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Who Made the Gains: Here are the top ASX mining and exploration stocks for March
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- Gold stories ruled our top ASX resources stocks for March
- Uranium stocks – after a frothy start to the year — fell off the face of the earth
- Standout Stocks for March: Macro Metals, Magmatic Resources, Many Peaks, Turaco
Until very recently, investors were displaying a complete lack of interest in Aussie gold stocks even as the prices scaled all-time highs.
The divergence between the metal, now up +40% from its November 2022 low of US$1640/oz, and stocks performance puzzled the experts.
Many said it was just a matter of time. They could be right.
Gold stories ruled the roost in March, in signs the precious metals malaise could be over.
READ: Up, Up, Down, Down: Gold wins the commodities game in March as bullion prices continue to level up
Copper stocks also did well, tracking an improvement in the price last month.
A tentative recovery had punters dusting off their lithium hopefuls, while uranium stocks – after a frothy start to the year — fell off the face of the earth.
Here are the top ASX resources stocks for the month of March >>>
Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.
| CODE | COMPANY | MARCH 2024 RETURN | SHARE PRICE | MARKET CAP | COMMODITIES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M4M | Macro Metals | 180% | 0.007 | $25,856,534.05 | IRON ORE |
| MAG | Magmatic Resrce | 165% | 0.098 | $36,637,339.10 | COPPER, GOLD |
| MPK | Many Peaks Minerals | 118% | 0.205 | $8,193,570.59 | GOLD |
| CVR | Cavalier Resources | 100% | 0.19 | $4,933,481.98 | GOLD |
| HXG | Hexagon Energy | 100% | 0.026 | $13,335,813.43 | GRAPHITE, AMMONIA |
| SRL | Sunrise | 86% | 0.67 | $55,941,048.76 | NICKEL, COBALT |
| SCN | Scorpion Minerals | 83% | 0.033 | $14,330,966.72 | LITHIUM |
| ARL | Ardea Resources | 83% | 0.73 | $142,837,263.38 | NICKEL, COBALT |
| STM | Sunstone Metals | 78% | 0.016 | $45,508,470.10 | COPPER, GOLD |
| SRX | Sierra Rutile | 76% | 0.12 | $48,787,191.41 | MINERAL SANDS |
| APS | Allup Silica | 72% | 0.062 | $1,115,835.93 | SILICA SANDS |
| GTE | Great Western Exp. | 70% | 0.068 | $23,316,711.34 | COPPER, GOLD |
| NYM | Narryer Metals | 70% | 0.051 | $3,149,637.29 | LITHIUM |
| AWJ | Auric Mining | 64% | 0.18 | $22,900,428.43 | GOLD |
| RR1 | Reach Resources | 64% | 0.003 | $9,836,169.46 | LITHIUM |
| PNR | Pantoro | 61% | 0.0645 | $317,445,861.35 | GOLD |
| G50 | Gold50 | 61% | 0.135 | $14,754,150.00 | GALLIUM |
| MMC | Mitre Mining | 61% | 0.45 | $34,328,491.89 | SILVER, GOLD |
| TCG | Turaco Gold | 59% | 0.175 | $99,975,111.47 | GOLD |
| ALM | Alma Metals | 57% | 0.011 | $11,140,007.87 | COPPER |
| WIA | WIA Gold | 57% | 0.08 | $73,654,796.88 | GOLD |
| AIS | Aeris Resources | 55% | 0.155 | $145,128,831.00 | COPPER, ZINC, GOLD, SILVER |
| XAM | Xanadu Mines | 55% | 0.062 | $99,528,348.52 | COPPER, GOLD |
| AUQ | Alara Resources | 54% | 0.06 | $43,085,252.46 | COPPER, GOLD |
| GCX | GCX Metals | 53% | 0.055 | $15,594,419.90 | COPPER, GOLD, NICKEL, PGE |
March Small Cap Standouts
In recent times iron ore has been an unhappy hunting ground for junior resources companies.
Smalls caps are either saddled with multi-billion dollar projects stuck in development purgatory or build cheap, high cost mines unprofitable whenever the price drops below US$100/t.
There are notable exceptions (Fenix, for example) but iron ore exploration/production is a tough game to play, let alone win.
Hoping to buck the trend and “become a multi mine producer” is the stock formerly known as Kogi Iron, which is back to its roots after a brief dalliance in the lithium space.
M4M rerated last month after reskinning as a WA iron ore play and voting in a new board, which includes famous small cap investors Tolga Kumova and Evan Cranston.
The new assets include W5, 5km along strike from Fenix Resources’ (ASX:FEX) Iron Ridge mine in the Mid West, and Deepdale, next door to Rio Tinto’s Robe Valley operations and CZR Resources’ (ASX:CZR) Robe Mesa project in the Pilbara.
Fortescue (ASX:FMG) will spent up to $14m over six years to get a 75% JV interest in Magmatic’s Myall project in New South Wales. For Fortescue, which paid $3.3b in dividends for the first half of FY24, that’s chump change.
For Magmatic it’s manna from heaven, as is FMG’s decision to subscribe for 75.9 million shares to claim a 19.9% stake in the junior.
FMG can claim an initial 51% interest in Myall by spending $6m on exploration over the first four years. Another $8m over the subsequent two years would take its share to 75%.
Importantly Myall already has a large mineral resource of 110Mt at 0.33% copper equivalent, containing 293,000t copper, 237,000oz gold and 2.8Moz silver at Magmatic’s Corvette and Kingswood prospects, released in July last year.
That’s on the low end of the scale for grade, even for a porphyry, though Magmatic says it believes it has ‘Tier-1 potential’ at Myall, which sits just 50km north in the same geological setting as the Northparkes copper and gold mine.
The majority 80% share of that operation was acquired by copper-leaning gold major Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) for ~$700m in December.
MANY PEAKS (ASX:MPK) & TURACO GOLD (ASX:TCG)
MPK inked a deal to buy the advanced Ferke and Odienne gold projects in Cote d’Ivoire from TCG and JV partner Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI).
At Ferke, MPK will follow up promising hits like 35.95m @ 3.88 g/t gold within 77.6m and 91.1m @ 2.02 g/t gold from surface.
“Leveraging over US$4m of previous expenditure in recent years has generated multiple targets ready for follow-up, including extension targets, providing Many Peaks with a transformational acquisition with near-term resource potential viable,” MPK executive chairman Travis Schwertfeger says.
TCG gets a 11% stake in MPK as part of the deal, which gives it exposure to any exploration upside.
It follows a bunch of other lucrative divestments and farm outs by TCG, which leaves it with two projects in Cote d’Ivoire including the flagship Afema, where resource drilling is underway.
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