Resources Top 4: Sand people nab Brazilian lithium ground, surge 90pc

Perpetual inks a binding option deal over lithium exploration ground in Brazil
WA nickel hunter Aldoro has another drill rig enroute to flagship Narndee project
Armada inks deal to acquire 80% of a historic Zimbabwean nickel sulphide deposit, untouched since the 90s

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Friday July 21.

PERPETUAL RESOURCES (ASX:PEC)

Sand stock PEC has made a move into Brazilian lithium, inking a binding option deal over exploration ground in Minas Gerais, 20km from the Grota do Cirilo spodumene mine owned by C$5bn capped Sigma Lithium Corp (TSXV: SGML).

Latin Resources’ (ASX:LRS) advanced Colina project is also nearby.

A 60-day due diligence period has now kicked off over the +3000sqkm of greenfields (unexplored) tenure. If PEC likes what it sees, the plan is “rapid exploration in the coming months”.

The deal explains the ‘leaky ship’ action earlier in the week when the stock surged on no news before going into a halt “regarding a potential acquisition”.

Brazil has become a lithium hotspot thanks to Sigma’s success at Grota do Cirilo. Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) boss Matty Boyes recently told Stockhead that “there are people coming at [project] owners from all angles.”

“The prices are just going exponential as you are trying to close a deal,” he says.

“There is a lot of interest from North America. American juniors, Canadian juniors are throwing big money at assets in Brazil, so you must make sure you have a network in place, people that can get these assets to you ahead of the next guy.”

$17m capped PEC has surged almost 90% in early trade, for a year-to-date gain of ~40%.

ALDORO RESOURCES (ASX:ARN)

WA nickel hunter ARN has another drill rig enroute to the flagship Narndee project, where 24 holes (~1600m) will test a “delineated area of interest identified from the current diamond drilling program”.

A good sign. Final results from that four-hole, 2000m diamond drill program haven’t been released yet, but early indications must be promising enough to warrant prompt follow-up.

Those diamond holes were punched into four new IP targets, with the company saying it would “assay the most attractive drill core following completion of the drilling program”.

In early July it said the first two holes hit visible disseminated sulphides “generally pyrite (fool’s gold) and pyrrhotite, with pXRF data suggesting possible presence of pentlandite (important source of nickel)”.

Hole NDD0031 hit four zones of the good stuff, including:

48.96 metres from 223.06m,
23.51 metres from 280.33m,
13.89 metres from 304.15m and
8.66 metres from 323.08m.

An additional diamond drill hole was being planned to east of this hole, less than 150m away.

Last week, Tietto Minerals (ASX:TIE) founder and former managing director Caigen Wang joined ARN as non-exec director.

Wang steered TIE from $30m capped explorer to Africa’s newest mid-tier gold producer with a market cap of ~$600m.

$25m capped ARN is up 10% year-to-date.

CHILWA MINERALS (ASX:CHW)

(Up on no news)

CHW listed on the ASX earlier this month following a $8m IPO at 20c/sh.

Its main game is the namesake Chilwa heavy minerals sands project in southern Malawi, where a 17,000m drilling program will start this month to boost the 2.4Mt resource.

Chilwa’s newly acquired southern tenement extension also directly abuts the ground of rare earths explorer Mkango Resources (TSXV:MKA).

The $10m capped stock is currently trading just below its IPO price.

ARMADA METALS (ASX:AMM)

AMM has inked a deal to acquire 80% of a historic Zimbabwean nickel sulphide deposit, untouched since the ’90s.

The Bend nickel deposit was initially discovered by Anglo-American Prospecting Ventures in 1971, and subsequently drilled in the 1990s, “with notable nickel intercepts reported from these programs”, AMM says.

The company can earn 50% of the project by funding a 2500m drill program. That stake will increase to 80% after it spends another $3 million on exploration over three years.

Maiden drilling expected to commence in Q3, AMM says.

AMM listed on the ASX late 2021 with a large land position covering 3,000km2 at its Nyanga nickel-copper-cobalt in Southern Gabon.

Guy Le Page, director at RM Corporate Finance, said the stock is one to watch – Nyanga contains a number of drill ready targets and is led by a team including respected geo Thomas Rogers.

Rogers won the 2015 PDAC Thayer Lindsley Award for an International Mineral Discovery after helping to uncover the monster Kamoa deposit in the DRC for Ivanhoe Mines.