Sunday Edition: 17th May

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd and its associated entities may hold direct or indirect interests in securities referred to in this publication and may receive fees or other forms of consideration from entities mentioned. These interests and arrangements may create a potential conflict of interest in the preparation of this material.

The information contained in this communication is provided for general information purposes only and may relate to speculative investments. It does not constitute financial product advice, and has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any investment decision.

Any forward-looking statements are uncertain and not a guaranteed outcome.

Yesterday we shared the below image showing the critical minerals where China dominates supply.

And how the West is now throwing money at bringing their own supply online.

Plus the stocks we are invested in for each mineral:

Yesterday’s Saturday note: Trump & Xi’s “Truce” Changes Nothing: Why the critical minerals race just accelerated and what it means for our stocks

Probably worth looking for a magnesium stock given it's the second “most dominated by China” mineral supply.

(end product magnesium isn't actually mined, it's more of a processing thing)

Also looking for a sulphur project - it is a key input in the upstream processing of many critical minerals and end-use supply chains (sulphuric acid).

Hit reply to this email if you know of any good projects (listed or un-listed).

Below you can find short overviews of all the content we wrote last week, plus links to each full note.

Further down, there’s also some links to other interesting stuff we came across on our travels around the internet.

Quick Takes: LSR, PNN, PUR, PR1, AW1, OD6, RCM, HAR, ONE, WAU

Deep Dives: MTH, BKB, OD6, RML

Other content: SGQ, PNN, NC1, EIQ, SS1

LSR confirmed five new copper-gold porphyry targets at one of its two exploration projects in Chile.

The five new targets are from the Los Loros project that LSR picked up an option over in February.

(not the project that LSR just drilled multiple holes into, hit visual mineralisation, and expects to have assays back over the coming weeks)

This particular asset has been drilled before by Anglo American and the United Nations.

All five targets sit in and around that old drilling.

(source)

LSR also had updates out for its US heavy rare earths project and from its WA gold project.

LSR is identifying xenotime-bearing rare earth mineralisation at surface on its US rare earths project. So far the geological characteristics look similar to the $775M capped Dateline Resources Californian rare earths asset. But it’s early days for LSR here, it still needs to drill test the asset.

Nice to see the first few holes from the 10,000m drill campaign in WA hitting gold. Drilling continues. LSR has an exploration target of 250,000-300,000 oz across this asset and is planning a maiden gold JORC resource before the end of the year.

(source)

Watch LSR CEO Coraline Blaud cover this week’s news here: Lodestar drills deeper across Australia and the US

PNN (OTC: PEIMF) confirmed its maiden diamond drilling campaign at its rare earths project in Brazil would start later this month.

From acquisition completion to drilling in a few weeks - one of the main reasons we like the new asset is for the special type of permitting the asset has (which allows for fast tracked exploration programs like this).

We think the market could start to get very interested in the asset if those old hits can be verified - especially those MREO grades (magnet rare earth oxides).

(source)

PUR announced updates across both its assets in Argentina.

Fieldwork started at its gold-silver project where PUR is going after a “Cerro Negro” of its own. Cerro Negro is an 8M ounce discovery owned by $163BN Newmont in the region.

Even a fraction of that would be a great result. A maiden drill campaign is scheduled “to begin soon”.

At the same time, PUR is also set to start drilling its 1.26Mt lithium carbonate equivalent asset - finally testing that 1km deep undrilled target to the north.

IF that hole comes in, it could be a game-changer for the scale of PUR’s resource - a big IF, but let’s see what happens.

(source)

PR1 formalised its "Defence Materials Platform Strategy", aligned with the United States and AUKUS defence supply chains.

We Invested in PR1 for the Rice University carbon nanotube fibre R&D collaboration for thermal management (a potential copper-aluminium replacement in heat sinks).

PR1 also has heavy rare earths and andradite garnet projects - all of which are applicable to defence tech.

There’s a key line in a PR1 announcement from earlier in the month:

(source)

So we wait to see if any of those funding initiatives come through to aid the programs being progressed.

PR1 also completed a sampling program at its graphite project in WA.

This fits into all three of the programs mentioned earlier.

Graphite for the carbon nanotube fibres and garnet samples for the heavy rare earths/garnet workstreams.

AW1 (OTC: AWMLF) confirmed the details of its upsized 10,000m drill campaign at its critical minerals project in the USA.

AW1 is hosting a webinar this week, fresh after the $10M capital raise and expanded drill campaign:

The webinar is on Tuesday May 19 at 12pm AEST - Register for the AW1 Webinar here

AW1’s project already has the largest undeveloped indium resource in the United States.

Recent drilling hit a 77.65m interval of visual mineralisation outside the current resource estimate (~430m away).

Now we get to see AW1 drill test that 4km magnetic structure trending east:

(source)

OD6 mapped the historic “Big Jim” target at its fluorspar project in Nevada.

This is another fluorspar system from the ~8km of strike OD6 has mapped so far.

The big difference for this target was the 95% purity grades (from rock chips) now confirmed over 220 metres.

This is another win for OD6 from the historic data set it acquired last week - check out the “blueprint” they used to map “Big Jim”:

(source)

More on OD6 in the Deep Dives section below - where we cover the historic drill hits that OD6 also found in the old data.

RCM secured approvals for drilling at its silver project in NSW, Australia.

A drill rig should be on site this week, with a second rig joining it, pending permitting.

So we could see the 15,000m RC drill campaign start this week.

RCM has designed the program to extend the parallel lode it discovered last year which is in addition to the broader, existing 67M ounce silver equivalent resource estimate it has in NSW.

(source)

HAR delivered the final batch of assays from its gold project in California.

More high grade gold, and now HAR has got all the data it needs to put together its JORC resource estimate for the project.

HAR said that JORC resource could drop this week.

HAR already has existing mining infrastructure on site, so the size and grade of the resource will give us all a much better sense of what HAR has on its hands.

(source)

ONE launched a new revenue channel and is also already “in contract negotiations on a 1,100-bed opportunity”.

The deal could bring together ONE and Epic which has its electronic healthcare record system plugged into ~42.3% of the US acute care hospitals. (source)

Supporting over 305 million patient records. (source)

Despite all of Epic’s USA market share, it doesn’t have a fully managed bedside hardware + device + content platform.

Enter ONE, who can provide that missing platform with Epic:

• TV hardware deployment
• Device provisioning and lifecycle management
• Clinical-grade reliability
• Integration with patient engagement and virtual care workflows

Here is everything ONE sells:

(source)

WAU’s $2BN neighbour MI6 bought neighbouring blocks for $7M.

What does that mean for WAU which holds the ground MI6 itself says could host the extensions to its ~4.5M ounce gold deposit?

We think it just made WAU’s ground more valuable for three reasons:

1. MI6's own mineralisation trends into WAU's ground.
2. MI6 may need WAU’s blocks to optimise its mine plan.
3. WAU is the only remaining neighbour of significance.

(source)

Mithril Silver and Gold (ASX:MTH | OTC: MTIRF)

We are overweight silver stocks because we think if the silver price goes on a run, ASX listed silver stocks will go with it.

And the 2025 silver run demonstrated that this can happen.

Our ASX silver stock prices running during the previous silver price run:

(source)

So silver up = silver stocks go up.

Silver up PLUS strong silver announcement = silver stock goes up even more?

(Past performance is not an indicator of future performance)

Our Investment MTH announced a nice high grade extension to its 373k ounce gold, 11 million ounce silver JORC resource.

(529k gold equivalent ounces averaging ~6.81g/t in grade)

A big 9.65m extension averaging 7.00 g/t gold and 370 g/t silver.

Which should mean that when MTH upgrades its resource the numbers should get bigger.

MTH has just flagged the resource upgrade for next month

(So only a few weeks to go)

(source)

Our favourite grumpy resources analyst Warwick Grigor from Far East Capital gave MTH a positive write up a few weeks ago - read it here

and mentioned MTH again last week here:

(big coming from Warwick, who generally prefers picking apart all the problems with a stock - which we appreciate)

And our favourite affable market commentator Simon Catt from Catt Calls (also a die hard silver bull, he got me onto Hycroft, thanks Simon) put out this explainer on investing in Mexico and a bit of analysis on MTH: (read it here)

(source)

(Both Warwick and Simon are worth subscribing to and reading - it's free, no AI slop and actual market people with real opinions)

MTH has to date drilled only ~5% of its project area.

And so far has a 529k gold equivalent JORC resource.

That resource sits across a tiny part of its ~70 square kilometre project area.

And comes from one of the 6 main targets on the project.

The other five have barely been drilled.

And when they have been, MTH has hit gold and silver mineralisation every single time.

Read more: MTH: Hits 7 g/t gold, 370 g/t silver - Silver price surges nearly 10% overnight.

Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB | OTCQX: BKBMF)

Legendary “gold royalty” pioneer Pierre Lassonde reckons gold is going to US$17,500 per ounce.

Veteran momentum analyst Michael Oliver reckons silver is going to US$300 to $500 per ounce.

Look they could be wrong - these are just two analysts’ price predictions that may not eventuate.

However our view is that many things are pointing to gold and silver having suddenly become nationally strategic metals.

Just look at the price rises on both over just the last 2 years... gold up over 100%, silver up nearly 200% - somebody's buying them?

(The past performance is not an indicator of future performance)

US national debt is spiralling past US$36 trillion. Foreign central banks are quietly dumping US Treasuries in favour of gold at a record pace.

Which is why Trump's Executive Order last year on US domestic mineral production explicitly named gold.

Washington suddenly needs a lot more of it coming out of the ground at home, fast.

Like gold, silver is also a defence against financial system uncertainty and inflation...

PLUS silver has industrial uses in the three key global buildouts of the next decade:

AI, robotics and advanced weapons.

(a three pronged global buildout we think will be bigger than 1800s railroads, 1900s industrialisation and the 2000s China urbanisation buildouts combined)

We think the USA will want to build domestic gold and silver supply as quickly as possible...

After decades of underinvestment and relying on imports from overseas.

We also believe the current geopolitical and financial system landscape will see gold and silver prices keep rising...

Which is why we made BKB (OTCQX: BKBMF) our 2025 Small Cap Pick of the Year.

BKB has a gold project in Nevada, USA... AND a silver project in Texas, USA.

BKB just upgraded the JORC resource on its US gold project in Nevada.

That resource estimate is now 2.2M ounces of gold equivalent.

BKB’s project is right next door to $107BN Barrick and $177BN Newmont's Nevada Gold Mines Phoenix Complex.

(In fact BKB’s project is practically surrounded on all sides but one by the giant Phoenix gold complex. Check out the image in the link below)

BKB’s updated JORC resource estimate has 1M ounces near-surface AND 1.2M ounces at depth with an average grade of 6.29g/t gold.

All open along strike AND at depth (and maybe even connected)?

(source)

We think this asset alone more than justifies BKB’s current ~$101M market cap.

Read more: BKB: Now 2.2 million ounces of gold equivalent in Nevada, USA - plus a silver mine in Texas too?

OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6)

Fluorspar is a crystal-like mineral used in the production of missile systems, military electronics and jet fuel.

It also plays an essential role in AI semiconductor chip production, batteries, nuclear power and aerospace.

AND it was listed as one of the nine materials with the highest shortfall risk for the US military in a major conflict scenario.

When our Investment OD6 secured an option over a historically producing fluorspar project in Nevada, USA - we (and the company) thought it had never been drilled.

Just shallow fluorspar mining from surface in the 1950s...

Then last week, OD6 purchased a “historical data set” it discovered existed for the project.

It turns out that the previous project owner, Union Carbide (a major US chemicals company from the 50s) had actually drilled 4 holes AND done a bunch of other work on OD6's project.

For the last 7 days, OD6 has been unpacking that dataset.

Last week we compared OD6 opening up that dataset to opening a pack of basketball cards or Pokemon cards as a kid...

(get it...? Fleer-spar?)

...you never know what you're going to get - you might get lucky and pull a holofoil Charizard or Fleer Ultra Shaq gold foil rookie card.

(source)

This week OD6 announced the first batch of findings from inside the “pack”.

The assay results of 4 historical drill holes.

And it looks like OD6 just pulled a holofoil Charizard...

Or for the 90s basketball fan, the Fleer Ultra Shaq gold foil rookie card.

Historic drill results have confirmed OD6 has ‘exceptional high grade & near surface fluorspar mineralisation’.

(source)

These “out of nowhere” drill results demonstrating ultra-high fluorspar grades extending deeper below surface have effectively skipped a de-risking step required from OD6 of doing its own drilling to prove the fluorspar extends deeper below surface.

Read more: OD6: Pulls out “exceptional high grade fluorspar mineralisation from surface” card

Watch more: Onsite at the Quinn Fluorspar Project with OD6 Metals (ASX: OD6)

Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML | OTC: RLMLF)

A 13,700m drill campaign across 43 holes has begun.

Targeting more gold and tungsten in the USA.

(right next door to the biggest gold and antimony project in the USA)

This comes a week after our Investment RML (OTC: RLMLF) released a presentation on the ASX titled ‘Mar-a-Lago Defense Forum Presentation’.

Mar-a-Lago is the private resort and club owned by President Trump in Florida.

According to Google it’s “Donald Trump’s primary residence and a "Winter White House" for political meetings, high-profile fundraisers, and social events”

Trump spends a lot of time here... wonder if he stumbled across RML’s presentation?

(source)

It’s clear RML has been busy getting its project front and centre of the US administration.

Here’s a photo of RML’s Exec Director Brett Lynch presenting at Mar-a-Lago:

(source)

And here’s one of him in front of (what we assume is) Trump's private jet:

(source)

Trump private jet photos are fun. Mar-a-Lago presentations are attention grabbing.

BUT...

RML has also ALREADY delivered some legit “sausage to match all the sizzle” REAL traction with the USA government.

5 weeks ago, RML secured FAST-41 status for its Antimony Ridge target.

FAST-41 is basically the US government acknowledging that a project is critical for its national security.

Only ~50 projects have been awarded FAST-41 status by the US government since the program's inception in 2015.

It gives RML’s project defined permitting timelines and tracking on the Federal Permitting Dashboard - for everyone to see on a public dashboard.

Nothing like being publicly shamed to focus a bureaucrat’s mind on approving a permit.

RML’s neighbour, $5.4BN Perpetua Resources, is one of the other rare FAST 41 status holders.

(RML’s project is directly next door to Perpetua - the biggest antimony deposit in the US, backed by US$2BN+ in US government support, JP Morgan, and $133BN Agnico Eagle Mines.)

(source)(source)

By attaining FAST-41 status, RML has already shown it can get real USA government traction...

And the RML management team has been knocking around Trump’s “winter White House” Mar-a-Lago for the last week.

Who knows what will come out of that... we’ll see.

Meanwhile, RML has just commenced a big follow-up drill campaign on the gold & tungsten discovery it made last year.

Read more: RML: Presented at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and then started a big drilling campaign - USA gold and critical military minerals.

RML CEO of US Operations Craig Lindsay also presented in Canada at the 5th Annual Critical Minerals Institute (CMI) Summit in Toronto last week:

Mining .com.au - Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX) and Orla Mining (TSX: OLA) have entered into a definitive merger agreement, creating a new senior North American gold giant. This brings together assets across Canada, USA, Mexico, and Nicaragua at a valuation of C$18.5BN (A$18.8BN).

AFR - Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) and Vault Minerals (ASX: VAU) have agreed to a binding all-scrip merger of equals, creating a massive new precious metals heavyweight valued at $10.7BN.

Gold M&A is back. Now hopefully we see some capital come down to the juniors.

Bloomberg - India hiked gold duty to 15% and capped duty-free imports at 100kg to defend the rupee and curb foreign exchange outflows amid the ongoing war.

“I Could Not Be More Bullish”: Pierre Lassonde’s $17,250 Gold Target

X (@jackprandelli) - Jack posted this chart which is a few months old now, but a reminder of the critical minerals situation as the Trump-Xi meeting took place this week.

(source)

X (@drewcrawford_) - Drew posted a video of Brazilian President Lula, Brazil's government is going full steam ahead on its own rare earths domestic mining and processing, offering tax credits for refining done within Brazil.

Drew compared Brazil’s rare earths sector to Indonesia's nickel production which grew from US$1BN in 2014 to US$30BN 9 years later.

Our two Brazilian rare earth Investments are SGQ & PNN.

Bloomberg also mentioned Brazil’s rare earths sector in this video (subscription required, well worth a watch if you can view it).

How the US Can Break China’s Rare Earths Grip

Mining.com - Rare Earths Americas’ share price climbed 26% after its NYSE debut, driven by its potential Georgia heavy rare earth discovery and high-value ionic clay projects in Brazil.

Mining.com - President Trump concluded his highly anticipated diplomatic summit in Beijing and headed back to Washington with no agreement on China's restrictive rare earth export controls.

This continues to show that Beijing’s grip on the global critical mineral supply chain remains unyielding despite the American pressure.

BBC - Trump’s Beijing summit ended with warm words but few concrete deals, with it being reported that tariffs were completely undiscussed so the rare earths concerns remain.

This leaves the critical October rare-earth export truce unresolved, threatening Western critical supply chains ahead of its November expiration.

The Oregon Group - Sherritt’s exit from Cuba disrupts Western nickel-cobalt supply, heightening risks of supply chain breakdown and potential Chinese consolidation as global markets tighten.

The macro environment for nickel does appear to slowly be turning around for our Investment, NC1.

Echo IQ (ASX:EIQ) Investor Webinar

PR1 CEO Rocco Tassone posted about some of the workstreams they have underway and the reasons behind them, this includes the new Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) program looking to advance the service’s hypersonic portfolio, which includes thermal management.

SGQ Executive Chairman John Prineas will be in Washington DC presenting in the coming days, we see the US securing rare earths supply out of Brazil as something that could happen to alleviate the US’ supply security.

SS1 was happy to be back on the ground seeing the progress from drilling during the week- “More updates to come 👀“:

A word of caution...

While we aim to highlight developments in the small cap space, investing in early-stage and small cap companies - like those we cover - is inherently risky.

These companies often face funding challenges, regulatory hurdles, and market volatility. Announcements may reflect aspirations more than guaranteed outcomes.

Things can, and often do, change.

Just because a company has signed a deal, released drill results, or appointed a new director doesn’t mean success is assured.

Always assume delays, cost overruns, or results that don’t pan out.

We’re here to share insights, not offer personal financial advice - so please do your own research and speak with a licensed adviser before acting on anything mentioned.

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Bye for now.

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