Resources Top 5: Rare earths are going off like a s..tcoin meme frog in a sock

Codrus hits 12m grading 2,680ppm TREO in maiden drill hole at Karloning REE-niobium project
Caprice uncovers soil/rock anomaly up to 3,761ppm REO at least 300m long at the Mukinbudin project
Recharge completes acquisition of the Express lithium project in popular James Bay region

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade Friday May 5.

CODRUS MINERALS (ASX:CDR)

CDR is the latest explorer to find clay rare earths, reporting 12m grading 2,680ppm (0.268%) TREO in the top 40m of a maiden drill hole at the Karloning REE-niobium project in WA.

That hit, which includes a 4m chunk at 4,764ppm (0.476%), means there are now two styles of REE mineralisation confirmed within the project area; hard rock pegmatite mineralisation and clay hosted.

“This is a very exciting result from our first-ever drill hole at Karloning, confirming the presence of shallow clay-hosted rare earths mineralisation in addition to the hard rock hosted REE mineralisation that the project was originally acquired for,” CDR MD Shannon Bamforth says.

“This provides Codrus with the opportunity to pursue rare earths discoveries within two separate geological units – both the near-surface clay horizon and the pegmatites.

Karloning includes a large 1.5km long and 200m wide pegmatite shown to host niobium alongside magnet REEs like dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, and praseodymium.

Early-stage rock/soil sampling returned very high grades up to 2.85% dysprosium and 6.41% niobium.

Popularised by WA1 Resources’ (ASX:WA1) discovery on the WA/NT border, niobium is mainly used to make steel better, but also has growing uses in lithium-ion batteries, intelligent glass, solar panels, 5G tech, and nuclear energy.

Assays from the lower portion of hole 1 and the other 12 drill holes are pending, Bamforth says.

The $4.2m capped stock is up 160% since announcing the Karloning acquisition November last year. It had $2.5m in the bank at the end of March.

CAPRICE RESOURCES (ASX:CRS)

More REEs over at CRS, which uncovered a soil/rock anomaly up to 3,761ppm REO over at least 300m at the Mukinbudin project in WA.

More sampling is underway to test remaining strike length of the outcropping pegmatite called QC2, which is 1.5km long all up.

“The results justify follow up work to further assess QC2 to delineate drill targets, as well as continue to explore other parts of the 380km2 project, with only 20% of the tenement having been actively explored to date,” MD Andrew Muir says.

In March the explorer hit shallow, high grade base metals in the very first drillhole ever at Lady Sampson, part of the Northampton polymetallic project in WA.

The hole, drilled beneath some historical workings, hit 6m at 11.4% lead, 1.7% zinc and 4.4g/t silver inside a larger 14m drill section at 7.6% lead, 1.1% zinc and 3.1g/t silver from 39m depth.

A second mineralised section was hit at 67m until end of hole at 70m, which means there is potential for additional lodes to the mineralised system at depth.

A follow-up drilling campaign was completed in late March (11 holes for 1000m), with results pending.

The $5m capped minnow is down 20% year-to-date. It has ~$1.4m in the bank.

LOS CERROS (ASX:LCL)

(Up on no news)

The advanced South American gold stock recently diversified, inking a deal to buy five large projects in PNG prospective for copper, nickel, and gold from private company Footprint Resources.

It gives LCL some juicy exploration targets to play with, in a jurisdiction known for its monster mineral deposits.

It also gives the company options as it waits for “greater clarity on new government mine development policies” in Colombia, where left-leaning Gustavo Petro won Colombia’s recent presidential election.

LCL will focus initially on the Kusi target within the Ono project, where old drilling pulled up hits like 35m @ 3.04g/t Au from 136m.

Maiden drilling results announced last month hit the good stuff, including 15.2m @ 4.45g/t Au (from 138.2m) within a broader interval of 76.4m @ 1.34g/t Au (from 106.9m). Nice and thick.

“The first drill hole is considered a strong success and has given us added comfort that the Kusi Upper Limestone skarn mineralisation is a worthy target capable of delivering large tonnage and grade,” MD Jason Stirbinskis says.

“Our 3,000m drilling program remains on schedule and on budget, with the next drill results release expected in the second half of May.”

The $30m capped stock is down 35% year-to-date. It is well funded with $8.7m in the bank at the end of march.

RECHARGE METALS (ASX:REC)

Yesterday REC completed the acquisition of the Express lithium project in popular James Bay Region of Québec, Canada.

Project vendor DG Resource Management had previously identified, acquired and vended the Corvette property to red hot lithium play Patriot Battery Metals (TSX-V:PMET, ASX:PMT).

Express comprises 139 mineral claims over 73.5km2 with reported outcropping pegmatites and is 12km southeast of Allkem’s (ASX:AKE) James Bay Deposit (37.2Mt @ 1.3% Li2O) and 15km northeast of Cygnus Metals’ (ASX:CY5) Pontax Lithium Project.

REC also raised $3m via placement, funding it for exploration activities over the next 12 months.

The explorer is now hunting for lithium peggies ahead of a helicopter-assisted field program, it says.

It looks like Express may take precedence over former flagship Brandy Hill South in WA, which sparked a heavy rerate March last year after drilling hit 300m of copper mineralisation.

But assays failed to live up to initial hype, and the share price has since retreated from those heady highs.

The $5m capped stock is flat year to date.

TANAMI GOLD (ASX:TAM)

(Up on no news)

TAM’s main game is the 1.5Moz Central Tanami project JV (50-50) with gold behemoth Northern Star (ASX:NST), where the companies also jointly fund all exploration and development.

The initial focus for development — which has been very slow going — is the historic Groundrush deposit, where ~600,000oz was mined at 4g/t.

Groundrush has resources of 1.1Moz grading 4.3g/t and remains open in multiple directions.

In April, TAM got a light slap on the wrist from the ASX after releasing numbers it shouldn’t have in a scoping study for Groundrush.

Numbers like:

+9 year mine life producing 115,000ozpa gold
Start-up capex of $228m
Net cash flow ~$537m based on a gold price of AU$2,500/oz
a pre-tax NPV(8) of ~$313m and 31% IRR; and
an estimated payback period of 3.5 years.

“The announcement is not consistent with ASX Listing Rule 5.16, as Tanami Gold does not have a reasonable basis for the included Production Targets and the Forecast Financial Information,” TAM says.

“The company advises investors that they should not rely on the 4 April 2023 announcement as a basis for investment decisions.”

Groundrush is just one of many historical gold targets the JV has at Central Tanami, which is down the road from Newmont’s Callie mine.

The $50m capped stock is flat year-to-date. It had $33m left in the bank at the end of March.