- Volt joins the European Battery Alliance (EBA) as it moves to buy the Ukraine-based ‘Zavalievsky’ graphite business
- Equus’ Cerro Bayo silver-gold plant (under option) starts processing low grade gold, silver stockpiles
- St George now up ~35% since announcing a new high grade nickel copper discovery yesterday.
Here are the biggest small cap winners in morning trade, Thursday, April 15.
Battery metals minnow Volt aims to join more established players Talga (ASX:TLG) and Mineral Commodities (ASX:MRC) as an integrated graphite mine and battery anode material producer in Europe.
It has joined the European Battery Alliance (EBA) as it moves to buy the Ukraine-based ‘Zavalievsky’ graphite business.
A done deal would immediately transform Volt into one of the few ASX-listed graphite producers.
Membership of the EBA provides access to business development opportunities, business investment platforms, regulatory insights and market intelligence, Volt says.
“As Volt progresses with the acquisition of the Zavalievsky graphite business to become a producer of graphite products in Europe, there is a great opportunity to build relationships and obtain access to capital to support the expansion and product development plans for the graphite business,” the company says.
The ~$30m market cap stock is up 200% over the past 12 months.
Late last year, Equus signed a binding deal with TSX-listed miner Mandalay Resources to acquire the Cerro Bayo silver-gold mine and infrastructure in Southern Chile.
The deal includes a processing plant which has produced about 600,000 ounces of gold and 45 million ounces of silver since 1995.
Mandalay has now started processing low-grade gold and silver stockpiles, ahead of Equus taking full control of the operation around January 2022.
“The commencement of processing of low-grade stockpiles by Mandalay Resources is of high importance to Equus as it enables a comprehensive review of operational aspects of the Cerro Bayo plant and pending execution of the option to acquire the entire project,” Equus COO Damien Koerber says.
“This would enable Equus to quickly transform into a producer, in parallel to and supporting the path to potential development of the company’s higher grade resources.
“The currently permitted production of 1.68Mt of stockpiled ore is sufficient for over three years of production.”
(Up on no news)
The stock is now up ~35% since announcing a new high grade nickel copper discovery yesterday.
Drilling hit ~11m of continuous nickel-copper sulphides, with early XRF readings picking up 7.34% nickel and up to 4.74% copper.
An additional two EM conductors located nearby are also interpreted to have a massive sulphide source, St George says.
The combined strike length of these conductors “suggests the presence of a significant volume of high-grade mineralisation in this location”.
Drilling continues 24/7, the company says.
(Up on no news)
The Canadian coal play plummeted — alongside fellow project developer Atrum Coal (ASX:ATU) — after the Alberta Province government reaffirmed its commitment to a 1976 Coal Development Policy in late March.
On April 9, Montem announced that it “continues to operate under existing permits, unrestricted by the 1976 Coal Policy reinstatement, which restricts surface mining development on Category 2 lands”.
Montem’s Tent Mountain mine and Chinook project are wholly within Category 4 Lands, which are areas contemplated for open-cut mining under the 1976 Coal Policy.
The stock, which has clawed back some of its recent losses, is now down 22% over the past six months.
(Up on no news)
This tiddler has soared since picking up eight exploration tenements near Chalice’s (ASX:CHN) Julimar discovery in WA.
Enegex now holds ~ 3460sqkm of ground in the South West Terrane (plus 2 more application areas), rubbing shoulders with fellow explorers like Devex (ASX:DEV), Liontown (ASX:LTR), Todd River (ASX:TRT) and Caravel (ASX:CVV).
The company is targeting “Julimar-style” high-grade Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation across geology analogous with the recent Chalice discovery, as well as Caravel style copper mineralisation and ion adsorption REE deposits.