Resources Top 5: Hidden rare earths targets, big spodumene crystals and a handful of savvy critical mineral acquisitions

NickelX has option to acquire historical Ransko (nickel-copper-cobalt) and Otov (hard rock lithium) projects in Czech Republic
Sipa identifies potential for rare earths near RareX’s advanced Cummins Range project
Lincoln looks to bolster 3.88Mt graphite resource at Kookaburra Gully project

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Tuesday July 4.

NICKELX (ASX:NKL)

The micro-cap explorer has an option to acquire the historical Ransko (nickel-copper-cobalt) and Otov (hard rock lithium) projects in the Czech Republic.

At Otov — which includes a 260-year-old underground feldspar mine — spodumene crystals have been reported up to 70cm long.

The so-called Otov pegmatite is coincident with the feldspar mine and appears to be vertically zoned as spodumene increases with depth, NKL says.

Current depth from historical feldspar mining is ~50m.

Otov is one of 17 mapped pegmatites on the property, NKL says, all of which are unexplored by modern standards.

The ~7sqkm Ransko nickel-copper-cobalt project contains seven known sulphide deposits, but no modern exploration has been undertaken since the 1960s.

“The projects are exceptionally well located, almost on the doorsteps of 27 lithium battery gigafactories in Europe planned for 2030,” NKL MD Matt Gauci says.

“Ransko and Otov are within a ~500km radius of these gigafactories and there is also potential for Volkswagen (VW) (and Czech based subsidiary Skoda Auto) to build a gigafactory within the Czech Republic.”

The $8m capped stock is up 15% year-to-date. It had $3.5m in the bank at the end of March.

SIPA RESOURCES (ASX:SRI)

A review of old drilling has identified potential for rare earths on SRI’s Wolfe Basin base metals project, 8km from RareX’s (ASX:REE) advanced Cummins Range REE-phosphate deposit.

Shallow drilling by Northern Star Resources (ASX:NSR) in 2007 hit up to 16m @ 650ppm rare earth oxides but, besides that, the extent of drilling undertaken on the tenement is extremely limited.

The historic hole is on the margin of a prominent magnetic anomaly “that may represent an underlying intrusive or structural position favourable for hosting REEs”, SRI says.

The company will do additional on-ground work including infill soil sampling in the current quarter, to refine drill targets for future testing.

$6m capped SRI is down 15% year-to-date. It had $2.3m in the bank at the end of March.

LINCOLN MINERALS (ASX:LML)

The South Australian explorer will look to bolster its 3.88Mt graphite resource after first holes into the southern end of the Kookaburra Gully Extended (KGE) anomaly hit high grades.

The drilling confirms the correlation between graphite and these anomalies over a 5km-long strike, the company says.

More drilling is planned. Results will be used to grow the overall resource and update a dusty old 2017 feasibility study on the project.

In 2017, the plan was to produce ~35,000tpa high purity graphite concentrate at a cost of A$705/t, giving it nice margins at prices of +$1200/t.

The operation was to cost $44 million to build. However, the bottom fell out of the market for a few years and the project was put on ice, until now.

The $8m capped stock – which relisted on the ASX in January — is down 15% year-to-date. It had $1.8m in the bank at the end of March.

QX RESOURCES (ASX:QXR)

The Steve Promnitz-led lithium explorer has acquired 39% of unlisted Aussie company Bayrock Resources, which has a portfolio of nickel-copper-cobalt projects in Sweden.

The main focus is Northern Nickel Line (Ni-Cu), where drilling is sue to start soon on the Storbodsund deposit, part of the Vuostok project.

High-grade nickel and copper was previously intersected 70 years ago at Storbodsund, a flat-lying deposit of near-surface sulphides within 20m of surface.

Recent drilling at the nearby Lainejaur Ni-Cu-Co project intersected visual sulphide mineralisation. Assays are due in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, QXR is due to get back on the ground at its WA lithium projects.

Recent maiden drilling at the Turner River project in the Pilbara returned unremarkable grades up to 0.38% Li2O, as well as anomalous REEs.

The $20m capped company is down 40% year-to-date.

TAMBOURAH METALS (ASX:TMB)

The explorer yesterday bolstered its Pilbara lithium portfolio, purchasing 337sqkm of ground from Minrex Resources (ASX:MRR) for $150,000 in cash and shares.

Rock chip sampling by MRR on Tambourah North returned assays up to 2.56% Li2O. Site inspections on the MRR tenure confirm the presence of pegmatite swarms at all projects, TMB says.

“Company exploration geologists are working in the field and will now include the new MRR LCT pegmatite projects in planning of the next drill program,” exec chair Rita Brooks says.

“TMB now has a dominant land position in the Pilbara which hosts two Tier 1 operating lithium mines.”

The $5m capped stock is up 10% year-to-date. It had $3.2m in the bank at the end of April.