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Resources Top 5: Iron ore juniors soar as price eclipses decade high
Mining
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- Iron ore juniors Eastern Iron, Iron Road and AKORA make big gains in early trade
- Talga (graphite anode) and Pacific Nickel (nickel) up on no news
Here are the biggest small cap resources movers in early trade, Monday, April 26.
It’s a good day to be an iron ore play as the steel-making ingredient continues to set new price records.
Tiny $7m explorer Eastern Iron has launched an entitlement issue to raise ~$1m, to be used on iron ore ($500,000) and copper ($200,000) exploration at the flagship Nowa Nowa project.
The Entitlement Offer is for one share for every four shares held by shareholders at an issue price of $0.008 per share (together with one free attaching new option for every two shares issued).
A placement to raise another $1m was completed earlier his year.
Last week, Eastern Iron said it was updating a 2014 definitive feasibility study (DFS) for its Nowa Nowa iron project in Victoria.
A DFS is a detailed look at the economics of building a project.
(Up on no news)
Right now, two magical words will send a stock flying: ‘green hydrogen’.
Add ‘iron ore’– which is also red hot – and you have yourself a winning combo.
Iron Road wants to develop a mammoth green hydrogen project for iron ore pellet production in South Australia’s proposed Cape Hardy port.
Key focusses for 2021 include reaching financial close for the Cape Hardy Stage I port development, attracting investment in the advanced $US1.74 billion Central Eyre Iron Project (CEIP), and “monetising early stage green hydrogen partnerships”.
(Up on no news)
Talga – which is making a coated anode material for battery cell makers – aims to kick off 19,000 tonnes per annum of commercial production at its Swedish anode project in 2023.
An 85,000 tonnes per annum project expansion is targeted for 2025-2026.
But the next step is building a fully smaller plant (EVA), designed to provide the larger EV quality anode samples that automotive battery customers require prior to purchase agreements being signed.
Following an equity raising in December 2020, Talga has successfully completed the EVA plant design and engineering is “progressing well”, the company says.
PACIFIC NICKEL MINES (ASX:PNM)
(Up on no news)
Backed by Bridge Street Capital Partners as a stock to watch, this Solomon Islands focused project developer is sitting on a low cost development project with potential to be in production within 18 months.
“The Solomons are not always an easy destination to work in, and investors were rightly very cautious when we invested in PNM,” Bridge Street’s Dr Baker says.
“But this is a company with a good track record in the jurisdiction, with a market capitalisation under $10 million which already has resources (or resource potential) of10-15 million tonnes.
“I think demand, given Indonesia’s closure of the laterite export industry, will mean these guys will find a ready market.”
PNM is about to apply for mining leases and is currently undertaking feasibility studies into its nickel assets.
(Up on no news)
Recent ASX listee AKORA owns a bunch of iron ore exploration projects in Madagascar.
In mid April, assays from its maiden drill program at the very high grade (+65% fe) ‘Bekisopa’ project confirmed a near surface iron target 4km long and between 50m and 150m thick.
At least.
“Results also indicate the iron ore mineralisation stretches beyond the tested 4km strike length, at depth and width each indicating the resource potential of the structure is extremely good,” AKORA Resources managing director Paul Bibby says.
A follow-up drill program with the aim of establishing a JORC resource has been designed.
