The Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Great Dirt Resources, after a fresh $1.446 million placement to industry insiders woke up its manganese projects in northern New South Wales. EMC Gold Corp surged on permitting hopes for its monster Salave gold project in Spain, MetalsGrove ran on no news, just early boots-on-ground work at its Côte d’Ivoire gold project, European Resources ran on diamond drilling from its Korsnäs rare earths project in Finland delivering hits like 27m at 3767ppm total rare earth oxides.
Friday the 13th has delivered once again.
The market is looking bruised and battered to end the week, with US tech and the NASDAQ slipping again overnight, leaving the ASX in a panic this morning.
Apple slid 5 per cent and dragged six of the Magnificent Seven down with it, as delayed January jobs data, courtesy of the government shutdown hangover, also landed mid-week and was hotter than expected, firing up the dollar and cooling those aggressive Fed-easing bets.
Word on the street is that rates might stay "higher for longer," and as such, the tech unwind got another nasty shove.
Back home, the ASX wasn't throwing any confetti either.
Friday was gruesome as the index took a dive, capping off a week where the biotech industry copped a particular hiding.
The fading prominence of vaccines as a growth driver and AI-replacement fears have turned what was already a terrible year for the sector into a full rout – plenty of names halving in value and more.
Pro Medicus tried to buck the trend with a half-year report that looked flashy on paper, with net earnings up 230 per cent, thanks to a tidy $149 million windfall from its timely punt on ASX peer 4D Medical right before the latter nabbed FDA approval for its lung imaging gadget.
Revenue jumped 28 per cent to $124.8 million, and the official net profit hit $171.2 million.
But punters zeroed in on the underlying story – it fell short of expectations once you strip out the 4D market punt and its shares took a proper battering all the same.
CSL's dismal half-year numbers were never going to end well for the plasma and vaccines giant, with investors wiping out a further 12 per cent yesterday.
Once the biggest name on the ASX, CSL is down a whopping 40 per cent in under six months – ouch.
Cochlear joined the party, also shedding 25 per cent to close the week. The bright spot on the ASX came from CBA, which has quietly bounced back, beating expectations and powering up 20 per cent in two weeks.
Our Runners cavalcade this week is, predictably, a bit sparse in a rough market, handing out bruises left and right. No green fireworks here. The survivors are a manganese play, a couple of gold co’s and a rare earths outfit, clinging on in the hard assets corner, while everyone else licks their wounds.
GREAT DIRT RESOURCES LTD (ASX: GR8)
Up 177% (23.5c – 65c)
Topping the leaderboard and claiming Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is battery metals micro-cap Great Dirt Resources, which has awoken from its share price slumber thanks to a $1.446 million placement to fund its manganese projects in northern New South Wales.
Importantly, nearly half the funds have been earmarked for the dynamic executive duo of Steve Parsons and Michael Naylor, who subscribed for around $700,000 worth between them.
The pair have a storied history of ASX resources success, most recently taking FireFly Metals to a $1.5 billion market cap over its Green Bay copper project in Canada. Great Dirt also plans to issue up to 21,230,738 performance rights to its newly appointed company consultants.
While not much has been happening for this micro capper for some time, the company has defined multiple high-priority manganese targets across its Basin and Neranghi project areas. Recent exploration updates have highlighted high-grade manganese rock chip results, with assays reaching up to 51.8 per cent manganese at the Basin and Neranghi projects.
The company continues to advance its research and development program, integrating geochemistry, refined geophysics, and 3D structural modelling to test for primary manganese systems at depth.
Both projects have historically produced metallurgical and battery-grade manganese. The metal is now central to emerging LMFP lithium-ion batteries, where it strengthens cathode performance and safety, lowers costs, and helps reduce reliance on scarcer, supply-constrained metals such as cobalt and nickel.
Its integration helps stabilise battery structures, boost energy density, and reduce costs, making it increasingly vital for electric vehicles, and a clear winner in the second battery metals evolution. Punters clearly liked the fresh cash and the manganese momentum – enough to send shares ripping higher.
EMC GOLD CORP (ASX: EM3)
Up 144% (9c – 22c)
Snagging second is the curious case of EMC Gold Corp, which copped a speeding ticket after rocketing 144 per cent in early trade on Tuesday.
The company gave the market overlords the typical ‘nothing to see here’ response, unable to offer any insight into its share price movement at the time.
After saying nothing was afoot, it released an update on Friday about permitting for its monster Salave gold project in Spain.
Following the suspension of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in September, the company confirmed that it had not initiated the urban planning reclassification and that the suspension was lawful.
Importantly, though, the ruling also stated the EIA can be reactivated and that's the real takeaway.
A December 2024 legislative change paved the way for the project’s strategic investment designation, with community consultation now showing that 63 per cent of locals support it as a genuine job-creating development, which signals a potential fast-track route for the monster project.
The company’s March 2025 scoping study update for the high-grade Salave forecast a massive $806 million after-tax net present value and 34 per cent internal rate of return at a CRAZY conservative US$2106 (A$3000) per ounce gold price – less than half of today’s prices.
Salave is easily one of Europe’s largest undeveloped gold projects and boasts 11.33 million tonnes of resource grading a whopping 4.19 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 1.56 million ounces.
The scoping study projects annual gold production of 99,462 ounces, putting it on par with some of Australia’s billion-dollar operations.
EMC is eyeing a 14-year underground mine life, with pre-feasibility studies planned for later this year and exploration drilling to extend resources at depth and along strike.
It would seem someone believes the project is closer to getting permitted than not, with a 144 per cent move in one day signalling definite intent from the market.
METALSGROVE MINING LTD (ASX: MGA)
Up 66% (9c – 15c)
Rounding out the podium is another junior moving on, with no fresh news to the market – MetalsGrove Mining.
The company also copped a speeding ticket on Wednesday but batted away the ASX query, saying the rise was based on first boots-on-the-ground work at its recently acquired Zuénoula and Vavoua permits in Côte d’Ivoire.
MetalsGrove says it has rapidly shifted from portfolio builder to early-stage discovery hopeful, with its Zuénoula permit emerging as the centrepiece of the company’s West African gold strategy.
In December, it expanded its footprint by acquiring the highly prospective Zuénoula gold permit within the Birimian greenstone belt – a structurally complex terrain intruded by granite and widely regarded as fertile ground for multi-million-ounce deposits.
The acquisition stitched Zuénoula onto the company’s adjacent Kounahiri West and Vavoua holdings, creating a contiguous exploration corridor along the Abujar–Napié gold trend.
By February, the narrative had advanced from groundwork to tangible early results.
District-scale soil sampling at Zuénoula defined the company’s first gold exploration target, outlining a 13 square kilometre anomalous zone with elevated gold readings.
Geologically, the anomaly sits within a northeast-trending belt of mafic volcanics adjacent to granite intrusions, a structural setting that mirrors many successful multi-million-ounce Birimian discoveries across West Africa.
The corridor-scale opportunity at Zuénoula is clearly catching a bid as gold remains white-hot and Côte d’Ivoire continues to churn out the big-boy ounces market pundits love.
EUROPEAN RESOURCES LTD (ASX: ERE)
Up 57% (1.4c – 2.2c)
Taking home the final Runners spot is rare earths explorer European Resources, riding high after some stellar assay results from its Korsnäs rare earths project in Finland.
The company’s diamond drilling program has intersected broad rare earths hits with highly enriched magnet rare earths content, amid an increasing focus on European rare earths supply.
Drilling at the Korsnäs mine area has delivered standout rare earths hits, including 27m grading 3767 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 198 metres, which featured a hefty 27 per cent enrichment in neodymium and praseodymium. Another hole delivered an eye-catching 9-metre intercept running a massive 8804ppm TREO from 82 metres.
European Resources says its metallurgical test work is also progressing across multiple workstreams, including programs under the European Union-funded REMHub program.
It says once all assays have been received, selected new drill core will be used to support the next phase of metallurgical test work.
With the proposed test work looking to iron out a beneficiation flowsheet incorporating gravity separation, magnetic separation and flotation to maximise its magnet rare earths output for European supply.
The company says assays for the remaining holes are pending and that its program has delivered exactly what it set out to achieve at Korsnäs – testing near-mine continuity and priority structures, while adding meaningful new tonnage as substantial grades.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
