Petratherm flies on uber-grade titanium samples

Data analytics…software engineering…blockchain-powered-solutions…

All sounds very high tech.

Perhaps the market is again taking notice of any feel-good tech-related stories, with this week’s top performers having a technology-bent with a touch of the critical mineral titanium thrown in for good measure.

Petratherm (ASX:PTR)

340% up (from 5c to 22c)

On to this week’s runners and critical minerals explorer Petratherm is this week’s Runner of The Week.

The mining junior picked up some historical samples from the South Australian Core Library recently from drilling at its Rosewood prospect that sits in the northern Gawler Craton in South Australia.

The significant titanium and heavy mineral (HM) grades returned from assays moved the critical minerals “true-believers” in trading land to pile into the company’s shares, sending the price soaring from last week’s 5c close to touch a peak of 22c on Friday for an ultra-impressive 340 per cent gain.

The Tuesday morning asx announcement reveal saw punters buy up big in one of the company’s largest ever trading days by turnover, with a stunning 31.3 million shares changing hands, compared to average turnover of about 750,000 per day across the past two months.

Tuesday’s move pushed the price to 12.5c, before traders got a second wind on Thursday with more than 16 million shares traded and dialling up the price further to touch 18c, followed by a further spurt on Friday reaching a 22c high.

The historic composite samples were from wide-spaced drill-holes over a 2.5km length on the eastern side of Rosewood, part of the company’s wider Muckanippie project. The headline numbers that had punters reaching for their cheque books returned heavy mineral concentrations of 12 and 12.5 per cent.

Lab results confirmed the presence of a high-value titanium content in the heavy mineral fraction running at about 65 per cent, helping to partly explain the mad scramble by punters to get aboard.

Titanium currently sits on the critical minerals list in Australia, the United States and within the EU region. It is in demand for battery storage technologies, electric-vehicles and as an alloy in steel.

InFocus Group (ASX: IFG)

300% up (from 1.4c to 5.6c)

Coming in a close second this week on our Bulls N’ Bears Runners list is InFocus Group Holdings, known to some readers as the former Frugl Group, which announced a service agreement to develop a new digital social gaming product for the Seychelles-domiciled GBO Assets.

Market traders could see the value and sent the company’s shares to a high of 5.6c on Friday, a stunning 300 per cent gain from last week’s 1.4c close.

Soaring volumes nearing an insane level of 73 million shares on Thursday pumped the price to its new high since the recent change of its moniker, with another leg up on Friday to reach 5.6c.

The agreement that caused the stock to run will apply the company’s data analytics and software engineering capabilities and delivers a potential contract value of US$2.5 million (AU$3.84 million) to InFocus.

The development of social gaming products is part of a targeted move by the company to expand into new markets and diversify revenue streams beyond its retail data analytics business.

InFocus will work closely with GBO to develop the new VigoBet Tech platform, which will include the integration of third-party providers, AI-driven fraud and transaction analysis and Web3 integrations. Upon successful completion of the tech project, it is hoping to score an annual maintenance contract that could pump up to US$400,000 (AU$610,000) of ongoing revenue into its coffers.

NoviqTech (ASX : NVQ)

Up 105% (from 5.6c to 11.5c)

After a stellar 172 per cent hike last week and a coveted Bulls N’ Bears top of podium finish, aspiring blockchain-powered-solutions-provider Noviqtech hit its straps again, putting on another 105 per cent for the week.

The company had to settle for third place this week, continuing to be spurred higher by news of last week’s more than $1 million placement at 2c per share, supported by influential identity, blockchain investor and Australian professional poker player Antanas Guoga, better known as “TONY G”.

Closing at 5.6c last Friday, the stock rallied again on Monday with an astounding 133.5 million shares being traded all the way through to 10c, a further solid gain of more than 78 per cent during the first trading day of the week.

With the continuation of huge daily share volumes and news of a pending listing on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market in the United States, the shares reached its peak for the week of 11.5c on Wednesday, for a weekly jump of 105.36 per cent.

Noviq has a suite of products around data storage, tracking and reporting based largely on its ledger and blockchain technology. Its key offering is around carbon reporting, carbon tokenisation and the guaranteeing of the origin of green fuels and resources.

The company says the OTC listing will enhance the visibility of the blockchain company to North American investors, allowing for the trading and settlement in US dollars during US trading hours.

Narryer Metals (ASX : NYM)

Up 100% (from 2.6c to 5.2c)

Missing out on the podium whilst nonetheless still producing an honourable mention this week is Narryer Metals which captured the market’s attention due to its farm-in agreement with Petratherm, disclosed to the market in April.

Noticing the Muckanippie-Rosewood connection between the two firms, punters tickled up Narryer’s shares with a 100 per cent jump to 5.2c on healthy trading volumes nearing 6 million shares.

A strong follow-through the next day saw 5.4 million shares swap hands as the price closed higher for the day without reaching the previous day’s high.

Narryer’s 342 square kilometre ground adjoining Petratherm’s Muckanippie project is part of an agreement enabling Petratherm to earn a 51 per cent interest in the tenement with a minimum $200,000 spend within two years and the condition that 50 per cent of expenditure at a minimum be directed towards drilling costs.

After a strong representation of junior mining stocks in recent Runner editions, it will be interesting to see if the “tech-brigade” can keep the upward momentum continuing.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au