Resources Top 5: ASX juniors up the stakes as rare earths becomes the new lithium

Diamond play Odessa Minerals officially diversifies into the red-hot lithium and rare earths sectors
Korab says Batchelor project prospective for rare earths, lithium
Nelson (gold), Taruga (copper, rare earths) and Canterbury (copper, gold) up on no news

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Monday September 12.

ODESSA MINERALS (ASX:ODE)

The diamond explorer is officially diversifying into the red-hot lithium and rare earths sectors.

Two of three Lyndon project tenements in WA have been granted, and exploration is “about to commence”, it said today.

The granting of the third exploration licence is anticipated to occur within the next four weeks.

In April, ODE moved the acquire the 606sqkm project right next door to Dreadnought’s (ASX:DRE) recent rare earth discoveries at Mangaroon. DRE is now +200% since hitting REEs in maiden drilling in June.

ODE is hoping to replicate that early success at Lyndon.

“Also, recently acquired historical lithium data includes an assay of 314ppm lithium oxide,” new ODE boss David Lenigas says.

“This highly significant result comes from a drainage sample collected immediately downstream of a cluster of outcropping pegmatites, and this area will be our initial focus for exploration over the coming months.”

The $4.6m market cap minnow is up 25% year-to-date. It had ~$5m in the bank at the end of June.

KORAB RESOURCES (ASX:KOR)

Another REE-lithium exploration pivot is being rewarded by investors.

KOR says that Exploration Licence EL29550 — which forms part of the Batchelor project some 70km south of Darwin — has been renewed until 31 July 2024.

“Majority of the Batchelor project is underlain by the Burrell Creek Formation (part of the Finnis River Group) which hosts lithium mineralisation within nearby tenements owned or operated by Core Lithium (ASX:CXO), Ragusa Minerals (ASX:RAS), and Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX: LPM),” it says.

A good neighbourhood of late, with CXO and RAS up ~150% and ~250% year-to-date.

There could also be rare earths mineralisation present at Batchelor, KOR says.

The small cap is now reviewing historical exploration data (~70,000 samples of drill chips, rock chips, whole rocks, and soils), as well as various closed file reports, and open file reports, it says.

“Korab Group is using the review of the nearby Litchfield lithium project completed by Ragusa Minerals and reported to the ASX on 11 August 2022 as a ‘template’ for Korab’s own review of the lithium prospectivity of the Batchelor Project,” KOR says.

“Results of the lithium and REO review of the Batchelor Project will be reported progressively as they become available.”

Any lithium or REE drill targets generated as a result of the review will be incorporated into upcoming drilling, KOR says.

The $11m market cap magnesium focused stock is down 43% in 2022. It had ~$900,000 in the bank at the end of June.

NELSON RESOURCES (ASX:NES)

(Up on no news)

It doesn’t take much to boost the ailing share price of junior gold explorer NES, which is down a massive 65% in 2022.

It needs to gain ~200% on today’s levels to hit parity for the year.

Not an impossible task for the battler, which is looking for the next tier one 7.7Moz ‘Tropicana-like’ gold deposit at the Woodline and Tempest projects in the Fraser Range of WA.

Woodline was previously owned by a Newmont JV which spent $16m delineating several early-stage targets.

This exploration stopped back in 2012 when the gold price began to free-fall.

A 10,800m aircore program kicked off at Woodline early August, closely followed by a 3,000m program at Tempest.

That campaign should be completed by mid-September, NES said.

In other news, ex-Tropicana JV manager for regional exploration Derek Shaw recently joined NES as exploration manager. What a coup.

“The company is… very pleased to have Derek Shaw join the company as exploration manager,” CEO Adam Schofield said at the time.

“His wealth of experience from his role with the Tropicana JV and his time in the Albany Fraser and Yilgarn Cratons will be instrumental in our hunt for the next Tropicana.”

TARUGA MINERALS (ASX:TAR)

(Up on no news)

This explorer is hunting for large copper and rare earths deposits across its South Australian tenure.

Last week, REE drilling kicked off at the Mt Craig project, testing for extensions of clay hosted REEs recently discovered at the Morgans Creek prospect.

There were several significant intercepts from TAR’s 2021 drilling at Morgans Creek, including a highlight 22m @ 1,050 ppm TREO from 27m, including 10m @ 1,940ppm TREO.

Drilling will also be completed at the newly defined Shute prospect, believed to be prospective for clay-hosted REEs and copper.

All drilling is co-funded by the South Australian government to the tune of $650,000. Bonus.

The $24m market cap stock is flat year-to-date. It had $2.1m in the bank at the end of June.

CANTERBURY RESOURCES (ASX:CBY)

(Up on no news)

Bouncing back from recent lows is explorer CBY, which is hunting for copper-gold porphyries in Queensland and PNG.

Its main focus is ‘Briggs’, which has an inferred resource of 143 million tonnes @ 0.29% copper at the 500m-long, 500m-deep ‘Central Porphyry’ – one of three intrusive centres at the project.

In August last year, Alma Metals (ASX:ALM) inked a deal to earn up to 70% of Briggs through staged exploration spending over nine years of up to $15.25 million.

Canterbury and Alma Metals are now planning a a six-hole, 3,000m drilling campaign, aimed at testing targets at the Northern Porphyry and Briggs Central areas.

Preparations in July were also “well advanced” for the next phase of field activities at the Bismarck Project on Manus Island, where joint venture partner Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is sole-funding exploration.