- Neometals spin out Widgie Nickel begins diamond drilling at Mt Edwards project
- Carnavale waiting on gold assays, due before end of the month
- Energy Metals (uranium), Orange Minerals (gold, copper) and Nelson Resources (gold) up on no news
Here are the biggest small cap resources movers in early trade, Friday Jan 21.
CARNAVALE RESOURCES (ASX:CAV)
(Up on no news)
If it maintains these levels to the close CAVs share price will hit its highest point since October 2020.
The $40m market cap gold and nickel explorer recently hit high grade gold at its ‘Kookynie’ project, including a highlight 16m at 20.92g/t from 161m (inc.10m @ 31.88g/t) from the McTavish East prospect.
That’s thick, high grade, and not too deep.
Assays from the remaining 11 holes of the program are expected before the end of the month, CAV says.
“The McTavish East discovery shows similarities to the previously mined high-grade deposits like the Cosmopolitan Mine where over 295,120 ounces were historically mined at an average grade of 15.57g/t and the Altona mine where over 95,000 ounces were mined at an average grade of 30.01g/t,” CEO Humphrey Hale says.
“The systematic exploration approach undertaken by CAV at Kookynie has delivered a significant outcome with further results pending.”
“Follow up RC drilling is planned to grow this bonanza grade gold discovery as soon as a suitable RC rig can be secured.”
NELSON RESOURCES (ASX:NES)
(Up on no news)
This minnow is looking for the next tier 1 Tropicana-like gold deposit in the Fraser Range of WA.
NES’ last news of substance came way back on November 17, when the first drillhole at the untested West EM target at the ‘Socrates’ prospect delivered a “significant” result of 5m @ 1.72 g/t gold from 23m, including 3m @ 2.01 g/t.
Drilling at Socrates — part of the Woodline project in WA — has now delineated a gold-rich corridor of ~1.5km wide hosting four parallel mineralised zones, with two potentially being 2km in length.
In other news, ex-Tropicana JV manager for regional exploration Derek Shaw joined NES as exploration manager. What a coup.
“The company is…very pleased to have Derek Shaw join the company as exploration manager,” CEO Adam Schofield says.
“His wealth of experience from his role with the Tropicana JV and his time in the Albany Fraser and Yilgarn Cratons will be instrumental in our hunt for the next Tropicana.”
ENERGY METALS (ASX:EME)
(Up on no news)
This mysterious uranium explorer pumps and slumps on the reg for no real reason, although it is up 85% over the past 12 months as the yellowcake thematic has taken hold.
EME has eight mothballed exploration projects in the Northern Territory and WA.
Its main game is the ‘Bigrlyi’ uranium-vanadium project, where a prefeasibility study (PFS) was completed in 2011 before the uranium price hit the skids.
Work was suspended in 2012 and not much has been done since, despite a healthy bank balance of ~$15.7m at the end of the last quarter.
But here’s the kicker — the stock is tightly held, with only ~200m shares on issue.
Most of this (66.45%) is held by a subsidiary of the state-owned China Nuclear Power Group (CGN), one of the largest nuclear power providers in the world.
“As of 30 September 2021, the installed capacity of CGN’s operating nuclear generating plants was 28,261MWe from 25 nuclear power units, with six other power units of 7,090MWe capacity under construction in various locations across China,” EME says.
“This unique relationship with CGN gives Energy Metals direct market exposure as well as access to significant capital and places the company in a very strong position going forward.”
WIDGIE NICKEL (ASX:WIN)
The Neometals (ASX:NMT) spin off raised $24m when it listed on the ASX last year.
Its focus is the ‘Mt Edwards’ project in the Goldfields-Esperance region of WA, where 162,600t of nickel across eleven separate nickel sulphide mineral resources have already been identified. Mt Edwards also has lithium potential.
Over 10,400m of RC drilling for 69 holes has been completed since November 11, with first results due in the March quarter.
34 pre-collared holes established through this initial drilling program are now being lengthened by diamond drilling designed to intersect nickel mineralisation.
“This is where the excitement begins,” managing director Steve Norregaard said yesterday.
“We’ve been eagerly anticipating the commencement of the diamond drilling, which marks a major step in enabling us to expand our mineral nickel resource at Mt Edwards and add significant value upside potential for our shareholders.
“We are looking forward to continuing the strong momentum we’ve generated at the early stages of our maiden drilling campaign.”
WIN is up 110% on its IPO price of 20c per share.
ORANGE MINERALS (ASX:OMX)
(Up on no news)
The recent IPO is hunting for copper-gold in two major regions: Lachlan Fold Belt (NSW) and Eastern Goldfields (WA).
The NSW assets are close to major gold mines like Cadia (43.4Moz).
In WA, it has ground within 25km of Lefroy’s (ASX:LEX) ‘Burns’ copper gold discovery (38m @ 7.63g/t gold, 0.56% copper).
On December 16 a maiden 10-hole drilling campaign was completed at the ‘Calarie’ gold project in NSW. Assays are expected back next month, OMX says.
Following the receipt of assay results the company will undertake a resource review and start planning the Phase 2 Calarie drill program.
The $7.4m market cap stock is down 10% on its IPO price of 20c per share.