In 2017 punters couldn’t get enough of battery metals or the Pilbara conglomerate gold story
But of 2017’s top 40, 15 have since suffered losses of 70% or more; 8 of those have lost 90% or more
A handful have won big, including Bellevue Gold and De Grey Mining
In mining and exploration, six years is enough time to sort the pretenders from the contenders.
Trends will come, go, and sometimes come back again. Often what is left are the explorers and project development companies with a real chance of success.
What was hot in 2017?
In 2017, the embryonic battery metals boom had everyone excited.
About 50% of the top 40 small caps had exposure to battery metals such as cobalt, lithium and high purity alumina.
In hindsight it was too early — hundreds of hopefuls would bail to more palatable metals when sentiment dived a few years later – but those with good projects stuck to their guns, and in 2023, are reaping the rewards.
Gold explorers were the next best performing theme; of these, some of the biggest movers were Pilbara conglomerate gold nugget explorers.
An Australian gold rush kicked off July that year when Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) and Canadian partner Novo Resources made a gold nugget find at their Purdy’s Reward site in the Pilbara region of WA.
The mention of “Witwatersrand-style” and “conglomerate-hosted” gold had investors salivating. (Witwatersrand refers to the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa — a geological formation that houses the world’s biggest known gold reserves).
Unlike battery metals, the conglomerate gold story didn’t have legs.
Most of 2017’s top stocks have failed to live up to the hype
One stat shows how difficult it is for investors who fall in love with hype stocks to succeed — of 2017’s top 40 small caps, 15 have suffered losses of 70% or more.
Eight of those have lost over 90% of their value since peaking in 2017. Take conglomerate gold darling ARV for example — down 94% from 29c in late 2017 to 1.6c per share currently.
This exercise is also an interesting glimpse into how years of cap raisings and placements can dilute your holdings. A ballooning number of shares on issue may push up the market cap, but the value of your shares plummet.
Just look at Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI). The up-and-coming cobalt/gold/rare earths explorer has increased its market cap from $18m to $191m since the end of 2017, a 960% gain.
And yet the share price is only 56% bigger, thanks to the number of shares on issue swelling from 460m to 1.5 billion over the same period.
Now for the good news. Of the 15 stocks that continued to succeed, a handful have succeeded big.
Punters who bought and held onto a couple of these winners in 2017, even after they had made their initial gains, would be laughing all the way to the bank in 2023.
Here’s the current performance of the Top 40 ASX resources stocks for 2017>>>
Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort. Best viewed on a laptop
CODE
COMPANY
2017 GAIN (Jan-Dec)
SHARE PRICE CHANGE DEC 2017- FEB 2023
MARKET CAP DEC 2017
CURRENT MARKET CAP (FEB 27 2023)
CODE
1
COMPANY
2
2017 GAIN (Jan-Dec)
3
SHARE PRICE CHANGE DEC 2017- FEB 2023
4
MARKET CAP DEC 2017
5
CURRENT MARKET CAP (FEB 27 2023)
6
A4N
ALPHA HPA (THEN COLLERINA COBALT)
1400%
300%
$ 80,386,504.00
$ 566,000,000.00
7
AAR
ASTRAL RESOURCES (THEN ANGLO AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES)
420%
-10%
$ 21,909,726.00
$ 47,910,000.00
8
AGY
ARGOSY MINERALS
693%
204%
$ 205,504,208.00
$ 976,000,000.00
9
ARE
ARGONAUT RESOURCES NL
357%
-93%
$ 37,442,044.00
$ 3,600,000.00
10
ARV
ARTEMIS RESOURCES
625%
-94%
$ 166,339,184.00
$ 22,600,000.00
11
ASN
ANSON RESOURCES
204%
120%
$ 29,031,290.00
$ 218,740,000.00
12
ASO
ASTON MINERALS (THEN EUROPEAN COBALT)
1150%
-51%
$ 152,339,472.00
$ 112,760,000.00
13
AUZ
AUSTRALIAN MINES
1000%
-51% (-75% PRE CONSOLIDATION)
$ 235,646,720.00
$ 25,680,000.00
14
AVZ
AVZ MINERALS
1400%
300%
$ 393,562,912.00
$ 2,750,000,000.00
15
AXN
ALLIANCE NICKEL (THEN GME RESOURCES)
381%
-24%
$ 60,267,528.00
$ 65,760,000.00
16
BCN
BEACON MINERALS
423%
64%
$ 34,237,340.00
$ 101,680,000.00
17
BDM
BURGUNDY DIAMOND MINES (THEN EHR RESOURCES)
211%
114%
$ 14,777,823.00
$ 103,900,000.00
18
BGL
BELLEVUE GOLD (THEN DRAIG RESOURCES)
809%
400%
$ 70,610,104.00
$ 1,130,000,000.00
19
CCZ
CASTILLO COPPER
277%
-71%
$ 28,406,254.00
$ 13,640,000.00
20
CLA
CELSIUS RESOURCES
543%
-88%
$ 78,970,024.00
$ 25,260,000.00
21
CLE
CYCLONE METALS (THEN CAPE LAMBERT RESOURCES)
254%
-95%
$ 40,053,116.00
$ 6,100,000.00
22
DEG
DE GREY MINING
359%
664%
$ 53,974,228.00
$ 2,000,000,000.00
23
DGO
DGO GOLD
204%
241% (ACQUIRED 2022)
$ 11,036,635.00
$ 308,000,000.00
24
EPM
ECLIPSE METALS
220%
25%
$ 18,298,786.00
$ 40,560,000.00
25
EUR
EUROPEAN LITHIUM
242%
-67%
$ 105,797,552.00
$ 97,100,000.00
26
GED
GOLDEN DEEPS
700%
-85%
$ 7,981,704.00
$ 10,400,000.00
27
HAS
HASTINGS TECHNOLOGY METALS
400%
546% (-16% PRE CONSOLIDATION)
$ 244,981,216.00
$ 307,440,000.00
28
JRV
JERVOIS MINING
1356%
-74%
$ 121,157,624.00
$ 380,000,000.00
29
KFE
KOGI IRON
337%
-91%
$ 49,148,836.00
$ 12,600,000.00
30
LPD
LEPIDICO
387%
-72%
$ 143,626,048.00
$ 80,200,000.00
31
MAU
MAGNETIC RESOURCES NL
286%
204%
$ 32,586,774.00
$ 165,170,000.00
32
MEI
METEORIC RESOURCES NL
592%
56%
$ 44,446,976.00
$ 191,390,000.00
33
NVA
NOVA MINERALS (THEN QUANTUM RESOURCES)
264%
958% (174% PRE CONSOLIDATION)
$ 35,541,480.00
$ 114,480,000.00
34
NWC
NEW WORLD RESOURCES (THEN LONGFORD RESOURCES)
233%
-54%
$ 38,110,136.00
$ 100,730,000.00
35
ODM
ODIN METALS
336%
-90%
$ 33,292,640.00
$ 17,230,000.00
36
OKU
OKLO RESOURCES
223%
-57%
$ 108,776,728.00
$ 78,200,000.00
37
ORM
ORION METALS
593%
-69%
$ 37,354,452.00
$ 16,350,000.00
38
PEX
PEEL MINING
253%
-73%
$ 110,301,584.00
$ 92,920,000.00
39
PUA
PEAK MINERALS (THEN HILL END GOLD)
700%
-97%
$ 24,178,186.00
$2,600,000
40
RIE
RIEDEL RESOURCES
1022%
-91%
$ 33,519,028.00
$ 6,720,000.00
41
RMI
RESOURCE MINING CORP
750%
123%
$ 10,073,090.00
$ 40,000,000.00
42
RTR
RUMBLE RESOURCES
216%
283%
$ 21,130,894.00
$ 141,270,000.00
43
SPX
SPECTRUM METALS
233%
1800% (ACQUIRED 2020)
$ 5,965,155.00
$ 270,000,000.00
44
SUH
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE MINING
400%
-90%
$ 11,720,421.00
$ 7,090,000.00
45
TAR
TARUGA GOLD
223%
-80%
$ 10,079,972.00
$ 13,410,000.00
46
TGN
TUNGSTEN MINING NL
243%
-9%
$ 52,966,704.00
$ 78,640,000.00
WHO KEPT WINNING?
DE GREY MINING (ASXEG) +664% (post 2017)
In 2017, DEG was plugging away at its Pilbara gold project where it had amassed 1.2Moz across several targets.
However, it was the company’s involvement in the short-lived conglomerate gold craze which ensured its inclusion in top resources stocks of 2017.
Once that frenzy died down so did the DEG share price – to a low of 5c per share —until it made one of the biggest gold discoveries in recent memory, early 2020.
The rest is history. Hemi is now one of the best Australian gold finds of the 21st century and the third globally significant deposit to be discovered since 2000 after AngloGold and IGO’s Tropicana find (2005) and Gold Road’s Gruyere discovery (2013).
DEG Price at posting:
$1.37 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held