Resources Top 4: Equinox news bounces Battery Age Minerals and graphite's hot

Battery Age Minerals soars on Equinox’ REE grades out of Mata Da Corda
SGA nabs $5m cornerstone investment from European development bank

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Friday, August 9. Prices accurate at time of writing.

Battery Age Minerals (ASX:BM8) feat. Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN)

Investors seem to be going through the side door in trade today as BM8 tops ressie performers on the back of assay results out of Equinox Resources’ (ASX:EQN) Mata Da Corda REE project in Brazil – the world’s hottest emerging rare earths district.

While we can’t confirm why its share price soared here at Stockhead, BM8 does have a 36% stake in EQN – one of the best performers in the small cap market in FY24 and may have risen on the back of today’s announced results from its partner.

EQN is accelerating exploration at Mata de Corda, as well as the huge 1801km2 Campo Grande project – which straddles Gina Hancock’s Brazilian Rare Earths’ (ASX:BRE) own REE portfolio – in Brazil’s emerging world-class Rocha da Rocha REE district.

Additional surface sample results have reaffirmed Mata da Corda’s exceptional district-scale targets, showing >2000ppm TREO across the 972 km2 project, and the junior is now primed for drilling, according to EQN MD Zac Komur.

“We have partnered with a nimble and cost-effective RC drilling contractor who will mobilise the rig based on high-grade surface sample anomalies for our Phase 1 drilling campaign.

“Additionally, we are utilising our own auger drill rigs to gain a comprehensive understanding of the clay profile and to map the clay horizon zoning, allowing us to penetrate the cerium anomalies observed on the surface.”

The latest news out of BM8 came late last month when field mapping at its Bleiberg zinc-lead-germanium project in Austria confirmed historical records that show the potential for high-grade mineralisation within the tenements.

It believes it’s got the potential to feed the European market with germanium and even gallium out of Bleiburg to disrupt the current rigid monopoly by China of the materials, used in semiconductors and other advanced technologies.

Shares in the now $12m market-capped explorer have rocketed almost 30% today, trading at $0.14, while EQN was up just shy of 2% and up 65.6% over the past 12 months.

Sarytogan Graphite (ASX:SGA)

SGA has received a cornerstone investment of $5m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), one of Europe’s sovereign wealth funds that has invested >€200 billion euros across 7100 projects to date.

EBRD will purchase the shares at a premium of 16c and end up with a 17.36% stake in the company, yet will also need (and likely get) approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Board.

SGA is developing its namesake Sarytogen graphite project in Central Kazakhstan, endowed with an enormous 229Mt at 28.9% total graphite content (TGC) – which is pretty bonkers.

It recently upgraded the mineralisation to 99.9992% carbon which is “five nine purity” thermal purification – without any chemical pre-treatment.

The junior’s aim is to supply high-quality anode pre-cursor material for the rapidly growing EV battery market.

A project PFS for Sarytogen will be “published imminently”, SGA says, in line with its goal of releasing it “no later than September this year”.

Funds will be allocated to advancing environmental permits, early work on a definitive feasibility study (DFS), further metallurgical testwork and samples for potentail customers.

Shares in the $21m market-capped graphite play are up 17.2%, swapping at $0.17.

Green Critical Minerals (ASX:GCM)

(Up then flat on yesterday’s news)

GCM has consigned critical minerals specialist Wave International to complete the pre-feasibility study (PFS) of its McIntosh graphite project in northeast WA.

Wave has worked with long list of resources companies such as Black Rock Mining (ASX:BKT), Graphinex, Lithium Energy (ASX:LEL), Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU), Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) and Triton Minerals (ASX:TON).

At the start of July, GCM upgraded McIntosh 26% to a resource estimate of 30.2Mt at 4.40% TGC, identifying and including fine flake graphite material.

It’s also looking to expand its graphite product suite to include spherical purified graphite (SPG).

The junior says it’s kicking on with further metallurgical test work program for the SPG that will also potentially form part of the PFS that’s being conducted by Wave.

“This award to Wave is the next step in the development pathway for the McIntosh Graphite Project and follows the completion of analysis of recent and historical metallurgical test work and our recent marketing initiatives,” GCM MD Clinton Booth says.

“Wave and its study team has considerable experience with upstream graphite concentrate studies and design and we are looking forward to leveraging this.”

Shares in GCM were on the move, with big trades on market, just to go back to parity at time of writing, trading at $0.02 per share.

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