Sunday Edition: 19th October

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.

Below you can read about every stock we wrote about this week:

SGQ, IIQ, AVM, TG1, LKY, ION, SLM, WCE, SS1, KAU, SGQ, EMD, MTH, TRI, RML, HAR, AW1, PNN, TTM, IVR

But before that,

Yes, the small end of the market is feeling pretty hot at the moment.

But when does the bull market in small stocks really start going?

And how long does it go for?

If you are reading this you are probably already a participant in the small cap markets.

And the current hot market could be mainly the stock brokers, fund managers and usual market participants jumping back in and buying and selling to each other after being cashed up from some wins.

We think the real bull market starts when the broader population starts hearing about, thinking about and participating in small cap stocks.

How does this happen?

When mainstream media starts talking about emerging macro themes like gold, silver and US critical minerals.

Mainstream media that is widely consumed, but would never usually talk about these topics.

People that never think about these themes suddenly start to see and understand the situation that we have all been watching unfold for a long time.

And the FOMO currently felt by those of us who spend a lot of our time thinking about investing in these themes transcends to the hundreds of millions of people out there that don’t think about them.

That’s when the rush of new capital will likely come in.

(and we enter stage 4 of our macro theme strategy that we talked about in yesterday's note)

Like when your friend who has never shown interest in anything besides property asks you about gold.

Or your parents bring up US rare earths at dinner.

Or your social media feeds suddenly being flooded by people you have never heard of talking about silver.

Here are some examples we have seen recently of gold, silver and US critical minerals talked about in mainstream media that usually wouldn’t ever cover these topics:

News.com.au, the Daily mail, Sydney Morning Herald, and SBS news are widely read in Australia but usually would not talk about gold and silver:

(many of them covered the long queues of people observed lining up outside gold and silver bullion shops around Australia):

(sources)

Even financial mainstream media doesn’t usually talk about silver, but this morning we saw Bloomberg write up a long piece on what's happening with the silver price:

(read it here)

A few days ago (while in the US) we also saw that gold and silver were front page news on the print edition of the Wall Street Journal (two days in a row):

And the next day:

So a lot of financial folks who have plenty of money, invest regularly, but don’t ever think about gold or silver... are now thinking about gold and silver.

The All in Podcast, which is widely listened to by US tech fund managers (who have plenty of cash but don’t know about metals and mining) spent a full 15 minutes discussing rare earths yesterday.

Even Science guy David Friedberg shared what he had learned during the week after “going deep” researching about rare earths exploration and how to discover more rare earth deposits in the USA... (check out LKY and PNN, David):

(watch the rare earths section here)

This comes after last week's episode spent a few minutes talking about gold and silver.

The key point here is the (large) audience of this podcast is mainly fund managers who aren’t usually resource investors.

That’s just a few examples we have seen over recent days.

One or two mentions of gold, silver and US critical minerals won’t do it though - it needs to start being featured and talked about regularly in mainstream media to get the cut through going.

So how far will this bull market run?

We don’t know, but just because you are already thinking about gold, silver and US critical minerals DOES NOT mean the millions of investors and fund managers out there in the world are thinking about it too...

...yet.

If you see gold, silver or US critical minerals being mentioned in any non-usual mainstream channels, podcasts or publications with big audiences - please send us the link by replying to this email.

In case you missed it here’s our Saturday note where we talk about how we have refined out Portfolio strategy for what we think is the coming bull market in 2026:

The 3 Themes Powering the 2025 Bull Run, and into 2026?

Brazilian rare earths developer SGQ raised a total of $72.5M led by “major North American and European funds” for $50M, plus Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting coming in for an additional $22.5M.

The capital raise was priced at 10c and we observed strong on market buying during the week off the back of the raise and strong macro thematic in rare earths, driving SGQ up to 18c. SGQ ended the week at 13.5c.

It’s interesting to see Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart’s private company Hancock Prospecting take a big position in SGQ. Entities she controls also have shareholdings in two of the biggest western producers of rare earths globally (Lynas and MP Materials)...

Later in the week, SGQ released more rare earth drill results from its project.

SGQ has now hit rare earths ~230m to the west of its resource and 1km to the east... hopefully that translates to a strong resource upgrade on the project when drilling is all said and done.

This week our diagnostics and therapeutics biotech IIQ raised $9.5M with major backing from a cornerstone investor, Tian An Medicare.

Tian An Medicare took $5M of the capital raise - a Hong Kong-listed company with healthcare networks in China. Maybe they can help open doors for commercialisation in China...

We Invested in this placement, adding to our IIQ position. It was interesting to see Arlington Asset Management also come into this one, who we have seen be strong supporters of one of our silver stocks, Mithril Silver & Gold.

There’s also a $2M Share Purchase Plan for existing investors to participate on the same terms as the capital raise, investing up to $30,000.

IIQ will have a pro forma cash balance of $17.5M following the raise and SPP, which is a strong cash runway for development in two key areas, its ovarian cancer test and in vivo (human) trials for its triple-negative breast cancer therapeutic.

AVM provided an update on the exploration strategy across its Mexican silver portfolio,

For the first time since putting together its Mexican silver portfolio of assets, AVM has cash to show the projects some love (exploration spend).

AVM approved exploration programs across all three assets with an aim to get the combined resource over ~200M ounces of silver equivalent... Let's see what the drill bit can deliver.

Metals explorer TG1 received non-dilutive government funding of $170k for one of its upcoming drill programs.

As a junior explorer non-dilutive funding is always good news.

TG1 ended the quarter with $2.8M in cash, and is edging toward a couple of drilling events we are waiting for.

USA critical minerals explorer LKY brought on a former US Airforce Major General as a strategic advisor to the company.

Former Major General (Ret.) Peter J. Lambert who has had over 30 years experience in US intelligence, defence, and advanced technology integration.

Later in the week LKY also put out an update on its antimony processing partnership with Rice University in the USA.

LKY is already talking about expanding and accelerating the processing partnership with ore from its own project in the USA.

Critical minerals recycling company ION announced that it’s among a delegation that is headed to the US, focused on critical minerals and energy security talks.

Good luck to CEO Ebbe at the “invitation-only investment and R&D roundtable in San Francisco with US officials, defence representatives and innovation leaders”, fully funded by the Australian government led delegation.

Peru copper explorer SLM released initial assay results from its Ilo Este project.

Unfortunately, the grades weren’t quite what we were hoping for with Hole 1 intercepting 0.13% copper over 120m from 268m (above 0.2% to 0.3% would have been nice).

Drilling is now moving to the southern targets, where the historic holes look a lot better...

We also noticed SLM went into a trading halt for a “project acquisition and a capital raise” on Friday. It will be interesting to see what SLM comes out with on Tuesday.

WA silver explorer WCE started its phase 2 drill program at its Elizabeth Hill silver project.

WCE is drilling near surface targets (similar to those drilled with the first phase of drilling) AND has a few deeper, riskier extensional targets it wants to test with this round of drilling.

Fingers crossed those deeper targets come in.

USA silver developer SS1 released more silver drill results from its Maverick Springs project.

SS1 hit 110m @ 92g/t silver equivalent from within its existing resource area - the kicker was that the average grade of the intercept is a lot higher than the average grade of SS1’s resource which sits at 68.29g/t silver equivalent.

Hopefully that becomes a recurring theme going into a resource upgrade for SS1...

Oh and SS1 also got an invitation to brief US Ambassador Kevin Rudd on its project this week - more on that in detail below.

Aussie gold stock KAU completed the drilling program at its Victorian gold project

Now we wait for drill results from the project.

KAU’s gold production numbers and cashflow in Tasmania will be what drives KAU’s share price in the short term.

Any positive exploration results in Victoria could also move the needle for the company, especially with how close it is to KAU’s operating, underutilised Victorian processing plant.

Psychedelics company EMD expanded its Medibank funding deal with an expansion locked in to the east coast.

This comes on the back of the Perth clinic being expanded due to already reaching capacity.

Medibank is covering the cost of the psychedelics for mental health treatment. This treatment is usually valued at $20-30k per patient. A Brisbane clinic is being fitted out and expected to open by year's end.

Mexican silver developer MTH hit extensions ~300m west of its 373k oz gold, 11M oz silver JORC resource estimate.

That could mean the area the resource sits across is now ~30% bigger...MTH is aiming for a doubling of its existing resource before the end of the year and with drill results like that things are looking on track...

11 holes at “silver rich” Target 5 also caught our attention... any whiff of a high grade silver hit could really get MTH moving (especially with where the silver price is trading right now).

TRI acquired a new asset related to neuro-oncology imaging along with a $4.2M raise.

The acquisition is from ‘Nucleics’ with the founder and CEO being Dr Daniel Tillett (who took part in the raise and will be helping this tech progress), who you may know from his involvement at Race Oncology.

Dr Tillet was key in driving Race from a $10M market cap to $800M in the last 5 years.

Dr Tillet committed to $500k of the TRI capital raise, and Directors committed $200k.

Looks like it was a hot capital raise, being done at 0.8c, TRI traded as high as 3.5c during the week.

The tech involves the ability to early diagnose brain tumours (those smaller than 2-3mm), non-invasively.

American West Metals (ASX:AW1) - 🔔NEW INVESTMENT🔔

We added AW1 to our Portfolio this week.

AW1 owns 100% of one of the single BIGGEST indium resource in the US...

Indium is named by the USA as a critical mineral.

Indium is used in things like infrared detectors, night vision systems, missile guidance systems, Radar systems and F-35 fighter jets...

The USA has zero domestic indium production, relying 100% on imports to meet its demand.

And earlier this week the Pentagon (US Department of War) announced indium as one of the 12 critical minerals they are looking to buy as part of its planned US$1BN critical minerals buying spree.

AW1’s MD Dave O’Neill also said in a webinar from earlier this week:

“We have been approached by the Department Of War, Department of Energy and local government to move this forward” (source)

Despite all of that, prior to the recent capital raise AW1 seems to have, ahem... “flown under the radar” of the market...

(get it? Indium is a key input into radar systems...)

Read more: Our New Investment: American West Metals (ASX: AW1)

Sun Silver (ASX:SS1)

SS1 was the first company in our Portfolio to announce it had received an official “unsolicited request” from the Australian Ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd.

...to provide information about its USA silver project for the meeting between Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese on October 20th.

SS1 owns the largest undeveloped silver project in the USA and the USA added silver to its draft 2025 critical minerals list.

Maybe the invite for a briefing has something to do with that?

Read more: SS1 receives “unsolicited request” from Kevin Rudd to provide info about their project for Trump-Albanese meeting on Oct 20th...

Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML)

After market on Monday, RML also announced the same request from the Australian Ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd was made to it too.

RML will also be briefing Rudd ahead of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on the 20th of October 2025.

RML’s project is directly next door to the US national antimony champion, the $4.5BN capped Perpetua Resources.

RML’s project has historically:

• Produced antimony during World War 1
• Produced more antimony during World War 2
• Produced more antimony in the 1960s
• Produced tungsten between the 1950-80s (earlier this year China put export restrictions on tungsten and pushed those prices to 10+ year highs too).

AND

• Drilling in 1986, 1987 and 1994 hit gold intercepts as thick as ~85.34m at average grades of 0.937g/t gold.

Antimony, tungsten are both considered critical minerals and earlier this year Trump signed an Executive Order classifying gold in the same basket as other critical minerals.

That, and the history at RML’s project may have something to do with the briefing invitation from Ambassador Rudd...

Read more: Ahead of Trump meeting, RML also receives official request from Ambassador to provide briefing

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN)

Then we had a THIRD stock in our Portfolio get asked to brief the Australian Ambassador to the USA, His Excellency, The Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC.

On Thursday it was PNN’s turn.

As far as we have seen, PNN is probably the earliest stage company to be asked for a briefing by the Ambassador.

One reason for this could be because PNN’s new USA project is prospective for HEAVY rare earths which are rarer, more valuable, and are used in high-temperature magnets and defence.

You can read more about PNN from the recent company presentation released earlier in the week.

Read more: PNN - requested to brief Ambassador ahead of Trump-Albanese meeting

Haranga Resources (HAR: ASX)

HAR raised capital this week just as gold hit new all time highs above US$4,300/oz.

We took a pretty big swing (by our standards) in the HAR placement, which was “heavily oversubscribed” and “cornered by a gold fund”.

(we also went pretty hard in the HAR placement before this one, as we really liked HAR’s US gold project)

Now HAR has over $14M to drill two of its gold projects - with programs planned in the US and Senegal this month.

Read more: HAR: Just raised $14M - Two gold drilling campaigns starting in the coming weeks.

Titan Minerals (ASX:TTM)

TTM received a US$10M strategic investment from US$3.5BN Lingbao Gold International Company this week.

Lingbao came in for a 9.9% equity stake in TTM in exchange for US$10M.

Including a 90 day “exclusivity period” to negotiate on TTM’s gold and silver asset (and a right of first refusal on the earlier stage projects too)...

TTM’s assets are in Ecuador, a region that has recently seen a lot of deal making activity:

(especially by the Chinese, who love a bit of gold and critical metals like copper)

• In June Hong Kong listed CMOC bought Lumina Gold for US$421M, and (source)
• Earlier in the year Hong Kong listed JiangXi Copper upped their stake in SolGold at a premium to the market price at the time and SolGold’s share price has re-rated by over 300% since then. (source)

A lot has changed since both those deals got done... gold prices are up by over 30% and the silver price by more than 50%.

So activity appears to be increasing and now with gold and silver prices rallying maybe urgency is too?

Read more: TTM’s 3.1Moz gold 22Moz silver project: Chinese strategic investment of US $10M and 90 day exclusivity to get a deal done.

Bloomberg - Silver is stealing the spotlight as a massive short squeeze sends prices surging, with gold simultaneously breaking records, igniting fresh excitement across global metals markets

Bloomberg - Silver smashed through previous highs, heading past US$52.50 per ounce to a new all-time with this explosive surge re-writing the playbook for precious-metals markets.

Bloomberg - Silver’s rally is now outpacing gold with a 70% gain this year vs. gold’s 55%, being driven by squeezed supply, surging investor demand, and shifting macro forces that are turning the metal into a must-watch asset.

Bloomberg - Rare earth stocks are soaring as renewed US-China tensions spark a global scramble for critical minerals amid China's expanded export restrictions. With Beijing leveraging its dominance in rare earths, investors are racing to capitalize on the geopolitical upheaval.

AFR - As US-China trade tensions flare, Australia’s rare earths juniors are soaring ahead of the Albanese-Trump meeting, where they’ll discuss strategy to break China’s stranglehold on critical minerals.

AFR - Amid US-China trade tensions, Australian rare earths juniors are surging on hopes of breaking China’s grip amongst the Trump administration's investment.

AFR - As China tightens export controls, rare earth stocks are booming on a global scramble for alternative supply with investors betting the rally is just getting started.

FT - China’s new rare-earth export rules threaten to send global supply chains into chaos, while the US rushes to stockpile critical minerals before it’s too late.

FT - Rare earth stocks are climbing as US-China tensions flare, investors are betting big on alternative supply chains before China tightens its grip even further.

AFR - Australian Strategic Materials’ shares nearly doubled this week, even without producing a gram of rare earths, highlighting the frenzy over China’s supply clampdown and Australia’s race to become a global alternative.

Bloomberg - China has imposed export restrictions on five US subsidiaries of South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean in response to shipping measures, escalating trade tensions and prompting investors to rethink the fragile state of global markets.

From one of our Investments AL3:

Sean Ebert, AML3D’s Global CEO, joined a distinguished panel at the AUKUS Defence Industry Update on 16th October

FT - Gold mania grips the globe as retail and institutional investors rush in, pushing bullion to $4,000 an ounce and sparking fears of a bubble.

Bloomberg - The US risks falling behind as China tightens its grip on rare earths, here’s why Washington must act fast to secure its tech and defence future.

Bloomberg - China is seizing control of the world’s most critical supply chains, here’s how it’s turning global trade into a geopolitical weapon.

Bloomberg - Xi’s rare-earth surprise hands Trump a geopolitical ace, could Washington finally wean allies off China’s supply chokehold?

Bloomberg - Meet the shadowy banker who fueled the Trump family’s rapid Wall Street rise and discover how deals behind closed doors shaped their fortune.

ASX:IVR - Research: MST Financial - Paris: Australia's Pure Silver Project

Power Minerals (ASX: PNN) Presentation

Responding To Australia’s Mental Health Crisis - Emyria (ASX:EMD)

West Coast Silver | Company Presentation - Oct 2025

MST Access Emerging Copper Rockstars Day 1 - Timestamped to Our New Investment AW1’s West Desert Project (Indium)

Leadership Talks with James Bay Minerals (ASX: JBY) Executive Director Matthew Hayes

Kaiser Reef: Henty Growth, Maldon Potential & A1 Update (KAU.ASX)

Pursuit Minerals ASX:PUR Webinar REPLAY

Trump signs executive order to expedite mining of rare minerals - Perpetua Resources CEO joins Fox Business to discuss finally being able to gain permits to begin project development aided through changes under the Trump administration.

Michael Oliver – It Is White Knuckles Time – Hold On For $100 Silver Potential In The Next 6 Months

"Silver Traders Are Loading Cargo Flights To Prevent Market Freeze" - Mike Maloney

1929 vs 2025: Andrew Ross Sorkin on Crashes, Bubbles & Lessons Learned

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.

Follow us on social media: X, Linkedin, Facebook

Bye for now.