Nickel was July’s clear standout. Prices reached a 13-month high on fears that major producer Indonesia would resume ore export bans in 2022.

Battery metals lithium and cobalt continued to languish, while vanadium showed signs of a tentative recovery.

  • Scroll down for July’s Top 3 >>>

Copper, lead and zinc prices fell marginally, while iron ore ($US120/t) and gold ($US1400/oz) steadied and consolidated their heady gains of the past few months.

Our Top 50 movers for July are mostly about gold, but nickel focussed explorers jumped from 3.1 per cent to 9.6 per cent month-on-month:

July’s TOP 3

#1 Oro Verde (ASX:OVL) +250%

Former gold explorer Oro Verde  is making the move into rare earths after making a deal to acquire 60 per cent of the Makuutu Project in Uganda; a large, clay-hosted project with significant quantities of the much sought-after neodymium and praseodymium.

“We have searched extensively and very selectively for the company’s next project and are very excited by this new acquisition,” Oro Verde’s Marc Steffens says.

“Makuutu has the potential to be a substantive and significant project with a favourable REE mix, that is located strategically outside of China in a mining-friendly jurisdiction.”

#2 Spectrum Metals (ASX:SPX) +241%

Spectrum is a repeat offender who last topped the charts in March. But the high-grade gold hits have just kept coming at the historic Penny West mine, sending the stock on another dizzying run in July.

From $5m market cap in February to $95m at the end of July – what a ride.

#3 Cygnus Gold (ASX:CY5) +192%

On July 1, $1.2 billion market cap miner Gold Road (ASX:GOR) formally advised their intention to form a joint venture with explorer Cygnus Gold on the Lake Grace project.

“Our exploration partnership with Gold Road, regarded as one of Australia’s most successful gold finders over the past decade, has allowed us to explore our large prospective tenement holding more cost efficiently,” Cygnus Gold managing director James Merrillees says.

Lake Grace has already generated a number of exciting gold prospects, Cygnus says, with results from the latest drilling anticipated in the next few weeks.

 

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Andromeda Metals (ASX:ADN) +112%

Advanced high purity alumina (HPA) hopeful Andromeda Metals has been flying between Australia and China as part of an aggressive marketing drive.

Andromeda was feeling out current market demand for its halloysite‐kaolin direct shipping ore (DSO) and dry processed products from the advanced Poochera project in South Australia.

By the end of the month, non-binding deals for a total 307,000tpa tonnes a year for dry processed product has been signed by six potential Chinese customers.

Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) +81%

It was a busy, highlight-filled month for Great Southern. The explorer progressed the acquisition of an old high grade gold mine in WA,  made an exciting, early stage discovery at the Edinburgh Park project in Queensland, before topping it off with another acquisition near the historic high grade Dianne copper mine, also in Queensland.

VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) +72%

Silica sands star VRX  is an investor’s dream.

In early July, VRX announced a resource upgrade at its Arrowsmith North project in WA, before snagging a new partnership with major Chinese glass manufacturer for “promotion and sale of silica sand products in China and sourcing of capital finance for production facilities”.

Dacian Gold (ASX:DCN) +65%

On June 5, Dacian downgraded production guidance at its freshly minted Mt Morgans Gold Operation (MMGO) near Laverton in WA for the second time.

Investors panicked, and the stock went from $1.58 to 38c in a matter of days.

Dacian’s recovery hasn’t been quite so swift, but sense is now prevailing with the stock ending July at a more acceptable 87.5c per share.

Here are the top 50  mining small caps for the month of July:

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Ticker Name Price 30 June Price 31 July Return % Market Cap
OVL ORO VERDE 0.002 0.007 250 $12,289,750.00
SPX SPECTRUM METALS 0.023 0.078 241 $94,838,640.00
CY5 CYGNUS GOLD 0.025 0.073 192 $4,429,884.00
ORM ORION METALS 0.006 0.015 150 $7,351,461.50
BPL BROKEN HILL PROSPECTING 0.016 0.038 137 $5,619,569.00
PGI PANTERRA GOLD 0.017 0.037 118 $7,803,349.00
ADN ANDROMEDA METALS 0.015 0.035 112 $47,442,472.00
CLZ CLASSIC MINERALS 0.001 0.002 100 $7,642,040.00
ANL AMANI GOLD 0.002 0.004 100 $20,852,910.00
DDD 3D RESOURCES 0.001 0.002 100 $2,214,442.25
4CE FORCE COMMODITIES 0.010 0.020 100 $9,923,095.00
FAU FIRST AU 0.016 0.027 94 $8,113,464.50
ARS ALT RESOURCES 0.017 0.032 88 $12,284,132.00
CMM CAPRICORN METALS 0.088 0.165 87 $172,464,688.00
GSN GREAT SOUTHERN MINING 0.032 0.058 81 $17,597,916.00
KZR KALAMAZOO RESOURCES 0.120 0.260 80 $26,861,916.00
TAS TASMAN RESOURCES 0.036 0.064 76 $35,363,080.00
SCN SCORPION MINERALS 0.004 0.007 75 $1,239,171.63
BNR BULLETIN RESOURCES 0.015 0.026 73 $4,661,620.00
KWR KINGWEST RESOURCES 0.130 0.230 73 $11,568,614.00
VRX VRX SILICA 0.089 0.145 72 $60,647,792.00
ENT ENTERPRISE METALS 0.007 0.012 71 $4,816,953.00
PWN PARKWAY MINERALS 0.004 0.006 71 $3,803,595.25
SVL SILVER MINES 0.052 0.081 70 $64,005,356.00
CZR COZIRON RESOURCES 0.009 0.015 67 $26,783,270.00
SFX SHEFFIELD RESOURCES 0.360 0.580 67 $169,360,992.00
RLC REEDY LAGOON 0.003 0.005 67 $2,011,358.50
PMY PACIFICO MINERALS 0.006 0.010 67 $23,131,046.00
DCN DACIAN GOLD 0.530 0.845 65 $188,470,688.00
AGE ALLIGATOR ENERGY 0.002 0.004 60 $4,094,762.25
AHQ ALLEGIANCE COAL 0.073 0.120 58 $62,753,344.00
VMC VENUS METALS 0.140 0.225 57 $26,609,370.00
MDI MIDDLE ISLAND RESOURCES 0.004 0.007 56 $7,327,965.00
AWV ANOVA METALS 0.009 0.014 56 $8,947,852.00
AOU AUROCH MINERALS 0.056 0.087 55 $8,743,808.00
IVR INVESTIGATOR RESOURCES 0.012 0.017 55 $12,579,525.00
AHK ARK MINES 0.013 0.020 54 $1,102,590.13
KIN KIN MINING 0.052 0.078 54 $38,669,708.00
RXL ROX RESOURCES 0.014 0.022 53 $29,699,454.00
ZMI ZINC OF IRELAND 0.072 0.110 53 $13,368,842.00
CML CHASE MINING 0.026 0.043 52 $9,106,325.00
BDC BARDOC GOLD 0.053 0.080 51 $98,104,056.00
AGY ARGOSY MINERALS 0.075 0.110 51 $111,595,232.00
GML GATEWAY MINING 0.010 0.014 50 $16,397,150.00
BLZ BLAZE INTERNATIONAL 0.020 0.030 50 $6,300,000.00
TMX TERRAIN MINERALS 0.002 0.003 50 $1,931,196.00
SMD SYNDICATED METALS 0.004 0.006 50 $3,992,954.25
ARO ASTRO RESOURCES 0.002 0.003 50 $3,816,292.00
TSC TWENTY SEVEN CO 0.003 0.004 50 $2,943,183.75
TRL TANGA RESOURCES 0.002 0.003 50 $3,819,082.50
DTR DATELINE RESOURCES 0.002 0.003 50 $24,406,362.00
SPQ SUPERIOR RESOURCES 0.006 0.009 50 $6,192,393.50
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