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Mining
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Friday April 1.
Lithium prices are sky high right now. Allkem, one of the stocks our experts list loves in the battery metals space, has been selling spodumene for a mine record US$2218/t in the March quarter.
Allkem is now negotiating pricing for US$5000/t for the June quarter matching wild moves in the spot market in China.
The news has sparked moves in several cheap lithium explorers in early trade today.
Another day, another lithium acquisition, another share price gain.
Explorer WCN will pay $120,000 in cash and shares for the ~250sqkm ‘Abraxis’ lithium project, a proverbial stone’s throw from some big lithium mines in the WA Pilbara.
Abraxis – which WCN says is “prospective for lithium bearing pegmatites but remains significantly underexplored” – bolsters the company’s existing early-stage lithium and REE project portfolio in WA.
A field mapping and sampling program will kick off in the coming weeks, it says.
“While the Abraxis lithium project area has been subject to sporadic historical exploration, primarily focused on tin and gold, it has had limited modern exploration,” WCN technical director Ed Mead says.
“Of note, both Riversgold (ASX:RGL) and QX Resources (ASX:QXR) have projects straddling the Tambourah Monzogranite roughly 15km to the east of Abraxis.
“We are look forward to being the first company to focus on the lithium potential on the project area and getting on the ground as soon as possible.”
The $17m market cap stock is up 60% year-to-date. It had $1.6m in the bank at the end of December.
(Up on no news)
Speak of the devil.
This resurgent tiddler is up ~80% since identifying another high-grade lithium prospect at its ‘Tambourah’ project near WCN earlier this week.
RGL now has two prospects to play with; the existing ‘Ragdoll’ occurrence and newly identified ‘Bengal’ prospect.
Both appear to have multiple pegmatite intrusives associated with lithium mineralisation, RGL says.
“Our field crew will be assessing the Bengal prospect this week and will continue to work through the prospective 26km long mineralised corridor,” CEO Julian Ford said.
“We look forward to providing further updates from our field reconnaissance and evaluation of previous exploration across the Project as we work through the substantial body of historical data.”
A bunch of lithium acquisitions has seen this $41m market cap stock gain an incredible 840% in 2022.
It had $469,000 in the bank at the end of Dec, and recently announced a ~$1m cap raise.
The lithium explorer’s largest shareholder, Jose Luis Manzano, has exercised ~100m in options worth just over $1.2m.
$1,202,400 divided by 100,200,000 shares = 1.2c per share, a huge discount to the current share price of 12c.
Well done to Manzano, who now has a 13.4% interest in LRS.
“The options have been exercised several months ahead of their maturity in December 2022, demonstrating the strong support from Mr Manzano for our very significant recent discovery of lithium spodumene at the Salinas Lithium Project in the Minas Gerais mining province of Brazil,” LRS says.
Manzano is founder of Integra Capital, JV partner at LRS’ ‘Catamarca’ lithium project in Argentina.
Integra is an investment company that has a diversified portfolio covering more than 10 countries.
Founded in 1995, Integra has developed projects and ventures with private institutions and investors valued at more than $16.5 billion, LRS says.
It is also one of Argentina’s largest lithium explorers and holds over 400,000 hectares of lithium brines projects in Jujuy and Catamarca provinces.
The $177m market cap stock is up 316% year-to-date.
(Up on no news)
Another lithium focused explorer.
In Feb, it reported “elevated lithium results” in soil sampling at the Matheson pegmatite, part of the ‘Bullfinch North’ project in WA.
This peggie (lithium host rock) was first mapped in 1939 but gold has always been the focus of exploration in the area, ENT says.
Eleven of 16 shallow soil samples collected returned lithium values equal to or greater than 50ppm, ENT says. Four results were above 60ppm.
It is generally considered that +60ppm lithium in soils associated with LCT pegmatites is significant, it says.
A bigger sampling program is now being planned.
ENT, which holds an option to purchase 100% of Bullfinch North, is known as a project generator.
That means it partners with other (usually more cashed up) companies to help pay for exploration across its portfolio of projects — spreading the risk, and the reward.
Here’s why project generators are favoured by famous investor Rick Rule.
ENT currently has JVs with Constellation Resources (ASX:CR1) (nickel, copper, PGE, cobalt), and Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) (copper, zinc, gold), both in WA.
The $15m market cap stock is up 80% year-to-date. It has about $2m in the bank.
This former vanadium play has done OK – share price wise – since moving in next door to Chalice Mining’s (ASX:CHN) world-class palladium-nickel-copper discovery at Julimar in WA.
It has three hostile-sounding projects called ‘Warrior’, ‘Combatant’ and ‘Gladiator’ in WA.
The most advanced is Warrior, where PUR is exploring for gold, nickel, copper, and platinum group elements.
Today, it announced that three newly uncovered gold and copper targets at the ‘Calingri East’ tenement would be drilled later this month.
That includes a 700m by 250m gold anomaly, 50 times higher than the surrounding background values, at the ‘Ablett’ prospect.
“Pursuit is excited to confirm multiple drill targets have been outlined by first pass auger sampling at Calingiri East,” PUR managing director Bob Affleck says.
“Analysis of the assays by consultant geochemist Dr Carl Brauhart of CSA Global confirms a Au-Bi-As-Sb-Pb signature at the Ablett Prospect is potentially related to basement mineralisation and not just enhancement in the regolith.
“Additional fieldwork in March confirmed our Warrior ground has the right host rocks for Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation, and we look forward to receiving infill sampling results and completing our forthcoming air core program in April.”
The $23m market cap stock is down 13% year-to-date. It had $7.4m in the bank at the end of December.
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