Canelo Alvarez (top) knocks out Caleb Plant in the 11th round during their championship bout on November 06, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Mining
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Wednesday October 18.
The Mark Creasy-backed explorer has picked up lithium in rock chips grading up to 3.32% at Andover, the Pilbara project best known for its namesake 75,000t (and growing) nickel-copper-cobalt discovery.
While developing this resource remains the focus, a lithium leg is certainly welcome.
Assays received for 60 samples collected during a rock and soil sampling program confirmed numerous outcropping spodumene-bearing, lithium-rich pegmatites.
A drilling program is being planned.
“The latest batch of assays returned high grades of lithium up to 3.32% Li2O, which is the highest lithium grade reported to date,” AZS managing director Tony Rovira says.
“Encouragingly, our geological mapping is identifying the presence of the preferred lithium-bearing mineral, spodumene, in many of the outcropping pegmatites.
“We’re planning for the first drilling program to target the pegmatites and will commence as soon as we have received the necessary approvals.
“The lithium exploration continues in parallel with our Ni-Cu-Co exploration where drilling is currently in progress on the Seaview and Pipeline prospects.”
The $80m market cap stock is down 32% year-to-date.
AKN will acquire a bunch of uranium and copper projects in Tanzania from high profile tenement merchant Asimwe Kabunga, who will also join the company as co-chair.
Perth-based Kabunga has previously vended African projects into fellow ASX small cap explorers Volt Resources (ASX:VRC), Lindian Resources (ASX:LIN) and Resource Mining Corp (ASX:RMI).
He also sits on the board of all three companies.
The all-share $6m purchase price includes six projects: four prospective for uranium (Mkuju, Manyoni, Itigi and Magaga) and the other two prospective for copper (Mpanda and Karema).
The uranium projects are either nearby or include areas subject to significant prior exploration and development up until 2012/2013.
“The company now has the ability to pursue and develop uranium assets in a stable African jurisdiction at a time when there is significantly renewed interest in the development of uranium projects,” AKN CEO Paul Williams says.
“The potential of the uranium areas (especially Manyoni and Mkuju) cannot be over-stated when you consider the volume of historical exploration work that has already been undertaken in these areas and the fact the ground has been highly sought after in recent years,” Kabunga adds.
“A focus of AKN will be to work constructively with the Tanzanian government and take all possible steps to bring projects into production, take advantage of a strong uranium market and deliver meaningful benefits to the Tanzanian mining sector.”
The $11m market cap stock is down 12% year-to-date.
Yesterday, GED announced a 96m long drill hit packed with massive, semi-massive and disseminated copper-sulphides at the historic Khusib Springs project in Namibia.
XRF readings returned up to 37% copper, the company says. Eyewatering stuff.
The first of seven holes at Khusib Springs — past production 300,000t at 10% copper (Cu) and 584 g/t silver (Ag) – hit rich copper testing for extensions to the orebody at depth.
Mining stopped in 2003 due to hitting a so-called wrench fault, but GED believes there’s potential for something large at depth:
So far, so good.
“The intersection of a 96m zone of copper-sulphide mineralisation in the first deeper hole at Khusib Springs is very encouraging,” GED CEO Jon Dugdale says.
“We are now completing DHEM and surface EM surveys to detect a repeat of the Khusib Springs massive-sulphide copper-silver orebody for further drill-testing.
“Discovery of extensions or a repeat of this very high-grade copper-silver deposit would be a gamechanger for Golden Deeps and would provide a springboard to re-starting development from the existing Khusib Springs decline mine.”
The company is also progressing the advanced Nosib (copper) and Abenab (vanadium) projects, both in Namibia.
The iron ore stock has pared some of its massive losses – 70% of its market cap at last count – suffered over the past few days.
On October 17 it announced plans to slow work on a project bankable feasibility study on its namesake project due to “escalating global costs and deteriorating economic conditions”.
The BFS will not be completed by the end of December 2022, it says.
Formerly known as Carpentaria Resources, Hawsons owns the deposit of the same name near the historic mining town of Broken Hill in New South Wales.
Hawsons boasts a maiden probable reserve 755Mt at 14.7% Davis Tube. Recovery grade, it says, could be upgraded to 111Mt of “Supergrade” 70% magnetite concentrate, which it is marketing as a “green steel” product.
A PFS was released in 2017 estimating it would cost US$1.4 billion to deliver a project shipping 10Mtpa at an all-in FOB cost of US$48.03/dmt. But Hawsons is now looking into the possibility of expanding that scale to 20Mtpa as part of the BFS.
Drilling is set to kick off at 1AE’s namesake project in the US, targeting both lithium and uranium.
The 17-hole, 3,400m program will be first at the project in a decade, the company says. It will be part of a larger planned program of 47 RC and 21 diamond drill holes for FY23.
This initial program will be completed in December, with assays expected later the same month.
The first target is northwest of the existing 37.9 Mlb Aurora uranium deposit. Here, lithium sits in lakebed sediments overlaying the uranium mineralisation, the company says.
“We are excited about the prospect of commencing our first drilling campaign since listing on the ASX just five months ago,” 1AE managing director Greg Cochran says.
1AE is flat on its IPO price of 20c per share. It raised $8m in an IPO.
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