Sunday Edition: 31st 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.

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.

Yesterday’s Saturday note: Who wins on the battlefield when everyone's jamming everyone?

Quick Takes: PFE, LSR, EMD, VKA, HAR

Deep Dives: HAR, VKA, 🚨HTG New Investment, IVZ, EMD

Other content: CAY, HTG, ONE, PNN, IVR, ILA, EIQ, PR1

PFE (OTC: PTMLF) holds a ~$42.5M position (estimated carrying value) in private US lithium developer EnergyX. This week EnergyX signed a non-binding MoU to progress a proposed commercial scale DLE and refinery in Utah.

The non-binding MOU EnergyX signed was with the A$1.8BN capped company Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP).

This is another asset PFE gets exposure to IF it becomes a reality. The concept renders for that project look pretty cool:

(source)

Given SpaceX is gearing up for an IPO in the coming weeks, is it too much to ask EnergyX to publicly list afterwards in the warm glow of companies ending in ‘X’?

LSR raised $4.7M. Assays are pending from its copper exploration project in Chile.

The cap raise price was 1.5c and participants received 1:1 options with a strike of 4.5c.

Good to see LSR directors put in $305,700 of the raise - always a good sign when management/board is buying stock.

LSR now has a strong cash runway and won't be in a position where the market is thinking “they need to raise” when the assays from the copper project in Chile land.

AND if the assays are really good, investors will need to buy on market to get exposure.

Assays for Hole 1 were expected late May 2026 (so officially overdue now - surely any day now?) and Hole 2 assays are due early July 2026:

(source)

In good news for EMD - Australia's drug regulator (TGA) recommended a set of changes for MDMA and psilocybin-assisted therapies in Australia.

(source)

The TGA’s four recommendations could make EMD’s regulatory moat that much stronger by:

1. Decreasing psychiatrist hours per treatment (meaning lower costs to EMD)
2. Expanding who can be a part of the therapy team (again lower costs - but also easier and faster to scale)
3. Allowing for therapies to take place outside of hospitals (cheaper for EMD to set up new clinics)
   
   
4. Allowing EMD to train its own workforce of Authorised Prescribers (very good for EMD, which has a head start in the industry)

Read more on this in our EMD Deep Dive below.

VKA (OTC: VKALF) produced a 62.5% tungsten concentrate from its project in Nevada, USA.

VKA took 1.5% feedstock from its project, then, with a simple gravity and flotation circuit, managed to upgrade the material to a 62.5% tungsten concentrate (with ~59.8% recoveries).

A nice upgrade on the last set of results in March, which were at ~56.4% concentrates and 46% recoveries.

The USA has zero domestically mined tungsten production.

VKA is demonstrating it can produce tungsten with a simple, well-understood processing flowsheet. This news comes a few months out from US regulation changes blocking US importations of tungsten from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea. (source)

Combined, those four countries mentioned produce around 90% of the world's tungsten.

Good timing ahead of VKA’s first drill program set to begin by the end of June.

(source)

HAR completed an RC drill campaign at its gold project in Senegal.

HAR hit “visual alteration and pyrite mineralisation” in 10 of its 19 holes.

Three of the holes “ended in mineralisation” - so whatever HAR hit could actually run a lot deeper than the drilling went down to.

Assay results are expected around the end of June, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long to find out what that visible alteration translates to in lab assay gold grades.

(source)

For more on HAR’s USA asset, check out our Deep Dive below.

Harvest Technology Group (ASX:HTG) - 🚨 New Investment

Our latest Investment is the defence (military tech) stock Harvest Technology Group (ASX:HTG).

HTG has developed a technology solving a modern-day battlefield problem that has recently arisen on all sides of a conflict.

The tech is proven in real life and is generating revenue for the company (including a major Five-Eyes defence customer).

This problem HTG solves is getting more urgent and impactful with the recent introduction of remotely operated and unmanned drones, robots, boats, submarines and vehicles onto the battlefield.

The surging numbers of remote operated, unmanned drones, robots, boats and vehicles all require communication links for remote-control, sending back full HD (ideally) video to the operator, receiving commands from the operator and sharing it all live with central command and control...

Which is all still done through a comms link.

(satellite, cellular, radio, wifi/Ethernet, or private networks)

The problem is: Disrupt the comms link - bye bye unmanned drones, robots, boats and vehicles and bye bye any chance of winning the battle.

So, of course, with all the new remotely operated unmanned weapons hitting the battlefield over the last couple of years, the first thing the other side will think is “how do we break their comms link”.

In 2026, battles are won on which side can best maintain comms and connectivity.

(Or which side can best jam, disrupt or disable the other side's comms links - think of it like your mate pulling out your Nintendo controller cable when you are winning in a 2-player game against them)

Helping solve this new problem has seen another ASX company (Elsight Ltd) run from 30c to a high of over $7 over just the last 12 months.

After Elsight cleverly pivoted its “comms link strengthening” technology from uses in the commercial sector to solving this newly emerging and urgent modern military battlefield problem.

(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

Our new Investment HTG has a technology called Nodestream that solves this “comms link strengthening” problem (in a slightly different way).

HTG’s Nodestream tech COMPRESSES mission-critical data to survive the thinnest, most degraded pipes (comms links).

HTG’s Nodestream tech intelligently squeezes HD video, voice, telemetry, and control data through ANY connection that happens to be available: satellite, cellular, RF, or any combination.

When conventional systems break due to comms link congestion or electronic warfare, HTG’s Nodestream maintains real-time visibility and control.

HTG’s tech has been refined from years of commercial use by paying customers in the most demanding, difficult environments (oil rigs, shipping).

(source - HTG investor deck)

The tech has logged over 500,000 operational hours in commercial sectors already (shipping, oil & gas etc - and generated a total $12M revenue since 2021).

AND the tech is TRL 9 certified - the highest possible US Department of Defence “technology readiness” level. (source)

And as Elsight did in early 2025 when it was 30c, HTG is now accelerating its move into the military and defence sector.

Where there is clearly a surge in demand for this kind of solution, based on Elsight's defence sales-led share price run to highs of $7.

Note: the past performance of Elsight is not an indicator of the future performance of HTG.

In military and defence, HTG has already:

• source)(source) (The Five Eyes is a premier intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications, including the deployment of 60 units to military robotics company Guerrilla Technologies. (source)
  Secured multiple orders from a significant Five Eyes defence customer (
• source) Supplied telemedicine remote kits to the European Union Defence Force (EUDF) for naval fleet use. (
• source)
  Orders from a major NATO contractor following successful field trials. (
• source)
  A US defence contractor is testing HTG’s technology within its drone product development program. (
• source), and Trialled its tech with drones in the Japanese Self-Defence Force (
• Brave1 accreditation, which is Ukraine's Government-backed defence-tech cluster (testing foreign vendors in real battlefield conditions) - think of it like Amazon for deliveries but it delivers pre-approved battle tech to locations in a battlefield. (source) Is currently going for

So far so good.

Elsight was capped at $1.3BN and we hope the then ~$18M capped HTG can emulate the same strategy over time and hopefully see some kind of share price re-rate.

Read more: Our New Investment: Harvest Technology Group (ASX: HTG)

Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR)

Some gold projects are high grade.

Some have infrastructure.

Some are big but have neither of the above.

It’s hard to find a project with all three... especially in ASX small cap land.

(AND one located in the USA - which we think will suddenly become VERY interested in gold in the near term - regular readers will already know why.)

Our Investment Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR) has all three at its project in California’s Mother Lode gold belt.

(The centre of the original gold rush in the US back in the 1850s)

On Monday, HAR delivered a maiden JORC resource estimate of 402k ounces of gold at an average grade of 5.1g/t gold.

Making HAR’s project one of the highest grade undeveloped gold resources on the ASX.

This is just the start though - we think HAR can grow from here, building a “multi-million ounce” high grade gold asset.

And the thing that sets HAR apart from most ~$50M market cap juniors is that HAR owns a shiny, almost new, gold plant that was last operating in 2022.

A plant that can be restarted to process and sell gold, while gold prices continue at record highs (we went to site and checked it out for ourselves - pictures of it in the link below).

All up, there was ~$90M of prior capital investment on the project, and this week HAR said it will be commencing “Rapid Restart studies” on the plant.

High grade gold, plus a processing plant, plus now a new 402k oz gold at 5.1g/t gold JORC compliant resource.

Deeper drilling starts in July to grow the resource.

Read more: HAR: High grade gold, processing plant, permits to mine, in the USA. And now this...

Viking Mines (ASX:VKA | OTC: VKALF)

The state of play for tungsten in the US is still critical.

In fact, it's building up to a pretty big change on the 1st of January 2027...

Tungsten is a critical military mineral used in fighter jets, ammunition, including Tomahawk, Patriot and Precision Strike missiles.

China controls ~85% of global supply.

The USA has zero domestically mined tungsten production.

On the 1st of January 2027, new US Defence Federal Acquisition Regulation kicks in - banning the Pentagon from buying:

“tungsten metal powders, tungsten heavy alloys, or any finished component containing tungsten heavy alloy if any step of the supply chain (mining, refining, separation, melting, fabrication) happened in China, Russia, Iran or North Korea”. (source)

(Combined, those four countries mentioned produce around 90% of the world's tungsten)

So in just over seven months, 90% of the Pentagon's tungsten supply chain effectively becomes “illegal”.

US tungsten prices are already responding - up from ~US$600 per tonne to US$3,000 per tonne. (source)

The US government doesn’t really have many places to go to bring on domestic supply either.

The only company within the US that received Department of Defence funding is $900M Guardian Metal Resources which also owns a tungsten project in Nevada.

The US is so desperate to secure its tungsten supply chain it has supported a US$1.1BN tungsten mine being developed in the former Soviet nation of Kazakhstan.

A couple of weeks ago it was reported that US President Donald Trump's sons Don Jr and Eric invested in this same company:

(source)(source)(source)(source)

We think that any company that can show a credible pathway to delivering a domestic tungsten supply source, and then show that its project has scale, should be in a strong position to attract US government backing.

Which is why we are Invested in Viking Mines (ASX:VKA | OTC: VKALF).

VKA’s historically producing tungsten project is in Nevada, USA - ~275km drive away from the US$12BN US critical minerals stockpile:

(source)

VKA’s project has a history of tungsten production dating back to the 1950s where ~123,000t of tungsten was produced at an average grade of ~0.54% from open-pit mining. (source)

Despite the history of production, VKA's project hasn’t been drilled in over 40 years.

And based on this week’s announcement, VKA is now ~5-6 weeks away from drill testing the project.

Read more: VKA: First drilling at USA tungsten project in over 40 years. Tungsten price hits new all-time highs. Trumps invest in a tungsten mine.

Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ | IVCTF)

There it is...

With the stroke of a few pens this week, Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ) effectively just opened up the entire oil and gas industry in Zimbabwe.

It’s been years in the making.

IVZ made two hydrocarbon discoveries in 2022 and 2023, in one of the last unexplored basins in Africa, the 5.5 billion barrel equivalent (gross mean unrisked estimate) Cabora Bassa Basin in Zimbabwe.

(and is drilling a third exploration well in the coming months, the first one in two years)

IVZ delivered Zimbabwe's first ever oil and gas discovery.

One big thing missing here though was an agreement with the Republic of Zimbabwe on how any future oil & gas production revenues would be shared.

Until the early hours of Thursday morning...

IVZ now officially has its Petroleum Production Sharing Agreement (PPSA) signed with the Republic of Zimbabwe.

The PPSA sets the precedent for oil and gas investment in the country.

Think of it like how Woodside made an oil and gas discovery in WA in 1971 (the North Rankin gas field on the North West Shelf) and then took 8 years negotiating with the Australian and WA governments on how the development would be shared - the State Agreement was finally signed on 27 November 1979 - the rest is history.

(Woodside was ~$5M market cap at the time... it’s ~$58BN today. The past performance of Woodside is not an indicator of the future performance of IVZ.)

Of course it's a bit early to be calling IVZ the “Woodside of Zimbabwe”, but the origin stories so far are looking pretty similar.

First oil & gas discovery in a country/state. Take years to negotiate and sign a sharing deal with the state. Develop the discovery.

IVZ has already made the first ever oil & gas discoveries, and today negotiated and signed the first ever production sharing agreement with the Republic of Zimbabwe - so it's a MAJOR milestone.

(and like the primordial Woodside in the 70s, this one also took a long time).

The agreement signed overnight covers the legal, fiscal and operational framework of building an oil and gas development in Zimbabwe.

An agreement like this includes how a country and oil & gas companies divide up the ownership, share of profits and taxes with the sovereign state.

There’s non-fiscal incentives in this too - stuff like ‘Special Project Status’ and ‘Special Economic Zone’ - which should speed up permitting and development for IVZ.

These kinds of agreements provide long term certainty for all stakeholders, and improve investor confidence in the country (and the company).

It’s a major milestone for both Zimbabwe and IVZ, here were the headlines when the news broke earlier in the week:

(source)(source)(source)(source)

IVZ is the only company right now holding a PPSA with the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Because as we said above, IVZ made Zimbabwe's first-ever (and currently only) oil and gas discovery.

And about to drill a new exploration well in the basin in the coming months.

Read more: IVZ signs landmark agreement with Zimbabwe. Drilling in the coming months.

Watch more: Invictus Energy Webinar - PPSA Execution

Watch more: Live stream recording of the signing ceremony at the Treasury Boardroom, Ministry of Finance, Economic and Investment Production, Zimbabwe.

Emyria (ASX:EMD)

Australia's drug regulator has just made a series of sweeping recommendations...

... expected to make it cheaper and easier to deliver psychedelic therapies to treat mental health issues.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) made a series of recommendations during the week - keep reading to find out exactly what they are.

(source)

The TGA’s recommendations could be game-changers for the economics of our Investment Emyria (ASX:EMD)’s business model.

Capped at $36M, EMD is the only ASX-listed company operating psychedelic therapy clinics at scale.

And one of the market leaders globally.

Thanks to the TGA legalising psychedelic-led mental health therapies in 2023 - Australia is a global leader in the space.

(Australia was the first country in the world to do this, hence EMD has a precious global head start on nailing running and refining the private clinic delivery model.)

The TGA’s four recommendations could make EMD’s regulatory moat that much stronger by:

1. Decreasing psychiatrist hours per treatment (meaning lower costs to EMD)
2. Expanding who can be a part of the therapy team (again lower costs - but also easier and faster to scale)
3. Allowing for therapies to take place outside of hospitals (cheaper for EMD to set up new clinics)
4. Allowing EMD to train its own workforce of Authorised Prescribers (very good for EMD, which has a head start in the industry)

By relaxing its original rules, it looks like Australia’s drug regulator is happy with what they have seen from industry so far.

(more details on the changes in the link below)

This is the second major regulatory tailwind for EMD over the last six weeks.

Six weeks ago, US President Trump signed an Executive Order to fast-track psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental health.

The Executive Order put real-world evidence (precisely what EMD delivers at its clinics) at the centre of the approvals pathway - specifically directing regulators to "increase clinical trial participation and evidence generation". (source)

(source)

Real-world evidence means real patients, in real clinics, receiving real treatment.

(Not carefully managed trial participants.)

Real world evidence is exactly what EMD delivers RIGHT NOW in Australia.

(and have been doing in private clinics since 2024)

Until recently, EMD’s clinical rollout was mainly focused on Australia.

We think the news out of the US has all of a sudden brought into play the big American pharma companies working on psychedelic drugs for different conditions.

IF the US drug regulators want to see the drugs being developed in LIVE environments, then the service EMD is scaling up - all of a sudden becomes valuable to those pharma companies.

Read more: EMD: Australia leading the way in next major global health breakthrough?

Reuters - Gold prices rebounded above $4,500 on a tentative 60-day US-Iran ceasefire extension and cooling inflation data, which lowered the dollar and eased rate-hike fears.

US Department of State - The US State Department announced the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework, uniting the US, Japan, Australia, and India to counter China's rare-earth embargoes and secure high-tech military supply chains.

AFR - An Australian in charge of a US$10BN fund of US$14TR BlackRock has suggested that large-scale mining M&A is required to build the liquidity and massive scale required to claw back generalist investor attention from mega-cap tech stocks.

Bloomberg - An EU-backed group warns that establishing local critical mineral stockpiles and floor prices will become highly expensive for European taxpayers without transparent marketplace pricing benchmarks.

FT - MP Materials has sued rival USA Rare Earth for allegedly stealing proprietary grain boundary diffusion magnet technology, escalating a bitter feud between Trump-backed critical mineral producers.

AFR - The NSW government has approved RZ Resources’ $693 million Copi project, a boost for allied heavy rare-earth supply chains with critical strategic backing from all Quad alliance nations.

Al Jazeera - During the week India and the United States signed a strategic critical minerals framework to secure rare-earth supply chains, bypass Chinese monopolies, and build Indian processing hubs.

Bloomberg - Guinea will launch bauxite export controls this June to counter slumping prices, threatening Chinese supply and forcing mining companies to build domestic alumina refineries.

We have written about this previously, including here around two months ago. The timing is shaping up to be convenient for our Cameroon based bauxite developer CAY.

CAY was scheduled to get trial mining underway right now ahead of official mining not long after and first shipment is expected in late September.

Bloomberg - A Russian drone crash in Romania has exposed Europe's critical vulnerability to low-altitude aerial warfare, forcing frontline NATO states to rapidly expand counter-drone infrastructure.

Drone attack (and defence) capability is gaining prominence with the article mentioning countries are putting more efforts in this direction.

This general theme could be good for our most recent Investment HTG with its Nodestream technology, which allows the user's communications to remain connected and stable.

Especially if jamming communications becomes more common in situations such as these.

AFR - Mineral Resources and China’s Ganfeng approved a A$490 million Mt Marion expansion, deploying underground mining and flotation tech to capitalise on rebounding global lithium markets.

HTG - MISSION CRITICAL. ALWAYS CONNECTED. - NODESTREAM IS TRL 9 CERTIFIED WITH +500,000 OPERATIONAL HOURS IN COMMERCIAL SECTORS.

ONE - ONE gets into bed(s) with US giant - MST Access

Power Minerals Limited (ASX:PNN) CEO Alistair Stephens discusses the Morro do Ferro Rare Earth Elements Project:

Long Shortz: Investigator Silver (ASX:IVR)

Palmer Luckey on Threats, Autonomy, and the Future of American Power

The battlefield is changing faster than the weapons on it. In this fireside chat recorded live at West Point's Castle Lecture series, Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves, West Point Dean and show host, sits down with Mr. Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and Anduril Industries. The conversation covers autonomous systems, defense manufacturing, and the leaders who will have to make it all work under fire.

We couldn’t help but think of the work ILA is doing when an army cadet basically asks "aren't you worried about AI war machines taking over?" and Palmer Luckey responding with: "my biggest fear is weaponised viruses”

EIQ CEO Dustin Haines will be joining the American Heart Association to talk early detection, cardiovascular diagnostics, and what better tools mean for patients on June 3, 12:00 pm EST:

Register for the webinar here.

PR1 Interim CEO Rocco Tassone wrote an article highlighting the shifting focus in the AI/datacentre race from GPU’s, to power, and now to heat management.

Thermal limitation (too much heat at the chip) has become a serious bottleneck and PR1 recently entered a partnership with Rice University to develop carbon nanotube technology.

Carbon nanotubes have 1.5 times the conductivity of copper and a little over 2.5 that of aluminium, so there is potential for this to create a drastic improvement.

We also saw PR1’s R&D collaboration partner on the Carbon nanotube project (Rice University) post about the project during the week. Here is a video which sees the team in action, what they are doing and how they are going about it:

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.

Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe Here