Resources Top 5: PAM goes on winning streak, West Arunta nearology heats up as WA1 hits all time high

PAM up 100% since buying one of the largest lithium brine projects in South America
Nearology play MTM gains as WA1 Resources’ share price hit all time high
Culpeo uncovers copper-gold porphyry outcropping at surface

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Thursday January 4.

PAN ASIA METALS (ASX:PAM)

“Ok, we won a game yesterday,” says no nonsense manager Lou Brown in terrible movie Major League II.

“If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row’. And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called a ‘winning streak’… It has happened before.”

Junior explorer PAM now finds itself on a winning streak after inking binding deals to buy one of the largest lithium brine projects in South America earlier this week.

The prize is Chile’s Tama Atacama, a high grade but underexplored chunk of ground extending +290km north to south and covering an area of ~1600sqkm.

56 of 177 surface assays returned +270ppm lithium, for an average of 700ppm. The peak result was 2200ppm, which is very high grade.

PAM says the geochemical signature of surface salt crusts is like that of Salar de Atacama, where major producers SQM and Albemarle pump out a big chunk of global lithium demand each year.

But PAM won’t know if it is onto a company maker at Tama Atacama until it drills, which is pencilled in for early 2024.

If it hits paydirt (paybrines?) PAM is aiming for a maiden resource later in the year. The company says it is already in discussions with “potential strategic partners”.

The +$40m capped stock is up 100% since the news broke on Tuesday.

Fellow lithium juniors Balkan Mining and Metals (ASX:BMM) and Patagonia Lithium (ASX:PL3) also top the winners list today.

MTM CRITICAL METALS (ASX:MTM)

Almost on a winning streak is MTM, which flew out of the gate Tuesday on no official news, went into a trading halt, came out of a trading halt Wednesday to say “we hit rare earths and niobium at Pomme”, went down a bit, and then made more gains Thursday.

The $8m capped minnow stock is now up ~80% over the past five trading days.

Its main game is Pomme in Quebec, which neighbours the advanced 266Mt Montviel carbonatite REE-Nb deposit. But MTM also recently acquired ground in the West Arunta niobium-REE province of WA, where a red hot WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) continues to stack on the gains.

Since making its niobium discovery in late 2022 WA1 has gained a ludicrous 9800%, and today hit a new all-time high of $13.94/sh.

Benefitting from WA1 nearology yesterday were fellow small caps Cufe (ASX:CUF) and Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR).

CULPEO MINERALS (ASX:CPO)

CPO had a good day yesterday on no news. We now know why.

First pass rock-chip sampling at La Florida, part of the explorer’s recently acquired Fortuna project in Chile, “indicate the presence of a copper-gold porphyry system outcropping at surface”.

Porphyry deposits are low grade, high tonnage behemoths, responsible for ~60% of the world’s copper, most of its molybdenum, and significant amounts of gold and silver.

The Chuquicamata porphyry deposit in Chile, for example, is the largest and second deepest open pit copper mine in the world. It has been operating since 1910 and is expected to run until 2060.

A giant prize for any explorer.

CPO says it has defined a large 1.7km by 500m copper-gold footprint at La Florida, where surface sampling returned grades up to 3.96% copper and 2.61g/t gold.

Meanwhile, drilling is underway at near surface targets Vaca Muerta and El Quillay. Drill assay results from El Quillay are expected later this month, CPO says.

MAMBA EXPLORATION (ASX:M24)

(Up on no news)

The early-stage explorer is looking to go all in on uranium after inking a binding deal to buy 75% of the Canary project in the prolific Athabasca Basin – the ‘James Bay’ of uranium destinations.

Canary is 11km from IsoEnergy’s (TSX.V:ISO) super high grade Hurricane deposit (48.61m lbs of U₃O₈ based on 63,800 tonnes grading 34.5% U₃O₈).

Targets have already been defined by vendor and JV partner Standard Uranium (TSX.V:STND), with drilling expected to kick off early-mid 2024.

This will be the first program at Canary since 2007.

“Our shareholders should be excited about the project especially because we expect to be drilling in early 2024,” M24 boss Simon Andrew says.

“The Athabasca Basin remains one of the world’s great locations to explore for uranium.

“Access to the highly qualified exploration team from our partner, Standard Uranium, significantly bolsters our prospects for success at the Canary project.”



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