This week saw a nature-derived insecticide company secure United States defence department grants to shoot down enemy insects, a biotech unveil successful phase two clinical trial results, a junior goldie set to merge with a fellow junior explorer, and a company on the hunt for copper discover more of the red metal. They make up this weeks ASX Runners list.
Bio-Gene Technology (ASX:BGT)
153pc up (from 2.8c to 7.1c)
This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is Bio-Gene Technology, which revealed on Wednesday it scored a slice of two United States Department of Defence grants. The grants for $3 million were issued under the US deployed war fighter protection program to develop two of its eucalypt-derived products to protect military personnel from specific insect-borne disease threats.
The thought of the mighty US military handing out grants to innovative companies developing products to shoot down pesky flies and mozzies appealed to the punters, who swooped on the stock, buying up a cool 27.3 million shares and sending the share price to a nine-month high of 7.1 cents.
The often thinly-traded stock saw volumes on the day reach almost double the total number of shares traded during the past 12 months, registering a strong one-day gain of more than 153 per cent. Strong trading volumes continued with near six million shares swapped on Thursday.
The company secured a portion of two separate grants. The first grant allocated $64,000 to the company from a total $1.6m fund pool.
The grant will support a mission to develop a wearable product containing the eucalypt-derived insecticide Flavocide to control mosquitoes and other diseased insects over three years.
Flavocide is a nature-identical product based on flavesone, a naturally occurring plant compound present in some eucalypts. Bio-Gene says it has developed a process to synthesise the molecule and produce it in commercial quantities.
Bio-Gene also won $159,200 from a second $1.4m, three-year grant allocation to develop a sprayable formulation of insecticide Qcide to control flies and bed bug infestations, with the balance again distributed to collaborating organisations.
Qcide is a natural oil product containing tasmanone, which is extracted from the leaves of a rare type of Australian eucalypt grown in Far North Queensland, using a steam distillation process.
Alterity Therapeutics (ASX: ATH)
137pc up (from 0.8c to 1.9c)
Promising biotech Alterity Therapeutics snatched second place this week after announcing positive phase two clinical trial results in patients with early-stage multiple system atrophy, a rare neurodegenerative disease.
Management says a clinically meaningful benefit was observed across two different doses, with up to a 48 per cent slowing of disease progression and demonstrated evidence of a favourable safety profile.
The potential disease modifying effect of the company’s ATH434 drug candidate excited share traders, who were hoping to replicate a similar meaningful improvement to their trading account balance.
Traders poured into the stock and an astonishing 638m shares changed hands - driving the stock to reach a 52-week high of 1.9c for the day.
The topline results from Alterity’s randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the ATH434 drug candidate showed improvements across a range of measures, including on a scale which assesses the effect of disease on daily living. The functional rating scale is considered the most meaningful endpoint of the clinical trial.
ATH434 demonstrated a 48 per cent slowing of disease progression for those taking a 50 milligram dose and a 29 per cent slowing of progression for patients on the higher 75mg dose.
Trends showing improved motor performance were observed on the Parkinson’s Plus rating scale, in addition to MRI scans indicating reduced levels of iron accumulation in brain regions affected by the disease, at both dosing levels.
Aston Minerals (ASX : ASO)
77pc up (from 0.9c to 1.6c)
Junior exploration firm Aston Minerals grabbed third spot this week after revealing plans on Tuesday to join forces with fellow junior Torque Metals via a scheme of arrangement, resulting in the merger of the two companies.
Torque will acquire all of Aston’s shares in an all-scrip deal that values Aston shares at 1c each, with one Torque share offered for every 5.2 Aston shares.
The market embraced the news of the deal. It will bring Torque’s 250,000-ounce Paris gold project, grading more than 3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in WA, together with Aston’s 1.5m ounce Edleston gold play in Canada with its respectable 1g/t gold.
The price dialled up to 1.6c before retreating to close at 1.2c on the day with huge volumes of 36.5m shares traded, propelling the price to an eight-month high as traders scampered for a piece of the action.
Solid trading levels of 6.2m shares on Wednesday and Thursday’s higher 12.6m share trades kept market interest high and the price closed both days at 1.4c, maintaining the conversion status-quo with Torque’s closing price on Thursday at 7.3c.
The merged entity will have an excellent cash position of about $5m to drive exploration programs and hold an extensive land position.
Both projects are in tier 1 mining jurisdictions in the Western Australian goldfields and Ontario in Canada.
Caption - Canterbury Resources has discovered further copper and molybdenum mineralisation within magmatic quartz veins at the company’s Briggs project in central Queensland. Credit: File
Canterbury Resources (ASX : CBY)
72pc up (from 2.2c to 3.8c)
Canterbury Resources surged into fourth place on the runners list this week after a stellar trading day on Thursday.
The company confirmed strong assay results from the final holes of a 2024 drilling program at its Briggs copper-molybdenum project in central Queensland, which sits 60 kilometres west of the deep-water port of Gladstone.
Management believes the results from the Southern porphyry target confirm a new discovery 300 metres southeast of its current Briggs mineral resource, with a thick 270.5m hit grading 0.22 per cent copper and 16 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum from a depth of 17.7m.
Punters who closely follow resource stocks and constantly hear pundits bemoan the lack of new copper discoveries globally warmed to the news and charged in for their piece of the share pie.
A solid 9.5m shares traded on the day, moving the price to a five-month high of 3.8c and a gain of more than 72 per cent for the week.
The Briggs project has an existing inferred mineral resource of 415 million tonnes going 0.25 per cent copper and 31ppm molybdenum.
Porphyry deposits often comprise massive tonnage, often more than one billion tonnes of ore, of low-grade deposits that stretch from surface to deep underground and can usually be easily mined via a large open-cut operation.
Funding for the drilling at Briggs is provided by ASX-listed Alma Metals, which has signed an earn-in and joint-venture agreement with Canterbury.
Alma holds a 51 per cent stake in the project and is working towards stage-three of its earn-in, where the company’s interest will increase to 70 per cent upon meeting its expenditure commitment of an additional $10m before June 30, 2031.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Craig Nolan
