Resources Top 5: Emmerson gains on cheeky maiden White Devil gold resource

Emmerson lifts on maiden gold resource of 490,000oz at White Devil
Boss Energy up on ramp up beat with Honeymoon on track to produce 850,000lb U3O8 in FY25
Strata Minerals secures green light to start gold drilling at Penny South

Your standout small cap resources stocks for Wednesday, January 29, 2025.

Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM)

One of our standout gainers today is Emmerson Resources, which defined a maiden resource of 3.63Mt grading 4.2g/t, or 489,900oz of contained gold at its White Devil deposit, increasing its overall resources in the Tennant Creek region in the Northern Territory by 130% to 866,000oz.

Adding interest, nearly 89% of the resource is contained within the higher confidence indicated category, meaning that most of it can be converted into ore reserves following a mine planning study.

White Devil is contained on a granted mining lease and sits just 48km from Pan African Resources’ Nobles CIL gold processing facility that is due for commissioning in Q2 2025.

There is potential for further growth as the mineralisation remains open downdip and along strike.

The resource also excludes the recently drilled shallow eastern extension which presents immediate upside and will be incorporated in an resource update expected in late March 2025. Given its size, the deposit could deliver a larger share for Emmersion than the deposits over which it currently stands to earn a 6% royalty under its agreement with Tennant Creek Mineral Group.

“Given the size of the mineral resource White Devil may, once additional development studies are completed and accepted by TCMG – a wholly owned subsidiary of Pan African Resources (PAR), become the first deposit to be classified as a major mine deposit under our joint venture agreement,” managing director Mike Dunbar said.

“This will result in Emmerson retaining up to a 40% contributing ownership of the deposit rather than receiving a 6% gross production royalty since the deposit is greater than the 250,000oz gold threshold for classification as a “small mine”.

“This represents the most significant development for Emmerson in the last 5 years and is a material improvement to Emmerson’s economic interest.”

Initial studies have started to determine the preferred development strategy.

Boss Energy (ASX:BOE)

Boss Energy climbed today on massive volumes with $37.5m worth of shares changing hands after the company announced in its December 2024 quarterly report that its Honeymoon project in South Australia is on track to meet its production guidance of 850,000lb U3O8 for the year.

As a result, the company has declared that commercial production has been achieved with effect from January 1, 2025.

C1 cost guidance for H2 FY2025 is $37-41/lb U3O8, in line with inflationary increases recorded since the June 2021 enhanced feasibility study.

Meanwhile, the company has also received the first shipment of 35,181lb U3O8 from its 30%-owned Alta Mesa uranium operation in South Texas.

The first IX circuit is now operating at nameplate capacity with the second IX circuit being commissioned in March quarter 2025 while the third IX circuit is planned to be online by year-end 2025.

Alta Mesa is expected to reach full operational capacity of 1.5Mlb of U3O8 a year by 2026 with BOE’s share expected to be 450,000lb U3O8 at nameplate capacity.

BOE recorded total sales of 200,000lb U3O8 in the December 2024 quarter at an average realised priced of US$77.5/lb U3O8, generating revenue of US$15.5m.

Strata Minerals (ASX:SMX)

Strata Minerals has been granted a Program of Work to start maiden drilling at the Penny South project, which takes in a ~2.5km strike extension of the Penny West Shear, just 550m from Ramelius Resources’ (ASX:RMS) Penny deposits in the southern Youanmi Greenstone Belt, which are estimated to contain 440,000t at 22g/t, or 320,000oz of contained gold.

While over 1000 holes have been drilled at the project, these were mostly RAB and AC holes with RC holes accounting for only ~3% of the drill holes and no diamond drilling.

The average downhole length of the historical drill holes within Penny South is ~42m with only 18 holes deeper than 100m and 7 holes deeper than 200m.

SMX has reinterpreted all available data and will now test two priority targets at depth.

This mirrors the strategy followed by Spectrum Metals, which reported outstanding exploration success at Penny North and at the southern end of the Penny West pit within deeper drill holes beneath cover. It proved to be a company maker, leading to its eventual $208m takeover by RMS.

Lotus Resources (ASX:LOT)

Also up with big volumes is fellow uranium play Lotus Resources, which signed an additional uranium offtake arrangements for a total of 800,000lb of U3O8 for 2026-2029 at an escalated fixed price with North American power utility PSEG Nuclear.

The non-binding term terms sheet, which is conditional on the execution of a full-form document, is consistent with the offtake arrangement the two parties reached in September 2024.

Collectively, these arrangements take the contracted amount for uranium produced at the Kayelekera project in Malawi up to a minimum of 2.3Mlb and maximum of 2.6Mlb of U3O8.

“Each sales contract, coupled with our strong capitalisation and liquidity comprising circa US$135 million in cash and undrawn facilities mark terrific milestones for Lotus and our Kayelekera project,” managing director Greg Bittar said.

“We look forward to finalising the binding agreement with PSEG Nuclear LLC and announcing further offtake progress.”

Bannerman Energy (ASX:BMN)

(Up on no news)

While Bannerman had no news out today, it nonetheless climbed strongly on very large volumes like its uranium peers.

In mid-December 2024, the company reported significant progress on construction early works at its Etango project in Namibia.

It noted than that key bulk earthworks and construction power contracts were on schedule with first blast completed on the primary crusher site.

BMN added that construction of water supply and the ancillary storage dam had been completed, delivering seamless continuity for bulk earthworks in progress.

Manufacture of the high-pressure grinding rolls tertiary crusher – a critical long lead item – was also running ahead of schedule.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Strata Minerals 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.