Resources Top 5: One of 2022’s best performing IPOs is now up +360pc

Belararox (ASX:BRX) one of the best performing ASX IPOs for 2022
Pearl Gull Iron (ASX:PLG) hits thick, high grade iron ore at the Cockatoo Island project
Drill rig mobilising to site next week for maiden drilling at Western Mines Group’s (ASX:WMG) “Mulga’ project

Here are the best performing resources stocks in morning trade, Wednesday April 6.

BELARAROX (ASX:BRX)

(Up on no news)

After IPOing in January with $6m at $0.20, BRX’s share price has surged 360%, now trading at over $0.92 per share.

This makes it one of the best performing ASX IPOs for 2022.

The stock, which has started drilling around its historical Belara copper-zinc project in NSW, puts the share price rise down to the soaring zinc price.

“Zinc is over $4,000 a tonne, I can’t remember ever seeing that,” BRX Chief technical consultant Greg Partington says.

“Lead is doing the same sort of thing, and so is copper.”

“Zinc is the main driver of the value at Belara – so if you just correlated the share price rise with the rise of metal prices, then that’s what you’re seeing.”

Belara includes two historical copper-zinc mines, Belara and Native Bee, where ~5,600m of drilling kicked off towards the end of February.

A resource update is mid-year. Non-executive chairman Neil Warburton expects it will be “sizeable”.

Belararox share price chart:

PEARL GULL IRON (ASX:PLG)

PLG has drilled into thick, high grade iron ore at the Cockatoo Island ‘Switch Pit’, including ~57m grading 68.9% fe from ~80m.

That’s high. The benchmark grade often quoted is 62% fe – anything higher than this can attract a substantial price premium from buyers:

Aside from rare exceptions like Mount Gibson Iron’s (ASX:MGX) Koolan Island mine, Australia doesn’t have many high grade hematite resources like those in Brazil or Africa.

Cockatoo Island is right next door to Koolan.

Geological and resource modelling has now kicked off and expected to be delivered in the next 6 weeks, PLG says.

“This set of drill results from the Switch Pit target, together with previously announced results, confirms a high-grade extension to the previously mined Seawall Pit,” chairman Russell Clark says.

“Geological modelling has commenced with the aim of producing a mineable resource that could be developed into a small scale, low capital operation.”

“The supporting footwall mineralisation continues to be of interest with the potential for beneficiation similar to the previously successful operations on the adjoining tenements.”

“Once our resource work is complete, we look forward to updating the market with further plans for our high-grade iron ore project.”

The $4m market cap stock is flat year-to-date. It had $1.4m in the bank at the end of December.

Pearl Gull Iron share price chart:

THOMSON RESOURCES (ASX:TMZ)

TMZ is hitting thin but shallow and super high-grade silver at the ‘Webbs’ project in NSW, ahead of a mineral resource estimate pencilled in for the current quarter.

New results include 6.62m at 793g/t from 67m.

TMZ “Fold Belt Hub and Spoke Strategy” involves building a +100Moz silver eq resource base across multiple deposits that could be processed at a central facility.

Right now, it has 40.2Moz in the books, with Webbs initial resource still to come.

“The final Thomson MRE for the 100% Thomson owned projects in the New England Fold Belt, the Webbs deposit, is well advanced,” Executive Chairman David Williams says.

“This has been the most complex of all the deposits with a lot of work required to fully understand this high-grade silver and base metal deposit.”

“Having said that, when the Webbs MRE is delivered, Thomson will have produced five new MREs under JORC 2012 in well under 12 months. This is an outstanding outcome from the team.”

$28m market cap TMZ is down 25% year-to-date.

Thomson Resources share price chart:

WESTERN MINES GROUP (ASX:WMG)

Last month WMG identified five major, potentially nickel-rich conductors at the flagship ‘Mulga Tank’ project.

These include the appropriately named ‘Mulga Monster’, which is 1km long and 1km wide.

Final results from this survey have revealed a further 3 “priority” bedrock conductor targets.

A drill rig is now mobilising to site next week for a maiden 9 hole, 3.750m diamond drilling program across these 8 targets.

Follow-up holes will be planned based on on initial XRF and downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) results as the program progresses, WMG says.

DHEM surveying involves sending a probe attached to a wire cable down a completed drill-hole.

The probe can detect conductive sulphide mineralisation off-hole, with the potential to “see” mineralisation up to 75m away.

The technique is widely used in base metal exploration, and has played a pivotal role in some of the share market’s most famous discoveries – like Sandfire Resources’ (ASX:SFR) DeGrussa and Monty discoveries and Sirius Resources’ Nova-Bollinger discoveries.

$10m market cap WMG is up 50% year-to-date. It had $4.5m in the bank at the end of December.

Western Mines share price chart:

LINDIAN RESOURCES (ASX:LIN)

(Up on no news)

LIN has a bunch of advanced bauxite projects in Guinea, Africa – the #1 supplier of bauxite to China — which have a combined 1 billion tonnes of JORC resources.

Bauxite is the world’s main source of aluminium as well as gallium, which is predominantly used in electronics.

LIN is focusing on the low capex, early to production Woula project, “while simultaneously bring into production the larger, multi-generational bauxite assets — the ultra-high grade Gaoual project and the world class Lelouma project”.

Despite a few dramas of late — like a coup in Guinea — it says there is “considerable third-party interest in Lindian’s bauxite assets”.

“The focus for the [December] quarter was on advancing Lindian’s world class bauxite portfolio in Guinea working to define the optimal export solution and progress due diligence with interested parties,” LIN said January 31.

The $32m market cap stock is up 23% year-to-date.