Resources Top 5: BMG raises cash for gold expansion; Bubalus nabs environmental approval for NT drilling

BMG fully-funded for resource expansion of Abercromby gold
Bubalus rises on environmental approvals for Nolans East REE project
Talga stock more than doubles since winning environmental fight over Vittangi graphite

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Tuesday, November 5. Prices accurate at time of writing.

BMG Resources (ASX:BMG)

‘Fully funded’ is a phrase every explorer wants to announce to the market along the journey to prove up a resource and BMG – with its now fully-funded for drilling Abercromby gold project – is no different.

Cap raises usually decrease stock prices through discounting and dilution, but excitement about BMG’s plans to drill the 518,000oz Abercromby drew a 16.7% gain in early trade.

The funding restocks the company to pursue growth at a time of record gold prices, well in excess of $4000/oz.

“The record gold price is a terrific background for BMG to launch an expansion drill programme at Abercromby,” BMG chair Jon Prineas said.

“Our maiden resource is just the beginning of the gold opportunity at Abercromby. With mineralisation that is open and many outstanding thick intercepts of high-grade gold which have yet to be followed-up, there is excellent potential for further drilling to significantly increase the resource.”

BMG decided to raise $1.5m for the upcoming drill campaign which will target Abercromby’s Capital deposit, where identified mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike to the north and south.

Metallurgical studies have already confirmed free milling gold across all zones of the Abercromby orebody, with high recoveries from conventional CIL processing.

BMG plans to complete further studies and progress plans for the potential development of a mining operation.

Bubalus Resources (ASX:BUS)

BUS shot up 22% after a pivotal environmental license was approved for its Nolans East REE project in the western NT, a region of Australia which has been historically difficult to clear approvals for drilling.

Nolans East straddles Arafura Rare Earths’ (ASX:ARU) enormous Nolans Bore REE project which contains high levels of neodymium and dysprosium – essential magnetic rare earths that are high in value and demand for tech and clean energy applications.

The shovel-ready project is locking in the final parts of funding for its >$1bn development cost and BUS could well add tonnes to Arafura’s 56Mt deposit once it gets drilling to prove up the tenure.

All heritage approvals have been received for the planned drilling at Nolan’s East and once a Land Access Agreement is complete, the explorer will be able to engage contractors to clear and drill at the project.

Augustus Minerals (ASX:AUG)

AUG was an early riser this morning on the bourse after purchasing Music Well Gold Mines, and with it, the company’s namesake project near Leonora, WA, which covers an extensive 1345km2 of highly prospective gold-laden tenure.

The surrounding region has >12Moz of proven gold in the ground and 450,000ozpa produced within 50km of the project area, including Northern Star Resources’ (ASX:NST) 4.2Moz Thunderbox and Vault Minerals’ (ASX:VAU) 6Moz Darlot and King of the Hills mines.

Music Well is also adjacent to Genesis Minerals’ (ASX:GMD) 700,000oz Hub project and believes that on top of the gold prospectivity, there’s VMS copper-zinc deposits to be found too.

Augustus’ Music Well purchase and surrounding gold projects. Source: AUG.

“Augustus believes that adding a gold focused exploration project of this size provides optionality and complements its copper/base-metals/uranium focus at the Ti Tree Shear project in the Gascoyne,” the company stated in the announcement.

Priority targets have been identified for follow up exploration work with AC, RC and diamond drilling on the books ahead.

Talga Group (ASX:TLG)

(Up on no news)

After fighting a block against environmental approvals for its Nunasvaara South natural graphite mine at Vittangi, Sweden, which the nation’s Supreme Court dismissed a week ago, TLG shares have almost doubled.

Vittangi is a vertically integrated graphite anode project that aims to produce from Nunasvaara and process the material at its Luleå refinery.

The project’s now hit several key milestones ahead of a final investment decision, including a recent €70m grant from the EU for Luleå and approvals for the Nunasvaara mine.

“The Vittangi Anode project is vital for Europe’s energy transition and strategic material supply [and] we look forward to continuing to work with our host communities and stakeholders throughout the execution phase to deliver sustainable, high performance anode materials for the European battery industry,” TLG CEO Martin Phillips says.

Upon the completion of an FID for Vittangi, construction would be anticipated to take 18-24 months to hit first production.

Astute Metals (ASX:ASE)

(Up on yesterday’s news)

ASE shares are on the rise for a second consecutive day after announcing it had kicked off diamond drilling at the Leichardt East prospect, part of its Georgina Basin IOCG project in the NT.

IOCG deposits are economically attractive and typically large copper-gold deposits that may have other by-products such as uranium or bismuth, including Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena in SA, as well as smaller, higher-grade variants at Tennant Creek in NT such as Juno and Warrego.

“A considerable amount of science and the latest in geophysical modelling and lateral geological thinking has gone into the definition of this compelling IOCG target at Leichhardt East. Now it’s down to the team on the ground to drill a 500m diamond hole to evaluate the target,” ASE chair Tony Leibowitz said.

“This represents one of the most compelling discovery opportunities in our portfolio and we are very much looking forward to seeing what the hole will reveal.”

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Bubalus Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.