Trading Places: The four new explorers Canadian billionaire Eric Sprott is backing

Want to know where fund managers are putting their money? We’ve been keeping track so you don’t have to.

Trading Places is Stockhead’s recap of the substantial holder movements among ASX small caps over the last fortnight.

Substantial shareholders are those holding 5 per cent or more of a company’s shares — these can be directors, individual investors, or institutional investors.

Shareholders are required to announce to the exchange when they cross above or below the 5 per cent threshold, as well as any change in their holdings while they remain above 5 per cent.

Buyers

Company	Code	Market Cap	Holder	Stake	Status
Resource Development Group	RDG	$126.5M	Reid Investments	5.49%	Becoming
Resource Development Group	RDG	$126.5M	Andrew Ellison	5.49%	Becoming
Mint Payments	MNW	$10.0M	UIL	16.01%	Increasing
SciDev	SDV	$98.1M	AustralianSuper	6.59%	Becoming
Talon Petroleum	TPD	$5.3M	Nero Resource Fund	13.51%	Becoming
BWX	BWX	$544.1M	Paradice Investment Management	6.78%	Increasing
Emeco Holdings	EHL	$383.3M	Paradice Investment Management	5.24%	Becoming
S2 Resources	S2R	$40.3M	Paradice Investment Management	6.45%	Becoming
Mineral Commodities	MRC	$109.2M	Zurich Pay Holdings	16.92%	Increasing
Pacific Star Network	PNW	$66.9M	Viburnum Funds	23.79%	Increasing
S2 Resources	S2R	$40.3M	Merian Global Investors	14.93%	Increasing
Priminence Energy	PRM	$924K	GTT Global Opportunities	15.73%	Becoming
RBR Group	RBR	$8.2M	Athol Emerton	11.27%	Increasing
A-Cap Energy	ACB	$12.2M	MM Asset Management	5.02%	Becoming
EMVision Medical Devices	EMV	$119.7M	Scott Kirkland	5.34%	Increasing
Greenvale Energy	GRV	$6.7M	Gun Capital Management	18.67%	Increasing
Greenvale Energy	GRV	$6.7M	Monarch Asset Management	6.89%	Increasing
Centaurus Metals	CTM	$122.9M	Dundee Corporation	5.17%	Becoming
Micro-X	MX1	$62.5M	Perennial Value Management	6.37%	Increasing
Vault Intelligence	VLT	$66.6M	Pie Funds Management	6.24%	Increasing
Angel Seafood	AS1	$13.9M	Thorney Opportunities	11.00%	Increasing
Vintage Energy	VEN	$27.7M	Acorn Capital	5.64%	Becoming
Aldoro Resources	ARN	$8.3M	Pioneer Development Fund	9.55%	Becoming
Australian Strategic Minerals	ASM	$116.1M	Ian Gandel	24.76%	Becoming
CardieX	CDX	$29.3M	Paul Cozzi	14.22%	Increasing
Salmat	SLM	$133.8M	Samuel Terry Asset Management	11.70%	Increasing
Identitii	ID8	$9.5M	KTM Ventures Innovation Fund	8.56%	Increasing
Middle Island Resources	MDI	$56.5M	Twynam Investments	6.85%	Increasing
Emeco Holdings	EHL	$353.7M	Paradice Investment Management	6.88%	Increasing
The Reject Shop	TRS	$238.5M	Wilson Asset Management	5.34%	Becoming
Adairs	ADH	$405.8M	Wilson Asset Management	7.21%	Increasing
Prominence Energy	PRM	$1.7M	Ian McCubbing	7.37%	Becoming
Yowie	YOW	$7.0M	Keybridge Capital	24.21%	Increasing
Smiles Inclusive	SIL	$5.2M	Phi Long Investment	16.42%	Increasing
5G Networks	5GN	$156.0M	JD Management Group	21.00%	Increasing
Freehill Mining	FHS	$82.6M	Gavin Ross	5.98%	Becoming
New Zealand Coastal Seafoods	NZS	$26.2M	Cyan Investment Management	5.03%	Becoming
Bard1 Life Sciences	BD1	$74.2M	Merchant Funds Management	13.29%	Increasing
YPB	YPB	$10.7M	John Houston	30.83%	Increasing
Dacian Gold	DCN	$203.1M	Perennial Value Management	5.05%	Becoming
Marenica Energy	MEY	$11.3M	Chris Retzos	10.46%	Increasing
Kinetiko	KKO	$40.8M	Brendan Gore	17.17%	Increasing
AF Legal Group	AFL	$13.8M	Moat Investments	5.03%	Becoming
Emetals	EMT	$9.0M	Venus Metals	9.10%	Increasing
Advanced Braking Technology	ABV	$13.3M	Keith Knowles	22.33%	Increasing
Electro Optic Systems	EOS	$827.5M	Regal Funds Management	5.26%	Increasing
Firefly Resources	FFR	$12.4M	Kevin Puil	8.20%	Becoming
GetSwift	GSW	$176.6M	Fidelity	8.37%	Increasing
AIC Mines	A1M	$20.1M	Josef El-Raghy	18.62%	Increasing
Navarre Minerals	NML	$67.8m	VBS Exchange	8.25%	Increasing
Redflow	RFX	$30.0M	Simon Hackett	10.79%	Increasing
GTN	GTN	$67.8M	Viburnum Funds	23.89%	Increasing
Capricorn Metals	CMM	$704.8M	Paradice Investment Management	9.94%	Increasing
Capricorn Metals	CMM	$704.8M	Eley Griffiths	6.45%	Increasing
BWX	BWX	$564.5M	Eley Griffiths	5.04%	Becoming
ISelect	ISU	$59.0M	Forager Funds Management	11.04%	Increasing
Powerwrap	PWL	$56.6M	Paremium	18.89%	Increasing
Jadar Resources	JDR	$21.5M	Valens International	10.01%	Becoming
National Tyre & Wheel	NTD	$56.5M	Tyres4U	9.30%	Becoming
Village Roadshow	VRL	$410.0M	BGH	39.92%	Becoming
Base Resources	BSE	$251.9M	Sustianable Capital	23.66%	Increasing
Terragen Holdings	TGH	$44.8M	One Funds MAnagement	7.73%	Increasing
Middle Island Resources	MDI	$55.0M	Regal Funds Management	6.96%	Becoming
Baby Bunting	BBN	$459.2M	United Super	5.05%	Becoming
Alt Resources	ARS	$32.6M	Harvest Lane Asset Management	9.85%	Increasing
Tempus Resources	TMR	$26.1M	Sprott	5.12%	Becoming
Saturn Metals	STN	$79.2M	Sprott	7.26%	Becoming
Adriatic Metals	ADT	$467.0M	Sprott	5.24%	Becoming
Centaurus Metals	CTM	$172.4M	Sprott	5.94%	Becoming
iSelect	ISU	$59.0M	Thorney Opportunities	15.07%	Increasing
Castile Resources	CDT	$51.9M	Merchant Funds Management	5.98%	Becoming
NSX	NSX	$23.2M	Nickolas Karantzis	19.22%	Increasing
Estrella Resources	ESR	$6.4M	Jason Peterson	5.01%	Becoming
Accelerate Resources	AX8	$6.3M	Syrcause Capital	7.44%	Becoming
Nustrana Resources	NUS	$73.6M	Federation Mining	13.31%	Becoming
AHA Life	AHL	$4.0M	Alex Waislitz	11.69%	Increasing
Uniti Group	UWL	$852.7M	Ausbil Asset Management	5.30%	Becoming
AIC Mines	A1M	$22.0M	Gold Elegant Investment	5.97%	Becoming
Greenvale Energy	GRV	$9.7M	Neil Biddle	11.68%	Becoming
Victory Mines	VIC	$3.6M	Davide Bosio	8.80%	Becoming
Consolidated Financial Holdings	CWL	$14.6M	DMX Asset Management	10.80%	Increasing
Knosys	KNO	$11.6M	Bombora Investment Management	6.20%	Increasing
Ariadne Australia	ARA	$82.4M	Kayaal	7.10%	Increasing
Indiana Resources	IDA	$9.7M	Bronwyn Barnes	5.90%	Increasing
Krakatoa Resources	KTA	$21.4M	Helmsdale Investments	5.75%	Becoming
Mint Payments	MNW	$13.1M	Doborani	22.04%	Increasing
HSC Technology	HSC	$13.4M	Russell Acquisitions	5.68%	Increasing
Pearl Global	PG1	$9.2M	ROC Alternative Investment	22.45%	Increasing
Piedmont Lithium	PLL	$43.1M	Fidelity	8.87%	Increasing
Greenvale Energy	GRV	$9.7M	Tony Leibowitz	6.45%	Becoming
Mint Payments	MNW	$12.1M	Perennial Value Management	11.59%	Increasing
4D Medical	4DX	$434.2M	Perennial Value Management	5.49%	Becoming
Vitalharvest	VTH	$146.2M	Salt Funds Management	7.29%	Increasing
Peel Mining	PEX	$72.9M	Hampton Hill	16.12%	Increasing
Tuas	TUA	$287.6M	Regal Funds Management	5.10%	Becoming
Piedmont Lithium	PLL	$43.1M	AustralianSuper	12.72%	Increasing
Finbar Group	FRI	$179.6M	Westoz Funds Management	8.50%	Increasing
Mint Payents	MNW	$12.1M	TAAJ Corporation	15.33%	Increasing
Surefire Resources	SRN	$5.0M	Jason Peterson	6.27%	Becoming

Canadian billionaire investor Eric Sprott has poured more cash into four junior explorers in the past fortnight.

Sprott’s investment vehicle, Sprott Group, has surpassed the 5 per cent threshold in WA gold explorer Saturn Metals (ASX:STN), Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) –which is a base metals play with projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North and South America-focused copper hopeful Tempus Resources (ASX:TMR) and Centaurus Metals (ASX:CTM), which has nickel and iron ore projects in Brazil.

Other substantial resources buys include Merchant’s 5.98 per cent stake in Castile Resources (ASX:CST), one of the few gold IPOs in 2020.

Among non-resources transactions, Regal Funds Management now has a 5.1 per cent stake in Singaporean telco Tuas (ASX:TUA). This was spun off from TPG prior to its acquisition by Vodafone.

Ausbil Asset Management, typically a name associated with larger caps, bought into telco Uniti (ASX:UWL). Uniti was last year’s most successful IPO and after more than halving earlier in the year has been on the way back up since the end of March.

Insurance comparison website iSelect (ASX:ISU) saw both Forager Funds Management and Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Opportunities top up their respective stakes, which are collectively over a quarter of the company.

Dean Fergie’s Cyan Investment Management crossed the threshold in New Zealand-based fish bladder seller New Zealand Coastal Seafoods (ASX:NZS), which has soared from 0.9c to over 6c in the last month off the back of new export deals.

Wilson Asset Management’s plays included retail stocks The Reject Shop (ASX:TRS) and Adairs (ASX:ADH).

Sellers

Company	Code	Market Cap	Holder	Current Stake	Status
Lithium Power International	LPI	$48.7M	Regal Funds Management	11.37%	Decreasing
Alto Metals	AME	$26.1M	Harvest Lane Asset Management	11.91%	Decreasing
Matrix Composites & Engineering	MCE	$16.9M	Allan Gray	8%	Decreasing
Damstra Holdings	DTC	$234.3M	Regal Funds Management	7.61%	Decreasing
Infigen Energy	IFN	$897.9M	Vinva Investment Management	0.00%	Ceasing
Bellevue Gold	BGL	$823.8M	Tolga Kumova	4.71%	Ceasing
Focus Minerals	FML	$78.6M	Neil S Subin	10.86%	Decreasing
Impact Minerals	IPT	$33.7M	Wyloo Metals	4.56%	Ceasing
Emeco Holdings	EHL	$374.1M	Perennial Value Management	0.02%	Ceasing
Marley Spoon	MMM	$584.2M	Perennial Value Management	9.30%	Decreasing
Maggie Beer	MBH	$48.7M	Perennial Value Management	12.36%	Decreasing
Magnis Energy Technologies	MNS	$148.9M	AL Capital	4.99%	Ceasing
Decmil Group	DCG	$69.5M	Criddle Family	2.12%	Ceasing
Kingwest Resources	KWR	$20.7M	1832 Asset Management	6.99%	Decreasing
Quickstep Holdings	QHL	$60.6M	Regal Funds Management	4.41%	Ceasing
Lifestyle Communities	LIC	$893.9M	Cooper Investors	5.09%	Decreasing
Neurotech	NTI	$2.5M	S J Dobson	4.04%	Ceasing
McPhersons	MCP	$296.1M	Pie Funds Management	6.22%	Decreasing
Wisr	WZR	$240.8M	Adcock Private Equity	19.72%	Decreasing
MNF Group	MNF	$462.0M	Naos Asset Management	6.64%	Decreasing
Pureprofile	PPL	$2.9M	EFM Global Growth Fund	4.99%	Ceasing
Globl Energy Ventures	GEV	$23.2M	Regal Funds Management	0.00%	Ceasing
3P Learning	3PL	$150.6M	Smallco Investment Management	0.00%	Ceasing
Webcentral	WCG	$12.8M	Keybridge Capital	9.24%	Decreasing
Accelerate Resources	AX8	$6.0M	GTT Global Opportunities	0.00%	Ceasing
Marley Spoon	MMM	$578.9M	Pie Funds Management	4.99%	Ceasing
Keytone Dairy	KTD	$56.5M	Vivienne Cheung	9.10%	Decreasing
Retail Food Group	RFG	$133.4M	Regal Funds Management	13.01%	Decreasing
Keytone Dairy	KTD	$56.5M	James Gong	4.87%	Ceasing
Genetic Signatures	GSS	$355.1M	Karst Peak Capital	11.17%	Decreasing
Aurelia Minerals	AMI	$511.3M	Perennial Value Management	5.41%	Decreasing
Swick Mining Services	SWK	$51.3M	Perennial Value Management	13.58%	Decreasing
Metals X	MLX	$75.3M	Argyle Street Management	12.08%	Decreasing
Australian Ethical Investment	AEF	$543.9M	IOOF	0.00%	Ceasing
Life360	360	$598.6M	Regal Funds Management	8.70%	Decreasing
Visioneering Technologies	VTI	$15.5M	Regal Funds Management	8.87%	Decreasing
Estrella Resources	ESR	$7.3M	Apollo Phoenix Resources	7.60%	Decreasing
Estrella Resources	ESR	$7.3M	Douglas Daws	10.75%	Decreasing
Maggie Beer	MBH	$60.1M	Perennial Value Management	8.50%	Decreasing
AML3D	AL3	$34.4M	Perennial Value Management	7.97%	Decreasing
Dacian Gold	DCN	$194.7M	Perennial Value Management	4.94%	Ceasing
Hexagon Energy Materials	HXG	$17.8M	Tribeca Investment Partners	11.07%	Decreasing
New Age Exploration	NAE	$9.8M	Kairos Minerals	8.61%	Ceasing
Yowie	YOW	$7.9M	Trojan Retirement Fund	0	Ceasing

This week’s most notable sale was IOOF completely selling its entire stake in Australian Ethical Investment (ASX:AEF). IOOF banked $74.5m from the sale.

IOOF told its shareholders the proceeds would reduce its debt and “provide strategic flexibility for growth opportunities”. But it stressed it was not walking away from providing its clients with access to ethical investment options.