Sentiment in the junior mining and exploration space is improving after years in the doldrums
April was the first time in a long time that metals prices gained as a group
Most popular metals in April: gold, copper, rare earths, lithium, niobium
Best performing ASX resources stocks: Rincon (208%), Renegade (200%), Western Mines (159%)
“The mining sector, and particularly exploration, has started to come back to life after a terrible two years in the doldrums,” says James Chirnside, managing director at April Top 50 winner Dart Mining (ASX:DTR).
“The outlook for metals, both precious and industrials, looks very constructive with tightening supply against a backdrop of forecast higher demand,” he says.
“In some ways we could be approaching the perfect storm in terms of higher prices and profitability for miners across the board.”
Couldn’t have said it better. April was the first time in a long time that most metals and commodity prices gained as one.
While the broad-based rally comes too late for bankrupt miners Galena Mining (ASX:G1A) (lead, silver), Austral Resources (ASX:AR1) (copper) and most of WA’s nickel sulphide cohort, sentiment amongst investors more generally is on the improve.
Commodity prices are moving higher driven by the following:
1) Reaccelerating US growth
2) Geopolitical uncertainty
3) Segmentation of global trade, and
4) Strong AI demand for energyhttps://t.co/Xn4xKGpboB pic.twitter.com/nefZvogVAj
— Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) April 25, 2024
Still, it’s hard for many investors to shift away from a defensive mindset in the face of an emerging boom market.
“It is always at the top and the bottom of the market cycles that investors have difficulty in adjusting to the new ground rules,” says Warwick Grigor, veteran stock picker at Far East Capital.
“At the peak of a trend they see falls in markets as corrections rather than the beginning of the bear market. It is not until many share prices have fallen by 20% that they start to take it seriously.”
The inverse psychology dominates the bottoming out of the market, Grigor says.
“That, and the fact that portfolios and investable capital have shrunk dramatically makes many investors defensive and unable to recognise the opportunities before them,” he says.
“It becomes more of a watching game and will remain so until it becomes obvious what they have missed out on.
“Then, eventually, FOMO will kick in and the whole cycle starts again.”
Most popular commodities: April
Here are the top 50 ASX resources stocks for the month of April >>>
Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.
CODE COMPANY MONTH END SHARE PRICE MONTHLY GAIN MARKET CAP COMMODITY FOCUS RCR Rincon 0.077 208% $17,028,655 NIOBIUM, RARE EARTHS, COPPER, GOLD RNX Renegade Exploration 0.018 200% $18,066,055 COPPER, GRAPHITE, RARE EARTHS, URANIUM WMG Western Mines 0.415 159% $31,159,521 NICKEL, COPPER, PGE SUM Summit Minerals 0.155 146% $7,386,855 URANIUM, NIOBIUM, RARE EARTHS, LITHIUM M4M Macro Metals Limited 0.017 143% $54,945,135 IRON ORE FXG Felix Gold Limited 0.08 129% $16,577,209 GOLD MGA Metalsgrovemining 0.06 129% $2,232,030 LITHIUM BSE Base Res Limited 0.25 117% $294,502,963 MINERAL SANDS LNR Lanthanein Resources 0.006 100% $11,729,453 LITHIUM, RARE EARTHS, NIOBIUM, GOLD, COPPER, NICKEL SIH Sihayo Gold Limited 0.002 100% $24,408,512 GOLD PSC Prospect Res Ltd 0.16 100% $74,133,114 COPPER, COBALT, LITHIUM CYM Cyprium Metals Ltd 0.036 89% $54,889,644 COPPER CHW Chilwaminerals 0.395 88% $18,120,625 MINERAL SANDS LYN Lycaon Resources 0.33 83% $14,538,563 NIOBIUM, RARE EARTHS NPM Newpeak Metals 0.02 82% $2,272,368 URANIUM, RARE EARTHS, GOLD LU7 Lithium Universe Ltd 0.033 74% $13,585,998 LITHIUM BVR Bellavistaresources 0.18 71% $8,929,975 URANIUM, COPPER, GOLD EPM Eclipse Metals 0.01 67% $22,308,555 RARE EARTHS LSA Lachlan Star Ltd 0.066 65% $13,699,831 GOLD, COPPER AIS Aeris Resources Ltd 0.255 65% $246,719,013 COPPER, GOLD ASE Astute Metals NL 0.044 63% $18,062,858 LITHIUM, MINERAL SANDS, COPPER, GOLD SLS Solstice Minerals 0.16 60% $16,053,889 GOLD, NICKEL WA1 Wa1Resourcesltd 17.26 59% $1,058,665,643 NIOBIUM, RARE EARTHS EMH European Metals Holding 0.445 59% $55,001,153 LITHIUM DTM Dart Mining NL 0.027 59% $6,977,688 LITHIUM, GOLD OMX Orange Minerals 0.038 58% $3,258,507 GOLD, URANIUM CY5 Cygnus Metals Ltd 0.08 57% $23,324,731 LITHIUM WGR Western Gold Resources 0.036 57% $5,532,782 GOLD, COPPER, NICKEL WR1 Winsome Resources 1.375 56% $262,329,445 LITHIUM ARD Argent Minerals 0.017 55% $21,959,903 SILVER, LEAD, ZINC, GOLD POD Podium Minerals 0.051 55% $23,192,086 PGE NWM Norwest Minerals 0.043 54% $16,689,139 NIOBIUM, RARE EARTHS, GOLD, COPPER ENR Encounter Resources 0.375 53% $168,741,770 NIOBIUM, RARE EARTHS , COPPER, GOLD CR1 Constellation Res 0.175 52% $10,374,075 NICKEL, COPPER SPD Southernpalladium 0.5 52% $21,539,164 PGE SBM St Barbara Limited 0.265 51% $216,762,151 GOLD GBZ GBM Rsources Ltd 0.012 50% $13,880,267 GOLD, COPPER KAL Kalgoorliegoldmining 0.036 50% $5,706,026 GOLD RDN Raiden Resources Ltd 0.037 48% $98,293,649 LITHIUM, NICKEL, COPPER CBY Canterbury Resources 0.054 46% $9,274,008 COPPER, GOLD CYL Catalyst Metals 0.93 45% $206,048,516 GOLD WTM Waratah Minerals Ltd 0.13 44% $19,417,385 GOLD, COPPER E79 E79Goldmineslimited 0.04 43% $3,253,363 GOLD, LITHIUM STN Saturn Metals 0.255 42% $57,120,632 GOLD SXG Southern Cross Gold 2.6 41% $238,044,620 GOLD RMI Resource Mining Corp 0.024 41% $15,416,347 COPPER, GOLD, LITHIUM JAL Jameson Resources 0.031 41% $13,507,733 COAL A1M Aic Mines Ltd 0.5 41% $231,235,316 COPPER, GOLD ASR Asra Minerals Ltd 0.007 40% $11,647,970 RARE EARTHS, LITHIUM ICG Inca Minerals Ltd 0.007 40% $5,633,172 COPPER
WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) and all the nearologists
WA1 Resources is up 12,335% since mid 2022, when it hit high grade niobium in its very first hole at the Arunta west project in remote WA .
From 14c to $17.41 currently, in less than two years. Amazing stuff.
‘What’s niobium?’ everyone asked at the time, including us.
Well, now we know.
Current global production of ferroniobium– mostly used to strengthen steel, but also in high-performance alloys and emerging technologies – is just under 100,000tpa from a handful of operations globally.
But it fetches over US$45/kg.
The word ‘discovery’ is bandied around far too loosely by exploration stocks, but the Luni deposit has potential to be one of the best niobium mines globally.
WA1’s ongoing success – hyped by brokers like Argonaut and Cannacord — is a boon for surrounding explorers, which hope to find a Luni of their own.
At least five stocks in our top 50 are West Arunta explorers.
Rincon Resources (ASX:RCR) tops the lot after uncovering a ‘bullseye’ target at its project “of similar size and character” to the Luni carbonatite, and IOCG deposits like Prominent Hill and Ernest Henry.
Lycaon Resources (ASX:LYN) now has final permission to drill its Stansmore project, a proverbial stone’s throw from WA1.
To the south of WA1, explorer Norwest Minerals (ASX:NWM) has a large project called Arunta West, where a ground gravity survey on tenement E80/5031 to find IOCG, carbonatite, kimberlite and other critical mineral drill targets has just been finalised.
Then there’s Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR), which is backing up early drilling success with a massive 20,000m drilling program starting early May at its Aileron project.
The post Who made the Gains? Here are April’s top ASX miners and explorers appeared first on Stockhead.
