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Good morning everyone, and welcome to 11 July June, 2024 – an important day in the history of the solar system.

That’s because it was on this day in 1735 that, according to mathematicians and astronomers and stuff, Pluto changed places with Neptune and became the 8th-most distant planet, because of its eccentric orbit.

That orbit routinely – every 258 years, to be precise – brings Pluto inside the orbit of Neptune for about 20 years, which is something I never knew until now and I’m sure has absolutely no bearing on Astrology, because I doubt those whackos knew about this either.

If you’ve already done the maths in your head, well done you – because yes, it has happened since then… in 1975, Pluto dared show its impertinence by sneaking inside Neptune’s orbit again, but it wobbled back out again in 1995. Allegedly.

But, it’s a bit of a moot point, these days – Pluto’s status as a planet is currently the source of a dead-end debate, because it was relegated to the status of “rapidly moving rock” a few years ago, when scientists decided they’d had quite enough of Pluto’s shenanigans, thank you very much.

Instead, we now have 8 definite planets in the solar system, Pluto off being miserable about its demotion, and some pretty out-there theories about a mysterious Planet Nine.

It’s got that dumb name for a few reasons, chiefly that we’re not even sure it exists, but also because if you could imagine the politics behind getting to choose a name of a “new” planet in the solar system, you’ll quickly figure out that it would be close to impossible.

I reckon we should just call the new planet “Your Mum” and be done with it.

Luckily for you, you don’t need to be soaring through the dark, inky void on the outer edge of our solar system in order to get your hands on the info you need today because – as always – I’ve thrown together lots of fiddly little things below, so you don’t need to go ferreting all over the internet for your ASX info this morning.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,369.85 (+0.25%)

Silver: US$30.71 (+0.03%)

Nickel (3mth): US$16,977/t (-0.88%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,762/t (+0.02%)

Zinc: US$2,871/t (-1.84%)

Oil (WTI): US$81.17 (-0.76%)

Oil (Brent): US$84.34 (-0.82%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$110.51/t (+0.44%)

AUD/USD: 0.6743 (-0.01%)

Bitcoin: US$58,959.80 (+1.57%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Does the outlook for steel demand in places like India and SE Asia bode well for iron ore prices? Read this, and find out…

 

 

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:

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Killi Resources (ASX:KLI) was killin’ it on Tuesday and backed it up again on Wednesday, with a late surge sending it sailing high and tight on Tuesday’s news of assays from surface rock chip sampling which returned high-grade gold and copper results at the Kaa target, within the 100% owned Mt Rawdon West Project in Queensland.

Killi reported one very high-grade sample which came back from the lab at 238g/t Au, 2.1% Cu & 513g/t Ag, which the company says it believes is representative of the surface outcrop of a mineralised structure.

Prior to that, Infini Resources (ASX:I88) was leading the way Tuesday on some stunning uranium assays. A while back, the company announced that its uranium assays were too much for the lab to handle, so they sent them somewhere else to get tested. Well… those came back and the numbers are huge, with assays as high as 74,997ppm U3O8.

AXP Energy (ASX:AXP) was up on news that its Pathfinder #2 well is back on production. The flow rate is restricted due to gas disposal restrictions, which are being addressed. The company says the Pathfinder Field oil production is  averaging ~40 barrels per day with growth anticipated as more wells are brought into production and gas-to-power operations scale up.

Mako Gold (ASX:MKG) was up on news that a scout 1,500m reverse circulation drill program has commenced at the Tchaga North prospect, targeting three high-grade zones identified from recent mapping and trenching programs which located values of 4m at 3.97g/t Au, including 1m at 14.80g/t Au; and 4m at 1.79g/t Au, including 1m at 5.34g/t Au.

WhiteHawk (ASX:WHK) was up earlier on news that it has finalised its first contract with an ASX 100 Listed Company, Tabcorp Holdings Limited, for an Essential Cyber Risk Program that will include cyber risk monitoring for three Business Units where analytics are performed to provide an executive, actionable overview, and a quarterly comprehensive Cyber Risk Assessment.

 

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 

Orthocell (ASX:OCC) – pending an announcement by the Company in relation to receipt of regulatory approval for Striate in Canada.

Nimy Resources (ASX:NIM) – pending an announcement with regards to a proposed material capital raise.

WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) – pending the release of an announcement to the market in relation to a proposed capital raising.

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN) – pending an announcement in relation to an agreement for the funding and development of the Pular Lithium Project.