Resources Top 5: Gold and copper make it rain for ASX juniors

Killi Resources walked up to an outcrop at Mt Rawdon West and casually picked up 8oz of gold in rock chips
Eagle Mountain soars on porphyry copper find
FBM grows Big Red pegmatite at Kangaroo Hills to 600m long

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Tuesday, July 9. Prices accurate at time of writing.

Killi Resources (ASX:KLI) (+79%)

Multiple rock chips turned up high-grade gold, including an outstanding 238g/t gold and 5.4% copper hit at the Kaa target, part of KLI’s Mt Rawdon West project in QLD.

Located near the 1.8Moz Mt Rawdon operation owned by ASX gold giant Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), the explorer has now confirmed a new epithermal gold-copper system exposed at surface and defined a 1.8km mineralised trend that’s open along strike.

KLI is so impressed with the results it’s already planning a maiden drill program after continuing field programs that include IP surveying to wrap up and delineate targets.

“It’s not every day you can walk up to an outcrop and have it return ~8oz of gold in assays,” KLI CEO Kathryn Cutler.

“These results give us confidence to aggressively continue our exploration programs, with an IP survey and local scale surface mapping currently in progress. We look forward to reporting these results in the next few weeks.”

The gold hunter also recently signed a farm-in JV at its West Tanami project in WA where South African juggernaut Gold Fields can earn up to to 85% by spending up to $13m on exploration.

Shares have skyrocketed up 79% in early trade today, swapping portions of the junior at 7.7c at time of writing.

Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) (+25%)

FBM has long been entranced by its Big Red lithium pegmatite at its Kangaroo Hills project in the Goldfields, located a rizzla paper’s width away from Mineral Resources’ (ASX:MIN) 64.8Mt Mt Marion mine.

Looking to expand Big Red, FBM has just wrapped up a 19-hole RC drill campaign for 3109m and expanded the spodumene-laden pegmatite by another 200m to 600m-long.

Assays produced thick intersections of up to 27m at 1.04% Li2O and plans are in place to test for further extensions of the pegmatite to the north.

Drilling elsewhere at Kangaroo Hills extended the known footprint of the Potoroo pegmatite to >250m.

FBM says it’s now moving the drill rig across to its neighbouring project Miriam to test prospective targets.

The lithium explorer remains upbeat against a backdrop of challenging market conditions.

“We are well funded, with a strong cash position, remain bullish on the long-term lithium outlook, and remain committed to advancing both the KHLP and Miriam projects through highly targeted, cost-effective exploration,” CEO Nick Rathjen says.

Shares in FBM rose 25% on the news to trade at 3.5c.

Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) (+15.4%)

Large porphyry copper targets have been sleuthed out at EM2’s not-so-aptly named Silver Mountain project in Arizona for the type of mineralisation it’s looking for.

Nonetheless, identifying new targets with a pretty impressive strike length ~2km-long has been enough to set the share price on fire today.

Additional high velocity zones have been identified from the survey, with follow-up work including review and re-processing of existing geophysics to aid interpretation.

It might also be that mining major Grupo Mexico is planning to restart its Hayden copper smelter ~100km north of EM2’s Oracle Ridge.

The junior has initiated a strategic review of the project as there could be a low-cost opportunity to smelt ore at Hayden in the future.

A tidy 13.5% surge up the charts backed the news, with EM2 trading at 5.9c per share.

Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) (+27.9%)

Only starting to scratch the ground at the Cinto project in Peru, SLM has produced surface samples with high copper concentrates.

Surface grab samples from Cinto report assays up to 7.14% Cu with mineralisation mapped over a 200m x 100m area and first pass geochemical programs have indicated large swathes of copper mineralisation.

Exec director Mathew Boyes says the geochemical results demonstrate that copper mineralisation is present with associated metals in “very similar corresponding concentrations to the massive Toquepala deposit” and indicate close proximity to a large porphyry system.

The explorer is also running over ground at its Ilo Este and Chancho al Palo copper targets, all part of its 37,100 hectare portfolio in the country which it increased in May.

Shares in the minnow have flown up 27.9% to 11c per share upon opening trade.

Lykos Metals (ASX:LYK) (+30%)

LYK has been (im)patiently waiting to get digging at its Sockovac project in the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, yet has been hamstrung by red tape and hasn’t been able to start exploration.

Until now. News has just come in that the local ministry has amended its exploration laws so it can be re-awarded a mining license at Sockovac.

LYK is immediately seeking the license and, to boot, an expanded licence area from 17km2 to 50km2

In 2021, the explorer identified exceptional gold and silver mineralisation at surface, with rock chip results showing up to 5.45g/t gold and a whopping 1330g/t silver.

There’s also significant nickel and cobalt mineralisation across the tenure.

“Subject to this grant, with both Doboj and Sockovac tenements, our land holding over this highly prospective area will be 100km-square, hosting the already-identified abundance of the metallic commodities,” CEO Milos Bosnjakovic says.

Shares in the junior spiked on the good news, rising 30% today to trade at 3c.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Future Battery Minerals and Eagle Mountain Mining are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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