Today on Stockhead, the Tassie explorers riding a renewable wave, Aeris’ Andre on why we can’t keep ignoring copper, and Merchant Group’s diagonstic biotech picks.

But first the day ahead…

TRADING HALTS

These companies went into trading halts on Monday:

Far East Gold (ASX:FEG) – Capital raising.

Clime Investment Management (ASX:CIW) – Announcement to the market regarding a strategic agreement between the company and a ‘significant party.’

Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) – Preparing a response to recent media speculation.

Resource Mining (ASX:RMI) – Capital raising.

Evolution Energy Minerals (ASX:EV1) – Announcement in relation to a material transaction.

Splitit Payments (ASX:SPT) – Announcement concerning a significant transaction, including an application for the removal of Splitit from the Official List of ASX.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,907.o9 (-0.33%)

Silver: US$22.59 (-0.35%)

Nickel (3mth): US$20,050/t (-0.90%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,292/t (-2.50%)

Oil (WTI): US$82.44  (-0.9%)

Oil (Brent): US$86.17 (-0.74%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$104.63/t (-0.70%)

AUD/USD: 0.6486  (-0.2%)

Bitcoin: US$29,366 (-0.1%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Talon Energy.

…and a little more out of Canada with an ASX IPO flavour.

For all you crypto lovers Stockhead’s Coinhead Twitter is the place to share your views, insights, tips and ideas.

Also, be sure to check in preopen each day for ‘Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch’, and 10.30am for our daily ‘10 at 10’ column — a live summary of winners & losers at the opening bell.

 

MONDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from Friday’s close:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

Well-named newcomer Lithium Universe (ASX:LU7), listed on Monday off the back of an oversubscribed $4.5 million IPO at $0.02, and it’s seen a chunk of action already.

The company’s joined a long list of ASX diggers on the hunt for lithium in the James Bay region of Canada, and at the time of writing, had climbed to $0.06 per share after hitting the market running at $0.048 yesterday.

Noronex (ASX:NRX), has climbed 53.86% on last week’s news that drilling at the company’s 100% owned Fiesta and Blowhole projects has commenced on schedule, following up on earlier drilling that hit intercepts including 8m @ 2.5% Cu and 9m @ 1.8% Cu, 82g/t Ag.

And in third spot, it’s MetalsGrove Mining (ASX:MGA), up 36.3% by the close on some fabulous news from the company’s Arunta Project area in the Northern Territory.

MetalsGrove says drilling has hit high-grade carbonatite rare earth (REE) grades of up to 7,000ppm (0.70%) TREO, 35% MREO/TREO, 28% NdPr/TREO and 36% Y₂O₃/TREO.

 

MONDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

MEANWHILE ON MONDAY…

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH, TSXV:HCH, OTCQX:HHLKF) is well chuffed to have filed a critical National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for its Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile.

In short it says the previous economic and technical numbers add up:

Via HCH

HCH is one of the stronger copper developers listed on the ASX, with an advanced coastal portfolio in Chile’s Atacama region, where the company’s flagship Costa Fuego Hub – consolidating the Cortadera porphyry copper-gold deposit, the Productora copper-gold deposit, and the historically producing El Fuego tenements – has been turning heads.

Hot Chili’s MD and CEO Christian Easterday says the Technical Report supports the Costa Fuego Copper-Gold Project Preliminary Economic Assessment.

Meanwhile, Altech Batteries (ASX: ATC) (FRA: A3Y) says the company’s pro-rata non-renounceable entitlement offer has received binding commitments for the shortfall shares, raising gross additional funds of $2,538,000.

Altech has received binding commitments from major German shareholder – Deutsche Balaton Aktiengesellschaft – as well as from 180 Markets, for a total of 36,257,139 shares at $0.07 a pop.

CFO Martin Stein says the shares will be issued to sophisticated and professional investor clients of 180 Markets, and subject to the funds being received, Altech intends to issue all shares on Wednesday 16 August 2023.

“Altech is pleased with the support for the shortfall. The Company received a great deal of interest from investors to participate,” Stein said.

Total proceeds have now been raised of $15,838,208, including $3,000,000 from the recent placement, as well as the allocation of $12,838,208 from the Entitlement Offer and shortfall.

“There has been a great deal of interest from the market in the CERENERGY® and Silumina AnodesTM battery projects,” Stein said.

“We believe that the market is becoming more aware of the enormous potential upside to these projects, as well as the ability and reputation of world leading German government research and development institute Fraunhofer, Altech’s joint venture partner in the CERENERGY® battery project.”

Amaero International (ASX:3DA) responded to an ASX price query regarding the change in the price of 3DA’s securities since 04 August 2023 from a low of $0.140 to a high of $0.230.

Adelaide-based 3DA, which is big into the research, development, manufacture, and sale of laser-based metal additive products, has been laying low since it delivered a fairly pedestrian earnings report last month.

Meanwhile, EcoGraf (ASX:EGR) is rather unhappy with Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU)  after the latter announced that it’s “lodged an opposition to a pending patent application relating to the purification of graphite.”

“Renascor considers the pending patent application to be overly broad and relating to processing procedures that are not sufficiently novel or inventive to merit patent protection.”

It’s the very same patent application made by EcoGraf and referred to in its ASX announcement dated 08 November, 2021.

As such, EcoGraf would like it known that “after an extensive examination, the written opinion of the Examiner at the International Preliminary Examining Authority is that all 25 of the patent claims are novel and inventive”, which then “paves the way for the grant of the patent”.

And so, after reviewing the Evidence in Support (filed by Renascor), EcoGraf filed its Evidence in Answer, and the opponents have filed their Evidence in Reply – which is why a delegate of the Commissioner of Patents has been appointed to consider the matter and IP Australia is expected to hold a hearing on the matter later this year.

Should be exciting.