Resources Top 5: MC Mining and HyTerra flying on massive coal and hydrogen investments

MC Mining shares up 130% and more on US$90m investment for Makhado coking coal development
Hyterra flies on strategic investment from Fortescue
Western Gold to kick off 23,000m of RC drilling across Gold Duke

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Thursday, August 29. Prices accurate at time of writing.

MC Mining (ASX:MCM)

MCM shares have gone ballistic on securing a US$90m investment from HK-listed Kinetic Development Group Ltd to advance into production its Makhado hard coking coal project in South Africa, of which it owns 67%.

Under the terms of the agreement, KDG will subscribe for an initial 13.04% of MC Mining for an aggregate consideration of US$12.97m at US$0.20.8 per share. KDG will then send the remaining US$77.03m once shareholder conditions are met.

The Makhado project is pitched as a significant strategic asset with the potential to take the company’s production profile to more than 800,000tpa of steelmaking hard coking coal.

Shares in the now $15m market-capped MC Mining have gone interstellar on the news and jumped 154% to trade at 9.4c

Hyterra (ASX:HYT)

A break out the champagne kind of deal with Fortescue (ASX:FMG) has seen Hyterra stocks fly today, as it announced the WA resources major is acquiring a 39.8% strategic interest in the white hydrogen and helium gas hunter for $21.9m.

White hydrogen is extracted from underground by conventional oil and gas techniques – and could be key to FMG’s green energy push as its use leads to potentially much lower production costs and carbon emissions than man-made hydrogen.

The investment is through a subscribed 644.1m shares at 3.4c a pop, giving the junior the funds to increase leasing of more ground and progress a geophysics and expanded exploration drilling campaign at its flagship Nemaha hydrogen and helium project in Kansas.

While permits have been received to drill the Sue Duroche 3 and Blythe 13-20 wells, six are now being prepared for hydrogen and helium prospects.

That’s expected to begin in Q4 2024, increasing HYT’s potential to unlock commercial opportunities in the US Midwest.

“We are very pleased with this opportunity,” HYT exec director Benjamin Mee says.

“An investment by Fortescue is a testimony to the hard work and delivery performance of the HyTerra team, the diverse geological plays available within our Nemaha project leases, and our global growth opportunities in the pipeline.

“This investment would enable us to have a strong financial position going forward; but it’s the possibility to propel the global decarbonisation journey with such a visionary company that is truly exciting.”

It comes after FMG abandoned plans to produce 15Mtpa of green hydrogen by 2030, citing the high costs of the renewable energy needed to power that process.

Shares in the junior have been heavily traded on open – almost $2m-worth at time of writing – and is up an eye-whopping 68% to swap for 5.2c.

Western Gold Resources (ASX:WGR)

Approvals for an enormous 23,000m drill campaign to dig into WGR’s Gold Duke have been secured.

The explorer is using the drilling campaign to increase confidence in the current 178,000oz gold resource across the Eagle, Emu, Gold King and Golden Monarch deposits – which are 61% of the total 293,000oz Gold Duke endowment.

A scoping study is near completion and together with results from a recently completed metallurgical and geotechnical diamond drill program, pit optimisation and mine scheduling will kick off after the campaign wraps up.

“The drilling will form the basis for future mining approvals and provide WGR with greater scope to develop the project towards mining,” WGR MD Warren Thorne says.

Shares in the gold digger are up 15.6% at time of writing to trade at 3.7c.

Battery Age Minerals (ASX:BM8)

BM8 has identified multiple drill targets at its Bleiberg lead-zinc-germanium project in Austria, extending over a 6km strike length based on historical datasets.

Germanium is hot property at the moment.

That’s because prices for critical minerals germanium and gallium, like other export restricted minerals such as most recently antimony, have significantly increased over the past 12 months since export restrictions were announced from China.

According to Strategic Metals Invest germanium has risen 29.63% YTD, and compared to January 2023, up +57%, while gallium has risen 20.31% YTD, and 41.9% since the start of last year.

“The historical data and geological insights confirm the presence of valuable mineralisation and strengthen our confidence in the project’s potential,” CEO Nigel Broomham says.

“As we prepare for our upcoming field campaign and drilling program, the rising prices and strategic importance of germanium and gallium further enhance the project’s lead and zinc value.”

BM8 has a widening portfolio with exposure to critical minerals across the world, including a 36% stake in Brazilian REE hunter Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN) – one of FY24’s best ressie small cap performers.

Shares in the $11.6m junior have risen 45% since August 19, including 16% today, to trade at 14.5c.

Oar Resources (ASX:OAR)

Exploration at a new tenement package has to start somewhere, and OAR’s exploration team has identified two distinct prospects have been identified from surface scintillometer surveys with uranium values of >100ppm at its Amorinópolis project in Brazil.

While those readings don’t seem that amazing on paper, they can actually be a good first pass indication of a project’s potential.

OAR is using historical data from previous owner Nuclebrás and rock chip samples have been sent off to the lab to be assayed as systematic recon work continues as it progresses early doors exploration in the hope to delineate drill targets.

CEO Paul Stephen said the initial reconnaissance results are exactly what the explorer was hoping for in this Phase One program.

“Confirmation of uranium mineralisation at surface on our first visit to the site is an excellent result and gives us early confidence in our exploration strategy,” Stephen says.

We now need to action our detailed Phase Two exploration plan at Amorinópolis to define our first drilling targets.

“Our field team will now move to our next project Area at São José in the Northeast of Paraíba State to undertake similar first pass reconnaissance work.”

Shares in the $6m minnow jumped 33% on the news to trade at 0.2c.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Hyterra is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.