Resources Top 5: Clean energy stocks stretch their muscles

Cauldron bubbles on hitting uranium in each of its first four drill holes at Manyingee
Petratherm finds up to 50% titanium in samples at Muckanippie
Melbana on track for Block 9 oil production ramp up

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Wednesday, September 11. Prices accurate at time of writing.

Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU)

Yellowcake hunter CXU is ramping up exploration at its Yanrey uranium project in WA, which hosts the 30.9Mlb U3O8 Bennet Well resource.

Focus on the Manyingee South high-priority target has turned up trumps, as high-grade uranium mineralisation of up to 908ppm has been intersected in the first four drill holes – just 4km from Paladin Energy’s (ASX:PDN) “globally significant” Manyingee ISR deposit.

CXU CEO Jonathan Fisher said the first set of holes into the Manyingee South target area have returned exactly the type of results the company was looking for.

“Broad intercepts, high grade, and when taking into account the historical holes drilled in the area, [results] demonstrate a new discovery at Manyingee South; so far continuous over 1.5km along strike,” Fisher said.

“The rig is continuing to move along strike and we will be releasing further drilling results as they are received.”

Can WA still ‘wait awhile’?

Most of us know that WA has a uranium ban. Yet spot prices (US$78.50 at the end of August) have gone gangbusters this year (compared with US$34.25/lb three years ago); and there are both government and market pro-uranium ructions cooking efforts to lift them due to nuclear energy cited as a viable source of clean, baseload energy.

Canadian uranium giant Cameco owns two of four approved WA uranium-rich landholdings including the 128.1Mlb Yeelirrie – the largest undeveloped deposit in Australia – and has been vocal in advocating the lift of the ban.

“We like to say in WA that we have one of the best resources jurisdictions in the world. We are endowed with many of the key resources needed for the global energy transition,” said Cameco Australia GM Tim Duff in a presentation for the WA Mining and Energy Clubs in Perth back in May.

Could the ban be overturned? If investor sentiment is anything to go by, signs are pointing to yes.

Shares in CXU have gone nuclear on the ASX today, blowing up more than 30% to swap at 1.9c.

Petratherm (ASX:PTR)

Winner winner titanium for dinner, as PTR makes a high-grade heavy mineral sand (HMS) discovery at its Muckanippie project southwest of Coober Pedy in South Australia, sampling between 10-50% titanium from outcrops from surface down to a shallow 10m below ground.

Recon mapping, surface sampling and assaying of historical drill cores have identified previously unknown titanium mineralisation at the Rosewood and Claypan prospects within the landholding.

Titanium is seen is being in long-term exponential demand, as it has uses in EVs and battery storage, wind technology, pigments, and as an alloy in steel and superalloys.

The global market size of titanium in 2022 was ~US$28.6bn and forecast to grow over the coming years to nearly US$52bn by 2030.

Initial metallurgical evaluation of titanium ores is underway and an initial 4000m drill program is scheduled to start in early October.

PTR says the drilling will assess at a regional scale the Rosewood area defined in the 237Mt-277Mt at 5.3-7.9% TiO2 exploration target to test its validity, as well as the initial extent of the Claypan prospect mineralisation.

Shares in the now $8.6m junior have made solid gains today, up a whopping 90% to change hands for 3.8c.

Melbana Energy (ASX:MAY)

Things are kicking off for Melbana Energy’s Block 9 oil field in Cuba as development of Unit 1B at its Alameda-2 well has been formally approved and is on track for its initial production rate 1235 barrels per day by Q1 2025.

Construction approval for the next Unit 1B well pad has been received and there are two additional pads progressing through the permitting process.

“In parallel, we continue to study the results of the Alameda-3 appraisal well and the forward plan for the remediation of these deeper reservoirs will be finalised once the results of the Unit 1B remediation can be incorporated,” MAY exec chair Andrew Purcell said.

“Our focus, however, remains on the development of new production wells in the shallower Unit 1B reservoir to increase the rate of production from the 46mbbl of contingent resource as quickly as possible, which we expect to be able to do with the financial resources currently available to us supplemented by the revenue from oil sales.

Like its oil, shares have pumped on the news, rising over 68% in early trade at 3.2c.

Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT)

Interim results for ADT show the production ramp-up of its Vares silver operation in Bosnia & Herzegovina is on schedule, with nameplate production of 65,000tpa Ag and 90,000tpa Zn expected in Q4 this year.

The company is bouncing back from a tumultuous period after it recently had its CEO and MD Paul Cronin resign, and a death at the mine site.

Plant upgrades are continuing and expansion if its resource is ongoing with underground development of 1387m in H1 2024 at the mine marking an increase of 141% compared to H1 2023.

Exploration continues across Vares and Raska, with 8421m of drilling completed at Rupice and two drill rigs active at Raska.

Shares in the silver miner have bounced on the news, up 10.2% in early trade.

Gladiator Resources (ASX:GLA)

(Up on no news)

Least we heard, GLA was drilling at its Mkuju uranium project in southwest Tanzania, identifying >3000ppm U3O8 at surface in the fifth hole across a single 12km-long corridor.

Recent and historic drilling has intersected significant uranium intervals – the current view, GLA said, is that the main ‘front’ may be to the side or in advance of this and that uranium in drill holes so far is the ‘lateral’ or ‘tail’ common to many roll-front systems.

“The uranium has been variably remobilised and enriched by supergene processes giving rise to the extensive surface uranium and radiometric anomalies,” GLA said.

Shares are up over 23% to trade at 1.6c.

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