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Mining
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Monday March 15.
Green is the new gold, and companies know it.
Literally no ASX small cap stock has failed in the last couple of months by putting the words ‘green’ and ‘hydrogen’ in an announcement headline.
Green hydrogen – which burns cleanly and emits only water – is too expensive to make and distribute right now, but costs are falling.
QEM is the latest ASX exploration play to ride the hype, surging +130% after announcing plans to study “green hydrogen opportunities” at its Julia Creek vanadium and oil shale project in Queensland.
The studies will investigate the costs and regulatory requirements of producing renewable hydrogen on site at Julia Creek using a green solar-powered electrolyser.
Anova owns an undeveloped 1 million ounce gold project called ‘Big Springs’ in Nevada.
Right next door is the operational 2moz Jerritt Canyon gold mine, currently being acquired by TSX-listed miner First Majestic for $US470m.
Why is this important to $35m market cap Anova? The Jerritt gold processing plant is currently only operating at 50% capacity and is well-suited to processing ‘Big Springs’ ore, the explorer says.
“As part of its public release announcing the acquisition, First Majestic stated that it has ‘identified several opportunities to enhance both the cost and production profile of Jerritt Canyon’,” it says.
Sounds like Anova is heavily inferring that another takeover/toll treating agreement is in the works.
This $6m market cap tiddler recently announced plans to raise $2.2m to explore the Nowa Nowa iron and copper projects in Victoria.
A copper-focussed drill program was set to kick off “late February or early March 2021, subject to DJPR work plan approval”, it said February 1.
Eastern Iron is also looking for new assets to buy.
“A number of projects have been evaluated by the Company during this quarter, and the Company is currently in commercial discussions with various parties,” it said.
This former battler is up 438 per cent since announcing plans to buy the HyEnergy zero carbon hydrogen project in WA last month.
It is still very early days, but Province is looking to build a commercial scale wind or solar farm, using it to produce green hydrogen. Initial project studies are underway.
The stock will also adopt ESG reporting so it can more easily attract funds from large investors.
“Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and impact investing have become key terms for both investors and fund managers, leading a new path to how companies are being researched whilst also influencing fixed income investments,” Province says.
“In 2020, 33% of the $51.4 trillion in total U.S. assets under professional management use ESG investment criteria, with demand for ESG compliance continuing to rise sharply.”
Bill Beament, boss and founder of $12.2 billion gold miner Northern Star (ASX:NST), will cornerstone a big $58m funding package to advance Venturex’s Sulphur Springs copper-zinc project towards production.
The late February announcement lit a rocket under Venturex, which surged +210%.
The stock wants to make a final investment decision (FID) at the project ASAP.
“Given the significant increase in equity market interest since the Strategic Funding Package was announced on 24 February 2021, Venturex has initiated a number of activities to ensure that all key critical path items, permitting and final engineering are completed over the coming months to facilitate a seamless transition to construction and development,” the company said March 10.
“This will enable Venturex to move swiftly to a Final Investment Decision (FID) and to commence construction without delay to take advantage of strong base metal prices.”
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