Resources Top 5: Magnis takes the crown after kicking off commercial production

MNS kicks off commercial production at the Imperium3 New York Lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant
HAV shareholders have the opportunity to vote on the proposed transaction by OZL
BLZ says drilling intersects mineralisation in the target Frere/Yelma unconformity at Earaheedy

Here are the biggest resource winners in early trade, Friday August 12.

MAGNIS ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES (ASX:MNS)

Shares in aspiring graphite play/battery maker are catching big gusts of wind this morning after revealing commercial production kicked off at the Imperium3 New York lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant.

Around six years ago, Magnis and its joint venture and technology partner Charge CCV LLC (C4V) had the vision to produce American made lithium-ion batteries at a large scale using the BMLMP cathode technology, which DOESN’T include nickel or conflict metals such as cobalt.

iM3NY chairman and C4V president Shailesh Upreti says today that vision has become reality.

“We are now working hard to scale up towards double digit gigawatt scale production to continue to lead our position in the US market.”

The iM3NY lithium-ion battery plant, which exceeds the size of three professional football fields, is set to produce several thousand cells in the first month, eventually ramping up to 15,000 cells per day as production scales up to an annual production rate of 1.8GWh.

MNS says future plans include increasing annual capacity to 38GWh by 2030.

HAVILAH RESOURCES (ASX:HAV)

In May, mid-tier miner Oz Minerals (ASX:OZL) announced plans to pay HAV up to $405m for the flagship 1.1Mt copper, 3.1Moz gold, and 23,200t cobalt ‘Kalkaroo’ project in South Australia.

Kalkaroo is at pre-feasibility study stage and is potentially one of Australia’s largest undeveloped open pit copper-gold deposits, right next to OZL’s existing operations.

Meanwhile, the companies will form an exploration alliance to hunt for more giant deposits across HAV’s South Australian tenure, paid for by OZL.

The remaining outstanding condition precedent for the proposed transaction to proceed is approval of the Kalkaroo transaction by Havilah shareholders.

A general meeting of Havilah shareholders has been called on August 31 providing the opportunity to cast a vote on the proposed transaction.

Blaze Minerals (ASX:BLZ)

This ~$10.30m market cap explorer went on a nice little run last year after acquiring ground next to the mammoth Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) — Zenith Minerals (ASX:ZNC) lead-zinc discovery at ‘Earaheedy’ in WA.

Today, the company says early drilling has successfully intersected mineralisation in the target Frere/Yelma unconformity, pointing to roughly 25km of prospective stratigraphy within the Blaze tenure adjacent to and along strike of RTR’s Sweetwater discovery.

Drilling will now advance to the west-northwest on nominal 500m sections.

Heritage cleared areas cover 10km of the target zone, and further heritage surveys are in the planning stages to be completed once all authorised drilling has been conducted, allowing an additional of 8km of strike to be tested.

CYGNUS GOLD (ASX:CY5)

(Up on no news)

Shares in CY5 have also been on the rise this morning.

Last week the gold price continued its rally as geopolitical tensions escalate and central bankers worldwide brace for recessions.

“Gold is rallying as Wall Street becomes fixated with a global economic slowdown that will get much worse by year end,” says Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Today the price is around US$1,787.40.

At the end of last month, this ~$36.8m market cap struck a binding agreement to earn up to 70% of the Pontax Lithium Project in Quebec, Canada.

As well as also taking a significant shareholding in current Pontax owner and TSXV-listed Stria Lithium, Cygnus has received commitments for $4.2m in a share placement to fast-track exploration.

Pontax is a drill-ready project located within a world-class lithium province, which hosts major projects such as James Bay (40Mt at 1.4% Li2O), Whabouchi (56Mt at 1.4% Li2O) and Rose (34Mt at 0.85% Li2O).

Spodumene has already been identified over a 620m strike length with hits such as 2.6% Li2O, making it ‘an exceptional opportunity’ for the company.

KORAB RESOURCES (ASX:KOR)

(Up on no news)

Long time battler and magnesium focused Korab Resources has moved quickly to profit from positive investor sentiment towards the raw material.

Like many raw materials, most of the world’s 1 million tonnes per annum of supply (about 85%) is produced by China, which also exports a sizeable volume.

Late last year, the global magnesium market was turned on its head when the low-cost Chinese producers slashed output by ~50% due to ongoing energy sector reform.

Prices went through the roof. In an earnings call, Volkswagen’s head of purchasing said a shortage was expected.

The company is currently engaged in a scoping study evaluating the economics “of an environmentally friendly production method to produce sustainable, zero-carbon, green magnesium metal together with several additional sellable bonus products” at its Winchester magnesium project in the Northern Territory.