Weekly ASX Small Cap Wrap: It’s a red crab week

Despite showing some signs of strength today, the Australian bourse is poised to close the week in the red, much like how Christmas Island is currently swamped by the annual migration of its iconic red crabs.

Roads on the distant Australian island have been shut down by the waves of crabs heading for their breeding grounds for some nookie.

That’s unlike the market, which has been hit by concerns that the US will tighten its monetary policy and impact on the recovery from the pandemic.

As of midday, the ASX 200 is down 0.84% for the week.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for November 12 – November 19 [intraday]:

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Oakridge (ASX:OAK), Pancontinental Energy (ASX:PCL) +100%

Both Oakridge and Pancontinental jumped on no news this week.

Legacy Iron Ore (ASX:LCY) +79%, Hawthorn Resources (ASX:HAW) +64%

Shares in the two companies climbed after reaching a farm-out deal with Hancock Prospecting.

Gina Rinehart’s company will make an initial investment of $9m ($8m in cash and $1m as working capital) to earn an initial 30% interest in the Mt Bevan magnetite iron ore project.

It can earn a further 21% by funding the completion of a pre-feasibility study.

eMetals (ASX:EMT) +64%

Shares in the company soared after reaching a binding agreement to acquire the 469sqkm Salmon Gums project that is prospective for ionic clay (IAC) rare earths in Western Australia’s Eucla Basin.

IAC deposits are typically found in southern China and are commonly considered to be some of the cheapest and most readily accessible sources of heavy rare earths, as well as making up a significant percentage of the world’s total output.

This is also well-timed as rare earth prices have hit decade highs.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for November 12 – November 19 [intraday]:

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Greenland Minerals (ASX:GGG) -39%

Greenland Minerals continues to feel the impact of last week’s announcement that the Greenland government had passed new legislation banning mining of mineral resources with uranium content of 100 parts per million or greater in the total resource.