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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Monday, October 7, 2024 – an important date in the history of escaping murderous hordes of unhappy people.

That’s because it was on this day in 1870 that Leon Gambetta, a revolutionary who had managed to make the entire city of Paris very, very angry, took a (somewhat anachronistic) leaf from the cartoons of our childhood by choosing a unique means of escape.

Or should I say, a unique means of flight – because, in order to ensure that he got beyond the streets of Paris, where he would have been apprehended and probably murdered on sight, Gambetta got into a hot air balloon to waft to safety instead.

Luckily for you, you won’t need to be full of hot air in order to get your hands on good pre-market info today.

That’s because – as always – we’ve worked super-hard to gather 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$2,653.25/oz (-0.09%)

Silver: US$32.23/oz (+0.61%)

Nickel (3mth): US$17,992/t (+2.29%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,943.50/t (+0.79%)

Zinc: US$3,166/t (+1.34%)

Oil (WTI): US$74.45/bbl (+0.09%)

Oil (Brent): US$78.14/bbl (+0.12%)

AUD/USD: 0.6799 (-0.65%)

Bitcoin: US$62,136 (+0.09%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Stockhead’s Gold Digger looked at the role geopolitical risk has played in gold’s world record price run, and why the World Gold Council still views bullion as an essential hedge against uncertainty.

Uncertainty sends investors looking for safety and the World Gold Council says geopolitical risk is helping bullion hit all-time highs. $BTR $STK $FXG ->https://t.co/pFIFJ2MSJR pic.twitter.com/82zITlaXvB

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 4, 2024

FRIDAY’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	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.002	100%	300,000	$611,622
H2G	Greenhy2 Limited	0.006	50%	11,302,149	$2,392,737
IBG	Ironbark Zinc Ltd	0.003	50%	6,395,778	$3,667,296
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	50%	6,603,738	$13,843,224
IMI	Infinitymining	0.043	39%	283,568	$4,208,068
FGL	Frugl Group Limited	0.022	38%	500,000	$1,678,538
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.002	33%	189,151	$9,296,169
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.002	33%	505,833	$2,451,607
RNE	Renu Energy Ltd	0.002	33%	544,456	$1,206,201
ILA	Island Pharma	0.135	29%	2,647,415	$13,323,330
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.005	25%	1,100,000	$5,296,765
RIL	Redivium Limited	0.005	25%	269,000	$10,987,419
TGH	Terragen	0.041	24%	22,021	$12,179,677
TZL	TZ Limited	0.026	24%	454,362	$5,388,245
XGL	Xamble Group Limited	0.027	23%	5,899	$6,515,456
AUZ	Australian Mines Ltd	0.009	20%	4,747,322	$10,488,841
CCZ	Castillo Copper Ltd	0.006	20%	1,000,000	$6,497,527
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.003	20%	3,000	$10,692,115
OLI	Oliver'S Real Food	0.012	20%	101,025	$4,407,319
CBL	Control Bionics	0.082	17%	341,135	$14,650,074
ATV	Activeportgroupltd	0.048	17%	689,986	$14,491,103
WCN	White Cliff Min Ltd	0.025	17%	103,837,734	$34,217,136
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.004	17%	2,911,419	$6,172,342

Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Control Bionics (ASX:CBL) reported a significant improvement in NDIS approvals alongside the launch of a long-term leasing program for its Trilogy system. Trilogy is designed to help individuals with neurodegenerative conditions gain quicker access to vital communication technology.

The company has received approvals from the NDIS totalling close to $400,000 in the past eight weeks. There has been a growing momentum in NDIS approval process in recent times, noted Control Bionics, adding that its new long-term leasing program for Trilogy has been well received.

Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) meanwhile traded nicely off the back of its news from Thursday.

The company announced it has successfully dosed all subjects in the Phase 2a part of its ISLA-101 clinical trial for dengue fever.

This trial, called PROTECT, includes both a preventative (Phase 2a) and a therapeutic (Phase 2b) approach. Subjects will be exposed to an attenuated strain of the dengue virus, and results from Phase 2a are expected by the end of 2024. The Phase 2b trial is set to begin in January 2025.

As part of this, ILA is raising $3.5 million in a two-tranche placement to achieve its “near term inflexion points”. The raising was struck at 7 cents per share, a 12% discount, with one attached options for every share issue at the same price. Half of the oppies expire within 12 months of issue; the other half within 24 months. Subject to shareholder approval, the placement was supported by well-known biotech names including Dr Daniel Tillett, the head of cancer drug repurposer Race Oncology (ASX:RAC).

Infinity Mining (ASX:IMI) signed a binding agreement to acquire the Cangai copper mine and surrounding tenements in northwest NSW from Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ).

Cangai historically produced some super high grades of copper ore in the past, ranging from about 7-10% with silver and gold credits to boot back in the early 1900s.

Diamond drilling by CCZ from 2018 returned up to 14.45% copper, 5.93% zinc and 40.1g/t Ag, including a best intersection of 4.39m at 5.06% Cu, 2.56% Zn and 20.1 g/t Ag from 49.9m. With a modern arsenal of exploration and development tools, the explorer is set to hit the ground running at Cangai, which already has a 114,000t of copper metal JORC resource, after a due diligence period.

Tambourah Metals (ASX:TMB) reckons there’s enough data to announce potential extensions to the lode gold system at Tambourah King, with results from the latest RC drilling showing significant highlights of:

5m at 2.02g/t Au from 53m, including 1m at 3.35g/t Au from 54m in TBRC042 and 6m at 2.05g/t Au from 18m, including 1m at 4.61 g/t Au from 23m in TBRC043. 11 holes total were drilled and from the RC drilling, and TMB has scored into a 150m strike extending the known gold system.

A couple of hiccups recently saw ex-WA Premier Mark McGowan-backed Frontier Energy (ASX:FHE)’s share price in the doldrums, but it is now back on the rise after updating its finance strategy for Stage One of its Waroona renewable energy project.

After just ditching a $23m equity raise, it’s now looking at non-dilutive funding options to progress Waroona, a project that combines a 120MWdc (megawatts of direct current) solar facility with an integrated 4.5-hour duration 80MW/360MWh lithium-ion phosphate battery to supply clean electricity into the South West Interconnected System.

It’s on track to reveal an updated definitive feasibility study (DFS) which is expected to demonstrate several key capital cost reductions compared to the original DFS, is on track for delivery in Q4 this year and is key to progressing discussions for the project.

And there’s nothing like a big copper discovery to end the week, which White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN) now knows all about, after finding some super high veins of the red metal at its Rae project in Nunavut, Canada. Grades of rock chips across a long stretch of the project area have been assayed and reveal up to 64.02% copper at Rae’s Don and Pat prospects.

FRIDAY’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:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
GEN	Genmin	0.055	-29%	3,365,521	$53,526,416
AQC	Auspaccoal Ltd	0.120	-25%	4,027,112	$85,870,953
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.003	-25%	810,365	$7,422,971
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.003	-25%	400,000	$15,629,893
ICU	Investor Centre Ltd	0.003	-25%	362,597	$1,218,045
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.002	-25%	6,171,889	$3,657,305
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.002	-20%	37,978,500	$72,334,530
AIV	Activex Limited	0.004	-20%	333,924	$1,077,513
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.004	-20%	1,013,031	$15,000,000
GGE	Grand Gulf Energy	0.004	-20%	861,744	$12,251,936
AR3	Austrare	0.135	-18%	858,514	$26,064,018
AHN	Athena Resources	0.005	-17%	1,288,400	$6,422,805
CUL	Cullen Resources	0.005	-17%	54,482	$4,160,411
RGL	Riversgold	0.005	-17%	4,157,500	$7,964,776
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.003	-17%	186,900	$17,685,201
SNX	Sierra Nevada Gold	0.055	-17%	595,155	$8,115,778
NYR	Nyrada Inc.	0.099	-14%	1,526,758	$20,954,000
BMR	Ballymore Resources	0.125	-14%	15,141	$25,625,935
PIM	Pinnacleminerals	0.045	-13%	845,530	$2,364,092
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.004	-13%	138,202	$4,953,948
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.004	-13%	331,199	$10,846,075
PIL	Peppermint Inv Ltd	0.007	-13%	780,000	$16,970,867

TRADING HALTS

Panther Metals (ASX:PNT) – pending announcement on exploration results

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While White Cliff Minerals, Tambourah Metals and Frontier Energy are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.