Buy the lithium dip or back a gold winner at the 21st annual Resources Rising Stars

The upcoming Resources Rising Stars conference on the Gold Coast, organised by the national events division of investor relations consultancy Read Corporate, will bring together 52 active resources companies leveraged to growth and discovery.

With gold prices recently breaking the US$2,500 barrier and signs pointing to a lithium revival as takeover acquisitions and M&A deals get underway, there are more than a few green shoots keeping investors interested as Resources Rising Stars returns for its 21st year on the Gold Coast.

A carefully selected line up of 52 junior, mid-tier and large cap resources stocks with exposure to lithium, gold and a host of critical minerals will present their insights into imminent plans at their respective projects over the two-day conference at the RACV Royal Pines Resort on September 3 and 4.

High-profile keynote speakers include one of Australia’s leading business and finance commentators, David Koch, Bell Direct market analyst Grady Wulff and Lion Selection Group investment manager Hedley Widdup, who will discuss industry trends and market outlooks for the short to medium term, providing investors with up-to-date information on new growth avenues and hot stock picks.

Read Corporate managing director and RRS organiser Nicholas Read says the history of the conference has always been about trying to find some of the better stocks and names in the space.

“It’s a unique opportunity for investors to come and chat to executives, listen to their presentations and ask them questions about their projects and strategies,” he says.

“Right now, a lot of these stocks are at discounted prices.

“It’s not often you get the likes of Patriot Battery Metals’ Ken Brinsden, Arrow Minerals’ David Flanagan, Bellevue Gold’s Darren Stralow, Develop Global’s Bill Beament and Chalice Mining’s Alex Dorsch all in the same room – to name a few” he says.

“We’ve also made a bit of a conscious decision to include new blood this year so there’s a number of companies turning up that haven’t been to the conference before with around 20 new names presenting for the first time.

“We’re really excited to have the likes of Andean Silver, Alkane Resources, Brightstar Resources, recently listed Ordell Minerals, Novo Resources, Flynn Gold, Lachlan Star and Wildcat Resources, amongst others, join the program.”

Lithium kicks off the conference

With hopes the remainder of the year might bring about a bounce back in the commodity space, Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) will be kicking off presentations on the heels of the release of their preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Shaakichiuwaanaan lithium project in Quebec.

“There will be a lot of investor interest around that as it’s the first economic study for the asset,” Read says.

“It’s also one of the biggest new lithium projects anywhere in the world and I expect Ken will touch on why all is not lost in the lithium space and share his views on how the Chinese have forced a bit of oversupply in the market from some questionable lower-grade supply sources.”

Andean Silver (ASX:ASL), part of Steve Parson’s stable, will kick off session two on day one, outlining its focus on Chilean silver-gold mining projects that can be fast tracked into production.

The company recently expanded the scale potential at its Cerro Bayo project with bonanza grades up to 9,929 g/t silver equivalent over 4km by 1.8km ahead of a resource update next month.

Former Northern Star (ASX:NST) boss Bill Beament will go into detail on Develop Global’s (ASX:DVP) loan facility and offtake agreement with global commodities trader Trafigura for its Woodlawn copper-zinc mine in NSW while Firefly Metals (ASX:FFM) managing director Steve Parsons will highlight the company’s successful quarter marked by numerous drilling results from outside the existing Green Bay resource in Canada.

Goldies gather on the Goldie

A host of gold players will be in attendance including success stories like Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR), which has been a stand-out performer for many investors over the past year or so.

At last year’s conference, Spartan’s market cap had just ticked over $100m, today it’s a $1.4b company.

SPR owns the 1.49Moz at 8.07g/t Never Never deposit which sits within 2km of Dalgaranga’s 2.5 million tonne per annum plant and 65km from Ramelius’ (ASX:RMS) flagship Mt Magnet operation.

RMS recently spent $180 million on acquiring ~18% of the Dalgaranga gold project owner a little over a month ago.

Other goldies such as Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL), Australia’s newest gold producer, Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) and Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM), will also be in attendance.

“I think it’s important for investors to be able to see that the juniors on the stage can one day be a billion-dollar producer and successful mid-tier company,” Read says.

“The bigger guys show the pathway and highlight why we invest in this space.”

Event details

The Resources Rising Stars conference will take place on the Gold Coast Tuesday September 3 and Wednesday September 4 from 8.30am to 5pm at the RACV Royal Pines Resort.

Attendance is free, but registration is essential.

Visit www.resourcesrisingstars.com.au to sign up for the event, or find details on how to watch the presentations online.