a link, in case you missed it.

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

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Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Cracking the top of the small caps market on Thursday was critical minerals-hunting junior Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA), smashing through on news that the company has identified a promising new niobium-REE gravity target at the Mt Clere tenement, located in the northwestern margins of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia.

It’s an extensive, 40km long target catchment area with potential for alkaline intrusive systems including carbonatites, and the company says that infill soil sampling is underway, so we can expect further updates soon-ish.

Pivotal Metals (ASX:PVT) said it’s concentrating its efforts in Quebec, Canada, eschewing the usual trendy lithium search in that region in favour of copper, nickel, and PGMs. First assay results from the first two of 34 diamond drill holes are back from its 100% owned Horden Lake project. It’s hit some thick copper zones, with Cu-Ni-Au-PGM-Co mineralisation, including 37.5m at 1.31% Cu equivalent.

Vinyl Group (ASX:VNL) was up on news that that Songtradr has issued a conversion notice for a portion of its Tranche #2 convertible note, increasing its beneficial ownership in VNL to 19.95%. The company says that Songtradr will convert a principal balance of $1,629,351 into 77,588,162 ordinary shares in VNL at the conversion price of $0.021 per share, with Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire saying his company is “very impressed with the strategic progress and discipline Josh and the team at Vinyl Group have shown over the last year”.

Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI) said it has entered into a non-binding MoU with Neo Performance Materials (TSX:NEO) for an offtake of 3,000 metric tonnes total rare earth oxide (TREO) per year from its Caldeira Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil, to supply Neo’s magnet manufacturing plant. The deal allows a right of first refusal for Neo to purchase additional MREC (mixed rare earth carbonate) that Meteoric produces from the Caldeira Project in excess of 6,000 MT TREO per year, on similar terms.

Augustus Minerals (ASX:AUG) has been granted a co-funded drilling grant of up to $110,000 for 2x 700m deep diamond drill holes under the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) for the Minnie Springs prospect. The deeper diamond drill program is designed to test and to provide a 550m deep, 1km wide geological/geochemical/structural cross-section through the large 3km long by 1km wide copper moly porphyry system, linking the Mo mineralised leucogranite to the extensive Cu in soil anomaly to the northeast.

Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL) said Funds Under Management and Administration (FUMA) increased by $11.7 billion (+3.9%) to $312.3 billion as at 31 March. Total net outflows for the quarter were $1.7 billion, largely reflecting the transitory impact of execution of wrap platform consolidation.

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

TRADING HALTS 

Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) – pending release of exploration results.

Tourism Holdings (ASX:THL) – pending the release of a market guidance update.

Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (ASX:SXE) – pending the announcement of a material project award.

Theta Gold Mines (ASX:TGM) – pending the release of an announcement regarding a capital raise.

Uvre (ASX:UVA) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a potential acquisition of a mineral project and capital raising.

 

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