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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 26 April, 2024 – an important date in the history of the US legal system, as it was on this day in 1859 that a serving US Congressman was acquitted of murder, entering the history books as the first person in America to successfully use the defence of “temporary insanity”.

His name was Daniel E. Sickles, and he’s something of a curious figure in American history, but a particularly useful on for graphically illustrating how the US legal system is a multi-tiered beast, and that not all men are equal in the eyes of the law.

At some point in 1859 – the details are a little fuzzy – Sickles’ wife caught the fancy of another man, an unsurprising development as Sickles was a) 17 years her senior, and b) uglier than a handful of arseholes.

Enraged, Sickles confronted Philip Barton Key – the son of poet Francis Scott Key who wrote The Star Spangled Banner, (and several very grubby limericks) – over the affair.

Showing the sort of level-headed, even temperament for which he was known throughout the land, Sickle gunned Key down in broad daylight, shooting him multiple times as Key pleaded for his life.

Sickle was arrested and tried, with his lawyer throwing caution to the wind by admitting in open court that his client had, in fact, shot Key several times – but had done so in a state of rage over his wife’s infidelity.

“If he was in a state of white heat,” Sickles’s lawyer John Graham asked, “was that too great a state of passion for a man to be in who saw before him the hardened, the unrelenting seducer of his wife?”

The jury took the bait, and returned a verdict of not guilty – the fact that Sickles was politically well-connected, relatively wealthy and not a slave quite obviously counting in his favour.

The legal trouble devastated Sickles’ public perception. However, luckily for him, the American Civil War broke out very soon after the trial, and Sickles saw his chance to resurrect his reputation.

Despite having precisely zero military experience, Sickles set about raising a regiment of men to help him “do his part” for the Union, in order to have the ludicrously high rank of Brigadier General bestowed upon him.

Sickles’ inadequacies as a military tactician and leader were quickly laid bare, and in the wake of a handful of disastrous skirmishes that saw a sizeable percentage of his men run screaming from the battlefield, Sickles was ordered to take his troops to the front.

Through the gentle art of failing upwards – as all well-connected young men were able to do, usually to the detriment of everyone around them – Sickles was tasked with leading 12,000 men to take up a position on Cemetery Hill, south of the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Upon approaching the site where he had quite specifically been told to go to prepare for battle, Sickles again showed the depth of his worth as a military leader, abandoning the orders and taking his troops one mile further into the battlefield to occupy a patch of higher ground.

Within the hour, almost all of his 12,000 men had been killed – and Sickles himself was “grazed” by a cannonball. Three hours after that, his leg was amputated.

After the end of the Civil War, Sickles began to voice complaints that his leadership and sacrifice were not being sufficiently honoured – and so, he bitched, bleated and moaned to all who would listen for 34 years, until finally an incredibly frustrated US President William McKinley gave him the Medal of Honour, just to shut him up.

The good news is that you won’t need to complain for 34 years to get us to give you all the info you need to get your day started.

And I, gentle reader, have spent several gruelling minutes compiling some data, digits and highlights – all listed below – to help prep you for what should be a quiet-ish day on the bourse, as anyone with half a brain would have requested today off months ago… which explains why I’m here, I guess.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,322.87 (+0.04%)

Silver: US$27.33 (-0.56%)

Nickel (3mth): US$19,113.00/t (+1.76%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,752.63/t (+1.60%)

Oil (WTI): US$83.20 (-0.07%)

Oil (Brent): US$88.23 (-0.16%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$108.76/t (+0.13%)

AUD/USD: 0.6498 (+0.16%)

Bitcoin: US$66,360.00 (-0.09%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Something about lithium, something about bottom = clicks. Can’t believe we get paid for this.

.@MRLMinRes ( #ASX: $MIN ) has called the bottom in #lithium prices after selling a 22,000t #spodumene shipment on the spot market at US$1300/t 6% Li2O in March. https://t.co/soIeRMconH

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) April 24, 2024

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

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

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.002	100%	77,945	$1,474,734
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.002	100%	726,024	$2,176,231
OZM	Ozaurum Resources	0.069	44%	2,024,694	$7,620,000
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.002	33%	300,680	$3,035,096
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.002	33%	250,001	$11,677,324
CG1	Carbonxt Group	0.073	33%	374,808	$17,870,691
WMG	Western Mines	0.410	30%	1,894,464	$23,651,202
LU7	Lithium Universe Ltd	0.033	27%	2,887,899	$10,704,119
ACM	Aus Critical Mineral	0.078	26%	251,674	$2,190,228
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.005	25%	17,604,801	$7,819,636
NGS	NGS Ltd	0.005	25%	940,597	$1,004,910
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.020	25%	1,261,587	$1,599,228
OSL	Oncosil Medical	0.005	25%	4,300,000	$9,022,165
TIG	Tigers Realm Coal	0.005	25%	685,328	$52,266,809
MPK	Many Peaks Minerals	0.235	24%	378,955	$8,414,174
OPL	Opyl Limited	0.021	24%	248,739	$2,878,825
MGA	Metalsgrovemining	0.050	22%	82,601	$1,525,221
LRD	Lordresourceslimited	0.056	22%	333,150	$1,982,583
ASE	Astute Metals NL	0.041	21%	71,485	$13,957,663
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.006	20%	2,055,601	$5,049,825
WTM	Waratah Minerals Ltd	0.125	19%	255,045	$15,683,272
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.038	19%	32,656,929	$85,010,723
IND	Industrialminerals	0.160	19%	383,116	$9,282,600
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.020	18%	38,131,275	$54,945,135

Western Mines (ASX:WMG) says a ~750m (and counting) deep drill hole hit ~700m of rock containing “disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation and numerous sets of remobilised nickel sulphide veinlets” at the Mulga Tank project in WA. These cute veinlets — confirmed by spot pXRF up to 42.2% nickel — appear oblique to the drill core “indicating a possible source at depth”. Exciting times for the small explorer. The first 600m of core has been sampled and submitted to the lab for assay.

Ozaurum Resources (ASX:OZM) is up substantially over the past week, on low to average volume, and on no news. Its last announcement of note came mid-month when it started drilling the Boca Rica lithium project in Brazil. Chosen after the company reviewed and visited +100 projects in the State of Minas Geras, Boca Rica includes “extensive LCT pegmatite swarms” over a 1.7km stretch. This includes a bunch of 1m long spodumene crystals (usually grading 5-7% lithium). OZM is drilling below the weathered zone into fresh spod, and results are pending.

Canada focussed uranium and rare earths explorer, Newpeak Metals (ASX:NPM), has completed a $300,000 share placement at 1.5c/sh to Gerhard Redelinghuys, founder of former small cap success story Bowen Coking Coal (ASX:BCB). NPM expects to have binding commitments for another $200,000 via placement shortly. It will also undertake a Rights Issue to raise not less than $500,000 at the same issue price as the Placement shares.

Also up strongly, Carbonxt Group (ASX:CG1) has had a good March quarter, with an 8% increase in quarterly receipts. Sales of Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) were consistent q/q and up 56% on the prior period due to increased sales in non-coal fired power station channels. Aales of Activated Carbon Pellets (ACP) were up 37% on the last quarter.

Industrial Minerals (ASX:IND) has a maiden high purity quartz (HPQ) exploration target of 1.5-3 million tonnes grading 97-99% SiO2 at the Pippingarra quarry project in the Pilbara.

And Lycaon Resources (ASX:LYN) now has final permission to drill its Stansmore project, a proverbial stone’s throw from WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) globally significant niobium find in the West Arunta region of WA.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

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

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.001	-50%	2,040	$11,649,361
TD1	Tali Digital Limited	0.001	-50%	5,834,652	$6,590,311
NTM	Nt Minerals Limited	0.004	-27%	1,790,000	$4,729,466
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.002	-25%	29,031	$3,323,987
IEC	Intra Energy Corp	0.002	-25%	32,000	$3,381,563
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.003	-25%	1,373,382	$2,693,949
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.002	-25%	21,739,346	$6,306,622
ADR	Adherium Ltd	0.022	-24%	3,849,960	$9,861,159
AJX	Alexium Int Group	0.012	-20%	1,511,962	$9,918,161
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.016	-20%	540,000	$7,809,186
NVQ	Noviqtech Limited	0.004	-20%	20,454	$7,436,536
TMX	Terrain Minerals	0.004	-20%	3,070,107	$7,158,353
WWG	Wisewaygroupltd	0.110	-19%	53,541	$22,584,673
ID8	Identitii Limited	0.009	-18%	2,637,088	$4,732,618
RFT	Rectifier Technolog	0.009	-18%	2,840,005	$15,201,823
RXL	Rox Resources	0.185	-18%	1,192,931	$83,104,709
AGD	Austral Gold	0.030	-17%	300,000	$22,043,209
PVT	Pivotal Metals Ltd	0.015	-17%	727,000	$12,674,129
AZI	Altamin Limited	0.040	-17%	3,480,287	$21,064,754
GTR	Gti Energy Ltd	0.005	-17%	14,719,600	$12,299,683
LRL	Labyrinth Resources	0.005	-17%	1,800,185	$7,125,262
OAU	Ora Gold Limited	0.005	-17%	1,006,543	$34,836,005
PNX	PNX Metals Limited	0.005	-17%	2,253,000	$32,973,748
WSR	Westar Resources	0.010	-17%	1,897,406	$2,224,290
FNR	Far Northern Res	0.160	-16%	66,500	$6,791,707