Good morning everyone, and welcome to Friday, 27 October.

Aussie shares are poised to open higher this morning, despite a selloff on Wall Street overnight. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by +0.2%

On Stockhead today…

Albemarle’s Australian country manager Beverley East appeared at the WA Mining Club, and told attendees lithium will reign supreme in EV game.

Nadine McGrath spoke to the CEO of Immutep, the ASX cancer fighter that’s having a golden run of trial success.

And it wasn’t all that long ago – just July this year actually – that Victoria moved to ban gas connections for new homes from the 1 January 2024 in a move to reduce emissions and allow households to slash their energy bills. Bevis Yeo breaks down how local councils for the cities of Melbourne and Sydney are getting in on the act by agreeing to build no council facilities with fossil fuel connections by the end of the decade, and phasing out the use of fossil fuels by 2040.

But first…

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,984.29 (+0.24%)

Silver: US$22.78 (-0.48%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,317/t (+0.24%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,032/t (-0.24%)

Oil (WTI): US$83.51 (-2.17%)

Oil (Brent): US$88.24 (-2.10%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$118.45/t (-0.03%)

AUD/USD: 0.6324 (+0.3%)

Bitcoin: US$34,186 (-1.2%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) shareholders will net a 1430% gain in just 12 months if they take up a massive offer for the lithium explorer from major shareholder SQM, one of the world’s largest lithium producer.

Lithium Energy (ASX:LEL) now has a greater level of confidence in the resources present at its Solaroz lithium brine project after upgrading the bulk of the resource – 2.4Mt LCE – into the indicated category.

Rob Badman and Josh Chiat’s lowdown on EV sales tripling by 2030, lithium market manipulation, and 5 graphite stocks.

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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Yesterday’s Small Caps highlights:

Lachlan Star (ASX:LSA) has been a huge beneficiary now DevEx Resources (ASX:DEV) has done with the canny sale of its portfolio of copper-gold exploration assets in the Lachlan Fold Belt to LSA.

In a great deal for DEV as well, the company gets 75,672,720 ordinary shares in LSA for a deemed value of $7.5 million (representing a holding of 36.46%) plus a 2% net smelter royalty.

DevEx’s managing director Brendan Bradley, and executive director Stacey Apostolou, will also join the board of LSA.

“The sale of our NSW copper-gold assets to Lachlan Star allows us to focus on the exciting emerging discoveries we have at the Nabarlek Uranium Project in the NT and Kennedy Ionic Clay-hosted REE Project in Queensland.

“The transaction will see the copper-gold portfolio become the key focus for Lachlan Star, with DevEx retaining exposure to the significant upside of these assets through our 36% shareholding,” Bradley said.

 

Also, Oleg Vornik’s DroneShield (ASX:DRO), the Aussie counter-drone equipment maker, is heading to Kyiv, deploying to Ukraine under the latest Aussie Government aid package.

Oleg says DRO’s received ‘multiple orders from the Australian Government as part of a $20mn military assistance package to Ukraine.’

DRO is delivering well over half of that entire package – a total value to DroneShield of $10.4mn.

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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TRADING HALTS

Webcentral Group (ASX:WCG) – Pending an announcement by Webcentral in relation to a business and assets sale transaction

Income Asset Management Group (ASX:IAM) – Pending a capital raising by way of placement

Omnia Metals (ASX:OM1) – Pending the release of an announcement regarding a material acquisition

Iris Metals (ASX:IR1)  – Pending an announcement by the company to the market regarding material exploration findings from a diamond drilling program

Findi (ASX:FND) – Pending an announcement by Findi in relation to the execution of a contract that will have a material impact on earnings

Industrial Minerals (ASX:IND) – Pending release of an announcement in relation to a proposed project acquisition

Paterson Resources (ASX:PSL) – Pending an announcement in relation to a capital raising

SportsHero (ASX:SHO) – Pending an announcement concerning a capital raising

Carnavale Resources (ASX:CAV) – Pending an announcement regarding exploration results from drilling at the company’s Kookynie Gold Project

Sabre Resources (ASX:SBR) – Pending an announcement to the market in relation to a capital raising

Mineral Commodities (ASX:MRC) – Requested as the company expects to make an announcement in connection with an accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer