It was a big week for Australian resources on the exchange. As iron ore pushed above the US$100 (A$150) per tonne mark and gold held near all-time highs, the blue suits and RM Williams boots of corporate resources descended upon Kalgoorlie’s annual Diggers and Dealers forum.
Despite the seemingly incessant needs of gold CEOs to reach into their pockets to compare free cash flow charts, it was the unlikely rare earths sector that stole the show.
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King suggested at Diggers on Tuesday that Australia might follow the United States in setting a price floor for magnet rare earths production Down Under.
The announcement was quickly followed by Iluka Resources, which is constructing a government-funded refinery in Geraldton in Western Australia’s Mid West, announcing it would fork out $32 million for a slice of critical rare earths supply from one of this week’s Runners.
The all-seeing, all-knowing market overlords at the ASX were in hot water this week, after the market operator mistakenly mixed up the $10 billion Aussie internet service provider TPG Telecom with US-based TPG Capital Asia.
Amid an ongoing investigation into persistent governance and operational issues, the almighty ASX exacerbated its problems by mistakenly claiming, without clarification, that TPG Telecom was acquiring a software developer, when the acquisition was being made by TPG Capital Asia, a private equity firm.
TPG telecom stock went into a trading pause, causing mass confusion and volume losses, before the ASX came out and said ‘nothing to see here’, ‘carry on as you were’. All trades from the morning’s open were cancelled, while TPG lost $400 million off its intraday market valuation.
The massive operator gaffe follows pressure by Australia’s watchdog ASIC, investigating misleading clearing advice by the ASX, which could lead to the operator losing its monopoly status in Australia, just as encroaching US sharks’ circle.
Perhaps surprisingly, this week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week wasn’t taken out by a resources company on Diggers week. Rather, a biotech hopeful continued a string of biotech and AI company dominance of late, with impressive results from its cancer screening technology.
RHYTHM BIOSCIENCES LIMITED (ASX: RHY)
Up 250% (6c – 21c)
Bulls N’ Bears’ Runner of the Week is Rhythm Biosciences, which took a while to get going this week following the release on Monday of the results of a study of the company’s simple predictive blood test for colorectal cancer, called ColoSTAT.
The company says its study confirmed the test’s effectiveness across all cancer stages, a critical step on its commercialisation pathway. The trial of 300 patients’ blood samples showed ColoSTAT consistently detected colorectal cancer, from its early to late stages.
Rhythm received its first batch of ColoSTAT kits from partner Quansys Biosciences, produced using the final manufacturing process expected in the product’s rollout. Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths globally, but is curable if caught early.
The company says ColoSTAT’s performance meets clinical requirements for a screening test for patients experiencing bowel cancer symptoms, potentially placing it as a serious alternative for people who can’t or don’t want to use existing screening programs.
After failing to fire on Monday, Rhythm’s share price rocketed on Wednesday, hitting a peak of 21 cents a share from last week’s 6c close, up 250 per cent.
Rhythm is now gearing up for final validation of its test kits and a submission to the National Association of Testing Authorities. It has further studies pending.
If ColoSTAT clears these hurdles, this biotech minnow could help rewrite the script on cancer screening. After a failure to launch its product in early 2023 - and its share price this week - the company’s commercialisation hopes look back on track to address a seriously sizeable cancer screening market.
ROOLIFE GROUP LTD (ASX: RLG)
Up 225% (0.4c – 1.3c)
Snagging silver on the week is e-commerce player RooLife Group Limited, which bounded up the bourse on Wednesday after inking a blockbuster partnership supply agreement with Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management.
The deal tasks Roolife with sourcing health, wellness and food and beverage products for Eternal Asia’s massive network across more than 320 cities, one million retail outlets and more than 100 Fortune 500 clients in China.
Roolife says the deal could lead to potential orders worth up to CNY500 million (A$110 million) a year, although volumes will depend on pricing and Roolife’s capacity to fulfill them.
It opens a direct pipeline to China’s general trade retail market, bypassing tedious traditional brand-building costs.
The company, which leverages data-driven platforms to target high-growth markets such as China, South East Asia and India, says it is already receiving product order requests, putting it well on its way to hitting the big leagues.
The news lit a fire under Roolife’s share price, which skyrocketed 225 per cent on Wednesday to 1.3c from 0.4c last Friday on $2 million in stock traded.
With its intelligent e-commerce engine powered by Eternal Asia’s demand data, Roolife believes it is poised to lock Australia’s producers into one of the world’s largest retail economies. If it can secure binding orders and continue to scale supply, this digital services dynamo could be on track for a massive retail breakout.
WARATAH MINERALS LIMITED (ASX: WTM)
Up 136% (29.5c – 69.5c)
Taking the final podium spot this week is the no-longer junior explorer Waratah Minerals, which was the toast of Diggers’ first day when the company unveiled a massive discovery at its Spur gold-copper project in the East Lachlan Fold region of New South Wales.
An almighty drill hole at Spur confirmed the company’s gold corridor potential to host a large-scale, high-grade gold system, just 5 kilometres from Newmont’s 50-million-ounce Cadia Valley mine, NSW’s answer to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit.
Assays from the deep diamond hole returned a mammoth 208.7-metre intersection grading 1.17 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 514m, including 38m at 3.61g/t from 665m. Visible gold vein swarms extend its surface mineralisation to more than 500m below surface.
The results extended the Spur corridor strike by more than 500m, to more than 1.5km.
Drilling at the company’s Consols, Essex, and Thistle zones uncovered high-grade porphyry potential, like the mineralisation at Cadia.
After the staggering discovery, Waratah expanded its program by 60 holes to test the system from surface to 450m depth, aiming to connect Spur to its nearby Dalcoath and Essex prospects.
The company’s share price continued to surge all week, moving up 136 per cent to 69.5c Friday, from 29.5c last week, before taking a little breather to end the week.
These porphyries are NSW’s golden giants and the new discovery is no small feat. Given the significance of the state’s last porphyry discovery by Alkane Resources in 2019, it won’t be surprising to be talking about Waratah’s discovery again in seven days’ time.
LINDIAN RESOURCES LTD (ASX: LIN)
Up 50% (10c – 15c)
Riding the rare earths wave to scoop up this week’s final Runners’ spot is Lindian Resources, after it sealed a 15-year strategic offtake deal with Aussie major Iluka Resources, which includes $32 million in construction funding. The deal locks 6000 tonnes per year of rare earth monazite concentrate from Lindian’s Kangankunde project in Malawi into Australia’s latest Eneabba rare earths refinery in Geraldton.
Lindian’s seismic deal cements Kangankunde as one of the pre-eminent rare earth developments on the planet and comes as Iluka scrambles to lock in a non-Chinese rare earths supply.
The project’s monster 261-million-tonne resource is grading at 2.19 per cent total rare earth ore, with an ore reserve at a higher 2.9 per cent, and is slated to last 45 years of mining.
The partnership looks a masterstroke for both parties. Kangankunde is well on its way to first production, expected by next year, while Iluka’s Eneabba refinery is set to become Australia’s first fully integrated, government-backed rare earths facility. Commissioning is slated for 2027.
The stock shot out of a cannon on Wednesday’s announcement, moving up a substantial 50 per cent from last week, to a 15c high on some $5.2 million in paper changing hands.
For the first time in a long time, this week has revealed what could be a very concerted effort by the federal government to build a subsidised resources sector. By replicating the US in setting potential floor prices for local rare earths, Australia could finally grow a fully-fledged vertically integrated rare earths supply chain backed by the government.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Todd
