Resources Top 5: Small rays of light on a dark day for markets

On a day of blood-letting across global markets not too many companies broke even, let alone provided any rays of hope by moving forward.

There were only small rays of light in the resources sector on a day of blood-letting on the ASX and global markets. Pic: Getty Images

• Tungsten Mining is advancing the Hatches Creek tungsten project in the Northern Territory

• Gallium is on the critical minerals list and Victory Metals is well-placed with its North Stanmore project  

• Cavalier Resources has hit another new record on the back of a positive PFS update

Your standout small cap resources stocks for Monday, April 7, 2025.

Tungsten Mining (ASX:TGN)

(Up on new news)

On a day of blood-letting on the ASX and across global markets, in all sectors there weren't too many companies breaking even, let alone providing a small ray of hope by moving forward.

A couple advancing in the critical metals sector were Tungsten Mining (ASX:TGN), which was 2.3% higher to 8.9c, and Victory Metals (ASX:VTM), up as much as 4% to 39c.

Tungsten Mining is advancing the Hatches Creek tungsten project in the Northern Territory towards production.

Last month the company advised that it had submitted its mining management plan and mining licence application.

The former was lodged with the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security of the NT Government and the latter with the NT Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade.

A maiden mineral resource estimate is underway following the completion of a drilling program and this is expected to be completed this month, providing a basis to consider an early production pathway along with engineering and testwork.

The Hatches Creek project boasts standout intersections including 5m at 2.05% WO3, 7m at 1.39% WO3 and 15m at 0.44% WO3.

TGN is mulling a two-stage approach to early production, starting with the processing of stockpiles left from historical mining followed by the mining and processing of tungsten-copper ore.

The project's high-grade tungsten prospects and promising results from the recent drilling campaign underscore its potential to capitalise on the favourable market conditions for tungsten, with additional copper mineralisation offering further value.

TGN also holds the Mt Mulgine project in Western Australia, where it has owned the tungsten and molybdenum rights for the past decade and acquired 100% of the project last December.

Mt Mulgine has a resource of 259Mt at 0.11% tungsten oxide, 270 parts per million molybdenum, 0.12 grams per tonne gold, 5g/t silver and 0.03% copper.

TGN is advancing permitting, testwork and engineering studies.

Victory Metals (ASX:VTM)

(Up on new news)

Late last month Victory Metals (ASX:VTM)produced high-value gallium in the final mixed rare earth concentrate from its North Stanmore project in the Cue region of WA.

Gallium was present at a grade of 358g/t, making VTM’s North Stanmore clay-hosted project one of the most advanced projects in Australia.

It was recovered using a low-capex leaching process and recovery occurred concurrently with REEs, requiring no additional processing stages.

The low-cost leaching process is designed to produce a strategic mix of rare earths including dysprosium and terbium, valued for their use in permanent magnets.

A Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) product was produced using samples collected from 13 aircore holes from across the project.

The presence of gallium is encouraging as the process wasn’t designed to recover the critical mineral.

“This is a landmark milestone, not just for Victory but for Australia’s position in the global critical minerals landscape,” Victory’s CEO and executive director Brendan Clark said. 

“To our knowledge, we are the first Australian company to confirm the successful recovery of gallium in a final Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate product — and that puts us in a league of our own.

"Gallium is one of the most strategically important elements of the 21st century. It’s critical to semiconductors, AI chips, defence systems and next-gen communications.

“With China’s recent export bans, the world is urgently searching for secure, western-aligned gallium supply and Victory is a potential solution.

"We’re advancing discussions with downstream partners across technology, defence, and energy sectors who recognise the importance of diversified supply.”

Gallium is on the critical minerals list of every major economy and securing alternative supplies is a hot topic. China, which controls 94% of global supplies, slapped a ban on its exports to the US in December 2024.

In January 2025, VTM announced a mineral resource estimate for North Stanmore, totalling 247.5 million tonnes, with the majority of the resource classified in the indicated category. 

Cavalier Resources (ASX:CVR)

Shining brightly in afternoon trade has been Cavalier Resources (ASX:CVR), which has hit a new record of 29.5c, a 34.1% increase on the previous close.

This follows results described as “outstanding” from a revised pre-feasibility study released last week for the Crawford gold project in the Leonora region of WA.

The new PFS improved the financial outlook for the first stage of the project with an NPV of $51.7m and with pre-capex undiscounted cash flow of $66.7.

The internal rate of return is 580% from 23,467 recovered ounces with lowest quartile C1 AISC of $1574/oz and C3 AISC of $1793/oz. A gold price of $4600/oz was applied to the financials.

There is also considerable upside due to the first stage being constrained to the central oxide portion of the resource, which remains open along strike and at depth.

“This revised PFS update reflects a significantly improved financial outlook for Stage 1 and further underscores the outstanding overall potential of the greater Crawford Gold Project,” executive technical director and CEO Daniel Tuffin said.

“The combination of robust project economics, a record gold price and continued project advancement, positions Stage 1 at the Crawford Gold Project for even greater returns and increased development potential to build on for extension of further mining operations onsite.”

TG Metals (ASX:TG6)

(Up on new news)

A positive mover in the gold sector was TG Metals (ASX:TG6), 5% higher to 10.5c.

In early March the company diversified its lithium-heavy portfolio by acquiring 80% of the Van Uden gold project in the Southern Cross-Forrestania Greenstone Belt of WA.

There are other gold deposits and gold-processing plants in this region along with lithium projects, including TG6’s established Burmeister lithium deposit at the Lake Johnston project. 

Van Uden consists of four granted mining leases with historical production from two open pits with past exploration drilling by Convergent Minerals and Kidman Resources  defining extensive mineralisation at Van Uden and shallow gold at Gold City.

Convergent published a resource estimate in 2013 of 5.378Mt at 1.38g/t for 238,000oz gold and conducted preliminary mining studies. 

This historical resource will form the basis for further confirmatory drilling, extensional drilling and bulk density analysis to enable a JORC 2012-compliant resource estimate to be calculated. 

The project is close to the producing Marvel Loch and mothballed Edna May gold processing plants, which opens up the opportunity for near-term cash flow from existing stockpiles if it can access those nearby toll treatment facilities.

“This strategic acquisition provides TG Metals with an advanced gold project with opportunities for near-term cash flow, at a time of record prices for gold,” TG6 CEO David Selfe said.

“It is located very near to our existing Lake Johnston lithium deposits, which allows opportunities for operational synergies for both of TG’s projects. 

“The Van Uden gold project has historically only been subject to shallow drilling, providing enormous exploration upside through testing the known mineralisation down dip along its entire plus 2000m strike length. 

“There are several near-term high-priority opportunities, including defining a JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate from the extensive historical database, and assessing the viability of existing ore stockpiles for toll treatment.”

Greenwing Resources (ASX:GW1)

Trading higher after an exploration update last week from its Que River polymetallic project in northwest Tasmania, up as much as 12.5% to 4.5c.

The identification of significant open cut targets and further exploration potential follows an updated mineral resource estimate in late March of 2.4Mt at 3.1% zinc, 1.5% lead, 0.4% copper, 0.8g/t gold and 49g/t silver for 9.5% zinc equivalent with 2 million tonnes in the indicated category.

Expanding the resource is a key priority for Greenwing Resources (ASX:GW1) and this has seen high-grade intersections returned immediately below the current base of the QR 32 open pit, the initial focus in advancing Que River’s mining potential.

Results include:

• 7.45m at 33.1% ZnEq – 11.47% Zn, 6.74 Pb, 0.33% Cu, 190g/t Ag and 2.61g/t Au - from 50.55m, including 1.5m at 86.9% ZnEq – 24.2 % Zn; 13.9% Pb; 0.72% Cu; 460g/t Ag and 10g/t Au; and
• 5.85m at 28.9% ZnEq - 2.05% Zn; 6.88% Pb; 0.29% Cu; 116g/t Ag & 2.08g/t Au - from 50.25m, including 1.5m at 64.9% ZnEq – 28.9% Zn; 16.2% Pb; 0.64% Cu; 223g/t Ag & 4.36g/t Au.

Greenwing continues to review the comprehensive data set available for the Que River Project, including historical production figures, metallurgical recovery and processing data, down hole assays and geological information data from more than 1,300 drill holes.

“We continue to be encouraged by the evolving picture at Que River and see considerable potential to add value underpinned by the project’s strategic location, secure tenure, established mineral resource and what we believe to be strong exploration upside,” CEO Peter Wright said.

“There is substantial scope to enhance the existing already considerable polymetallic resource through targeted exploration drilling with the Que River project located adjacent to several known VMS deposits within the prospective Mount Read Volcanic corridor.”

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any financial decisions. While Tungsten Mining, Victory Metals and TG Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

Originally published as Resources Top 5: Small rays of light on a dark day for markets