Gold, gold, gold: Precious yellow metal makes shares sing

Buoyed by a booming gold price that shows no signs of slowing down, this week has seen the perennial junior explorer benchwarmers get a run in the prestigious Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runners of the Week.

And it is no surprise to see a gold company in Dalaroo Metals surging more than 181 per cent after revealing it had discovered a gold system in Western Australia’s Gascoyne province. Fellow junior Nimy Resources followed closely behind, rising 132 per cent on news it had tapped into a melting pot of precious metals, base metals and rare earths at its prime WA goldfields patch, while healthcare hopefuls Adherium and Firebrick Pharma both received a call-up to the podium to round out the team.

Dalaroo’s first bite with the drill bit at its Goodbody West gold prospect turned up a selection of intriguing results including 5m running 0.85 grams per tonne gold from 9m, 1m averaging 0.98g/t from only 3m and 19m coming in at 0.23g/t from 24m.

Some might argue that they are barely results to write home about and that is why this columnist finds them so intriguing.

The company tested a 200m strike length of outcropping quartz veins where previous rock chip sampling kicked up 6.25g/t gold, 5.52g/t and 1.7g/t. A total of 19 air-core (AC) holes for 867m perforated the bedrock below the outcropping reef within an east-west structural corridor that management interprets to extend through a 6km length.

More than 26 million shares traded hands in one day to push Dalaroo’s price up to a high of 4.5c from its previously-traded low of 1.6c, bestowing it with the coveted honour of being first on this week’s field. A quick glance back over the company’s recent trading history reveals the previous high for this year’s number of traded shares sits well below at 1.8 million.

Now, we could draw a long bow and suggest Dalaroo found favour with a clutch of optimistic gold investors riding on the back of this week's gold price, which punched through to an all-time Aussie high of $3757 per ounce.

Or, blessed with three teenage girls in the house and considering the timeliness of today’s long-awaited release of Taylor Swift's new album, the other side of the coin beckons – maybe, someone has pulled a “Swifty”.

Regardless, another junior hopeful Nimy Resources was quick to join Dalaroo on the field, peaking at 10c – a handsome 132 per cent lift from last week's low of 4.3c. The company has stitched up more than 3000 square kilometres of prime goldfields tenure, 140km north of Southern Cross, which encompasses a big swathe of the world-famous Forrestania belt.

The region is prospective for the full gamut of precious and base metals and – as Nimy’s latest release reveals – a solid selection of rare earths along with gallium.

A background check on gallium shows the little-known metal’s heavyweight China, which chips in 98 per cent of the global supply, closed the door to exports last year in retaliation to United States export bans on certain semiconductor technologies to the Asian sub-continent. As a crucial element in the semiconductor space, China’s export restrictions sent the rest of the world into a tailspin to source alternate supplies.

While it could be Nimy’s collection of anomalous copper and silver results – peaking at 0.2 per cent and 2.2g/t, respectively – that catapulted its share price, the likely scenario is the 52m at 105 parts per million and 72m at 117ppm gallium trioxide piqued the interest of investors.

Or, maybe it was the mislabelled gold-in-soil geochemical results further down the announcement that suggested the company had latched onto some 43ppm dirt that excited punters? (Note – the correct label should have read parts per billion ... tut, tut).

Moving away from the metals sector, the next two players to grab a much-coveted guernsey this week are healthcare hopefuls Adherium and Firebrick Pharma to round out this week's pack.

Adherium’s share price jumped to 9.3c from 4c on news it had nailed down health care’s holy grail, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval  for the use of its Hailie Smartinhaler with AstraZeneca’s Airsupra and Breztri inhalation devices.

The development marks a significant milestone in the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), offering patients and healthcare providers enhanced monitoring capabilities and personalised treatment approaches.

The Melbourne-based company is on a quest to revolutionise the way respiratory conditions are managed. Its novel inhaler device pumps out real-time data and insights on the owner’s medication usage patterns and inhaler techniques, dramatically improving outcomes and patient quality of life.

Sidling up to US medico behemoth AstraZeneca, which boasts a massive $106 billion market capitalisation, no doubt rings well with investors dipping into the $9.5 million junior ASX-listed health care company.

Firebrick Pharma was another Australian healthcare company to burst onto the US health scene during the week, launching its Nasodine Nasal Spray and lifting its share price up to 11c from 5.3c. The company has spruiked its new product as “nasal hygiene”, which it believes is crucial in keeping the sinus pipes clean and germ-free. Something it says “everyone is concerned about”.

Consumers can purchase a bottle, currently only available online, for a paltry US$24.99 (A$39.10) to eliminate pesky nasal contaminants.

And that is baffling since the last time this commentator required a good dose of “nasal hygiene”, she used a tissue! But Firebrick’s offering of a nasal hygiene spray in the world’s premier pharmaceutical market in a post-COVID era seems to have rung a note with shareholders.

Wrapping up – and as a gold geologist at heart – it has warmed the cockles to see a pair of junior metals explorers take out the Runners of the Week honours. If the precious yellow metal can maintain its lofty heights, no doubt other junior explorers will join them on the field.

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