• ZNC is this morning’s biggest small cap winner with… no news
  • GBE is one step closer to mine development at its Kanyika Niobium Project
  • WIN receives ‘significant’ by-product assays for PGE, nickel, cobalt, and copper

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Friday July 22. 

 

ZENITH MINERALS (ASX:ZNC)

(Up on no news)

ZNC is catching some waves this morning, for no reason other than it just wants to.

At the beginning of the week drilling recommenced at the Split Rocks Lithium Project which is a large-scale project with multiple target areas containing thick pegmatites along strike from the major Mt Holland lithium deposit, which is under construction.

Project-wide geochemical screening programs are also underway at Split Rocks with crews working towards systematically sampling all the prospective portions of the 660km2 land package.

“Our company, along with our joint venture partner, EV Metals Group, are genuinely excited to be conducting a follow up campaign on the initial drilling completed some months ago,” executive chairman David Ledger says.

The plan will be to follow up where the best intersections from the first round were identified, where ZNC hopes to expand on the initial high-grade results from the Rio area of the tenement.

“With a strong permitting and approvals team, we have been able to now start more serious planning for this program and follow-on drilling campaign,” he says.

 

GLOBE METALS & MINING (ASX:GBE)

African-focused GBE owns the Kanyika Niobium Project in Malawi about 250km north of the capital city Lilongwe and 800km northwest of the Nacala Port in Mozambique.

At the time of writing, shares are up 15.66% on news that it has received ‘formal communication’ from the Malawi Ministry of Mining advising that the negotiations and review of the mining development agreement for the Kanyika Niobium Project MDA has wrapped up, following a recommendation for approval made by the Government’s MDA Steering Committee.

The letter goes on to say that the Ministry of Justice is vetting the final draft of the MDA, in readiness for submission to the Ministers of Mining and Finance for approval and signing, which may take place in due course.

GBE CEO Grant Hudson says it is highly pleasing that real progress towards finalisation and execution of the MDA is being made.

“The conclusion of the MDA is a critical step forward towards production as it provides Globe and its potential partners, financiers and customers with clarity and surety around tenure, developmental timelines and the fiscal regime pertaining to the Kanyika Niobium Project.”

The ~$46m market cap had ~$1.36m cash in the bank at the end of the March quarter.

 

WIDGIE NICKEL (ASX:WIN)

WIN listed on the ASX back in September 2021 with a goal to be a ‘production ready’ nickel stock by the end of 2023.

Significant by-product assays have been received from the Gillet North discovery hole, within the wide Mt Edwards Project where results include up to 12m at 3.40% nickel, 0.13% cobalt, 0.45% copper and 1.45g/t 3E from 200m.

The company says these by-product assays are significant in their own right, however when coupled with the previously announced nickel assays – such as 12m at 3.40% nickel from 200m – provide potential for value uplift to the mineralisation.

“These PGM numbers are enticing for Widgie,” MD Steve Norregaard says.

“They provide further evidence of the unrealised by-product value in Mt Edwards mineralisation and the positive implications these may represent for Widgie’s wider resource base and subsequent development plans for the future.”

 

PODIUM MINERALS (ASX:POD)

Things are starting to get real meaty for this PGE explorer.

Stage 10 assays continue to indicate the Parks Reef exploration target, which sits at 70-75Mt at a grade of 1.2-1.6g/t 3E PGM, is on track to reach exploration growth potential.

Intersection highlights released this morning include 14m at 1.65 3E PGM from 133m, including 4m at 2.06g/t 3E PGM from 134m.

CEO and MD Sam Rodda says these results continue to show grade and width in line with or above expectations.

“The Stage 10 program is aiming to increase the resource size and these results continue to confirm our expectations and validate our confidence in delivering the Exploration Target of an additional 2.7Moz to 3.8Moz 3E PGM at Parks Reef.”

As part of the company’s strategy to become Australia’s first 5E PGM resource, Rodda says these intersections will also be tested for highly valuable rhodium and iridium.

 

CYPRIUM METALS (ASX:CYM)

(Up on no news)

Shares in copper explorer CYM are on the up – the company released its Noosa Mining presentation to the ASX this morning, highlighting its project timeline at the Nifty Copper Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The project is the sixth largest copper development project in Australia.

CYM says it has completed the ground work to build a mid-tier copper company, having wrapped up a Restart Study with government approvals lodged and the finance process well advanced as it aims to start copper cathode production in 2023.