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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Wednesday, 15 November.

Aussie shares are poised to jump higher at Wednesday’s open on the back of a soft US CPI overnight . At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by +1.3%.

On Stockhead today…

Despite increased internet usage and tremendous growth, more than 350 million Indians are still either unbanked or underbanked. Eddy Sunarto spoke to ASX fintech Findi’s non-executive chairman, Nicholas Smedley, to see how the company is working to grab this opportunity.

Slow progress of acceptance in legal and medical circles globally has seen ASX cannabis stocks face volatility. Nadine McGrath spoke to MGC Pharma’s managing director and CEO Roby Zomer, who said MXC has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, distancing itself from the classification of a cannabis company.

But first..

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,963.09 (+0.88%)

Silver: US$23.08 (+3.49%)

Nickel (3mth): US$17,398/t (+0.82%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,167/t (+1.64%)

Oil (WTI): US$78.25 (0.00%)

Oil (Brent): US$82.46 (-0.07%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$128.78/t (+0.34%)

AUD/USD: 0.6512 (+2.00%)

Bitcoin: US$35,587 (-3.00%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Already credited with driving Spartan Resources’ (ASX:SPR) transformation, the high-grade Never Never deposit looks poised to deliver the next phase of growth after drilling returned a monstrous 1,093g/t intercept and more visible gold.

Altech Batteries (ASX:ATC) has increased the Silumina project DFS output eightfold from 15 GWh to 120 GWh to produce 8,000tpa of alumina-coated metallurgical silicon for the electric vehicle market. It’s enough to outfit 400 Victorian big batteries.

And this…

While juniors are pursuing critical minerals such as lithium or rare earths, Greenvale is taking a distinctly unique tack with three-pronged strategy into bitumen, geothermal energy and helium – all potentially lucrative in their own right. https://t.co/IPwBp7IYvB #ad #ASX $GRV

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) November 13, 2023

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	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
MTC	Metalstech Ltd	0.22	83%	2,436,757	$22,632,551
CPM	Coopermetalslimited	0.22	57%	9,935,336	$7,450,471
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.07	49%	152,109,173	$112,146,570
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.005	43%	11,638,553	$9,444,022
ERW	Errawarra Resources	0.19	41%	6,075,852	$12,949,290
ADS	Adslot Ltd.	0.004	33%	1,129,329	$9,673,487
SBR	Sabre Resources	0.046	28%	26,458,483	$12,858,795
MAG	Magmatic Resrce Ltd	0.074	28%	843,165	$17,730,182
YRL	Yandal Resources	0.07	27%	1,211,449	$8,679,169
FNX	Finexia Financialgrp	0.285	27%	25,043	$10,890,608
CRB	Carbine Resources	0.005	25%	500,000	$2,206,951
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.0025	25%	7,193,695	$7,668,207
MKL	Mighty Kingdom Ltd	0.02	25%	50,000	$6,725,914
AKO	Akora Resources	0.175	21%	62,611	$13,772,508
ESR	Estrella Res Ltd	0.006	20%	5,602,873	$8,795,359
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.012	20%	468,846	$10,638,867
EEG	Empire Energy Ltd	0.16	19%	1,140,984	$104,371,355
CXU	Cauldron Energy Ltd	0.013	18%	11,815,283	$12,453,798
FFG	Fatfish Group	0.013	18%	863,416	$13,092,637
EMS	Eastern Metals	0.033	18%	113,849	$2,307,935
LRD	Lordresourceslimited	0.081	17%	90,551	$2,562,116
ATH	Alterity Therap Ltd	0.007	17%	733,888	$14,639,386
LML	Lincoln Minerals	0.007	17%	4,705,885	$10,163,072
LRL	Labyrinth Resources	0.007	17%	14,020	$7,125,262
TOY	Toys R Us	0.014	17%	4,180,154	$11,789,562

Yesterday’s Small Caps highlights:

MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) has made short work of Tuesday, ahead by about 125% when we last looked at about 3pm.

MTC yesterday shared some fine, fine results of a Scoping Study the team have done at its 100%-owned Sturec Gold Mine in central Slovakia.

“The Study confirms Sturec Gold Mine can support a Base Case scenario with an underground-only mining operation delivering gold and silver concentrate production of ~1.134Moz AuEq production over an initial mine life of 9 years at 2.3Mtpa plant production capacity.”

The digger says, based on a forecast gold price of US$1,850/oz (Consensus LT Forecast), the Sturec Gold Mine ‘exhibits an operating margin of >200%.’

In another cracking update, Cooper Metals (ASX:CPM) said it had some significant assay results in hand from its Brumby Ridge and Raven Cu-Au Prospects at the Mt Isa East Cu-Au Project.

Initial RC drill hole 23MERC024 intercepted 50m at 1.32% Cu from 80m including 2m @ 6.1% Cu & 0.23g/t Au at the Brumby Ridge Cu-Au Prospect, which is the best assayed drill intercept at the Mt Isa East Cu-Au Project to date.

Also making progress yesterday, Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM), after lobbing an update from its ongoing exploration at Mick Well within the highly prospective Gascoyne Province.

KFM executice director and CEO James Farrell says they’re seeing some significant additional carbonatites and REE mineralisation.

“The latest discoveries confirm Mick Well is a very large and exciting REE system that extends over an area of more than 7km by 4km.

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.008	-43%	2,924,943	$1,771,208
TWE	Treasury Wine Estate	0.053	-34%	581,072	$6,110,884
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.0015	-25%	5,000,000	$6,047,530
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0015	-25%	4,090,239	$31,285,147
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.003	-25%	156,666	$5,884,801
XF1	Xref Limited	0.135	-25%	498,228	$33,511,732
EYE	Nova EYE Medical Ltd	0.145	-22%	2,298,638	$35,266,345
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.002	-20%	2,485,133	$3,629,983
LBT	LBT Innovations	0.004	-20%	653,249	$1,779,502
RMX	Red Mount Min Ltd	0.004	-20%	12,469,106	$13,367,880
BRU	Buru Energy	0.11	-19%	625,204	$80,465,816
PH2	Pure Hydrogen Corp	0.12	-17%	2,469,076	$51,498,510
NGL	Nightingale Intel	0.044	-17%	23,518	$5,693,993
NYM	Narryermetalslimited	0.1	-17%	120,000	$5,759,229
AUH	Austchina Holdings	0.0025	-17%	816,356	$6,233,651
ICN	Icon Energy Limited	0.005	-17%	175	$4,608,082
LVT	Livetiles Limited	0.005	-17%	29,437	$7,062,664
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.005	-17%	3,553,515	$7,543,751
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.031	-16%	1	$21,523,874
MCL	Mighty Craft Ltd	0.0105	-16%	3,993,290	$4,555,531
3PL	3P Learning Ltd	0.96	-16%	139,470	$313,216,457
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.004	-16%	222,778	$7,197,180
AMM	Armada Metals	0.028	-15%	71,500	$5,694,746
ALM	Alma Metals Ltd	0.006	-14%	4,827,629	$7,798,006
BFC	Beston Global Ltd	0.006	-14%	1,612,000	$13,979,328