Niobium: The contrast between exploration hype and project development

The gold price is holding comfortably above US$3,000/oz, but still we see that many gold company share prices reacted rather mutedly. Though, positive drilling results are being embraced by the speculators.

There are plenty of junior gold stocks with valuable resources in the ground that can be turned into cash flow, with that being a useful alternative to relying on equity issues to fund growth. They are a good way to play the gold bull market but there is another type of gold play that is more speculative and which could be even more exciting; exploration stocks. We looked at a good example of one of these last week; Scorpion Minerals (SCN).

Capitalised at around $14m with $3m in the bank (after settlement of placement and other shares and options), Scorpion is focusing on the Big Bell Shear Corridor in the Murchison Goldfield in WA. This has been in the headlines in the last couple of years with Spartan Resources (SPR) achieving spectacular, life saving exploration success at Never Never and Pepper. Spartan has just been valued at $2.4bn with the Ramelius takeover bid.

Globe Metals and Mining stand in strong contrast to WA1. Globe is real with a proper development opportunity. WA1 is just wild speculation and gambling. Globe has a market capitalisation of $20m whereas WA1 is $933m. If you want a touch of reality, place both of these on the Lassonde Curve.
 

 WeeklyComm22March2025.pdf