Resources Top 5: Investors look to back a winning horse as Richardson Street Group gets De Grey band back together

• Bellavista and Oceana share gains as Richardson Street Group shuffles decks and brings De Grey team back to ASX
• CZR and Gladiator pump on no news
• True North Copper hits play right notes in Queensland

Your standout small cap resources stocks for Tuesday, November 4, 2025. 

Bellavista Resources (ASX:BVR)

We told you to pay attention when (to steal the lone Melbourne Cup vernacular you’ll read today) you have the opportunity to back a winning horse.

Not sure what I’m on about? Cast your mind back to last week’s commentary from pro stockpickers Dermot Woods and Andy Clayton at Precision Funds Management on why it pays to watch out when you see a change of management at a junior explorer.

An opportunity to do just that has emerged at Bellavista, where the CEO and CFO who led one-time penny dreadful De Grey Mining from the Hemi discovery into a $6bn takeover by Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) have reemerged.

The appointment of Glenn Jardine and Peter Canterbury as managing director and finance director at Bellavista has been well received, carrying the junior from 42c on Monday morning to 54c with investors into day two of digesting the news.

“Glenn and Peter are extremely experienced resources executives who have overseen major exploration and development strategies, project acquisitions and corporate transactions,” said chair Mel Ashton, whose own credits include a chairman’s role at African gold explorer Gryphon Minerals.

“They have outstanding track records of creating strong shareholder value, as shown by their success at De Grey. This culminated in what was the largest takeover of a pre-development company ever seen in Australia.”

Former MD Mick Wilson will become a non-exec director and become MD at fellow ASX junior Oceana Lithium (ASX:OCN), while old NED  Steve Zaninovich and CFO Carl Travaglini have stepped down.

Bellavista’s focus is a very early stage land package in the Edmund Basin near the Abra zinc mine called Brumby, with 140km of strike prospective supposedly for IOCG style copper-silver-gold and sulphide-related nickel and PGE deposits.

Not quite off to the races yet, but the added corporate clout and market cap heft with the new appointments will no doubt open dealmaking opportunities as well.

Oceana Lithium (ASX:OCN)

That particular game of musical chairs has driven a 12.5% lift at Oceana today, with Mick Wilson joined on the Oceana board by Sam Brooks, the founding chief geologist at Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL).

BGL has had some dramas in its life as an operating gold miner, but it’s hard to argue its discovery phase and early capital growth was anything but spectacular.

If Brooks, now a non-exec director at Oceana, can deliver a similar assist then shareholders will be happy. It’s not too surprising an appointment, either, with Bellevue bigwigs Steve Parsons and Mike Naylor major backers at Oceana.

Along with Bellavista, Oceana is in the Parsons/Naylor-led Richardson Street Group – a cohort that notably includes copper bolter FireFly Metals (ASX:FFM), Andean Silver (ASX:ASL) and Cygnus Metals (ASX:CY5).

Originally a Brazilian lithium explorer cornerstoned by one of the world’s largest lithium hydroxide producers, Oceana has predictably shifted focus as the speculative end of the lithium market has dried up and its register has evolved.

OCN has the Solonopole project in Brazil and Bangemall base metals project in WA on its books still, while its recently quarterly showed delays in communications with traditional owners meant work at the Napperby uranium project in the NT was slow going.

But it has stated it’s on the lookout for new projects, and the commentary from chairman Martin Helean in Monday’s update makes clear M&A is a priority.

“Mick and Sam are highly experienced resources executives who have overseen exploration and development strategies, project acquisitions and corporate transactions throughout their careers,” Helean said.

“They have outstanding track records in identifying quality projects that have created significant value for shareholders and we look forward to them playing key roles in the next chapter at Oceana.

“With Oceana forming part of the Richardson Street hub of companies, backed by our significant shareholders Steve Parsons and Mike Naylor, we have the right people and the access to capital to create value.”

Helean also thanked Aidan Platel, who stepped down as NED.

CZR Resources (ASX:CZR)

(Up on no news)

Nothing to talk about at Mark Creasy’s CZR, which is now cashed up after finally completing the sale of its Robe Mesa iron ore project in the Pilbara to a Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) led JV for $75m in September.

Take loan repayments to Creasy’s Yandal out of it and the explorer is extraordinarily cashed up, with $76.3m in the bank to explore gold, copper and iron ore prospects up north or return – at least in part – to shareholders.

At last notice, Creasy’s combined holding came in at 52.12%, with the question now whether the prospector’s investment uses its cash box to fund exploration or dividends.

The stock’s surprise run today, up around 15% on no news, comes after a bit of reporting on the accounts of Creasy’s Yandal Investments, which made a touch under $20m profit last year, down from around $107m thanks to the impact of lower lithium prices.

While it hasn’t had much to report to shareholders, CZR’s enviable position was the focus of Barry FitzGerald’s must-read Stockhead column this weekend, Garimpeiro.

For the backstory, duck into your local, order a Guinness and read this one while you wait for the head to settle before you split the G.

READ: Barry FitzGerald: Creasy’s cashed-up CZR is hunting WA gold and copper elephants

True North Copper (ASX:TNC)

Copper in the Mt Isa region is a hot play at the moment, especially since the Queensland and Federal Governments stepped in to secure the immediate future of Glencore’s Mt Isa smelter.

The long-term future of Stack City is by no means fully secure, but that development has provided some support to Glencore backed juniors like Austral Resources (ASX:AR1), which has cleared its hurdles to relist on the ASX, and True North, which recovered from administration in similar circumstances in January after a Deed of Company Arrangement.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, but its performance since and a run up in the copper price to all time highs last week has shown the optionality inherent in TNC’s resource at the Mt Oxide project.

It’s looking at a 78% gain in the past six months, including ~12% today after hitting wide intercepts that extended the strike at the emerging Aquila discovery by 400m to the north.

Those hits included 103m at 0.53% copper, 0.1% cobalt and 2.6g/t silver from 19m, including 10m at 1.76% Cu, 0.3% Co and 6.7g/t Ag from 106m in hole MOX251, and 72m at 0.55% Cu, 0.16% Co and 5.6g/t Ag from 124m in hole MOX252.

Those are very solid grades that stand up to those from previous drilling at Aquila. The aim is to expand the resource inventory at Mt Oxide, located near 29Metals’ (ASX:29M) Capricorn copper mine and concentrator, beyond its current 15.03Mt at 1.46% Cu, 10.59g/t Ag (220,000t of copper and 5.13Moz silver respectively).

“Mt Oxide continues to deliver,” True North MD and CEO Andrew Mooney said.

“Extending mineralisation to more than 500 metres along the Aquila Trend, with further assay results pending from the Phase 2 drilling program, confirms we’re uncovering a significant new copper-cobalt-silver system with great grade, real scale and growth potential.

“While these results give us confidence to start thinking about what project development at Mt Oxide could look like in future, our priority remains on realising the full exploration potential.

“Maintaining that growth focus will ensure we do not constrain what could become a transformational discovery for True North and its shareholders.”

A cobalt-specific resource also sits at the Vero deposit of 9.15Mt at 0.23% Co fot 21,200t cobalt metal, while True North also boast 910,000t at 2.5g/t gold for 72,000oz gold in separate deposits at Wallace South and Wynberg.

Gladiator Resources (ASX:GLA)

(Up on no news)

Another mystery gainer, a few days ago Gladiator updated the market on its deal to set agents at Apex USA Resources LLC loose with the idea of pegging tenements in the United States for rare earths.

According to an ASX release on Friday, a land package in California, where a bunch of juniors have enjoyed the spoils of the MP Materials nearology boom, has been identified.

252 claims were pegged and assay work has been undertaken. But there’s an ‘unresolved dispute’ – not between Apex and Gladiator, but between Apex’s principals themselves.

We’ll let the announcement take it from here.

“Based on recent communications between the principals of Apex, provided to the Company, there appears to be an unresolved dispute between them as to whether to honour their commitments to Apex and ultimately to the Company,” Gladiator said.

“The Company is not a party to the dispute, but as the dispute relates to the particular claims the subject of the Agreement there is at this time no certainty that the milestones for the grant of options will be achieved by Apex.

“The Company is continuing to engage with the Apex principals in an effort to ensure that their obligations under the Agreement are met. The Company will continue to assess the situation to determine the most appropriate next steps to protect shareholder interests and will keep the market informed of any material matters.

“In the event there are ongoing delays in effecting the milestone deliverables, the Company will need to consider its position, including its rights against Apex and the Apex principals.”

Rough. Given that dropped post COB on Friday alongside Gladiator’s quarterly it unsurprisingly led to a rough trading day on Monday. But there’s been some dip-buying, lifting Gladiator by close to 19% on Tuesday.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While True North Copper is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.