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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Tuesday, October 8, 2024 – an important date in the history of tragic misunderstandings.

That’s because it was on this day in 1769 that Captain James Cook landed in New Zealand for the first time, near present-day Gisborne at Poverty Bay on the East Coast of the North Island.

The arrival of Cook’s boats caused a certain amount of consternation – as you’d expect – among the local Maori people, and a delegation was sent to meet the boats and the Europeans coming ashore.

As was tradition at the time, they performed a ceremonial challenge to the newcomers, which was promptly misinterpreted, leading to the shooting and death of Ngāti Oneone leader, Te Maro, creating a terrible first impression of Cook and his men.

Luckily for you, there’s no such challenge standing between you and all the pre-market info you need for 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$2,651.00/oz (-0.08%)

Silver: US$31.80/oz (-1.21%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,130/t (+0.77%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,904/t (-0.40%)

Zinc: US$3,172/t (-0.13%)

Oil (WTI): US$75.56/bbl (+1.60%)

Oil (Brent): US$79.08/bbl (+0.13%)

AUD/USD: 0.6782 (-0.13%)

Bitcoin: US$63,110 (+1.34%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Copper got Kristie Batten talking, and writing.

“The copper market looks to be awakening once again with prices rising over US$10,000 per tonne last week,” she writes here, highlighting some projects to keep an eye on.

Kristie Batten: BHP casts doubt over ‘easy’ copper projects … but we found a few > https://t.co/6N1LqhdiQ0

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 7, 2024

MONDAY’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
KM1	Kali Metals	0.195	63%	3,449,006	$9,219,315
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.006	50%	7,357,191	$5,830,347
SI6	SI6 Metals Limited	0.002	50%	100,000	$2,368,859
LTM	Arcadium Lithium PLC	6.170	48%	11,470,657	$1,441,850,132
RHY	Rhythm Biosciences	0.105	38%	4,675,064	$18,893,353
CR9	Corellares	0.012	33%	512,324	$4,185,832
HVY	Heavymineralslimited	0.135	29%	285,176	$7,039,577
GLN	Galan Lithium Ltd	0.145	26%	9,465,507	$68,547,402
RIM	Rimfire Pacific	0.039	26%	8,922,010	$71,152,267
PEC	Perpetual Res Ltd	0.015	25%	20,165,383	$8,832,365
IR1	Irismetals	0.225	25%	335,473	$25,039,797
WC8	Wildcat Resources	0.320	23%	10,289,297	$319,556,717
ARL	Ardea Resources Ltd	0.450	20%	180,798	$74,881,093
PR1	Pureresourceslimited	0.120	20%	72,731	$4,391,293
FTC	Fintech Chain Ltd	0.006	20%	178,651	$3,253,848
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.003	20%	270,786	$12,091,498
IAM	Income Asset	0.061	20%	5,489	$16,874,412
LTR	Liontown Resources	0.885	20%	34,802,543	$1,794,503,611
FL1	First Lithium Ltd	0.190	19%	228,511	$12,744,577
ARV	Artemis Resources	0.013	18%	2,126,576	$21,085,707
NMR	Native Mineral Res	0.026	18%	996,000	$8,764,209
G11	G11 Resources Ltd	0.020	18%	8,050,702	$15,837,576
PLL	Piedmont Lithium Inc	0.170	17%	2,548,824	$59,512,640

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY), a predictive cancer diagnostics technology company, is also shooting up the bourse today, having announced it’s received the first batch of the ‘Alpha’ version of multiplex antibody detection kits developed and manufactured by the Company’s CMO, Quansys Biosciences, in the USA.

Meanwhile, Kali Metals (ASX:KM1) has expanded its JV with Chilean lithium giant SQM, adding two new tenements: DOM’s Hill and Pear Creek. Kali is acquiring the new DOM’s Hill tenements from major shareholder Kalamazoo Resources (ASX:KZR) for a cash consideration of $100,000, while the Peak Creek tenement is being snapped up from KZR for just $20,000.

Arcadium Lithium (ASX:LTM) surged as Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) confirmed its interest in acquiring the smaller company, known for its direct lithium extraction at the El Fenix site in Argentina’s Hombre Muerto Salar.

Speculation about a takeover has been growing since a report in The Australian suggested Arcadium and Albemarle as potential targets for Rio, which aims to secure a major producer as lithium valuations have dropped. Rio is also testing its own DLE technology at the Rincon project, with a pilot set for completion this year. Despite recent challenges in lithium prices, Arcadium plans to expand production from 5,000tpa to 170,000tpa LCE by 2028.

MONDAY’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
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.001	-50%	4,457,092	$1,223,243
INP	Incentiapay Ltd	0.002	-33%	326,222	$3,795,720
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.002	-33%	3,000,000	$1,915,783
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.019	-30%	164,087	$10,542,401
BCB	Bowen Coal Limited	0.009	-29%	236,228,026	$35,165,876
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.008	-27%	8,431,881	$9,087,641
ATH	Alterity Therap Ltd	0.003	-25%	2,155,649	$21,281,344
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.003	-25%	1,471	$27,066,367
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.002	-25%	1,200,000	$6,185,067
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.003	-25%	634,627	$6,225,393
RNE	Renu Energy Ltd	0.002	-25%	63,449	$1,608,268
SIS	Simble Solutions	0.003	-25%	2,000,000	$3,013,803
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.002	-20%	14,670,166	$7,923,243
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.002	-20%	559,991	$14,737,667
WAF	West African Res Ltd	1.348	-19%	20,790,688	$1,895,033,022
BSN	Basinenergylimited	0.028	-18%	49,911	$2,827,098
M2M	Mtmalcolmminesnl	0.033	-18%	1,691,599	$8,999,025
IMC	Immuron Limited	0.084	-16%	2,472,093	$22,799,835
FSG	Field Solu Hldgs Ltd	0.017	-15%	785,813	$15,468,891
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.003	-14%	468,714	$9,490,315
SRN	Surefire Rescs NL	0.006	-14%	1,367,228	$13,904,155
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.006	-14%	8,346,071	$14,560,938

West African Resources (ASX:WAF) was down 19% despite affirming its guidance and stating that the Burkina Faso government remains supportive of its gold mining activities, with no indications of any plans to revoke permits.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) has entered into agreements with Homestead Energy where on completion, it will raise $11m by selling non-core acreage and data at the Prairie lithium project.

Orthocell (ASX:OCC) has has delivered a second consecutive quarter of record revenue reporting $2.03m in Q1 FY25, up 7.82% on the $1.88m achieved in Q4 FY24 as the company gains traction with new and existing surgeons, translating to growing sales of Striate+ and Remplir. Striate+ is a trademarked, collagen membrane designed to support dental guided bone and tissue regeneration procedures. Remplir is OCC’s trademarked collagen wrap used for peripheral nerve repair.

Celsius Resources (ASX:CLA) has reached an agreement to build the capacity of qualified individuals from local communities ahead of early works this year at its flagship Maalinao-Caigutan-Biyog (MCB) copper-gold project in the Philippines. Under the memorandum of understanding with the Regional Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the company will develop and enhance the skills of the host and neighbouring communities’ workforce. This will encompass employment and business opportunities for early works as well as the subsequent construction and operations phases.

Arika Resources (ASX:ARI) has secured firm commitments from sophisticated investors to raise $3.2m via a placement at $0.025 per share to accelerate drilling at its Yundamindra gold project in WA. The project sits on a mining lease strategically located 65km south-east of Leonora – meaning it’s in close proximity to a number of mills in a hot gold-mining district and is easily accessible by road.

Belararox (ASX:BRX) has plans to drill up to 6,000m at the highly prospective Toro-Malambo-Tambo (TMT) in Argentina after executing a letter of intent with Consour Drilling. The TMT copper project is situated smack-bang in the middle of several large operating mines and neighbours Filo del Sol, the project being acquired by BHP (ASX:BHP) and Lundin for $4.5b.

TRADING HALTS

Echo IQ (ASX:EIQ) – pending US FDA clearance and the appointment of a US based CEO
Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) – cap raise
Cyclone Metals (ASX:CLE) – pending announcement on pilot pellet production results
White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN) – cap raise
Riversgold (ASX:RGL) – cap raise and acquisition
Pilot Energy (ASX:PGY) – pending an offer to acquire its 376MW solar farm development project being developed in Three Springs, WA
Matsa Resources (ASX:MAT) – entitlement offer prospectus