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Mining
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Monday March 14.
MOH has identified three high-quality nickel targets at the ‘Silver Swan’ project in WA called Omrah, Wise and Dukes.
Diamond drilling has now kicked off at ‘Omrah’, which sits on an untested electromagnetic (EM) conductor ~405m deep.
The results of a shallower 3,000m, 14-hole drilling program at Omrah and Wise completed in January are also pending.
MOH has also been on the acquisition trail over the past few months, first picking up a strategic nickel interest in 20 mining tenements from gold play Yandal Resources (ASX:YRL), and then more ground prospective for nickel-copper-PGEs in a deal with private company Whistlepipe Exploration.
The ‘Peak Charles’ project – part of the Whistlepipe deal – is also prospective for lithium.
The lithium stock was producer Altura Mining before it went into administration in 2020.
In 2022, 1MC has a new name and new projects with plans to eventually become a producer, once again.
With approvals received, a maiden drilling program at the ‘Mallina’ project in the Pilbara is now expected to kick off at the end of March.
There’s about four years of historical work at Mallina; almost 4,000m of drilling by Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA), and another two years of detailed mapping and study work by the Altura team.
This confirmed the presence of lithium. 1MC believes the primary orebody that is giving rise to this surface mineralisation is probably at depth.
This upcoming drilling program is targeting those blind pegmatites.
“We have a very targeted drill program seeking to intercept primary pegmatites and we are very excited to get the drill rigs working on site,” Morella CEO Alex Cheeseman says.
1MC is also starting early-stage exploration and mapping of the pegmatites at Mt Edon/Mt Edon West projects in the Murchison region of WA, Cheeseman says.
“Such a discovery could bring an entirely new battery mineral export opportunity to the region, and we look forward to completing key early-stage activities at what is a very exciting prospect,” he says.
The $116m market cap stock is up 35% year-to-date. It had ~$6.9m in the bank at the end of December.
(Up on no news)
Earlier this month a Chinese business with strong ties to one of the largest battery makers in the world poured $2.85m into the coffers of early-stage lithium explorer QXR.
The Chinese company in question – Suzhou TA&A Ultra Clean Technology Co – is the largest investor (75%) in lithium hydroxide producer Yibin Tianyi, together with China’s largest EV battery manufacturer CATL.
An MOU (non-binding deal which comes before a binding one) to work together on exploration, development, and potential offtake agreements for all QXR’s lithium projects in WA was also signed.
This is the same company that inked a 10-year offtake deal with fellow Pilbara explorer Global Lithium Resources (ASX:GL1). Suzhou also holds a 9.9% stake in GL1, which today raised $30m at a reasonable ~10% discount (Suzhou tipped in $4.3m) to advance its projects.
QXR has progressively picked up 215sqkm of early-stage lithium ground in the Pilbara over the past six months.
The ~$36m market cap stock is up ~145% year-to-date.
(Up on no news)
ALB’s main projects include ‘Lennard Shelf’ (zinc, lead) and ‘Leinster’ (nickel, copper, gold), both in WA.
Assays are pending for a 10 hole, 1,500m maiden drilling campaign at Leinster, completed along strike from Auroch’s (ASX:AOU) ‘Horn’ and related Ni-Cu prospects.
Geophysical imagery indicates that the same ultramafic host rocks of the Horn Ni-Cu prospect extend into ALB’s tenement, the company says.
Data compilation across Leinster has also highlighted the limited drilling at depths below 100m.
ALB says results from this drilling are due out this month.
The $5m market cap minnow – which listed on the ASX April last year — is down 24% year-to-date. It had ~$3m in the bank at the end of December.
(Up on no news)
ODE, one of only three diamond companies on the ASX, relisted in January after raising $6 million IPO at 2c a share.
Odessa has a bunch of WA projects located between the historic Argyle and Ellendale diamond mines including ‘Aries’, which it calls “the largest and most diamondiferous kimberlite in WA”.
“Current modelling demonstrates that the system extends to a significant depth, and also confirms that this project represents a substantial diamond exploration target with known occurrences of gem-quality diamonds,” CEO Alistair Stephens says.
“The area of interest, including the modelled south dyke extensions, is over 2.8 kilometres strike length and is comparable to the footprint of the Argyle lamproite system.”
A drill program is planned to test diamond occurrences at surface and at depth.
The $4.6m market cap stock is down 25% year-to-date. It had $4.6m in the bank on listing.
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