Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Good morning, and Happy Tuesday! Here’s everything you need to know, and some things you don’t, before the ASX fires up today.

About 15 seconds after this photo was taken, Robert ripped that chimp's face clean off its skull, claiming "it was either him, or me". Pic: Getty Images

Good morning everyone, and welcome to October 29 – an important date in the history of driving people like me completely mad.

That’s because it was on this day in 1675 that Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was the first mathematician to use the long form of the letter S, which is "∫" to denote a mathematical  integral.

For those of you, like me, who have blanked out high school maths as the form of numerical torture it clearly is, an integral is defined as “the continuous analog of a sum, which is used to calculate areas, volumes, and their generalisations”.

The use of ∫ helped to discover and define how integrals and differential calculus function, allowing mathematicians to do wild and crazy things like figure out how much ice cream could be contained in a cone-shaped object, and other earth-shatteringly important stuff.

It also directly led to me coming within millimetres of being suspended from my fancy high school in 1987, when I told my maths teacher he was “an evil pr*ck” (among other salacious accusations) for trying to teach me something that I would never, ever use in the real world.

Joke’s on him, though – that “computer in my pocket that could calculate all this stuff” that I theorised we would all have by the time I might need to know calculus turned out to be very real, and he (as far as I know) is long-dead, presumably of a maths-induced stroke.

Luckily, you won’t have to indirectly murder your high school maths teacher in order to get your hands on good pre-market info today.

That’s because – as always – we’ve worked super-hard to gather together lots of fiddly little things below, so you don’t need to go ferreting all over the internet for your ASX info this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: $US2735.23/oz (+0.06 per cent)

Silver: $US33.37/oz (-0.30 per cent)

Iron Ore: $US103.80/t (+2.64 per cent)

Nickel (3mth): $US15,918/t (-2.34 per cent)

Copper (3mth): $US9,384/t +0.19 per cent)

Zinc: $US3,077/t (-4.92 per cent)

Oil (WTI): $US68.43/bbl (-4.56 per cent)

Oil (Brent): $US72.60/bbl (-4.35 per cent)

AUD/USD: 0.6588 (-0.25 per cent)

Bitcoin: $US67,617.48 (-0.51 per cent)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Stockhead’s legendary columnist Barry FitzGerald is in the studio, this time talking to Belarox MD Arvind Misra about what the company’s been up to in South America.

Barry FitzGerald is back in the studio for another instalment of The Explorers Podcast. This time, he's chatting with Arvind Misra, MD at Belararox, as the company prepares for drilling at its TMT project in Argentina. https://t.co/5qSF8lLxM0 @Belararox #ASX $BRX

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 27, 2024

MONDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
AZ9	Asian Battery Metals	0.080	70%	69,036,875	$14,204,104
LIS	Lisenergylimited	0.190	58%	3,880,835	$76,824,028
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.005	50%	12,845,245	$7,548,781
VR1	Vection Technologies	0.020	43%	25,529,738	$18,572,246
PPG	Pro-Pac Packaging	0.034	36%	1,387,038	$4,542,193
ERL	Empire Resources	0.004	33%	380,037	$4,451,740
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.002	33%	100,000	$8,797,861
PKO	Peako Limited	0.004	33%	125,000	$2,635,425
RNE	Renu Energy Ltd	0.002	33%	629,120	$1,332,868
PPK	PPK Group Limited	0.500	30%	397,315	$34,962,812
CCZ	Castillo Copper Ltd	0.009	29%	1,368,420	$9,096,537
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.003	25%	580,280	$6,338,594
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.005	25%	5,124,910	$9,988,441
RLG	Roolife Group Ltd	0.005	25%	10,641,734	$4,707,985
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	25%	1,114,917	$15,183,224
TTI	Traffic Technologies	0.005	25%	1,867,996	$4,475,272
AUQ	Alara Resources Ltd	0.042	24%	501,405	$24,414,976
IBX	Imagion Biosys Ltd	0.060	22%	634,898	$2,008,662
FRX	Flexiroam Limited	0.011	22%	597,820	$7,070,794
UCM	Uscom Limited	0.022	22%	85,659	$4,508,586
SPD	Southernpalladium	0.665	21%	431,123	$49,362,500
JBY	James Bay Minerals	0.720	20%	634,142	$20,065,500
CZN	Corazon Ltd	0.006	20%	4,690,552	$3,339,528

Monday’s small cap winners included:

Asian Battery Metals (ASX:AZ9) has announced the remaining assay data from the Phase 1 diamond drilling program at the 100 per cent Oval Cu-Ni-PGE prospect, located in the Gobi-Altai region of Mongolia, including a highlight sulphide intercept in hole OVD021 of 8.8m @ 6.08 per cent Cu, 3.19 per cent Ni, 1.63g/t E31, 0.11 per cent Co (CuEq2 12.57 per cent) from 107.2m. The find is located within 800m of strike which remains open at depth and in the SE, NW, NE and SW directions.

Li-S Energy (ASX:LIS) was rising on news that it had substantially improved the performance of its lithium sulphur battery technology. The company said that it had been able to manufacture full size 10Ah semi-solid-state cells delivering an energy density of 498Wh/kg on first discharge, and an industry leading 456Wh/kg after formation cycling, with the cells continuing to cycle in ongoing testing.

RooLife Group (ASX:RLG) was up after announcing that the global expansion of its RLG marketplace had delivered $270,000 in new sales achieved in October to date. The recent expansion included three new online stores launched this month in Australia, China and Hong Kong, with the new Indian RLG Marketplace on schedule for launch in November.

Imagion Biosystems (ASX:IBX) has delivered a quarterly that has investors pretty excited, mainly focused on a licensing agreement with Aussie company Biosensis to produce and sell Imagion’s PrecisionMRX nanoparticles, specifically for the biomedical research markets.

The company also revealed that it had managed to attract significant investment, and expected to successfully complete a $3 million capital raise in early December, through a two-tranche share placement that it had previously announced and which had received firm commitments.

Next Science (ASX:NXS) was up on news of the publication of a study which found the company’s XPERIENCE product to be efficacious in preventing periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in patients undergoing primary total knee (TKA) and hip (THA) arthroplasties, aka joint replacements.

According to the study, the overall rate of Surgical Site Infection (SSI) of the 471-patient cohort was zero percent (0/471) compared to a 0.5 per cent infection rate among the control group (4/824) who were treated with a povidone-iodine (Betadine) solution soak in a standardised protocol.

Prodigy Gold (ASX:PRX) has been trending higher for the past couple of weeks now following high-grade drill hits at the Hyperion gold deposit, part of the Tanami North project in the NT. A stand-out strike of 10m at 15.9g/t gold has created a buzz among investors ahead of a planned resource upgrade and further drilling planned for the 2025 field season.

This comes as bullion, considered a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties, reaches a new record of ~$4000/oz on the back of US election uncertainties and conflict in the Middle East.

Hyperion is in the highly prospective but under-explored area situated between the 1.1Moz Groundrush gold deposit and the 94,000oz Crusade gold deposit, both of which form part of the neighbouring Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST)/Tanami Gold NL (ASX:TAM) Central Tanami project. PRX’s exploration team is awaiting results for the Tregony North, Brokenwood and Pandora drilling that was completed subsequent to drilling at Hyperion.

Empire Resources (ASX:ERL) has completed an aircore drilling program at the Yuinmery Copper-Gold Project, totaling 31 holes and 1488m. The drilling targeted four areas, focusing on three copper-gold sites and one gold-only site, aiming to confirm and extend previously identified mineralisation. Samples have been sent to a certified lab in Perth, with assay results expected in about four weeks. The Yuinmery project is located 470km northeast of Perth, within the Archaean Youanmi greenstone belt, which hosts significant copper-gold deposits.

Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ) has secured the necessary steps to acquire 85 per cent of the Harts Range Project, located 120km northeast of Alice Springs. Historical samples indicate promising grades of niobium, uranium, and heavy rare earth elements. Following a recent field trip, CCZ plans exploration at the Cusp Prospect, including surface sampling and geophysical surveys.

Additionally, CCZ has expanded its exploration area by 25 per cent with the Harts Range East Project application. The company is also advancing its NWQ Copper Project strategy and planning to divest its BHA West and Mkushi projects.

James Bay Minerals (ASX:JBY) has wrapped up its 2024 summer field program which targeted high priority areas of the La Grande lithium projects, identified from previous aerial surveys and desktop studies. The company said data generated from this program has enhanced the team’s understanding of the key geological features and will be used to guide upcoming field work.

Overall, a total of 193 samples were taken across the project, including rock chips and channel samples at key LCT pegmatite, rare earths and uranium targets which were generated from LiDAR, high-resolution photography, aeromagnetic and spectro magnetic surveys.

Alara Resources (ASX:AUQ) has improved  copper output at its Wash-Hi Majaza plant in Oman, with the sixth shipment ready for dispatch. In the latest two-week cycle, it produced 186 tons of copper and 5 kg of gold, up from 124 tons in the previous four-week cycle.

Improvements in production came from optimizing processes and using higher-grade ore. The shipment is set to leave Sohar Port for China today. While focusing on the copper-gold mine, AUQ is also exploring other projects in Oman.

MONDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst-performing ASX small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
VPR	Volt Group	0.001	-50%	348,794	$21,432,416
BYH	Bryah Resources Ltd	0.003	-40%	955,636	$2,516,434
EQN	Equinoxresources	0.135	-36%	2,000,102	$26,008,501
ADD	Adavale Resource Ltd	0.002	-33%	19,740	$3,671,296
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-33%	10,531	$1,189,924
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,417,000	$3,135,048
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.001	-33%	266,667	$2,717,990
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.002	-25%	9,254,315	$26,047,256
BNL	Blue Star Helium Ltd	0.003	-25%	506,955	$9,724,426
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.003	-25%	650,000	$4,713,269
IEC	Intra Energy Corp	0.002	-25%	3,911,041	$3,381,563
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.003	-25%	284,071	$9,774,545
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.002	-25%	1,150,000	$8,995,940
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.003	-25%	450,000	$8,229,789
RIE	Riedel Resources Ltd	0.002	-25%	994,482	$4,447,671
SKN	Skin Elements Ltd	0.003	-25%	714,000	$2,357,944
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	0.009	-25%	714,118	$2,371,038
NNL	Nordicnickellimited	0.095	-24%	3,225	$18,244,439
EWC	Energy World Corpor.	0.020	-23%	1,348,916	$80,051,952
OSL	Oncosil Medical	0.010	-23%	36,236,330	$49,193,042
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.002	-20%	1,581,355	$72,334,530

TRADING HALTS

Siren Gold (ASX:SNG) – pending a shareholder meeting to vote on a resolution to approve the proposed sale of the Company’s shares in Reefton Resources to Rua Gold.

Panther Metals (ASX:PNT) – pending the release of an announcement to the market regarding exploration results.

OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) – pending an announcement regarding a material acquisition.

RocketDNA (ASX:RKT) – pending an announcement regarding a capital raising.

Otto Energy (ASX:OEL) – pending an announcement regarding the drilling and casing results of the F5-ST Bypass Well at SM 71.

Gold Hydrogen (ASX:GHY) – pending the release of an announcement regarding material exploration results from its South Australian Ramsay project.

Good Drinks Australia (ASX:GDA) – pending the release of an announcement by the company in respect to its application to be removed from the official list of the ASX.

Black Dragon Gold (ASX:BDG) – pending an announcement concerning a capital raising.

Thor Energy (ASX:THR) – pending release of an announcement by the Company in relation to the potential acquisition.

Aurumin (ASX:AUN) – pending an announcement in relation to commercial discussions with respect to a potential joint venture relating to the Sandstone Project.

Tryptamine Therapeutics (ASX:TYP) – pending an announcement in relation to a capital raising.

St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) – pending an announcement in relation to the funding of the Araxa project.

Bowen Coking Coal (ASX:BCB) – pending an announcement concerning the outcome of a shortfall bookbuild involved in its capital raising, recognising the capital raising is critical to the company’s continued financial viability.

Aurora Labs (ASX:A3D) – pending an announcement regarding a proposed capital raising.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens