• Carawine Resources’ share price breaks out on major new WA gold discovery
  • Magnum Mining and Exploration announces new magnetite iron outcrop in Nevada
  • WA halloysite project drill results lift Latin Resources

Here’s your top ASX small cap resources winners in morning trade Wednesday, February 24.

Carawine Resources (ASX:CWX)

The gold and copper explorer took off in early Wednesday trade, its share price jumping 100 per cent, on recording multiple high-grade intersections for its Hercules gold prospect.

Hercules is part of Carawine Resources’ Tropicana North gold project located northeast of IGO’s (ASX:IGO) and AngloGold Ashanti’s Tropicana gold mine in WA.

Carawine Resources said it had discovered two new high-grade lodes after a recent drilling program that included a hit of 4m at 25.9 grams per tonne gold from 84m.

Additional high-grade gold intersections including 3m at 15.2 g/t gold from 125m extend the discovery’s mineralisation along strike and at depth.

“These exceptional first results from our maiden drilling program at Tropicana North are highly significant,” managing director, David Boyd, said.

“This gives us high confidence that Hercules could develop into a major new gold deposit,” he added.

 

 

Magnum Mining and Exploration (ASX:MGU)

Gemstones, specifically emeralds have been the focus for this company but the market reacted well to its announced discovery of a magnetite prospect in the US state of Nevada.

Named the Iron Horse prospect, the discovery follows the company’s review of an undrilled outcrop 800m northeast of its Buena Vista magnetite project.

Acquired by the company last year for $7m, Buena Vista was mined in the 1950s and 1960s for 900,000 tonnes of direct shipping magnetite ore at a grade of 58 per cent iron.

US Steel Corporation acquired the project in the 1960s, and it passed to ASX company Richmond Mining which carried out a definitive feasibility study for Buena Vista in 2011.

The project shares some characteristics with Sweden’s Kiruna magnetite deposit, and recent rock chip sampling showed it is host to grades of up to 67.9 per cent iron.

Buena Vista is located near to the Southern Pacific railway that links to the port of Oakland in California.

Magnum Mining and Exploration has been developing its flagship Gravelotte project for emeralds in South Africa’s Limpopo province for which a technical mine study has started.

 

Latin Resources (ASX:LRS)

The explorer with a diverse portfolio of projects in Australia and South America has been a solid performer in February, its share price rising 125 per cent over the month.

Latin Resources reported Wednesday initial test work results for its Noombenberry project, one of Australia’s few known ultra-high grade deposits of tubular halloysite.

The results confirm the presence of high-grade halloysite and ultra-bright white kaolin at the project located near the WA town of Merredin, 300km east of Perth.

An initial batch of samples included grades of up to 37 per cent for halloysite and up to 79 per cent for kaolinite, and a maiden resource estimate for the project is under preparation.

The Noombenberry project has similar geology to Andromeda Metals’ (ASX:ADN) halloysite project in South Australia which goes into production in 2022.

The global market for kaolin is expected to reach a value of $US8.2bn by 2024, and has an annual compound growth rate of 6.5 per cent.

Paper-making, ceramics, paints, plastics and cements are the main uses for kaolin as well as applications in the storage of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and super capacitors.

 

Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU)

The graphite company’s share price responded well to news of it joining the European Battery Alliance, a trade body formed by the European Union to develop its battery industry.

Bringing together key groups in the battery technology space, the EBA is designed to build a “strong and competitive European battery industry”.

Renascor Resources said its EBA membership will strengthen its position and that of its Siviour battery anode material project as a potential supplier to the European market.

The company’s Siviour project in South Australia is for purified spherical graphite for the anode battery and includes a battery anode plant at Port Adelaide.

The company said its EBA membership will enable it to collaborate with potential investors such as the European Investment Bank, end users and other supply chain groups.

“Our plans to produce purified spherical graphite from Siviour align with the growing need for this critical raw material to feed the global lithium-ion battery market, including Europe,” managing director, David Christensen, said.

 

Pan Asia Metals (ASX:PAM)

The tungsten and lithium explorer announced assay results from drilling at its Khao Soon tungsten project in southern Thailand and noted the rising international price for tungsten.

Assay results for Khao Soon confirm the presence of wide, high-grade near surface tungsten mineralisation that is amenable to open-cut mining.

“We are pleased that the laboratory assays have returned strong results with a large number of intersections at greater than 0.5 per cent tungsite including 7.5m at 1.2 per cent,” managing director, Paul Lock, said.

The company also noted the buoyancy of tungsten metal prices, currently trading at $US25,000 to $US25,500 per tonne, their highest level since 2019.

“According to commentators the market is up due to tightness in the scrap and raw materials market and the demand side of the market is faced with the prospect that several large Chinese and Russian mines are reaching the end of their respective lives,” added Lock.