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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 13 May, 2024 – a curious day in history for a few different reasons.

On this day in 942, Duke Henry of Saxony became King Henry I of Oostfrankischreich, much to the delight of his local calligrapher, who was at that point still charging by the letter, rather than by the word.

On this day in 1732, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus sets off from Uppsala on a six-month journey to Lapland, eventually returning to Sweden where he was promptly arrested for repeated attempts to demonstrate his destination’s rather raunchy indigenous dancing on unwilling Swedes.

And it was on this day in 1791 that Napoleon I of France conquered Venice after finally listening to his advisers and equipping his soldiers with life jackets, and providing reinforcements to his troops via a battalion of jet skis on loan from the the Ottoman governor of Lebanon, Aḥmad al-Jazzār.

Luckily for you, you’re unlikely to require a floatation device or an anachronistic watercraft to navigate the ASX this morning, as our team has been hard at work preparing some fabulous stories for you today.

That includes Part Two of Nadine McGrath’s look at how security is being handled to protect your money in this bold new digital age, and Josh Chiat’s musings on why the contrarian nickel players could be about to feel a warm, moist sense of vindication.

Plus, because no one else wanted to, I’ve dragged my sorry old butt out of bed on Sunday evening (despite the Big Fella Upstairs being very clear about how he feels about making people work on The Lord’s Day) to bring you all the data and digits and highlights listed below to help prep you for the day ahead, while I prep for an eternity burning in hell.

I sure hope it was worth it.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,360.10 (+0.06%)

Silver: US$28.39 (+0.04%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,723.00/t (+0.07%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,897/t (+0.09%)

Zinc: US$2,913.00/t (+1.93%)

Oil (WTI): US$78.19 (-1.34%)

Oil (Brent): US$87.74 (+0.61%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$116.95/t (-0.03%)

AUD/USD: 0.6607 (+0.05%)

Bitcoin: US$60,818.60 (+0.01%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Come and get your head around the latest news from the Resources sector, featuring a photo of a guy who ignored the instructions on the ointment he bought for that rash on his goolies, and is now paying a terrible price.

Some of the biggest #ASX #resources #stocks winners in early trade today.

✴️ St Barbara Limited ( $SBM )
✴️ First Au Limited ( $FAU )
✴️ @perpetualPEC ( $PEC )
✴️ @BallymoreRes ( $BMR ) https://t.co/w1rD2mvISg

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) May 10, 2024

FRIDAY’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
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.002	100%	657,022	$7,784,883
ION	Iondrive Limited	0.011	57%	3,017,992	$3,403,997
AVW	Avira Resources Ltd	0.002	50%	699,500	$2,663,790
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.003	50%	49,128,436	$3,323,987
KLI	Killiresources	0.042	35%	144,295	$2,418,002
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.002	33%	145,860	$3,264,346
M2R	Miramar	0.012	33%	9,795,359	$1,674,782
GAS	State GAS Limited	0.155	29%	1,124,620	$32,907,215
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.040	29%	54,267,675	$100,194,069
HFY	Hubify Ltd	0.014	27%	647,097	$5,457,499
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.003	25%	3,000,000	$2,117,999
PLC	Premier1 Lithium Ltd	0.026	24%	177,402	$3,666,056
CGO	CPT Global Limited	0.160	23%	23,238	$5,446,657
UNT	Unith Ltd	0.016	23%	6,014,701	$15,904,686
SXG	Southern Cross Gold	3.270	22%	1,483,037	$260,087,686
SVG	Savannah Goldfields	0.034	21%	188,986	$7,870,378
CCO	The Calmer Co Int	0.006	20%	8,370,000	$6,804,398
EWC	Energy World Corpor.	0.012	20%	676,224	$30,789,212
GTI	Gratifii	0.012	20%	6,097,031	$16,120,450
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.003	20%	2,666,667	$11,212,737
WNX	Wellnex Life Ltd	0.024	20%	2,607,506	$25,790,912
OIL	Optiscan Imaging	0.108	19%	266,071	$75,180,672
MCM	Mc Mining Ltd	0.155	19%	106,003	$53,025,797
DXN	DXN Limited	0.038	19%	1,022,026	$5,916,459
EMP	Emperor Energy Ltd	0.013	18%	6,467,018	$4,218,112

Friday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Macro Metals (ASX:M4M) maintained its upward trend this morning, adding another +22.6% to take its tally for the week to +245%, and push it well through the +1,100% mark for the year to date.

TMK Energy (ASX:TMK) was up this morning, on the back of yesterday’s news that the company has raised $623,589 through a share purchase plan that provided eligible shareholders with the opportunity to subscribe for up to $30,000 worth of fully paid ordinary shares at $0.004 a pop.

State Gas (ASX:GAS) was up on news that the company has been awarded $5.5 million of exploration grant funding through the Queensland Government’s Frontier Gas Exploration Program.

IPB Petroleum (ASX:IPB) was showing a gain this morning on news that it has received firm subscriptions for a placement to professional and sophisticated investors of approximately 141.3 million new ordinary shares at an issue price of 0.7 cents per share to raise about $0.988 million before costs.

St Barbara (ASX:SBM) revealed its 10-year outlook for the Simberi mine in PNG. The company’s crystal balling is the result of a recent ‘Expansion Concept Study’ it conducted that considered as many as six different options/outcomes.

Takeaways for investors (assuming, that is, a 3.7Mtpa throughput rate):
• Total gold production of 2Moz
• Average annual gold production rising from 70,000 to 75,000oz in FY25 to FY27 to 230,000oz through to 2034; and,
• All-in Sustaining Costs decreasing to US$1,000-$1,200/oz from FY28 to FY34.

Everest Metals’ (ASX:EMC) Phase 1 resource drilling at the Mt Edon Critical Mineral Project has commenced with a ~1,400m RC program. Drilling to follow up pegmatite formation with previous results delivering 80m of rubidium at 0.32%, from surface. The drilling will result in the conversion of the current Exploration Target to a Mineral Resource Estimate in 2024.

And, engineering company Civmec (ASX:CVL) said in Q3 FY24, revenue came in at $258.3 million, a 37.6% compared to the pcp. NPAT reached $17.1 million, showing a solid increase of 16.9% on pcp. Furthermore, earnings per share (EPS) rose to 3.4 cents, up from 2.9 cents in the pcp. Finally, the company’s net cash balance saw a significant increase of a$52.6 million from the pcp, reaching a total of $35.9 million.

FRIDAY’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
SHO	Sportshero Ltd	0.003	-40%	1,557,247	$3,089,164
CNJ	Conico Ltd	0.001	-33%	623,719	$2,707,643
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.002	-33%	2,199,000	$4,830,065
RMX	Red Mount Min Ltd	0.001	-33%	619,000	$4,010,364
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.003	-25%	27,079,051	$115,570,688
ERL	Empire Resources	0.003	-25%	1,528,618	$5,935,653
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.003	-25%	105,890	$9,945,576
RLC	Reedy Lagoon Corp.	0.003	-25%	30,782	$2,478,163
BFC	Beston Global Ltd	0.004	-20%	1,746,308	$9,985,234
EXL	Elixinol Wellness	0.004	-20%	1,015,167	$6,505,370
ID8	Identitii Limited	0.008	-20%	798,485	$4,302,380
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.002	-20%	20,799,974	$4,132,948
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	1,323,840	$27,111,136
HOR	Horseshoe Metals Ltd	0.013	-19%	8,043,744	$10,364,459
AHN	Athena Resources	0.003	-17%	2,201,000	$3,211,403
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.005	-17%	18,520	$7,711,148
CAV	Carnavale Resources	0.005	-17%	349,208	$20,541,310
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.003	-17%	1,522,413	$2,140,462
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.003	-17%	2,275,662	$18,592,338
SHE	Stonehorse Energy Lt	0.010	-17%	1,615,528	$8,213,221
VRC	Volt Resources Ltd	0.005	-17%	994,866	$24,952,069
BMG	BMG Resources Ltd	0.011	-15%	896,934	$8,239,363
RTR	Rumble Res Limited	0.040	-15%	4,102,937	$33,035,935
TSI	Top Shelf	0.145	-15%	21,188	$35,474,896
KOR	Korab Resources	0.006	-14%	41,785	$2,569,350