On Stockhead today, Close the case on Jack Ma and reopen the books on Chinese tech: One’s alive, the other has a future.
Emma says 2023 is the year deep sea mining will catch on, and I believe her.
Nadine’s been stalking ASX short sellers who’ve been stalking these 3 ASX names for the most likely to crash and make us rich in the bloodsport we all know and loathe.
Aussie property, always willing to shock, has found a new low, according to CoreLogic’s Beautiful but Evil Queen of Numbers.
And Our Josh Chiat corners Essential Metals MD for a ghastly chat about the ASX lithium predators and the minnows they’re hunting…
There’s more, but that’s up to you.
And now, the day ahead…
TRADING HALTS
These are the stocks which were halted at the end of the last ASX session:
Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) – Azure went into a halt Monday morning ahead of news of a substantial corporate investment in the company.
WHAT GOT EVERYONE TALKING
Essential metals did, the stock is going nuts and – remember – Josh has them talking here, get off Twitter and read that. I don’t think Twitter is a safe place, compared to Josh.
For all you crypto lovers Stockhead’s Coinhead Facebook group is the place to share your views, insights, tips and ideas.
Also, be sure to check in preopen each day for ‘Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch’, and 10.30am for our daily ‘10 at 10’ column — a live summary of winners & losers at the opening bell.
COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES
Gold: $US1871.03 (+0.31%)
Silver: $US23.61 (+2.65%%)
Nickel (3mth): $US21,900/t (-0.85%)
Copper (3mth): $US7,850/t (+2.98%)
Lithium Carbonate, China (Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, DEC 28): $US82,075/t (+114.4% year-to-date)
Lithium Hydroxide, China (Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, DEC 28): $US80,650/t (+164.4% year-to-date)
Oil (WTI): $US74.83 (+1.44%)
Oil (Brent): $US79.80 (+1.61%)
Iron 62pc Fe: $US118.50 (+2.16%)
AUD/USD: 0.6909 (+0.51%)
Bitcoin: $US17,221 (+1.63%)
ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from Friday
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCE | Carnegie Cln Energy | 0.002 | 100% | 763,185 | $15,642,574 |
| TD1 | Tali Digital Limited | 0.003 | 50% | 2,000,000 | $5,550,311 |
| TMR | Tempus Resources Ltd | 0.079 | 46% | 39,783,441 | $13,464,265 |
| ESS | Essential Metals Ltd | 0.48 | 39% | 17,513,023 | $92,138,009 |
| AYM | Australia United Min | 0.004 | 33% | 1,059,793 | $5,527,732 |
| AEI | Aeris Environmental | 0.04 | 25% | 316,527 | $7,860,626 |
| AUK | Aumake Limited | 0.005 | 25% | 300,000 | $3,497,788 |
| MTL | Mantle Minerals Ltd | 0.0025 | 25% | 2,605,881 | $10,691,210 |
| RMX | Red Mount Min Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 1,996,209 | $7,953,395 |
| KTG | K-Tig Limited | 0.135 | 23% | 450,819 | $20,134,382 |
| FTL | Firetail Resources | 0.165 | 22% | 35,422 | $8,775,000 |
| SBR | Sabre Resources | 0.051 | 21% | 5,772,025 | $12,242,420 |
| VR8 | Vanadium Resources | 0.075 | 21% | 2,879,490 | $30,033,567 |
| MHC | Manhattan Corp Ltd | 0.006 | 20% | 706,671 | $7,631,393 |
| RTG | RTG Mining Inc. | 0.055 | 20% | 251,503 | $36,631,285 |
| HMY | Harmoney Corp Ltd | 0.675 | 19% | 8,613 | $57,378,907 |
| NGY | Nuenergy Gas Ltd | 0.044 | 19% | 547,770 | $54,795,353 |
| FRB | Firebird Metals | 0.19 | 19% | 207,759 | $11,358,049 |
| AUR | Auris Minerals Ltd | 0.019 | 19% | 577,250 | $7,626,015 |
| WNX | Wellnex Life Ltd | 0.071 | 18% | 197,740 | $24,823,151 |
| IBG | Ironbark Zinc Ltd | 0.013 | 18% | 3,827,085 | $16,134,627 |
| JTL | Jayex Technology Ltd | 0.013 | 18% | 109,423 | $2,741,514 |
| AEV | Avenira Limited | 0.02 | 18% | 13,232,099 | $21,169,591 |
| WWI | West Wits Mining Ltd | 0.02 | 18% | 9,448,456 | $34,765,640 |
| ICL | Iceni Gold | 0.1 | 18% | 460,843 | $10,896,696 |
Essential Metals (ASX:ESS) – don’t forget Josh chats with ESS MD today, jumped on news that Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia Pty Ltd (TLEA), a lithium joint venture entity owned by Tianqi Lithium Corporation (TLC) (51%) and IGO (49%) has entered into a Scheme Implementation Agreement (SIA) to acquire 100% of Essential Metals at $0.50/share, payable in cash.
That’s a massive 36.3% premium on Essential’s 30-day VWAP and values ESS’s equity at A$136 million on a fully diluted basis – and ESS is up (you guessed it) by a similar percentage today… 38.15% to be precise.
Tempus Resources (ASX:TMR) rose like a tempest on news that it drilled into bonanza level gold at its Elizabeth Gold Project in Southern British Columbia.
Tempus is reporting that “strike continuity of the wide high-grade gold zone associated with the No. 9 Vein has been extended to approximately 150m with open target areas to the south and south-west of the current drilling”, which means there is potential for even more in this single deposit.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Here are the least performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T3D | 333D Limited | 0.001 | -33% | 25,243 | $4,783,976 |
| ARE | Argonaut Resources | 0.0015 | -25% | 1,830,129 | $12,723,743 |
| EVE | EVE Health Group Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 1,012,022 | $10,548,965 |
| VPR | Volt Power Group | 0.0015 | -25% | 466,407 | $21,432,416 |
| CI1 | Credit Intelligence | 0.17 | -24% | 1,174,734 | $18,787,311 |
| KBC | Keybridge Capital | 0.053 | -23% | 3,000 | $14,306,311 |
| AUH | Austchina Holdings | 0.008 | -20% | 6,134,579 | $20,778,836 |
| ICN | Icon Energy Limited | 0.008 | -20% | 1,143,916 | $7,680,137 |
| MVL | Marvel Gold Limited | 0.022 | -19% | 208,368 | $19,021,348 |
| SRJ | SRJ Technologies | 0.091 | -17% | 40,957 | $9,809,278 |
| RDN | Raiden Resources Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 3,846,304 | $9,927,495 |
| XTC | Xantippe Res Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 9,496,882 | $61,752,208 |
| VHM | Vhmlimited | 1.14 | -16% | 1,837,839 | $190,233,059 |
| GLH | Global Health Ltd | 0.18 | -14% | 803,157 | $12,180,710 |
| ATU | Atrum Coal Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 486,292 | $9,741,894 |
| BEX | Bikeexchange Ltd | 0.012 | -14% | 4,639,822 | $11,201,468 |
| BUY | Bounty Oil & Gas NL | 0.006 | -14% | 1,313,173 | $9,593,507 |
| LCT | Living Cell Tech. | 0.012 | -14% | 3,499,889 | $17,995,092 |
| KLL | Kalium Lakes Ltd | 0.043 | -14% | 13,072,395 | $101,585,611 |
| CMX | Chemx Materials | 0.155 | -14% | 10,000 | $9,119,003 |
| HXL | Hexima | 0.019 | -14% | 277,722 | $3,674,872 |
| W2V | Way2Vatltd | 0.019 | -14% | 2,264,090 | $4,758,726 |
| POL | Polymetals Resources | 0.17 | -13% | 38,932 | $8,810,625 |
| LNU | Linius Tech Limited | 0.0035 | -13% | 201,172 | $11,325,652 |
| FRM | Farm Pride Foods | 0.105 | -13% | 88,589 | $6,621,621 |