"Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM)Market cap: $265 millionChange: -85.42%Rare earths have been one of the hottest commodities among Australian juniors, with investors going categorically batty for any hint their penny dreadful may be onto some of the delicious critical minerals.Even Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest and Chris Ellison, all of whom made their initial fortune off the back of WA’s Jurassic iron ore industry and China’s CO2 pumping steel sector are eyeing a slice of the market for the futuristic commodities.But not every rare earths stock has found favour from the market this year.Australian Strategic Materials lost a harrowing 85% of its value in 2022 despite hitting a number of milestones including the opening of its first ‘critical metals plant’ 115km from Seoul in South Korea.It expects subsidiary KSM Metals to deliver 10t of NdPr ingots to Korean magnet producer NS World between September and December this year.A spin-out from long running NSW gold miner Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK), ASM’s flagship asset is the Dubbo project where Korea’s Hyundai were awarded a conditional contract for engineering, procurement and construction definition work in June.But, once a billion-dollar plus company, it’s been trending down since the release of an optimisation study in December last year that saw capex estimates rise from a previous $1.297 billion to $1.678 billion.According to that study it would generate $425m in free cash flow annually.The project would produce oxides of zirconium, hafnium, niobium, didymium (NdPr), dysprosium and terbium. But CEO Rowena Smith flagged in November that ASM was seeking an offtake partner that may take an equity stake in it with the fall in ASM’s equities posing questions around its funding options."
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)