Resources Top 5: Moab preps for US uranium drive, Avenira hitches onto LFP battery bandwagon

The stock formerly known as Delecta is back with a vengeance as Moab Minerals, a mostly uranium-vanadium explorer
Avenira inks a non-binding deal to build a LFP battery cathode manufacturing plant in Darwin
R3D has increased resources by enough to underpin ‘several years of copper sulphate production’ at its Tartana project

Here are the biggest small cap resources movers in early trade, Wednesday September 21.

MOAB MINERALS (ASX:MOM)

The stock formerly known as Delecta is back with a vengeance as MOM, a mostly uranium-vanadium explorer with projects in Australia and the US.

MOM, which recommenced trading on the ASX this morning, is primarily focused on the REX uranium-vanadium project is the US.

The 60% owned project contains many historic uranium mines including some that have not been subject to exploration since the 1970s, other than initial sampling by MOM.

There are plans to lodge a drill permit next month.

This very important time in the global uranium market, managing director Malcolm Day says.

“With nuclear energy continuing to gain significant momentum as the global shift towards carbon-free power accelerates, Moab is strongly positioned with the REX Project,” he says.

The company is also developing targets for early-stage soil sampling at its newly acquired Woodlands gold-base metals project in WA.

Moab Minerals share price today

AEV has inked a non-binding deal with Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery manufacturer Aleees and the NT government to build a LFP battery cathode manufacturing plant in Darwin, leveraging Avenira’s flagship 67Mt Wonarah phosphate project.

They are ostensibly cheaper than NCA or NCM (nickel manganese cobalt) cells, mainly because they don’t require scarce and price-volatile metals such as nickel or cobalt.

They also have much longer useful lifetimes, though this is offset by lower energy densities.

AEV, Aleees and the NT will now work towards a LFP battery cathode manufacturing facility in a phased capacity program starting at 5,000-10,000tpa in 2023/24 and potentially scaling to 200,000tpa by 2032.

“This MOU opens the door for Avenira to learn from Aleees about LFP battery cathode manufacturing technology and leverage this experience to optimise the production of phosphoric acid from the Wonarah Project and develop downstream assets to produce Australia’s first LFP pre cursor cathode material,” AEV boss Brett Clarke says.

A Wonarah scoping study – the first proper look at the economics of building a project — is nearing completion, AEV says.

The $17m market cap stock is up ~85% since dusting off the project late last year.

Avenira share price today

FLYNN GOLD (ASX:FG1)

FG1 hit the boards last year with a focus on underexplored northeast Tassie, where the company believes there are ‘Fosterville-style’ gold deposits to be found.

In July, the explorer hit paydirt with the very first drillhole into the Trafalgar prospect, part of the Golden Ridge project.

It has followed those initial hits (like 5.4m at 10.63g/t) up today with more sweet, deep hits from that same hole, like 2.05m at 7.28g/t from almost 600m depth.

“This maiden drill hole at the Trafalgar Prospect has delivered an excellent outcome for Flynn Gold, with the Company intersecting multiple zones of high-grade gold,” CEO Neil Marston says.

“Historical drilling had only intersected one gold zone below the old Trafalgar mine workings, so the discovery of these new highly mineralised structures increases the potential of this prospect.

“Trafalgar is the first location at Golden Ridge where the intrusive-hornfels contact has been drill tested since Flynn Gold listed in 2021.

“This geological contact has been identified over an eight kilometre strike length, providing the exploration team with confidence that the Golden Ridge Project has the potential to become a significant gold system.”

Holes TFDD002B (wedge hole) and TFDD003 have been completed to 420.6 metres and 377.5 metres respectively and hole TFDD004 is currently underway with a target depth of 450 metres.

Flynn Gold share price today

R3D RESOURCES (ASX:R3D)

Near term producer R3D has increased resources by x4 at its Tartana project in QLD to 11,265t of contained copper – enough to underpin “several years of copper sulphate production”, it said today.

“This new four-times increase in total supergene copper resources generates confidence in our ability to establish a copper sulphate pentahydrate operation with a minimum 5-year life if leach test work being conducted now on this mineralisation returns positive levels of leachable copper,” R3D managing director Stephen Bartrop says.

“In addition, the potential to dozer push the overburden to the south end of the pit may represent a low-cost method of removing the overburden to quickly exposing the ore and which will improve the mining economics.”

Plant refurbishment remains on track, with the company targeting first production in December 2022.

R3D aims to produce 6,000 to 7,000tpa of copper sulphate from Tartana, alongside a low-grade zinc furnace slag/matte from its Zeehan project in Tasmania.

These two projects have the potential to generate a cash flow to underpin the R3D’s extensive exploration activities in the Chillagoe region of QLD, it says.

R3D Resources share price today

MT MALCOLM MINES (ASX:M2M)

(Up on no news)

It has been a quiet month for the gold explorer, which is currently waiting on some diamond drilling results at its namesake project gold project in WA.

Malcom covers several mineralised structures, the company says, that were explored “erratically” and “ineffectually” in the past.

Mt Malcolm reckons the project area has the potential to host more than one economic gold deposit, based on previous exploration and geological interpretations.

The current focus is the Calypso prospect, where the company announced an exploration target of between 150,000oz-276,000oz.

In August, early drilling results from Calypso returned some interesting numbers like 12.46m at 2.412g/t from 272m depth.

More assays are pending.