Resources Top 5: Battery Age keeps pumping, copper-gold explorers catch a bid on monster drill hits

• Battery Age Minerals in top form since relisting on the ASX 3 February with a suite of battery/critical mineral projects
• Tennant Minerals drills 17.8m @ 11.5g/t gold and 16.1m @ 10.5% copper at Bluebird discovery
• Carnaby Resources hits 39m @ 5.2% copper, 0.5g/t gold at Mount Hope, makes another discovery at Burke & Wills

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Wednesday February 8.

 

BATTERY AGE MINERALS (ASX:BM8)

The old Pathfinder Resources is in top form since relisting on the ASX 3 February with a suite of battery/critical mineral projects in Canada, Morocco, and Austria.

The $40m capped explorer is now up 67.5% on its recent raise price of 40c per share, thanks to steady flow of good news over the past week.

Yesterday, it announced former Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) geologist Nigel Broomham would join the team as general manager of exploration.

At PLS, Broomham was responsible for exploration, resource development and production at the world-class Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum operation in WA.

He joins BM8 CEO and fellow PLS alumni Gerard O’Donovan, who was project manager on the concentrator at Pilgangoora and the subsequent Ngangaju plant, acquired from PLS’ collapsed neighbour Altura.

Broomham will be responsible for overseeing exploration across all BM8 assets, with a strong initial focus on the upcoming maiden exploration campaign at the Falcon Lake lithium project in Canada.

The 42.8sqkm project includes a prospective 5km corridor where previous drilling has pulled up highlights like 24.4m at 1.43% Li2O from 10.9m, including 9.0m at 1.95% Li2O.

It is just 10km from Green Technology Metals’ (ASX:GT1) 9.9Mt Seymour Lake lithium project.

READ: Another ASX-listed lithium explorer is poised to roll the dice in Canada’s battery ecosystem

 

TENNANT MINERALS (ASX:TMS)

TMS has drilled a true width 30.5m grading 6.2% copper and 6.8g/t gold – including 17.8m @ 11.5g/t gold and 16.1m @ 10.5% copper – at the Bluebird discovery, part of the Barkly tenements in the NT.

The true width is always the width of the mineralisation at its narrowest point.

It’s the first hole of a recently completed Stage 2 drilling program at the Bluebird discovery, which catapulted the company into the mainstream March last year.

New drilling will test shallow extensions to this exceptionally thick and high-grade copper-gold zone, as well as at depth where results are pending from a further five drillholes.

Drilling will also test other priority targets within the 2.5km Bluebird-Perseverance Corridor.

Chairman Matthew Driscoll calls the latest hit “truly spectacular”.

“Drilling is already planned to extend this remarkable new discovery, which lies under shallow cover to the east of the Tennant Creek Mineral Field and continues to grow – in all directions,” he says.

“The results are another key step in our strategy to identify multiple, multi-million tonne, high-grade copper-gold deposits within the Barkly Tenements, where we aim to establish a standalone copper-gold project.”

The copper-gold explorer, which previously went by Blina Minerals, was suspended from the ASX in March 2020 on concerns over its financial condition.

TMS undertook a recap and acquired the remaining 50 per cent stake in Barkly before relisting in April 2021.

The $24m capped stock is up 40% year to date. It had $2m in the bank at the end of December.

 

ARGENT MINERALS (ASX:ARD)

Late last year ARD picked up a new copper and rare earths project in WA called Copperhead, down the road from Hastings Technology Metals’ Yangibana REE development.

First pass rock chip sampling has now uncovered five additional copper-silver-zinc targets at the greenfields (untouched) project.

Standout results include 20% copper at the Illirie Creek prospect and strong silver assays between 5-24g/t at Anomaly C.

“These mineralised areas have shown to be extensive in terms of the strike length within the regional synclinal structures and Discovery Formation Siltstone,” MD Pedro Kastellorizos says.

“These structures extend over 74km of strike, have excellent potential to host mineralisation and remain completely untested to date.

“We are confident in further delineation of surface copper mineralisation based on our understanding of the structural/lithological controls which host the copper & zinc mineralisation within our project areas.”

ARD is also one of the few stocks on the ASX with decent silver exposure via its advanced 52Moz silver equivalent Kempfield gold-silver-base metal project in NSW.

A 3000m resource and geophysics drill program will commence at Kempfield in the current quarter.

The $17m capped stock is up 70% year-to-date. It had $3.6m in the bank at the end of December.

 

CARNABY RESOURCES (ASX:CNB)

CNB rerated heavily in December 2021 after hitting a 41m long intercept at 4.1% copper at Nil Desperandum, part of the Greater Duchess project in Queensland.

That’s thick and high grade.

The company soon added significant discoveries at the nearby Lady Fanny and Mount Hope prospects.

Following a brief lull, the stock has been on an upwards trend since October last year, when it hit 60m intercept at 3.1% copper from ~100m depth at Mount Hope.

Today, Mount Hope is “shining again” with a 39m at 5.2% copper, 0.5g/t gold hit, while the emerging Burke & Wills discovery returned true width results of up to 6m @ 6.7% copper and 1.2g/t gold.

Drill rigs are now mobilising to site to re-commence a major 40,000m exploration and infill drilling program at Greater Duchess in 2023.

“The exceptional assay results from Mount Hope Central continue to reveal a significant new high grade copper gold discovery which is completely open at depth and rapidly growing,” CNB managing director Rob Watkins says.

“We are also delighted by the emerging Burke & Wills discovery where approximate true width results of up to 6m @ 6.7% copper, 1.2g/t gold have been intersected in the latest drilling and remain open.

“We look forward to restarting a major exploration and resource delineation drilling program this week at the Greater Duchess copper gold project, where more than 40,000m of drilling is planned in what promises to be a transformative year for Carnaby Resources.”

CNB shares are up 700% on a five-year basis, briefly spiking to more than $2 in the wake of the Nil Desperadum find. It has since fallen to around $1.20.

READ: Which explorers are unlocking the treasure chest with maiden gold and copper resources in 2023?

 

ENERGY METALS (ASX:EME)

(Up on no news)

$41m capped EME pumps and slumps on the reg for no obvious reason.

The tightly held, cashed up, and generally just mysterious uranium explorer has eight projects in WA and the NT.

Its main game is the ‘Bigrlyi’ uranium-vanadium project, where a prefeasibility study (PFS) was completed in 2011 before the uranium price hit the skids. Work was suspended in 2012 and not much has been done since.

Despite having ~$15m in the bank EME appears to do the bare minimum to keep its tenements in good standing, with December quarter activities including “re-optimisation of various aspects of the Bigrlyi project 2011 Prefeasibility Study” and “field activities”.

Its largest shareholder at 66.45% is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Nuclear Power Group (CGN), one of the largest nuclear power providers in the world.

“This unique relationship with CGN gives Energy Metals direct market exposure as well as access to significant capital and places the company in a very strong position going forward,” EME says every quarter.



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