- Riversgold acquires key lithium ground in Pilbara
- Recharge Metals, Culpeo hit more copper paydirt at their respective discoveries; Galileo continues to surge
- Uranium and lithium explorer Aurora Energy Metals hits bourse with a bang
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Wednesday May 18.
RIVERSGOLD (ASX:RGL)
Right now, acquiring any sort of lithium project is a sure-fire way to get that share moving in the right direction.
Former goldie-turned-battery metals explorer RGL has acquired a key tenement prospective for lithium in the Pilbara, the hard rock capital of the world.
The 95km2 of ground forms a key part of RGL’s early stage ‘Tambourah’ project, where it has already picked up rock chips grading up to 2% lithium.
The company is now focused on advancing the first three prospects already identified to drill-ready status.
A soil/rock sampling and mapping program will kick off early June to evaluate the lithium potential of the remainder of the tenure which to date has only had stream sediment sampling conducted by predecessors, RGL says.
“This tenement grant is a very important milestone for the advancement of our new lithium discovery objectives at Riversgold,” CEO Julian Ford says.
“Our initial results at Tambourah have been impressive to date with lithium grades in pegmatite outcrop up to 2% Li2O, and we look forward to accelerating our exploration efforts here with the aim of drilling our key targets as soon as possible.”
The $30m market cap stock is up 420% year-to-date, but well down on a 52-week high of 11c per share it hit April 5.
It has ~$3.8m in the bank.
AURORA ENERGY METALS (1AE)
This fresh listing is looking for two of the hottest commodities around, lithium and uranium.
1AE raised $8m at 20c per share in an IPO to explore its ‘Aurora Energy Metals’ project in Oregon, US, which has a defined uranium resource and known lithium mineralisation.
The project offers investors two bites at the clean energy pie, managing director Greg Cochran says.
“We will look to grow the well-defined, shallow uranium resource hosted in the basement and conduct techno-economic studies, whilst following up the significant lakebed sediment-hosted lithium mineralisation that surrounds and overlies it,” he says.
The McDermitt Caldera, which hosts the project, is one of the most prospective lithium provinces in the US, 1AE says.
It is home to the two largest lithium resources in the US; Jindalee Resources (ASX:JRL) ‘McDermitt’ and Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC) ‘Thacker Pass’.
These neighbouring companies have clearly demonstrated the region’s potential, Cochran says.
“We are looking forward to undertaking our planned work programs and keeping our shareholders updated on our progress.”
GALILEO MINING (ASX:GAL)
Investors love a good discovery story, especially when it is validated by a $1.75m on-market share purchase from major shareholder and living legend Mark Creasy.
The stock, now up 365% since announcing the discovery at ‘Norseman’ on May 11, was threatening the $1/share mark in morning trade Wednesday.
Renowned for his role in the discoveries of the Bronzewing and Jundee gold mines and the Nova nickel mine, billionaire prospector Creasy is a name market watchers follow closely.
His 26% stake in Galileo was valued at a cool $38.6 million as of Monday’s close, making it his third biggest investment on publicly available data.
CULPEO MINERALS (ASX:CPO)
The explorer exploded out of the blocks late March after hitting the copper motherlode in its very first drillhole at the historical ‘Lana Corina’ project in Chile.
This explorer listed on the ASX September 10 with a couple of porphyry projects in Chile — ‘Las Petacas’ and ‘Quelon’ — and only entered into an agreement to acquire 80% of Lana Corina earlier that month.
The highlight hit includes 200m of visible sulphide copper from 50m to 250m depth and comes from near-surface ‘breccia pipes’ which are part of a vertically extensive copper porphyry system.
First assays announced May “exceed expectations” with hits like 257m @ 0.95% Cu and 81ppm Mo, with other holes pending.
Drilling is ongoing, the company says.
Today, it announced 13 additional targets at Lana Corina.
These targets, which looks like the recent discovery, have not been previously tested. Drilling is currently being planned.
“Our first program of ground-based geophysics has delivered very encouraging results, with the survey identifying 13 new targets that are analogous to the Lana-Corina-Laura Prospect which has produced significant copper drill intersections in recent programs,” CPO managing director Max Tuesley says.
“The targets are located within clear structural trends and have associated elevated surface geochemical signatures, making them compelling targets for drill testing.”
The $8m market cap stock is up 7% in 2022. It had $3.3m in the bank at the end of March.
RECHARGE METALS (ASX:REC)
REC made a potential copper discovery in the same week as CPO back in March.
REC has now intersected massive copper sulphides, blebby sulphides and disseminated sulphide mineralisation over ~280m in drilling at ‘Brandy Hill South’ in WA.
This hole, the third of the current program, is 200m north from hole BHRCD019, which also encountered visual sulphides.
“After intersecting over 600 metres of visible copper mineralisation in BHRCD018 and BHRCD019, we are very excited to repeat similar findings in this third diamond hole,” REC managing director Brett Wallace says.
“BHD026 was drilled 200 metres north of BHRCD019 and displays very similar rock types and mineralisation across a near identical interval.
“As with BHRCD018 and BHRCD019, BHD026 also ended in mineralisation at 357m depth.
“The three diamond holes gives Recharge a strike of approximately 300m north-south across three diamond holes of encouraging copper sulphide mineralisation.”
Assays are pending.
The $9.6m market cap stock is up 47% year-to-date. It had $3.2m in the bank at the end of March.