Resources Top 5: Lithium junior soars +50% as former Lake MD takes the reins

Steve Promnitz has been appointed to managing director to advance QXR’s lithium and gold assets.
- QX Resources appoints former LKE MD, Steve Promnitz, to managing director
- Rincon reveals new copper-gold target at South Telfer Project
- Balkan Mining and Minerals’ rock samples returns values up to 6.8% Li2O at Gorge Project
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Wednesday September 28.
QX RESOURCES (ASX:QXR)
Up a huge ~54% is QXR on the announcement of Steve Promnitz as managing director, previously the managing director of Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) – a lithium brine developer.
Promnitz is known in the mining game for having secured the Kachi lithium assets for LKE back in 2016, taking the company from a mid-cap nobody to a near-term miner where most project financing is in place for its development.
In the process, he took a $1 million market value private company, using new exploration models and ESG friendly extraction techniques, to form an ASX 200 company with a strong balance sheet and a market capitalisation of ~$2.1 billion at the time of his departure.
QXR’s executive chairman Maurice Feilich says the board decided now is the right time to appoint a MD to fast-track the development of its lithium projects in Western Australia and gold assets in Queensland.
“We are fortunate to have secured Steve as our managing director and we are confident that he can drive QXR to the next stage of its growth and development.”
Commenting on the appointment, Promnitz says he is looking forward to the new challenge.
“I am confident we can transform and scale up QXR into a major player in this sector and my immediate focus is to introduce the QXR opportunity to my network, prioritise activities, and actively communicate our growth strategy to existing and potential investors.”
NOW READ: Lake Resources MD Steve Promnitz on why the ASX lithium stock is an expert favourite
RINCON RESOURCES (ASX:RCR)
This ~$6.09m market cap tiddler is soaring today after revealing its new ‘Mammoth’ gold-copper and Havieron-style target at its South Telfer Copper-Gold Project could be a real game changer.
Geophysical modelling outlined the target, covering roughly 1,700m x 500m in an area with a northwest-southeast orientation.
According to RCR, it is the largest of three new targets defined along 15km of strike along the prospective Telfer-Westin Trend.
Rincon’s managing director Gary Harvey says there’s more geophysical modelling to be completed before the company starts drilling, but this is a tremendous start.
“We are well positioned to drill in the area once the target is better defined,” he explains.
“There is significant potential for a new high-grade copper-gold deposit to be discovered at South Telfer, particularly within our Westin tenement area, south of Havieron and along strike of Telfer.”
Exciting times are ahead with aircore drilling due to kick off shortly on the Westin tenements.
BALKAN MINING AND MINERALS (ASX:BMM)
Lithium-focused Balkan Mining is surging some +34% on news that it could be onto something really big after rock chip samples returned values of up to 6.8% Li2O across the Gorge Lithium exploration project in Canada’s Thunder May North Mining district in Ontario.
The Thunder Bay region of Ontario has been the focus of recent lithium pegmatite exploration works with the delineation of hard rock lithium deposits and during BMM’s due diligence, a total of five grab samples were collected and sent to ActLabs in Toronto for analysis.
Four samples included Li2O values above 3.78%, with the two highest results returning 5.75% and 6.80%.
BMM managing director Ross Cotton says these initial results from work conducted by CSA Global are a great start for the company.
“We are now planning a mapping, sampling and trenching program to commence during the Canadian Fall,” he says.
ASRA MINERALS (ASX:ASR)
Further ‘promising’ gold results from drilling and soil geochemistry have been returned at the Credo Well Gold Project – a joint venture with Zuileika, the operator and manager earning 50% of the project.
Results have been returned from reverse circulation (RC) programs that tested the Credo Well, Paradigm East, Breakaway Dam, and Browns Dam prospects.
A new shallow drilling target was identified at Credo Well South with encouraging anomalism displayed at other projects. Geochemical soil sampling at Zuleika North and Grants Patch West returned elevated gold levels justifying further work.
Following heritage clearance over a number of areas within the Zuleika Project, the next phase of aircore drilling is planned to begin in October.
METALSGROVE MINING (ASX:MGA)
(Up on no news)
MGA led the charge yesterday after identifying “significant lithium pegmatite potential” at the Upper Coodina Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara.
A surface mapping program highlighted multiple outcropping pegmatite dykes occurring in swarms over an 8km length.
Initial observations suggest the pegmatites at Upper Coondina may be part of the same system hosting Global Lithium’s (ASX:GL1) nearby lithium discovery at the Archer project, MGA managing director Sean Sivasamy says.
“Given this project has never been systematically explored for lithium, we continue to be highly encouraged by these early works,” he says.
“Importantly, data obtained from the mapping program, and other pre-drilling works completed at site, will be used to develop priority drill targets ahead of a planned maiden drill program in Q4.”

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