Who Made the Gains? Here are June’s top 40 miners and explorers

What happened to the most talked about commodities in June?

Star performer iron ore hit US$US220/tonne (again) late in the month to be up ~38% year-to-date.

The benchmark lithium price in index was up another 2.9% month-on-month, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

A year ago, Aussie lithium spodumene producers were in dire straits and accepting sub-$US400/t.

Prices have now punched through $US600/t, with Chinese major Ganfeng now expecting prices to keep rising back to the 2018 level of +$US1,000/t.

Copper prices softened ~8% in June after hitting record highs in May, but Citi have upgraded their near-term outlook in light of the recent sell-off and remain bullish on prices over the next 3-6 months.

Nickel, meanwhile, continued to shrug off Chinese scare tactics to surge past $US18,500/t.

Gold did it tough, posting its worst month since November 2016 in June.

On a positive note, experts say the drop in gold equity valuations could create a buying opportunity.

And guess what investors? There’s still a tonne of money to be made in coal – especially the steelmaking stuff — as the dark clouds surrounding the sector in 2020/ 2021 begin to lift.

What were the top 40 resources winners for June searching for?

Here are the top 40 ASX resources stocks for the month of June >>>

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CODE	COMPANY	MONTHLY RETURN %	PRICE	MARKET CAP	COMMODITY	WHERE
GBE	Globe Metals & Mining	313	0.165	$ 76,877,191.55	Niobium	Malawi
COD	Coda Minerals	251	1.315	$ 107,769,145.75	Copper, Gold	South Australia
FTZ	Fertoz	190	0.145	$ 26,696,339.91	Phosphate	Canada
RAG	Ragnar Metals	167	0.072	$ 24,313,312.01	Nickel, Copper, Gold	Sweden, WA
CVS	Cervantes Corp	118	0.008	$ 12,432,099.71	Gold	WA
SYA	Sayona Mining	91	0.082	$ 422,603,020.75	Lithium, Gold	Canada, WA
TRN	Torrens Mining	79	0.26	$ 17,735,883.88	Copper, Gold	South Australia, VIC
LSA	Lachlan Star	72	0.055	$ 69,933,199.00	Nickel, Copper, PGE, Gold	WA
CAP	Carpentaria Resources	65	0.215	$ 102,284,238.68	Iron Ore	NSW
POS	Poseidon Nickel	52	0.105	$ 294,988,559.46	Nickel	WA
PSC	Prospect Resources	50	0.225	$ 84,010,655.93	Lithium	Zimbabwe
INF	Infinity Lithium	46	0.105	$ 42,278,728.38	Lithium	Spain
ASM	Australian Strategic Materials	45	7.29	$ 1,016,998,783.74	Rare Earths, Zirconium, Niobium, Hafnium	NSW
BRL	Bathurst Resources	45	0.45	$ 76,928,230.35	Coal	New Zealand
AQC	Australian Pacific Coal	44	0.18	$ 9,087,265.80	Coal	NSW
LTR	Liontown Resources	42	0.81	$ 1,473,479,084.61	Lithium, Nickel, Copper, PGE	WA
STK	Strickland Metals	42	0.044	$ 32,351,111.50	Gold	WA
GLN	Galan Lithium	41	0.91	$ 222,630,668.26	Lithium	Argentina
VAR	Variscan Mines	39	0.079	$ 21,022,454.90	Zinc, Lead	Spain
VMS	Venture Minerals	38	0.145	$ 192,730,996.04	Iron Ore, Tin, Tungsten, Nickel, Copper, PGE	Tasmania, WA
BCI	BCI Minerals	38	0.565	$ 338,553,555.65	Salt, Potash, Iron Ore	WA
LKE	Lake Resources	33	0.345	$ 365,010,802.82	Lithium	Argentina
GWR	GWR Group	29	0.33	$ 99,919,526.19	Iron Ore	WA
EMH	European Metals	28	1.545	$ 200,624,375.93	Lithium	Czech Republic
BUX	Buxton Resources	25	0.15	$ 20,408,314.80	Nickel, Copper, Gold	WA
PLL	Piedmont Lithium	24	1.045	$ 616,978,241.00	Lithium	US, Canada
CRN	Coronado Global Resources	24	0.87	$ 1,458,514,745.10	Coal	US, QLD
VR8	Vanadium Resources	24	0.062	$ 25,943,534.51	Vanadium	South Africa
NAG	Nagambie Resources	23	0.087	$ 43,494,114.10	Gold	Victoria
AHQ	Allegiance Coal	21	0.68	$ 192,050,746.24	Coal	US, Canada
MNB	Minbos Resources	21	0.075	$ 34,802,467.28	Phosphate	Angola
AAU	Antilles Gold	20	0.082	$ 20,695,864.22	Gold	Cuba
CTM	Centaurus Metals	19	0.805	$ 276,701,886.86	Nickel	Brazil
JNO	Juno	19	0.19	$ 25,775,020.19	Iron Ore	WA
DTR	Dateline Resources	19	0.095	$ 35,888,739.00	Gold	US
QPM	Queensland Pacific	19	0.16	$ 192,295,612.00	Nickel, Cobalt, Iron Ore, HPA	QLD
TRM	Truscott Mining	18	0.039	$ 5,340,720.22	Gold	Northern Territory
DKM	Duketon Mining	18	0.325	$ 39,362,148.80	Nickel, Copper, PGE	WA
AIS	Aeris Resources	18	0.2	$ 441,470,551.60	Copper, Gold	South Australia, NSW, QLD
FEX	Fenix Resources	17	0.37	$ 173,979,150.40	Iron Ore	WA

The Top 3

In June, the Malawi government recommended Globe Metals & Mining (ASX:GBE) receive a mining licence in a “significant step forward for the company’s goal of becoming a niobium producer”.

Alloys containing niobium are used in jet engines and rockets, beams and girders for buildings and oil rigs, and oil and gas pipelines.

The company surged +310% on the news to its highest point in about nine years.

Meanwhile, junior joint venture partners Coda Minerals (ASX:COD) and Torrens Mining (ASX:TRN) hit 200m of “intense IOCG alteration”, including ~50m of copper sulphides at the ‘Elizabeth Creek’ project in the Stuart Shelf region of South Australia.

This could be huge.

Iron oxide copper gold ore deposits (IOCG) — like BHP’s Olympic Dam mine or more recent Oak Dam discovery — can be tremendously large, and simple-to-process concentrations of copper, gold and other economic minerals.

Small cap phosphate miner Fertoz (ASX:FTZ) is also running hot, up 190% over the month.

The catalyst appeared to be positive results of a two-year field study around quality and yield from the phosphate fertiliser product, which has resulted in a steady stream of orders from new and existing clients.

Full charge

Canada-focused lithium play Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) gained another 91% in June for an eyewatering year-to-date gain of 880%.

In June, a Canadian court approved Sayona’s ~$107 million acquisition of the mothballed North American Lithium (NAL) operation, which will be integrated into the nearby Authier project to create a world scale lithium hub.

The wider lithium cohort also continue to perform well — June winners Prospect Resources (ASX:PSC), Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR), Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN), European Metals (ASX:EMH) and Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) are now up 50%, 95%, 360%, 150%, 28%, and 175% respectively in 2021.

At the coalface

The coal sector was hit by a confluence of shit in 2020 and early 2021. COVID-19, followed by China’s ban on Australian coal, was a one-two punch.

The irony is that while the price of Australian met coal fell to ~$US100 per tonne, Chinese steel mills were forced to pay up to $US265 per tonne for lower quality domestic coal — and much higher prices than benchmark for other imported coal.

But things appear to be coming good for ASX coal stocks.

In June, Bathurst Resources (ASX:BRL) (+45% in June) announced it would exceed 2021 financial year (FY21) earnings guidance of $55.4m as prices recover.

During the last quarter the premium coking coal benchmark price surged from $US110/tonne to a recent high of US$182/tonne, it says.

Other met coal miners and explorers in our top 40 for June include Australian Pacific Coal (ASX:AQC), Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN), and Allegiance Coal (ASX:AHQ).