Resources Top 4: In for a Penny and two-up on nickel

NickelX rises on Penny Gold South acquisition and investors have thrown into ASX nickel juniors to end the week of trade.

Pic via Getty Images

• NickelX rises on Penny Gold South acquisition

• Blackstone eyes JV partner for Ta Khoa nickel refinery

• And a look at Nimy's massive sulphides 

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Friday, August 30. Prices accurate at time of writing.

Blackstone Minerals (ASX:BSX)

(Up on no news)

Backed by 15.5% shareholder Corazon Mining (ASX:CZN) and with ex Fortescue (ASX:FMG) CEO Alison Gaines on the board, BSX is on a tear this past week or so, with shares rising >100% on the back of rumours it’s securing a JV partner for developing its Ta Khoa nickel refinery in Vietnam.

The company has a unique strategy to convert nickel concentrate blends into precursor cathode active material for the growing batteries industry.

You’d wonder why the junior is looking to advance a nickel refinery on the doorstep of the world’s biggest nickel producer, Indonesia, however BSX points out that nickel production from the country does not meet ESG compliance and that Ta Khoa refining will be able to.

That’s attracted interest from Canada, South Korea and Japan, said BSX MD Scott Williamson:

The company recently secured a $1m advance for research and development from financiers, eventually paid back by us taxpayers, as it qualifies under Australia’s R&D Tax Incentive Program. Nothing like some free funding to give projects a boost.

BSX says it’s in the final stages of completing the Ta Khoa Refinery DFS, tying up its pCAM piloting program, residue handling testwork, and facility design and finalising geotechnical assessments. The DFS is due out before the end of the year.

It’s in the final stages of locking in a JV partner and an announcement to market is due soon, said Williamson.

From a closing price on August 19 of 2.5c, shares are going gangbusters and up 22% today alone to trade at 5.5c per share at time of writing.

NickelX (ASX:NKL)

Junior NKL has just bought the Penny Gold South project off Aurum Resources (ASX:AUE) for $120,000 in cash and shares plus extras, right next door to one of the highest-grade gold mines in production in WA.

Spectrum Metals, which owned the Penny West project prior to being taken over by Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) in 2020 for ~$215m, reported outstanding exploration success at Penny North and at the southern end of the Penny West pit within deeper drill holes beneath cover.

The explorer intends to utilise a similar exploration strategy to reinterpret all available data and to test targets at depth.

NKL MD Peter Woods noted the addition of this exciting gold exploration asset next door to, and in, a district seeing current M&A activity, greatly enhances the company’s existing portfolio which includes the Elliot Lake uranium and Biranup gold projects.

“Given the minimal deeper drilling and lack of diamond drilling, it’s the company’s view there may be substantial value to be unlocked at depth and we are eager to execute a path forward to test the theory as the momentum for gold continues,” Woods said.

Shares in the $3m market-capped explorer are up 55%, trading at 3.1c at time of writing.

Nimy Resources (ASX:NIM)

(Up on recent news)

Two more holes drilled by NIM  in WA – beneath an initial RC hole that intersected 10m of massive sulphides at its Mons nickel project at the northern end of the Forrestania nickel belt – have revealed increasing widths of mineralisation.

Diamond drilling of the Masson prospect has extended the mineralisation downhole from 102m to 274.5m and remains open, where previous drilling established a mineralised north-south strike length of 160m, open in both directions.

A final, deeper diamond hole of the program is expected to be completed early next week , designed to further test dip and depth of the sulphide and disseminated mineralisation.

“The three drill holes completed have tested recent electromagnetic survey anomalies and indicate that the mineralised zone is increasing with depth and dipping to the west as predicted," NIM exec director Luke Hampson said.

"The Masson copper, nickel, cobalt and PGE massive sulphide discovery is now building momentum in terms of potential volume and grade."

Shares in the $10.8m market-capped junior are up 20% today, swapping for 7.8c.

Massive sulphides from RC drilling at the Masson prospect. Source: Nimy Resources.

Cassius Mining (ASX:CMD)

It looks like minnow CMD will keep its Chenene lithium project in Tanzania after AustChina (ASX:AUH) pulled out of a deal to acquire the project after its option period expired two days ago.

AUH cited that while drilling had completed, there were outstanding analytical results and had not hit one of the key criteria that required results show at least one 10m interval of 1% Li2O within the Dulu 1 pegmatite target.

It asked for a 14-day extension to to allow for final assays to be received but was denied by the vendor and has subsequently pulled out of the deal.

AUH decided that it will not exercise its option to acquire the shares in Cassius Mining Limited (CMD's subsidiary that owns Chenene) and has advised Cassius the the transaction agreements are terminated. CMD will keep the initial $100,000 upfront payment that was made when the binding agreement was made earlier this year.

Investors in the junior seem to have enjoyed the news, with shares up 40% today to trade at 0.7c a share.

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This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Resources Top 4: In for a Penny and two-up on nickel