Resources Top 5: Rugby legends, big brawls and solid hits

Ex Resolute Mining boss and rugby star John Welborn is now at Equatorial Resources
Auroch, Red Mountain score impressive hits at their respective nickel and gold projects
Troubled gold explorer Cassius Mining spikes +250 per cent on no news

Here’s your top ASX small cap resources winners in morning trade Wednesday November 18.

Iron ore explorer Equatorial Resources (ASX:EQX) has ‘scored’ ex-Resolute mining boss John Welborn as its new managing director and chief exec.

Welborn was also a world-class rugby player who represented the Wallabies between 1996-99.

His five year stint at gold miner Resolute (ASX:RSG) saw the company’s market cap grow from less than $200 million to more than $1 billion.

Equatorial is majority owner of the potentially large scale Badondo iron ore project in the Republic of Congo, and also holds a 2 per cent royalty on all future production from the Mayoko-Moussondji iron project.

As at 30 September 2020 Equatorial had $41.2 million in cash and listed investments.

The Horn target continues to deliver impressive nickel-rich massive sulphide intercepts for explorer Auroch Minerals’ (ASX:AOU).

Drilling kicked off late October at the Horn nickel sulphide deposit – part of the Leinster project in WA — aiming to upgrade the historic resource estimate to JORC (2012), a must-have for ASX-listed miners and explorers.

Auroch’s second drill hole at Horn has now pulled up +7m of nickel-rich ‘massive sulphides’ (+80 per cent sulphides) from 143m depth, following on from the thick massive sulphides pulled up in hole one.

The stock is now up +180 per cent over the past six months.

Maiden drilling at Red Mountain Mining’s (ASX:RMX) Mt Maitland project is returning shallow, high grades up to 12.7 grams per tonne gold.

27 holes for ~1,850m have now been completed with assays for the remaining 23 holes still pending.

The 62 sqkm Mt Maitland project produced gold at a high average grade of 19.3g/t gold in the early 1900s.

UP ON NO NEWS:

Troubled gold-limestone project developer Cassius Mining (ASX:CMD) spiked +250 per cent on no news in early trade.

The company is engaged in a legal brawl with the Ghanian government over its Gbane gold project, which is in the same neighbourhood as Cardinal Resources’ (ASX:CDV) 5+ million ounce Namdini resource.

Namdini is the subject of a lucrative bidding war between Russian suitor Nordgold and major Chinese producer Shandong Gold Mining.

Surging nickel-copper play Oakdale Resources (ASX:OAR) is up 800 per cent over the past 6 months.

In August, Oakdale acquired a PGE-nickel-copper project near the regionally defining Julimar discovery, where Chalice Gold Mines (ASX:CHN) has just announced high grades in extensional drilling.