Materials

Juniors on Radar: 5 ASX Explorers to Watch Today

Wed 09 Mar 22, 11:34am (AEDT)
news_junior_3_wed

Key Points

  • Five juniors with interesting announcements today
  • Outstanding copper grades, upgrades to nickel resource and more

Hammer Metals intercepts massive copper grades

Laboratory assays have returned “outstanding” copper and gold results for Hammer Metals (ASX: HMX). The company's stock is up 13% in early trade.

Significant intercepts include:

  • 16m at 3.5% Copper and 1.8g/t Gold from 22m

  • 11m at 5% Copper and 2.5g/t Gold from 24m

“Copper grades above 5% are rare, especially with the potential relationship of this intercept to a nearby sizable geophysical target,” said Managing Director Daniel Thomas. 

“The corresponding strong copper and gold geochemistry at surface presents Ajax as one of the more exceptional exploration targets that I have observed.”

Drilling of follow-up holes is expected to commence in mid-March. 

Nickel resource upgrade for Cannon Resources

Cannon Resources (ASX: CNR) rallied 15.9% as the market opened following a 44% increase in nickel resource at its Fisher East Nickel Project in WA. The Project now has 91,800 tonnes of contained nickel.

Fisher East is also prospective for platinum group elements (PGE), a group of six precious metal elements including palladium and platinum. 

“The 44% jump in Mineral Resource to 45.5 Kt of contained nickel is an exciting development. In addition, we have estimated the combined PGE grade at 0.5 g/t Pt + Pd. The PGE number is dominated by palladium, which is a fantastic and welcome outcome as well,” CEO Steve Lynn said in a statement. 

An “aggressive and focused” diamond and RC drilling campaign is expected to kick off this month. 

Cannon Resources Limited - Fisher East Nickel Project
The Fisher East Nickel Project (Source: Cannon Resources)

Eclipse assay results show potential for rare earths

Nine grab samples from Eclipse Metals' (ASX: EPM) Greenland projects have returned multi-element assay results for rare earth oxides together with niobium, tungsten, lead, zinc and silver concentrations.

“Further results from Ivugtût and Grønnedal-lka highlight the polymetallic nature of these prospects, in particular the REE (Rare Earth Elements) potential with both heavy and light REE mineralisation evident,” said Chairman Carl Popal. 

“When final results are received and analysed, a targeted exploration program will be designed in time to take advantage of the northern summer season to further advance evaluation of our projects in Greenland.”

Testing Large Samples from Gronnedal-Ika
Testing large samples from Grønnedal-lka (Source: Eclipse Metals)

Askari granted lithium exploration licence 

Lithium, copper and gold hopeful Askari (ASX: AS2) has received a 6-year exploration licence for its Barrow Creek Project in the Northern Territory. 

Execute Director Gino D’Anna said that the grinding of the exploration licence “paves the way for the Company to continue its accelerated exploration strategy at this exciting lithium project”. 

“We expect to receive the assay results from our Phase II exploration campaign during April 2022 and the Company is eagerly preparing for its inaugural RC drilling campaign …” 

The company's stock is up 5.4% in early trade.

Melbana hits a high pressure zone

Melbana Energy (ASX: MAY) has surged 22% in early trade after the oil and gas explorer encountered high pressure zones during drilling operations.

The encounter resulted in "an influx of hydrocarbons ... and subsequent strong oil shows on the shakers."

"This strong showing, once again, of energetic hydrocarbons gives our geoscientists more to think about when considering what this may mean for our understanding of the subsurface and the resource potential of Block 9," said Executive Chairman Andrew Purcell.

Its worth noting that Melbana shares are up 500% since January.

Before the price spike, its 20-day average trading volumes were around circa 2m. Now, its 20-day average volumes stand at 75m.

Written By

Kerry Sun

Content Strategist

Kerry holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University. He is an avid swing trader, focused on technical set ups and breakouts. Outside of writing and trading, Kerry is a big UFC fan, loves poker and training Muay Thai. Connect via LinkedIn or email.

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