We ask 11 ASX resources stocks - what makes your company a good investment?

Vertical Events’ recent South-West Connect Investment Showcase in Busselton, WA, put 38 small cap ASX listed companies in front of ~450 investors.

These investors were typically self-funded retirees, high net worth investors, stockbroking firms, funds, and family offices, Vertical Events business development manager Jaxon Crabb says.

“Given the appetite of the market, many of these investors were interested in mining and exploration stocks, especially those associated with the electric vehicle market,” Crabb told Stockhead said on the conference sidelines.

“Nickel, copper, cobalt, graphite, lithium – those type of metals.

“But then there is still a bit of uncertainty around the world, therefore gold still has its place. Over the last week or so the gold price has seen a little bit of strength. There has also been a couple of takeover transactions which typically excite investors.

“So, it is the perfect world for resources – you have gold, copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, graphite all going well.

“I can imagine a lot of the investors are here to decide which of these companies are the best for them to participate in.”

For those investors that couldn’t make the conference, Stockhead walked around and asked 11 small cap stocks –

What makes your company a good investment?

ROX RESOURCES (ASX:RXL)

Market Cap: $60m

“RXL is a high-grade gold developer with an underground project of 8g/t,” managing director Alex Passmore says.

“Significant resource growth – last year we grew our resource by 40%, and we are likely to do it again this year.

“High grade exploration results keep on being delivered.

“And we are well funded with over $10m in the bank.”

EUROPEAN METALS (ASX:EMH)

Market Cap: $230m

“We are developing the ‘Cinovec’ project, the largest hard rock lithium resource in Europe,” exec chairman Keith Coughlan says.

“Demand for lithium in Europe is going to grow faster than anywhere else in the world – there is a huge number of electric vehicles being made in Europe, and a huge number of gigafactories being built in Europe.

“There is no local supply of lithium in Europe whatsoever.

“Cinovec is likely to be the first project in production, producing battery grade lithium carbonate and/or hydroxide, specifically for the European market.

“There is a great deal of support for the industry and the project in EU in the form of grants and financial commitments, as well as policy commitments.

“The supply demand equation for lithium globally is only going in one direction. There isn’t enough lithium, there is going to be a supply deficit from about now into the foreseeable future.

“We see higher lithium prices for a long time to come.”

WA KAOLIN (ASX:WAK)

Market Cap: $33m

“WA Kaolin is an established business that has been mining kaolin for many years,” chief exec Andrew Sorensen says.

“We are an expansion project. The company is investing in building a plant at the mine site, and when we bring that onstream in Q2 of 2022 we will be accessing much bigger cashflows.

“We are a growing producer, not an explorer – a lot of people don’t understand that about us.

“It is an exciting time for the business.”

AUROCH MINERALS (ASX:AOU)

Market Cap: $50m

“We are exploring for nickel sulphides, which is a booming market,” exploration manager Matt McCarthy.

“We have three growing projects in WA with resources on them.

“We are also exploring for zinc in South Australia with two drill rigs at the moment.”

DEVEX (ASX:DEV)

Market Cap: $95m

“Devex is all about discovery,” managing director Brendan Bradley says.

“In NSW we are exploring for porphyry copper-gold, and in WA we are exploring immediately north of Chalice Mining’s (ASX:CHN) ‘Julimar’ discovery they made last year.

“This is the first time holes are getting drilled into our ‘Sovereign’ project in WA, and likewise in NSW.

“We have a great opportunity to re rate – we just have to get that hole in the right spot.”

ALICANTO (ASX:AQI)

Market Cap: $48m

Alicanto is hitting very high-grade silver-lead-zinc up to 6,812g/t silver, 16% lead, 41% zinc at the Sala project [in Sweden],” chief exec Peter George says.

“But we are also getting very wide intersections – we put out that intersection on Monday of 87m at 5.3% zinc and 40g/t silver.

“From an investor’s perspective this thing has got both grade and width (ie) tonnes.

“As far as the organisation itself, we are sitting at a market cap of ~$50m as we scream toward getting our maiden resource out on Sala in Q1 next year.

“There is going to be a massive rerate in Alicanto, the pressure is building.”

METALICITY (ASX:MCT)

Market Cap: $18m

“We have an exciting project,” exec director Justin Barton says.

“We now have a 51% controlling interest in a project in the emerging Kookynie gold district in WA. We are one of the predominant landholders in the area with about 20,000 hectares.

“We think we have the jewel in the crown – the Cosmopolitan gold mine which produced 360,000oz at 15g/t.

“There is a real opportunity here to replicate the success of Spectrum Metals and Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL).

“Drilling to date has been very encouraging – we have bonanza grades at a couple of prospects, and we haven’t even touched Cosmopolitan yet.”

LITHIUM ENERGY (ASX:LEL)

Market Cap: $65m

“We are the only ASX listed company with exposure to both lithium and graphite, two key ingredients for lithium-ion batteries,” exec chairman William Johnson says.

“We have exposure to significant value-added opportunities in the graphite space, like the opportunity to develop a manufacturing base for purified spherical graphite (PSG).

“PSG attracts a much higher sale price than natural graphite.

“On the lithium front, our project is located right next door to [producer] Orocobre (ASX:ORE), which is a $6.2bn valuation company.

“There is no reason we can’t define a resource similar in size to theirs.”

CORAZON MINING (ASX:CZN)

Market Cap: $9.4m

“We are focused on battery metals, in particular nickel,” says managing director Brett Smith.

“There will be a surge on nickel demand going forward.

“We have large nickel resources at the Lynn Lake project in Canada. It is an old mining centre with [resources of] about 116,800t of nickel, 54,000t of copper and cobalt as well.

“Why are we a good buy? We have large resources, we are a great exploration play as well, and we have a market cap of just under $10m.”

TALGA RESOURCES (ASX:TLG)

Market Cap: $506m

“Our investment thesis is that we are set for massive long-term growth in the battery industry,” managing director Mark Thompson says.

“We are a vertically integrated battery anode company using the cheapest, finest source of graphite.

“We capture the entire margins of the value chain, right down to the mining, by making the actual anode that is bought by the battery makers themselves.

“That’s why we believe Talga will be a future multi-billion-dollar valuation chemical company.”

PODIUM MINERALS (ASX:POD)

Market Cap: $88m

“We are aiming to be Australia’s first platinum group element (PGE) producer at the ‘Parks Reef’ project in WA,” exec chairman Clayton Dodd says.

“The project contains a resource of 2.2Moz of platinum, palladium, and gold plus 79,000t of copper, which we hope to grow with an aggressive drilling schedule, currently in progress.

“There is also further upside with rhodium credits, which could add over 35% to the 3E PGM price.”

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Podium, Corazon, Lithium Energy, Alicanto and Auroch are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.