Resources Top 5: Coal punters breathe sigh of relief with Coronado's stay of execution
Andromeda's $75m debt package lifts hopes for Great White kaolin development
Artemis, Golden Deeps, Peregrine lift on no news
Your standout small cap resources stocks on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
With met coal prices hammered in the past year the liquidity of high cost operator Coronado has come under sharp focus as the Queensland/US met coal producer has gone from hero to zero.
Worth $2.34 per share in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an event that precipitated an historic run in coking and thermal coal prices, oversupply in the market has seen CRN's returns collapse in recent times.
It's now trading at just 14c, though a 35% bump today has improved the optics, off the back of news the miner has secured a refinanced debt facility with private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management.
At $227m the company is well off its $3.5bn book value from a highly touted IPO in 2018.
Birthed from the womb of still 51% owner Energy and Minerals Group, the deal with Oaktree brings another player into the potential bidding for the distressed company after reports Czech bargain hunter Pavel Tykac's Se.Ven Global Investments had bought up around US$40m of its debt last month.
The new three year asset-based lending facility will comprise $75m to be drawn at financial close with the remaining $75m to be drawn in $25m increments over 12 months.
There will be no testing of leverage and interest coverage financial covenants for the June 2025 quarter, with covenant thresholds from Sept 2025 onwards "designed to afford the business flexibility" in the current low price environment.
Met coal futures are running at around US$183/t. But that's for the really high quality stuff.
Last year, CRN's sales prices ran at a 77% realisation to the Aussie met coal index. And it paid ~US$117m in a rebate to Queensland power provider Stanwell due to expire in 2027.
CRN has announced around US$100m of cost cuts across its business, while it has about US$80m of capex left to spend to deliver incremental expansions of 1.5-2Mt at its Mammoth mine and 1Mt at Buchanan in the US.
At the same time, CRN held its AGM today, with chairman Gerry Spindler acknowledging the rough seas the miner has been navigating.
"We acknowledge that our share price has declined significantly over the past year. In our view, this movement reflects not just cvompany-specific pressures, but broader sentiment in the sector, including commodity cycles, funding constraints and macroeconomic uncertainty," he said.
"While disappointing, it does not in our view, reflect the full value or potential of our assets, our team, or the strategic work underway. We are focused on strengthening our fundamentals because we know that market value will follow business performance over time.
"We have high-quality assets, long-term demand, a deeply experienced team, and a board that is fully engaged in driving performance and unlocking value. These are the fundamentals that will carry us forward."
CRN finished the March quarter in a net debt position of US$194.9m and US$229.5m of non-restricted cash on hand.
Andromeda Metals (ASX:ADN)
From one debt deal to another, this one a project creator rather than a company saver.
ADN owns the Great White kaolin project down on South Australia's minerals rich Eyre Peninsula.
And credit approval for a $75m debt facility for the development from Merricks Capital has given the firm a major shot in the arm.
The debt will have a tenor of 78 months, with scheduled amortisation to begin after a 12 month grace period from the end of project development, ending at maturity with a 50% bullet repayment.
The financing is subject to customary conditions, including the company securing the necessary funding for the balance to support a final investment decision for its State 1A+ development.
'Receiving confirmation from Merricks Capital that the proposed facility is credit approved, following extensive due diligence, represents a significant milestone in the financing of Stage 1A+ of the Great White Project," ADN acting CEO Sarah Clarke said.
'This outcome is a strong endorsement of the project's quality and a testament to the team's dedication, expertise and commitment to delivering an investment ready project.
'With this momentum, we continue to pursue the balance of funding opportunities to support a final investment decision, with due diligence continuing with a select number of capital providers.'
The Stage 1A+ development is expected to cost $84m to construct, producing 100,000 wet metric tonnes of kaolin per annum, with an NPV8 of $211m and IRR of 26%.
Two further expansions are planned beyond that to 210,000wmtpa (cumulative cost $141m) and 330,000wmtpa (cumulative capex $194m).
Andromeda's Great White is expected to be a high quality supplier of products for ceramic tiles and slabs, porcelain tableware and the broader ceramics market, with products also under development including a decarbonising additive for concrete production and high purity alumina for use in LED lights, semiconductors and lithium-ion batteries.
Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV)
A handy 40% bump for Artemis Resources on Wednesday as investors digest the latest news about drilling at its Carlow gold and copper project.
The spex are a 5000m program of wide-spaced drilling including 3800m of diamond chasing extensions both under and along strike from a known 374,000oz gold and 64,000t copper resource at the Pilbara precious and base metals project.
That'll be augmented with 1200m of RC drilling 2km to the west of Carlow at the Titan prospect, where high grade results in shallow exploration have gone untested with modern drilling.
Artemis gets to be the firm that tests the true extent of its ground, located between the key Pilbara towns of Karratha and Roebourne, in the same district as major discoveries like the Andover lithium deposit and 11.2Moz Hemi gold project.
It's also applied for some highly sought after ground around 450km east of Kalgoorlie in the same neighbourhood as Teck Resources and WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1), where ARV is hoping a big IOCG (iron oxide copper-gold) system lurks beneath around 300m of Eucla basin sediment cover.
Golden Deeps (ASX:GED) and
(Up on no news)
Peregrine Gold was up big on no news on Wednesday, having had relatively little to report since announcing plans to commence an 8000m aircore drill program in April.
That drilling at the Newman gold project was set to test geochemical and geophysical targets, and follow up the newly discovery Tin Can West prospect, which previously returned a hit of 4m at 9g/t Au from 12-16m.
PGD has solid pedigree for making a major Pilbara gold discovery, with legendary WA prospector Mark Creasy its top backer and former Azure Minerals chairman Brian Thomas on board as non-exec chairman.
Its technical director George Merhi has a history of success as exploration manager for Creasy Group and Novo Resources (ASX:NVO).
PGD is also planning a 10,000m aircore program at Mallina, which sits to the north-east of the 11.2Moz Hemi discovery, while Creasy has inked a deal with PGD that will enable him to share profits with the ASX junior from the mining of shallow gold down to 50m at the Peninsula prospect, part of the Newman project.
Golden Deeps meanwhile has been on the trail of a high-grade gallium discovery at Nosib in Namibia, located near the also high-grade Tsumeb copper mine.
Part of the Central Otavi critical metals project, Nosib has returned hits as strong as » 23m at 168g/t Ga2O3, 0.72% Cu, 0.54% V2O5, 3.97% Pb and 1.8 g/t Ag from 4m (in hole NOUG0021), including 4m at 387g/t Ga2O3, 1.06% Cu, 0.74% V2O5, 4.04% Pb and 2.38 g/t Ag from 4m.
There's more of those, with every polymetallic co-product under the sun plugged into the assay results. GED remains well stocked for more exploration at Central Otavi, with ~$3.4m in the bank at March 31.
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