Bill McConnell

Xanadu Mines’ share price soared more than 50 per cent today after the company received an 8 cents per share takeover offer from unlisted Bastion Mining, valuing the Mongolian-focused copper-gold developer at $160 million. The offer follows hot on the heels of an expired exclusivity period earlier this month over a control transaction the company was negotiating with joint venture partner and major shareholder Zijin Mining.

The European Central Bank, followed by the US Federal Reserve and then the Bank of China, have all confirmed that a new era of falling interest rates has arrived. Historically, small cap equity markets have consistently outperformed during times of monetary easing and these latest central bank moves suggest the period of small cap underperformance may be coming to an end.

Every cloud has a silver lining and Dollar Bill reckons silver IS that silver lining right now. Once considered a poor man’s gold, silver is poised to take its place in the sun, having quietly tracked the gold price skywards. Sun Silver provided a poignant example last week when its 20c IPO hit the boards at 50c before marching to a 75c high.

Fuelled by little more than a curious mind and a well-stocked cellar, Dollar Bill has turned his gaze towards the role battery inventories played in the bursting of the lithium bubble – and the potential for recovery. It seems clear that battery manufacturers played a key part in both inflating and then bursting the bubble and now may be poised to inflate it again.

With the uranium price touching US$80 a pound, up from a low of US$20 just a few years ago, a bevy of ASX-listed small caps are lining up for a piece of the action. Geoscience Australia says Australia boasts almost half (46 per cent) of the global uranium resources which screams opportunity. Dollar Bill pontificates on potential for law changes and the future for uranium mining in Australia.

It was a delight recently for Dollar Bill (sometimes known as Bill McConnell) to sit down and pore over the latest BDO Australia Explorer Quarterly Cash Update. For Dollar Bill, the report presented as a natural pairing with a fruity Chateau Latour and led to a wonderfully delicious and contemplative evening on the chaise lounge by the fire.

In the first of Bulls N' Bears’ new guest columnist series, Dollar Bill – sometimes known as Bill McConnell – gets down and dirty with the small cap sector that he says might be about to drag itself off the canvas. Dollar Bill says macro factors such as global GDP, the interest rate cycle and others all suggest an inflection point for ASX juniors.