Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 08 May, 2024 – a terrible day on the calendar for being The Pope, because it was on this day in history that not one, not two, but three Popes came to the end of their time at the Big Boy table.

The first was in 535, when Pope John II’s reign came to an inglorious end, because he died.

The next, in 615, was Saint Boniface IV’s final day as Pope, because he died.

And just 70 years later, in the most awful of coincidences, St Benedict II’s reign as Catholic Pope ends after a measly 11 months as the mouthpiece of The Lord, upon his death.

The Pope’s death. Not the Lord’s. Just so we’re clear.

Luckily for you, you won’t need to die, or even be The Pope, in order to get the Word from Above on how things are looking on the markets this morning.

That’s because Bevis Yeo’s had a look at silver-tinted ASX hopeful Sun Silver, and Christian’s somehow made himself look busy writing about… banks. Yeah, let’s go with that. It’s about banks.

Plus, as per usual because no one ever sticks around to help me, I’ve slaved away all afternoon to bring you all the data and digits and highlights listed below to help prep you for Wednesday – which, I suspect, I won’t be here for because I have a date tonight and I secretly hope she kills me. Nicely, of course.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,310.80 (-0.22%)

Silver: US$27.21 (-0.91%)

Nickel (3mth): US$19,255.10/t (+2.76%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,972.83/t (+2.48%)

Oil (WTI): US$78.59 (+0.15%)

Oil (Brent): US$83.45 (+0.16%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$119.56/t (+1.28%)

AUD/USD: 0.6591 (-0.48%)

Bitcoin: US$63,555.60 (+0.62%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Eddy Sunarto’s piece on those bastard “Forever Chemicals”, PFAS, is a joy to behold. So you should behold it. Here’s a link. Behold it!

They call PFAS the “forever chemicals”, because they tend to stick around forever. Short for Per-and Polyfluorinated Substances, #PFAS are used in tons of stuff. | SciDev ( #ASX : $SDV ) https://t.co/VeTI0di4XX

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) May 6, 2024

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:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.002	100%	586,469	$3,153,311
ADY	Admiralty Resources.	0.012	50%	2,444,376	$13,035,792
PEC	Perpetual Res Ltd	0.013	44%	14,568,571	$5,760,265
FGL	Frugl Group Limited	0.110	41%	214,727	$7,746,829
CHK	Cohiba Min Ltd	0.004	33%	5,795,012	$10,764,733
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.002	33%	300,000	$3,035,096
ODE	Odessa Minerals Ltd	0.004	33%	1,895,971	$3,129,848
OZZ	OZZ Resources	0.041	32%	102,646	$2,868,434
TTT	Titomic Limited	0.082	32%	16,819,857	$62,659,423
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.027	29%	38,424,837	$67,873,402
CGO	CPT Global Limited	0.120	26%	122,457	$3,980,250
TGH	Terragen	0.025	25%	200,000	$7,381,623
1AG	Alterra Limited	0.005	25%	34,050	$3,448,586
BUR	Burleyminerals	0.065	25%	503,211	$6,779,289
CCO	The Calmer Co Int	0.005	25%	20,330,985	$5,443,519
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.003	25%	387,389	$1,426,974
TEM	Tempest Minerals	0.010	25%	745,520	$4,152,995
BLZ	Blaze Minerals Ltd	0.006	20%	386,069	$3,142,791
EMT	Emetals Limited	0.006	20%	1,667,100	$4,250,000
HXL	Hexima	0.012	20%	205,000	$1,670,396
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.006	20%	1,192,736	$9,774,545
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.003	20%	75,000	$5,034,435
CHW	Chilwaminerals	0.650	18%	326,662	$25,231,251
EMU	EMU NL	0.026	18%	11,400	$1,484,845
NME	Nex Metals Explorat	0.020	18%	41,278	$5,993,053

Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

The winners table on Tuesday was dominated early by diggers and explorers without a lot of news to back it up, other than some fairly hefty moves among certain commodities over the past week or so.

Cohiba Minerals (ASX:CHK) announced yesterday that a strategic review of the Olympic Domain project, which the company says “adjoins one of the biggest IOCG discoveries”, has “confirmed strong prospectivity for IOCG mineralisation which warrants further investigation”.

Macro Metals (ASX:M4M), which owns 100% of the Agbaja Iron and Steel project located in Kogi State in the Republic of Nigeria, was on the move again today. Aside from a positive quarterly activities and cashflow report from about a week ago, we’re not seeing anything as yet that substantiates today’s fresh burst from M4M.

One company with news was Westar Resources (ASX:WSR), climbing on Tuesday after delivering some great finds from the Mindoolah Mining Centre, where stockpile grab samples have returned assays up to 40.7g/t Au and 214g/t Ag, with other samples testing at 13.6, 12.3, 9.4, 6.9, 5.8g/t Au. The company is also reporting a 1.7g/t Au and 16.1g/t Ag rock chip sample from quartz vein in the Mindoolah Main Reef open pit, and says that a systematic stockpile and open pit sampling program is planned for the site.

Antilles Gold (ASX:AAU) was moving on news that results of the Scoping Study for the first stage of the proposed Nueva Sabana gold-copper mine in Cuba are in, showing that the deposit has a small 3g/t gold cap, an underlying copper-gold zone, and a deeper sulphide copper zone that is open at depth at 150m, and could potentially transition into the El Pilar porphyry copper deposit which is offset to the south.

Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) was up after announcing “outstanding magnetic REO (Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb) recoveries” averaging 68% overall, with world class recoveries averaging 69% NdPr and 48% DyTb from a bulk sample analysed at ANSTO1 confirmed at the company’s Ema rare earth project.

Titomic (ASX:TTT) announced that it has completed the strategic sale of a custom Titomic Kinetic Fusion System (TKF System) to US-based Triton Systems, which counts as one of its lead consumers as the US Homeland Security sector, among other far less spooky applications for its tech.

ikeGPS Group (ASX:IKE) said five new IKE PoleForeman subscription agreements are being put in place with major US electric utilities, with an expected Total Contract Value (TCV) of ~NZ$4m, and Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of NZ$1.3M. Since the launch of this next-gen product in late 2023, the company has added TCV of more than NZ$12m, representing ~NZ$4m of ARR.

Gold 50 (ASX:G50) was progressing its high-potential projects in America’s southwest, particularly in Arizona at its Golconda Project and in Nevada at its White Caps project. It was well up today after announcing an extraordinary general meeting. There appears to be a company change of name underway. Erm… extraordinary stuff. Guess you’d best stay tuned for that one.

SKS Technologies (ASX:SKS) secured several major contracts for a range of electrical and communications infrastructure projects at the Australian Defence Force’s RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory. The combined value of the projects is approximately $11 million.

And Recce Pharmaceuticals (ASX:RCE) revealed that China has formally granted a new Patent Family 2 for Recce’s anti-infectives “Copolymer and Method for Treatment of Bacterial Infection, with expiry of 2035. This is the final of Recce’s wholly owned patents granted for Family 2, with the company now patent-protected in all major pharmaceutical markets globally.

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:

	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
APC	Aust Potash Ltd	0.002	-63%	198,928,483	$16,000,758
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.001	-50%	791,019	$11,649,361
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.001	-33%	127,939	$3,264,346
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.001	-33%	1,781,382	$11,677,324
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,711,000	$3,124,130
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.001	-33%	720,000	$16,074,312
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.002	-25%	707,628	$7,356,542
IEC	Intra Energy Corp	0.002	-25%	4,491,000	$3,381,563
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.003	-25%	2,172,510	$6,979,637
AVC	Auctus Invest Grp	0.460	-23%	5,000	$45,319,045
MPK	Many Peaks Minerals	0.130	-21%	609,070	$7,307,046
SVG	Savannah Goldfields	0.028	-20%	118,565	$9,837,972
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	257,296	$27,111,136
SAN	Sagalio Energy Ltd	0.004	-20%	52,000	$1,023,301
SHO	Sportshero Ltd	0.004	-20%	7,070,783	$3,089,164
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.004	-20%	18,099,284	$29,475,335
SNS	Sensen Networks Ltd	0.022	-19%	646,140	$20,914,296
AFA	ASF Group Limited	0.040	-18%	16,000	$38,827,479
HOR	Horseshoe Metals Ltd	0.009	-18%	774,490	$7,125,565
PFT	Pure Foods Tas Ltd	0.035	-17%	3,788	$4,632,378
AHN	Athena Resources	0.003	-17%	67,091	$3,211,403
BCK	Brockman Mining Ltd	0.020	-17%	52,804	$222,725,571
GSM	Golden State Mining	0.010	-17%	1,115,552	$3,352,448
ICR	Intelicare Holdings	0.010	-17%	5,000	$2,817,894
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.005	-17%	107,127	$38,547,193