The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (INDEXASX: XSO) closed at 3,433.10, down 46.60 points or 1.34% yesterday, but still up 43.10 points or 1.27% over the past 5 days. Against that mixed backdrop for small-cap stocks, several companies in the index have released operational and corporate updates. You can read about the following and more throughout the day.
Nexus Minerals Ltd (ASX:NXM, FRA:YAK) said RC drilling has commenced at its Wallbrook Gold Project, about 140km northeast of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The planned program comprises about 22,000 metres of RC drilling and is designed to support a material expansion of the project’s existing mineral resource inventory.
As the end of the financial year approaches, many investors review their portfolios with a view to managing tax outcomes. In this article, director of Tax Communications at H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) Australia, Mark Chapman, looks at one strategy that often comes up in this context: “tax loss harvesting”—selling underperforming assets to realise capital losses and offset gains elsewhere.
While this is a legitimate strategy, it can quickly cross into problematic territory if it involves so-called “wash sales.” The Australian Taxation Office has made it clear that wash sales are on its radar, and investors who engage in them risk having losses denied, penalties applied, and increased scrutiny.
Monash IVF Group Ltd (ASX:MVF) is assessing a revised takeover proposal from a consortium backed by Genesis Capital Investment Management Pty Ltd and Soul Patts, with the improved terms placing fresh focus on valuation and strategic direction at the fertility provider.
The non-binding offer has been lifted to $0.90 per share, up from earlier approaches and representing a clear increase on the $0.80 per share proposal rejected late last year. In its ASX update, the company noted the consortium has described the revised price as its highest offer in the absence of a competing bid.
EV resources Ltd (ASX:EVR) has progressed multiple workstreams across its Mexico Antimony Hub, with exploration, drilling and plant refurbishment activities advancing in parallel as the company targets near-term production.
At the 70%-owned Los Lirios Antimony Project in Oaxaca, geophysical surveys including CSAMT and ground magnetics have commenced across the Lirios 1 and Lirios 2 prospects to refine structural controls and generate new drill targets.
Lithium Plus Minerals Ltd (ASX:LPM) has appointed experienced mining executive Andrew Haythorpe as chief executive officer as it moves to advance its Lei Lithium Project in the Northern Territory toward development.
Haythorpe brings more than 40 years of experience spanning exploration, project development, capital markets and corporate leadership. He has previously founded and led several ASX-listed resource companies, including Crescent Gold, Michelago Resources and Liberty Resources.
Axel REE Ltd (ASX:AXL) has selected the Woolrich deposit within its Caladão Project in Brazil’s Lithium Valley as the site for its inaugural in-situ recovery (ISR) rare earths field trial, marking a shift toward field-scale development.
The trial will be conducted within a defined area of about two hectares and is designed to generate pregnant leach solution (PLS) under real operating conditions, supporting the development of a scalable ISR extraction model.
NewPeak Metals Ltd (ASX:NPM, OTC:NPMFF, FRA:NPM) last week outlined upcoming drilling at its Las Opeñas Gold Project in Argentina, alongside multiple near-term catalysts across its exploration portfolio, in a discussion with Proactive.
Managing director Mark Purcell said the company is preparing to commence drilling within weeks at the 100%-owned Las Opeñas project in San Juan Province, a region recognised as one of South America’s premier gold districts. He noted that the project sits along the same structural trends as major deposits, including Barrick and Shandong’s Veladero Mine and Pascua-Lama.
Prominence Energy Ltd (ASX:PRM) has started its first on-ground exploration program at the Gawler Helium and Hydrogen Project in South Australia, marking the company’s move from early-stage concept work into field-based assessment.
The campaign is centred on a targeted soil gas survey across Petroleum Exploration Licence 803 within the Eyre Project, where Prominence is measuring helium, hydrogen and methane concentrations to identify active subsurface gas systems. The work is a key step in progressing exploration across the company’s roughly 64,000 square kilometre Gawler project portfolio.
International Graphite Ltd (ASX:IG6, FRA:H99, OTC:IGRPF) has delivered a fresh set of high-grade purification results from test work conducted with partner Alkeemia, reinforcing the technical and commercial case for its planned European graphite processing hub.
The latest results show all seven graphite concentrate samples tested exceeded the company’s target purity level of 99.9% total graphitic carbon (TGC), with several achieving up to 99.98% purity. These outcomes build on earlier work and further validate the hydrofluoric acid (HF)-based purification process that will support the proposed joint venture facility in Italy.
Critical Resources Ltd (ASX:CRR, FRA:9S70) is preparing to kick off a new field exploration program at the Corona Pegmatite Field in Ontario, Canada, targeting a largely underexplored lithium corridor that could extend the scale of its flagship Mavis Lake project.
The program, set to begin following seasonal snow melt, will focus on a roughly 5-kilometre strike of prospective LCT (lithium–caesium–tantalum) pegmatites located about 4 kilometres north of the existing Mavis Lake Mineral Resource.