Resources Top 5: Why has this uranium battler spiked 70% in two days?

What’s going on behind the scenes at beleaguered uranium stock Berkeley?
Jindalee announces “huge” lithium intercepts at advanced ‘McDermitt’ project
Gold juniors Miramar, Octanex and Nelson up on no news

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Thursday March 17.

BERKELEY ENERGIA (ASX:BKY)

(Up on no news)

Up four days in a row, on larger than usual volumes, with no news — what’s going on behind the scenes at beleaguered BKY?

The advanced project developer is battling through the approvals process to build its contentious Salamanca uranium mine in Spain.

It’s not looking good, unlike the share price which is up 72% over the past week.

In late November, BKY received formal notification that construction of the uranium concentrate plant as a radioactive facility had been rejected. It is appealing the decision.

BKY also kicked off a comprehensive review of known lithium and other battery metals occurrences in Spain and Portugal around the same time, “with a view to generating new exploration targets and opportunities in the battery and critical metals sectors”.

“The Company is currently pursuing and assessing other new business opportunities in the resources sector,” it says.

“These new business opportunities may take the form of direct project acquisitions, joint ventures, farm-ins, acquisition of tenements/permits, or direct equity participation.”

“The company’s success in its acquisition activities depends on its ability to identify suitable projects, acquire them on acceptable terms, and integrate the projects successfully, which the Company’s Board is experienced in doing.”

With $78m in the bank at the end of December, the $190m market cap stock certainly has the cash on hand to complete a solid acquisition or two.

JINDALEE RESOURCES (ASX:JRL)

A favourite of veteran stock picker Harley Grosser, JRL today announced “huge” lithium intercepts — including 60m at 1880ppm — at the advanced ‘McDermitt’ project in the US.

These hits are some of the thickest and best from the project to date, JRL says.

“The drilling confirms significant mineralisation near surface, over large thicknesses and with excellent grade continuity,” it says.

“Importantly, these diamond drill holes have encountered several higher-grade zones (>3000ppm lithium) within the Mineral Resource, reinforcing the potential scalability of the project.”

The new drill data will be used to update the already huge 10.1 million tonne lithium carbonate equivalent Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), which is anticipated to be complete early in the June quarter.

Planning for the next phase of drilling in 2022 is also well-advanced with all drill permits in hand.

The remainder of the drilling will focus on “investigating the untested mineral potential across the western tenure and look for opportunities for higher grade material”.

Grosser says an upcoming catalyst for the share price will take place this year when JRL release an updated scoping study with details on the economics around their deposit.

“We see this as a potential multi-billion-dollar project, while the company’s current market cap is only about $150 million,” he says.

“With mining projects in the US, you have to be cognizant of the litigation risks (i.e. Lithium Americas Corp), but we are confident that this project can be progressed in a sustainable way and that Jindalee can manage those risks as they push through with permitting and development.”

MIRAMAR RESOURCES (ASX:M2R)

(Up on no news)

M2R— which IPO’ed in October 2020 with ex-Doray Minerals founder Allan Kelly at the helm — has a bunch of gold and base metals projects in WA.

Its main game is the ‘Gidji’ JV in the eastern goldfields, where it is dialling in on several gold and nickel discoveries.

The Project was previously underexplored previously despite proximity to numerous significant gold deposits and processing plants.

The highest priority ‘Marylebone’ target consists of parallel zones of aircore anomalism >1g/t Au in weathered basement beneath approximately 40m of transported cover.

The geology, structure and scale of Marylebone is like the 4Moz Paddington deposit along strike 10km to the northwest, M2R says.

Exciting if true.

A new target west of Marylebone, known as ‘Blackfriars’, is at least 1km long and with a drill hit of 6m @ 1.23g/t gold at its northern end.

M2R is waiting on drilling from a substantial 10,000m programme of infill and extensional drilling at Marylebone and Blackfriars completed in the December quarter.

More drilling is expected to kick off in April.

The $9m market cap stock is up 6% year-to-date. It had $3.1m in the bank at the end of December.

OCTANEX (ASX:OXX)

(Up on no news)

This unassuming greenfields gold explorer recently completed early-stage soil sampling at the unexplored 2,585km2 ‘Sefton ‘gold project in WA.

The aim of the program was to define gold and copper-gold anomalies for follow-up drilling, OXX says.

“Due to widespread transported cover and the deep weathering profile of the region, low values of gold and other ‘pathfinder’ elements in surface material are considered significant and may provide indications of gold in the bedrock,” the company says.

“The company considers this area highly prospective for the discovery of a major gold resource.”

OXX’s ongoing data compilation and review will also consider the rare earth element (REE) and lithium potential of the Sefton and adjacent ‘Hope Campbell’ project areas.

The $5m market cap stock is up 10% year-to-date. It had $376,000 in the bank at the end of December.

NELSON RESOURCES (ASX:NES)

(Up on no news)

This minnow is looking for the next tier one 7.7Moz ‘Tropicana-like’ gold deposit in the Fraser Range of WA.

NES’ last news of substance came way back on November 17, when the first drillhole at the untested West EM target at the ‘Socrates’ prospect delivered a “significant” result of 5m @ 1.72 g/t gold from 23m, including 3m @ 2.01 g/t.

Drilling at Socrates — part of the Woodline project in WA — has now delineated a gold-rich corridor of ~1.5km wide hosting four parallel mineralised zones, with two potentially being 2km in length.

Woodline was previously owned by a Newmont JV which spent $16m delineating several early-stage targets. This exploration stopped back in 2012 when the gold price began to free-fall.

In other news, ex-Tropicana JV manager for regional exploration Derek Shaw recently joined NES as exploration manager. What a coup.

“The company is…very pleased to have Derek Shaw join the company as exploration manager,” CEO Adam Schofield says.

“His wealth of experience from his role with the Tropicana JV and his time in the Albany Fraser and Yilgarn Cratons will be instrumental in our hunt for the next Tropicana.”

The $7m market cap stock is down a substantial 42% year-to-date. It had $1m In the bank at the end of December, and completed a $2.5m raise late last month.