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News.com.au
13 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Barry FitzGerald: Magmatic adding serious value with WA gold deal
'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he's sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers. One of Garimpeiro's pet peeves is coming across a junior explorer banging away at a single project rather than leveraging off their standing costs as an ASX-listed company by adding a second project to the portfolio. That is particularly so when there has been a tectonic shift in markets like there is now, with gold racing to more than $5200 an ounce in Aussie dollars – up a staggering 44% on 2024's average. So keep the flagship project bubbling along but use the downtime between drilling campaigns to add a gold project to the company's story because the reality is that there has never been a better time to be looking for the yellow stuff. That's just what a well-known explorer for potential tier-1 epithermal/porphyry style deposits in NSW's prolific East Lachlan region, Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG), has done via the acquisition of the Weebo project on the Yandal greenstone belt in Western Australia. The East Lachlan hunt continues, including a joint venture at the Myall copper/gold project with Andrew Forrest's Fortescue (ASX:FMG), also the company's biggest shareholder. Myall and other prospects in the East Lachlan could well deliver a big discovery in time, and there has been plenty of encouragement on that front. But for pure gold exposure at a time when the market is in a mood to reward gold discoveries handsomely, Magmatic has rolled up its sleeves and added WA gold to its story, powering up its newsflow in the process. Magmatic was trading mid-week at 4.2c a share for a market cap of $18.1 million on issued capital, increased by the share consideration component of the Weebo acquisition. It was a 3.9c stock before the Weebo pick up, so it can be said that the added element of WA gold has attracted the market's interest. But remembering the market cap is still not challenging. Given the quality of the East Lachan interests, it could be suggested that at Wednesday's share price of 4.2c, Weebo comes at this stage comes for free. Value added That's despite Weebo having all the hallmarks of becoming a quick value-add for Magmatic. Located 30km southeast of Leinster, the Weebo ground covers about 50km of the southern Yandal greenstone belt. The ground includes two near surface prospects – Ockerburry and Scone Stone – where previous drilling has yielded some nice hits by a previous owner. They stand as advanced drill prospects and there are a bunch of less advanced prospects. Magmatic has put a local exploration team in place and expects that its maiden drilling program at Weebo will kick off in the September quarter. It is exciting stuff for a company with an $18.1m market cap. What makes Weebo particularly exciting is its location, smack bang in the middle of five gold mines with treatment plants – Vault Minerals' (ASX:VAU) Darlot, Gold Fields' Agnew-Lawlers, Bellevue Gold's (ASX:BGL) namesake operation, Northern Star Resources' (ASX:NST) Bronzewing and Northern Star's Thunderbox. While the hope would be that exploration success at Weebo delivers a standalone operation, the proximity of the regional treatment capacity lends itself to toll treatment opportunities, joint venture development and/or outright sale of ounces that Magmatic pulls together in a mineral resource estimate. Ounces in the ground In a $5200/oz environment ounces-in-the-ground are commanding a high value when there is a clear pathway to the ounces being whacked through a standalone treatment plant or one owned by a third party. By way of example only, Northern Star last year paid $12.5 million for the 177,000 inferred resource ($70 an ounce) at the Hobbes gold project – owned 80% by Solstice Minerals (ASX:SLS) and 20% by a private minority – to feed through its Carosue Dam operation. The year before NST paid Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) $61m in cash and shares for the 346,000oz Millrose deposit near the Jundee gold mine ($176/oz). Gold prices have moved substantially higher still, so smallish deposits have become even more valuable. Where Weebo ends up in terms of its scale remains to be seen. But it certainly delivers exploration excitement when the gold market is running hot. And who knows? That hunt for a tier-1 discovery in NSW could well come up trumps. That's particularly so when Mt York gets juiced up by the additional ounces expected to come from the big exploration push now underway. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the columnist and do not represent the views of Stockhead. Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article. At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Magmatic Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Major miners drag the ASX200 down
A sell-off in the major iron ore and gold miners weighed on the ASX 200 on Wednesday, as investors bide their time and await the fallout from the Israel-Iran conflict. The benchmark ASX 200 index fell 10.1 points or 0.12 per cent to 8,531.2 on a day investors largely stayed on the sidelines. The broader All Ordinaries also slipped 13.20 points or 0.15 per cent to 8,757.90. The Australian dollar traded marginally higher up 0.37 per cent to buy 65.03 US cents. On a day of low trading volume, eight of the 11 sectors finished up, despite the overall market falling. Overall 104 stocks ending in the red, 86 gaining and 10 remaining unchanged. But this was not enough to lift the overall market, with a slump in material, utilities and A-REITs offsetting gains in the information technology and healthcare sectors. Materials slumped 1.56 per cent on the day with the price of iron ore falling to $US93 a tonne amid sluggish growth forecasts out of China and US steel tariffs. BHP shares fell 1.18 per cent to $36.86, Fortescue slumped 4.02 per cent to $15.03 and Rio Tinto fell 1.07 per cent to $106.00. Citi Group has cut its iron ore price forecasts, predicting $US90 a tonne for both the next three months and the next 6–12 months. ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said a combination of low demand and high supply was seeing the price of the commodity fall. 'The rainy season has slowed construction activity in southern China. In the north, high temperatures are contributing to a slowdown,' he said. 'Beijing's efforts to curb overcapacity in the steel industry looks to be playing out, with China's steel production falling 6.9 per cent in May.' Gold miners were also a drag on the ASX, with the price of the underlying commodity also dropping. Northern Star Resources is down 1.95 per cent to $20.58, Evolution Mining slipped 3.55 per cent to $8.15 and Genesis Mineral slumped 3.00 per cent to $4.53. It was a mixed day for the big four banks with CBA gaining 0.58 per cent to $180.19 and Westpac eked out a small gain up 0.03 per cent to $33.02. NAB slipped 0.23 per cent to $38.71 and ANZ finished in the red down 1.43 per cent to $29.04. Investors remained on the sidelines, with the ASX now only swinging 59 points or 0.70 per cent during the last two and half days of trading until 2.30pm. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the average range on the ASX over the past nine weeks has been 165 points or almost 2 per cent. 'This suggests there is room for some fireworks/movement into the week's end as the spring winds become increasingly tighter,' he wrote in a note. In company news, shares in Cettire have rallied 10.5 per cent to $0.32, but comes after shares slumped 31 per cent in a single trading day last week on a less than favourable trading update. Shares in uranium producer Boss Energy rose 4.3 per cent to $4.66 after announcing its operations in South Australia have met its first-year production guidance. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
ASX200 slumps on sluggish iron ore outlook
A sell-off in the major iron ore and gold miners weighed on the ASX 200 on Wednesday, as investors bide their time and await the fallout from the Israel-Iran conflict. The benchmark ASX 200 index fell 10.1 points or 0.12 per cent to 8,531.2 on a day investors largely stayed on the sidelines. The broader All Ordinaries also slipped 13.20 points or 0.15 per cent to 8,757.90. The Australian dollar traded marginally higher up 0.37 per cent to buy 65.03 US cents. On a day of low trading volume, eight of the 11 sectors finished up, despite the overall market falling. Overall 104 stocks ending in the red, 86 gaining and 10 remaining unchanged. But this was not enough to lift the overall market, with a slump in material, utilities and A-REITs offsetting gains in the information technology and healthcare sectors. Materials slumped 1.56 per cent on the day with the price of iron ore falling to $US93 a tonne amid sluggish growth forecasts out of China and US steel tariffs. BHP shares fell 1.18 per cent to $36.86, Fortescue slumped 4.02 per cent to $15.03 and Rio Tinto fell 1.07 per cent to $106.00. Citi Group has cut its iron ore price forecasts, predicting $US90 a tonne for both the next three months and the next 6–12 months. ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said a combination of low demand and high supply was seeing the price of the commodity fall. 'The rainy season has slowed construction activity in southern China. In the north, high temperatures are contributing to a slowdown,' he said. 'Beijing's efforts to curb overcapacity in the steel industry looks to be playing out, with China's steel production falling 6.9 per cent in May.' Gold miners were also a drag on the ASX, with the price of the underlying commodity also dropping. Northern Star Resources is down 1.95 per cent to $20.58, Evolution Mining slipped 3.55 per cent to $8.15 and Genesis Mineral slumped 3.00 per cent to $4.53. It was a mixed day for the big four banks with CBA gaining 0.58 per cent to $180.19 and Westpac eked out a small gain up 0.03 per cent to $33.02. NAB slipped 0.23 per cent to $38.71 and ANZ finished in the red down 1.43 per cent to $29.04. Investors remained on the sidelines, with the ASX now only swinging 59 points or 0.70 per cent during the last two and half days of trading until 2.30pm. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the average range on the ASX over the past nine weeks has been 165 points or almost 2 per cent. 'This suggests there is room for some fireworks/movement into the week's end as the spring winds become increasingly tighter,' he wrote in a note. In company news, shares in Cettire have rallied 10.5 per cent to $0.32, but comes after shares slumped 31 per cent in a single trading day last week on a less than favourable trading update. Shares in uranium producer Boss Energy rose 4.3 per cent to $4.66 after announcing its operations in South Australia have met its first-year production guidance.
West Australian
3 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Iron ore price drops again to flirt with multi-year lows amid gloomy forecasts
The value of WA's most important mineral commodity is tumbling towards lows not seen in two-and-a-half years, putting three of the four big banks on track for vindication. A tonne of the benchmark iron ore product is currently being traded for $US92.40 after shedding $US1.10/t overnight. It was above $US100/t during the middle of last month. The steel-making commodity's value is now at its lowest point since September and could be heading towards a sustained sub-$US90/t price for the first time since November 2022. Iron ore briefly dipped below $US90/t in September — hitting $US89.50/t — but quickly rebounded. Shares in local mining giants BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue were all in the red on Wednesday. Fortescue is the most exposed to fluctuations in the iron ore price of the trio and its stock was down more than 4 per cent by noon. Temporary factors and long-term structural shifts in the global steel market are behind iron ore's price decline. Construction in China, where virtually all of WA's iron ore is pumped into, is currently at a seasonal ebb. The Asian powerhouse has also ordered its steelmakers to curb their output this year to supposedly meet carbon emission reduction requirements. More broadly, China's multi-decade building boom is winding down. Rio Tinto's iron ore chief executive Simon Trott last year said the peak of steel demand from the country had been reached. India has been touted as a new growth market but its iron ore consumption is still nowhere near China's. While demand is waning, supply has been steadily rising, and tens of millions of additional tonnes are soon set to come online from Brazil and West Africa. Global investment bank Citi this week downgraded its iron ore forecasts, predicting the price to stay around $US90/t over the next 12 months. Australia's banks have been even more bearish. Commonwealth Bank reckons the price will drop to $US80/t this year, Westpac thinks it will start 2026 at $US86/t, and NAB is pencilling in a 2025 average of $US87/t. ANZ has been an outlier and last month raised its short-term iron ore prediction from $US90/t to $US100/t. WA's Treasury in December adopted a $US95/t expectation for the 2025 financial year, marking a $US18/t increase from the price estimate on Budget day in May. Every $US1/t change in iron ore's value can directly add or remove almost $100m from the State's coffers. For the 2024 financial year, WA received just under $10 billion from iron ore royalties. Nearly 90 per cent of WA's entire royalty income stream comes from iron ore.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Lunch Wrap: ASX shuffles along as iron ore slumps, tech rallies
Iron ore slumps again but ASX recovers from early dip Trump's Iran blast rattles Wall Street Uranium glows while NextDC borrows big The ASX swung between gains and losses, and was up just a tad, by about 0.041% around lunchtime in the east on Wednesday. Overnight in the US, Wall Street lost its nerve after Donald Trump took to social media with all-caps fury, calling Iran's Supreme Leader 'an easy target' and demanding 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.' His sidekick JD Vance chimed in, too, warning that if Iran doesn't abandon its nuclear ambitions, the US might ditch the whole talking thing altogether. Markets didn't like it. The S&P 500 dropped 0.84%, the Nasdaq shed 0.91%, and the Dow slipped 0.7%. Oil prices jumped, bond yields fell, and the whole session had the air of a fire alarm. And in a sign the market mood might be shifting for good, a fresh Bank of America fundie survey shows most investors now reckon global stocks will outperform the US over the next five years. Back home, the ASX held up reasonably well this morning, all things considered. The main drag came from the miners after iron ore extended its slide for a fourth straight day. Prices dropped below US$93 a tonne in Singapore, hit by a seasonal lull in demand and signs that Chinese steel mills are reining things in. BHP (ASX:BHP) lost 1.2%, and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) copped a bruising of 4% hit. But while iron's on the nose, uranium is still glowing. Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) rose 2% after confirming its Honeymoon project in SA has hit first-year production targets. NextDC (ASX:NXT) didn't get quite the same love. It fell 0.5% after locking in a chunky new $2.2 billion debt facility to refinance existing loans and fund more data centre builds. ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for June 18 : Security Description Last % Volume MktCap SIS Simble Solutions 0.005 67% 1,735,000 $2,628,991 AR9 Archtis Limited 0.220 63% 5,982,156 $38,875,565 LNR Lanthanein Resources 0.002 50% 5,851,968 $2,810,182 EUR European Lithium Ltd 0.066 50% 24,894,415 $63,587,984 NPM Newpeak Metals 0.019 46% 1,597,314 $4,186,933 LU7 Lithium Universe Ltd 0.009 42% 26,937,522 $4,715,878 MGU Magnum Mining & Exp 0.004 33% 483,762 $3,364,953 RPG Raptis Group Limited 0.091 30% 78,980 $12,273,970 DGR DGR Global Ltd 0.005 25% 1,246,000 $4,174,784 ECT Env Clean Tech Ltd. 0.003 25% 2,962,317 $8,013,537 MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.005 25% 100,000 $7,934,392 MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.003 25% 1,538,334 $1,556,978 SKK Stakk Limited 0.005 25% 456,000 $8,300,319 VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.005 25% 100,000 $18,739,112 MXO Motio Ltd 0.043 25% 3,784,776 $9,608,368 EMD Emyria Limited 0.031 24% 12,817,183 $12,281,104 ZMM Zimi Ltd 0.011 22% 110,000 $3,847,894 AUR Auris Minerals Ltd 0.006 20% 100,000 $2,383,130 IXR Ionic Rare Earths 0.012 20% 26,345,210 $52,674,258 ITM Itech Minerals Ltd 0.032 19% 1,712,292 $4,612,555 OM1 Omnia Metals Group 0.013 18% 960,733 $2,388,009 HFR Highfield Res Ltd 0.170 17% 381,882 $68,741,171 Simble Solutions (ASX:SIS) is raising $527k to grow its sustainability software business, locking in $500k from a placement. It will use the funds for working capital and stash $200k in Bittensor (TAO), a decentralised AI crypto, to earn staking rewards and support its long-term strategy. Faldi Ismail steps in as non-exec chair, bringing 20+ years in deals, listings and capital markets. archTIS (ASX:AR9) has cracked into the UK defence market, locking in a three-year contract worth $263k with the UK arm of a global aerospace giant. The deal covers 400 NC Protect licences to help meet strict UK Ministry of Defence data security rules in Microsoft 365. This follows a recent win with the US Department of Defense. European Lithium (ASX:EUR) says Critical Minerals Group (ASX:CMG), which it owns 63% of, has landed a non-binding US$120m Letter of Interest from the US EXIM Bank to help develop the Tanbreez rare earths project in Greenland. The funding, if finalised, would be non-dilutive and run over 15 years. If it goes ahead, EUR said the package would support one of the world's largest rare earth deposits and boost Western supply chains. NewPeak Metals (ASX:NPM) says Lakes Blue Energy, in which it holds a 16.3% stake, is raising $6.5 million at $0.75/share through a fully underwritten placement ahead of its planned ASX relisting around June 24. The funds will help kick off drilling of the Wombat-5 well in the Gippsland Basin, targeting up to 10 terajoules a day from a 1.5km lateral. The Victorian government has given consent to drill, pending rehab bond payments, with spudding expected the week of July 21. Lithium Universe (ASX:LU7) has secured global rights to a new microwave-based tech from Macquarie University that makes recycling solar panels cleaner and more efficient. It's raising $1.7m to back the move, with solar waste set to hit 78 million tonnes by 2050, and most panels still ending up in landfill. ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for June 18 : Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap ICU Investor Centre Ltd 0.001 -67% 54,399 $913,534 BGE Bridgesaaslimited 0.011 -39% 225,000 $3,597,466 AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.003 -25% 130,586 $4,998,560 CTN Catalina Resources 0.003 -25% 6,593,391 $9,704,076 HLX Helix Resources 0.002 -25% 600,000 $6,728,387 ICE Icetana Limited 0.058 -22% 2,691,848 $39,355,118 AAU Antilles Gold Ltd 0.004 -20% 83,000 $11,656,840 ERA Energy Resources 0.002 -20% 199,000 $1,013,490,602 FIN FIN Resources Ltd 0.004 -20% 800,001 $3,474,442 JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.002 -20% 264,485 $15,315,373 MEL Metgasco Ltd 0.002 -20% 626,524 $4,267,210 OMG OMG Group Limited 0.004 -20% 2,780,701 $3,641,474 OVT Ovanti Limited 0.002 -20% 7,162 $7,513,788 PRM Prominence Energy 0.004 -20% 6,375,087 $1,945,882 TMX Terrain Minerals 0.002 -20% 2,139,672 $5,621,392 HAR Harangaresources 0.056 -18% 2,170,636 $7,758,747 SCP Scalare Partners 0.100 -17% 32,004 $5,020,203 ERL Empire Resources 0.005 -17% 176,162 $8,903,479 TSL Titanium Sands Ltd 0.005 -17% 647,374 $14,020,483 JNO Juno 0.028 -15% 15,846 $6,904,823 WTM Waratah Minerals Ltd 0.280 -15% 1,339,616 $76,475,267 SGA Sarytogan 0.060 -14% 454,469 $12,668,833 SPX Spenda Limited 0.006 -14% 5,358,328 $32,306,508 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) has recorded 44% higher lithium values at its Green River project in Utah after opening up aquifers. Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) will soon add a second source of high-grade gold to the ore processed under its Laverton Hub ore purchase agreement (OPA) with Genesis Minerals. Ark Mines (ASX:AHK) has begun metallurgical testing to improve the mineral separation of rare earths and heavy minerals at Sandy Mitchell. Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) goes over a recent pre-feasibility study outlining its strong economic pathway to high purity alumina production. Codeifai Limited (ASX:CDE) is snapping up its main rival Trust Codes to create a global QR code powerhouse, just as the world gears up for Sunrise 2027. Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) is kicking its US strategy into gear with the appointment of Washington DC External Affairs adviser Todd Clewett to support engagement with US federal agencies. LAST ORDERS Javelin Minerals (ASX:JAV) has tapped Michael Edwards to be its new non-executive director, effective immediately. He brings more than 25 years' experience in senior management roles, having worked as an exploration and mine geologist with a focus on Archaean gold and base metals. Edwards has been involved in multiple ASX-listed companies, most recently serving as non-executive chair of Firefly Resources until it merged with Gascoyne Resources. At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Javelin Minerals is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. .
