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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 31 May, 2024 – an important day in history for learning about the perils of gold exploration.

That’s because it was on this day in 1578 that an English fella by the name of Martin Frobisher set sail on his third attempt to find the fabled “northwest passage”, that could provide a bit of a shortcut to Asia, but came home to become the laughing stock of Britain.

Frobisher had already had two stabs at find the northwest passage – the first was a total flop, and Frobisher came home pretty much empty handed, aside from a mysterious chunk of “black ore” found on Hall’s Island.

He had it assayed by experts in London, who declared it worthless, but Frobisher didn’t let that deter him from his belief that he had found something of value. So he took it to an Italian alchemist called Giovanni Battista Agnello, who proclaimed the ore to be rich in gold.

Frobisher needed no further prompting, and on the basis of the find he organised a second fleet to journey west, promising to look for the northwest passage – but mostly to load up on the ore that lay about in great quantities on Hall’s Island.

The crew spent several weeks loading up the boats with ore, stopping occasionally to brawl with the local Inuits, who were cranky because Frobisher kept trying to abduct them as souvenirs of his travels.

The second fleet returned to England, the ore was assayed and – to Frobisher’s dismay – some claimed it to be gold, and others claimed it was junk.

Even so, Frobisher talked several wealthy businessmen into financing his largest fleet yet for another run at Hall’s Island, and in 1578 he set sail with more than 400 men in tow, including 147 miners, four blacksmiths, and five assayers in the crew.

After failing to establish a colony at the site, and getting shot in the arse with an arrow by yet another irate Inuit who was cross about being abducted, Frobisher eventually managed to bring the fleet home – along with more than 1,000 tonnes of black ore.

He had it taken to specially constructed smelter at Powder Mill Lane in Dartford, where people who one would assume knew what they were doing spent five years failing to smelt even trace quantities of gold from the ore.

Eventually, Frobisher was convinced that he had wasted his time – and the ore that he had brought home junk, and any ‘gold’ it might have contained was actually iron pyrite… better known as Fool’s Gold.

Frobisher was embarassed into becoming a virtual recluse, and the 1,000 tonnes of useless stone was taken to London, where it was crushed and used for metalling in the surface of the city’s streets, leaving the streets of London officially paved with (fool’s) gold.

Luckily for you, assayers these days are better equipped at getting their readings correct – and the number of obviously “special” Italian alchemists convincing explorers to go on wild goose chases has dwindled significantly.

And that’s good news for you, because we all know how important it is that when we’re talking about precious metals, and all the other aspects of the ASX we cover, we’re bringing you the best information we can.

To help you this morning, Christian’s done his best to make sense of the Wonderful World of Elon Musk, Cam’s all about our relationship with lithium and China, and I’ve put together lots of fiddly little things below, so you can don’t need to go ferreting all over the internet for your ASX info this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,336.40 (-0.13%)

Silver: US$31.69 (-0.88%)

Nickel (3mth): US$20,252/t (+0.96%)

Copper (3mth): US$10,293/t (-0.84%)

Zinc: US$3,040.89/t (+0.09%)

Oil (WTI): US$79.22 (-0.03%)

Oil (Brent): US$83.55 (+0.02%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$117.68/t (+0.00%)

AUD/USD: 0.6605 (-0.10%)

Bitcoin: US$68,112.00 (+0.80%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

If you haven’t had a breakdown yet this week, here’s your chance to watch us Break It Down, as host Sarah Hughan delivers the goss on Latin Resources in under 90 seconds, or your pizza is free.

Stockhead’s Break it Down brings you today’s leading market news in under 90 seconds. In this episode, host Sarah Hughan tells all on Latin Resources’ upgrade at its Colina deposit in Brazil.https://t.co/QvVRork7iL #ASX $LRS @LatinRes

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) May 30, 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
MHI	Merchant House	0.059	69%	218,317	$3,299,327
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.003	50%	18,166,110	$57,785,344
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.002	50%	61,335	$2,525,119
NGS	NGS Ltd	0.003	50%	333,333	$502,455
NVU	Nanoveu Limited	0.030	36%	56,965,408	$9,805,303
FAL	Falconmetalsltd	0.285	36%	2,110,622	$37,170,000
MGA	Metalsgrovemining	0.059	34%	1,400,956	$3,956,062
SKN	Skin Elements Ltd	0.004	33%	307,361	$1,768,458
AL8	Alderan Resource Ltd	0.005	25%	16,424,684	$4,427,445
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.003	25%	200,000	$7,356,542
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.010	25%	39,734,860	$22,469,457
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.010	25%	248,526	$2,832,643
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.003	25%	1,228,030	$3,804,861
OAU	Ora Gold Limited	0.005	25%	132,949,813	$23,224,004
AGC	AGC Ltd	0.485	24%	2,719,474	$86,666,667
AHK	Ark Mines Limited	0.165	22%	77,231	$7,485,266
MDX	Mindax Limited	0.041	21%	1,137,795	$69,658,649
EQS	Equitystorygroupltd	0.030	20%	446,447	$2,724,837
FTC	Fintech Chain Ltd	0.012	20%	153,732	$6,507,696
TSL	Titanium Sands Ltd	0.006	20%	2,622,890	$11,058,736
LRD	Lordresourceslimited	0.065	18%	68,877	$2,961,729
MMI	Metro Mining Ltd	0.049	17%	48,217,659	$244,345,851
WEC	White Energy	0.042	17%	1,219	$4,076,472
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.004	17%	109,514	$9,507,891

Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) climbed on news that the company has signed a binding deal giving Rahum Nanotech exclusive distribution rights in South Korea for the EyeFly3D product, which “allows users to experience 3D without the need for glasses on everyday handheld devices”. NVU says Rahum must receive orders of ~$30 million by the end of 2026 to maintain exclusivity.

Big news for Ora Gold (ASX:OAU), after the explorer revealed that it is set to team up with miner Westgold (ASX:WGX) to bring OAU’s high grade 240,000oz Crown Prince deposit into production, with WGX signing on to snap up $6 million worth of shares in the junior for a cornerstone stake of around 15%.

Merchant House (ASX:MHI) announced that it’s set to sell off its 33% shareholding in Tianjin Tianxing Kesheng Leather Products Company to Tianjin Wuxi International Trading Company, for the equivalent of a cool $8.3 million Aussie dollars.

Sports data and analytics company, Catapult Group (ASX:CAT) was up +9% after the company hit a milestone revenue mark of US$100m for FY24, up 20% on pcp.

Ark Mines (ASX:AHK) surged due to a significant increase in mineral estimates at its Sandy Mitchell rare earth and heavy mineral project in northern Queensland. The company has announced a Maiden Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 21.7 million tonnes, surpassing expectations.

And, Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) has signed a Supply Agreement with SpectronRx for Cu-64 production. This adds a new Cu-64 manufacturer to Clarity’s network, addressing supply constraints and benefiting patients, especially in the US oncology market. Cu-64’s longer half-life overcomes limitations of other isotopes, providing broader access to PET imaging for cancer diagnosis.

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:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
SNX	Sierra Nevada Gold	0.075	-38%	435,737	$9,128,991
APC	Aust Potash Ltd	0.001	-33%	150,000	$6,030,284
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.002	-33%	13,021,314	$2,469,412
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.002	-33%	87,472	$36,612,769
BFC	Beston Global Ltd	0.003	-25%	3,340,386	$7,988,188
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.003	-25%	3,773,878	$34,356,478
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.012	-25%	426,666	$7,883,081
SI6	SI6 Metals Limited	0.003	-25%	16,265,642	$9,475,438
EXT	Excite Technology	0.007	-22%	10,546,375	$13,088,176
CLZ	Classic Min Ltd	0.004	-20%	12,173,687	$2,042,925
DOU	Douugh Limited	0.004	-20%	128,321	$5,410,345
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.004	-20%	200,000	$5,049,825
EXL	Elixinol Wellness	0.004	-20%	43,771	$6,505,370
VRC	Volt Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	442,500	$20,793,391
5EA	5Eadvanced	0.210	-19%	887,361	$86,727,118
CUS	Coppersearchlimited	0.110	-19%	386,684	$12,458,530
GTG	Genetic Technologies	0.100	-17%	476,100	$15,866,070
TSI	Top Shelf	0.100	-17%	725,987	$25,041,103
BUY	Bounty Oil & Gas NL	0.005	-17%	91,300	$8,991,006
GGE	Grand Gulf Energy	0.005	-17%	1,730,796	$12,571,482
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.005	-17%	230,000	$7,493,320
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.003	-17%	265,000	$6,353,323
LMG	Latrobe Magnesium	0.047	-16%	5,027,240	$108,430,973
CNB	Carnaby Resource Ltd	0.640	-15%	1,607,415	$129,812,621

TRADING HALTS

Mount Burgess Mining (ASX:MTB) – pending an announcement in respect of a capital raising.

Generation Development Group (ASX:GDG) – pending a release about a potential acquisition and associated capital raising.

Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) – pending an announcement regarding a capital raising.

Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a Farm-in and Joint Venture Agreement over lithium rights at the Norseman Project.

Javelin Minerals (ASX:JAV) – pending a capital raising.

Thunderbird Resources (ASX:THB) – pending the release of an announcement regarding a Capital Raising.

Iondrive (ASX:ION) – pending an announcement to the market in relation to a capital raising.