Sunday Edition: 20th September

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd and its associated entities may hold direct or indirect interests in securities referred to in this publication and may receive fees or other forms of consideration from entities mentioned. These interests and arrangements may create a potential conflict of interest in the preparation of this material.

The information contained in this communication is provided for general information purposes only and may relate to speculative investments. It does not constitute financial product advice, and has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any investment decision.

Any forward-looking statements are uncertain and not a guaranteed outcome.

Yesterday’s Saturday note: Asteroid mining pitch decks are real now (so is the biggest oil shock in history)

Quick Takes: RML, PUR, AW1, VKA, AL3, OD6, AUZ

Deep Dives: IVZ, OD6, VKA, CND

Other content: ILA, ION, IVZ, SPA, VKA, PUR, RML, LSR, OD6, PNN, MNB

RML hit a potential high grade source to its gold discovery in the USA.

RML’s discovery is already looking big, ~2km in terms of strike and 200-300m+ intercepts.

To date the grades were averaging somewhere between 0.5 and 1g/t gold.

This week’s assay hit very high grade gold (albeit over a short interval) - 1m at 14.8g/t gold.

RML says this hit could be the high grade "feeder zone" for its discovery - so it will be interesting to see what comes from the next batch of assays.

(RML has 38 assays pending from the recently completed drill program)

(source)

PUR secured key environmental approvals for its lithium pilot plant.

Anyone who has followed PUR for a while will remember the pilot plant that was purchased back in 2023 (source).

Now, PUR has the key environmental approvals to move that plant from the warehouse to site.

The plant has already produced 99.5% lithium carbonate from synthetic brines - soon we will be able to see how it performs on site under real operating conditions.

The approvals include eight 100m x 100m pilot ponds.

PUR’s plan is to eventually scale up the pilot plant into a 5,000tpa commercial operation.

(source)

AW1 hit visual copper inside the USA's biggest indium JORC resource estimate.

Most of AW1’s drilling so far has stepped out east of its current resource.

This latest hole was drilled ~350m west of the existing deposit and returned a combined 140m of visual copper and zinc sulphides.

(good early signs - assays should confirm how much copper/zinc)

Assay results are expected in the next 4 to 6 weeks, with drilling continuing 24/7 and the eighth hole already underway.

An old hole out west hit grades of up to 20% zinc, 1.4% copper and 470g/t indium, so fingers crossed this hole can replicate those sorts of numbers (no guarantees of course).

Here is the glorious core pic:

(source)

And here is where the hole was drilled relative to the current resource - hole #7:

(source)

VKA hit visible tungsten from its project in Nevada - assays due in October.

VKA is now 20 holes into its drill program with visuals showing there could be a combined ~22m of tungsten mineralisation in one hole.

12 of the 14 holes at the main target have hit visible mineralisation, and all samples are now at the lab with assay results expected through September and October

We already know this ground hosted a producing tungsten mine, with ~123,000 tonnes at 0.54% tungsten mined in the 1940s and 50s.

IF the assays come back anywhere near those historic production grades then it could be game on for VKA - especially with the US Department of War just committing US$150M into a tungsten mine restart in the same state - more on that and VKA in the Deep Dives section below.

(source)

AL3 signed a $500k parts order for US Navy nuclear submarines.

Not massive in overall dollar terms, however the key takeaway for us was that it's another order supporting US Navy submarines.

The supply chain that AL3 has gotten itself into is transferring parts purchases away from traditional manufacturing processes’ across to AL3’s additive manufacturing process.

The order comes from Austal USA Advanced Technologies, part of the $1.9BN ASX listed shipbuilder Austal. AL3 will print the parts at its US facility in Ohio.

We are hoping this first production order is the start of many more parts orders to come.

Remember, AL3’s business model has three anchors - 1) System sales, 2) Parts manufacturing and 3) Software.

Orders like this one underpin AL3’s contract manufacturing part of the business (2).

(source)

OD6 discovered new high-grade fluorspar at its US project.

We already know OD6's project has high grade fluorspar from surface, and that ~26,000 tonnes at 44.9% fluorite was mined there back in the 1950s.

The new zone at North Horseshoe Canyon returned rock chips grading up to 60% fluorspar, sitting in the gap between two of OD6's key targets.

OD6 also lodged its drill permits this week, more in the Deep Dives section below.

(source)

AUZ appointed Michael McNeilly as Chairman.

McNeilly is a name we are familiar with - he is also the chairman of our 2026 Small Cap Pick of the Year IonDrive (ASX:ION).

ION has gone from a $6M market cap in 2023 to approximately $150M now.

He is also a director of copper explorer Cobre, which secured a partnership with BHP providing up to $25M of exploration funding, and is now producing copper in Chile.

Cobre's market cap has gone from ~$19M at its 2020 ASX listing to ~$470M with McNeilly at the company.

Noting as always that the past performance of ION and Cobre is not an indicator of future performance of AUZ.

We are backing him in at AUZ to do the same with its scandium asset in NSW.

AUZ expects drilling to start as soon as final approvals come in, with drill targets that could grow the project's scandium resource estimate.

Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ)

~30% of global oil supply (out of the Middle East) is as close to being halted as possible right now.

Saudi Aramco’s CEO is calling the Strait of Hormuz closure the “largest oil supply shock in the world”.

(source)

That was before last weekend, when one of the key pipelines helping soften that Hormuz blow went offline.

(the pipeline taking oil east-west through Saudi Arabia getting around the closed Strait of Hormuz)

(source)

Our Investment Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ)’s next well (in November) is going to drill test a giant ~1.2 Tcf gas and 73 million barrels of condensate resource (gross mean unrisked).

One of the ~12 prospects IVZ has on its project - which in total has a 5.5 Billion barrel of oil equivalent prospective resource.

(source)

Late last week IVZ signed a “well services” contract with $116BN capped SLB - the world’s largest oilfield services contractor:

(source)

AND confirmed that wellpad construction had started for its next big well:

(source)

Importantly... IVZ confirmed that “Musuma-1 remains on track for spud in November”.

So IVZ is very likely to start drilling at some point inside the next ~45-60 days.

This will be the first well IVZ drills since making its Mukuyu discovery across two wells in 2022/2023.

(Which was the second-largest discovery in Sub-Saharan Africa for 2023)

The first three companies in the image below are $386BN capped Shell, $2983BN capped Total and then our little old IVZ.

Source: IVZ Secures Gas Sample From Major Discovery (March 2024)

The difference with this year’s well for IVZ is it will be a lot shallower (~1,500m target depth versus ~3,360m depth for the 2022-2023 wells).

AND it should be a lot less technically complex because IVZ now has a “working hydrocarbon system” and a lot of data from the Mukuyu discovery.

Read more: IVZ: Saudi’s Aramco CEO is calling it the “largest oil supply shock in history” - oil price running - IVZ drilling in November.

OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6)

Remember the US$250M fluorspar contract the US Department of War gave a tiny Canadian listed company in January?

Maybe not? Well, here it is again:

(source)

That was the DoW giving a small cap company (Ares Strategic Mining) a supply contract for a niche critical mineral no one had heard of before.

And it was done on a no production = no payment mainly because Ares had the only permitted fluorspar project inside US borders.

A few weeks after that DoW deal, we Invested in OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) - the only company on the ASX with a US fluorspar asset at the time.

Our thinking was that OD6 had the right asset to bridge the gap to Ares and put itself in a position to receive a similar style supply contract to Ares.

The biggest gap between OD6 and Ares has always been permitting status.

But that could be about to change.

This week OD6 lodged permits to drill and bulk sample its project, for the first time in over 40 years.

(source)

AND commenced engagement with the US government for FAST-41 status on its project.

(source)

FAST-41 status is usually given to projects considered “critical” and essential for US national security - the program's whole purpose is to accelerate permitting of projects.

FAST-41 status is what we think would get OD6 to where Ares was when it received that DoW supply contract... and quickly.

More on that DoW deal and why we think OD6 could have a shot at it later in the link below.

We Invested in OD6 back in March.

Our thinking at the time was that 2025 was a small glimpse of what’s to come for the broader US critical minerals macro thematic.

And that the next 2-5 year period could be the window of opportunity for small cap ASX resources companies to take their expertise into the US and develop company making assets.

Since Jan 2025, the US government through equity stakes, loans and federal grants has given ~US$40BN to critical mineral companies. (source)

Then on the 20th of July Trump signed an Executive Order to force defence contractors to explore all avenues before buying critical minerals from China. (source)

And set a deadline for “exploring all avenues” of 1st January 2027.

(Here is the full Executive Order)

No more beating around the bush... by the 1st of Jan 2027 defence contractors need to show they have done everything they can to get domestic supply.

OR risk losing their lucrative defence contracts.

Wait, why are we writing about a defence specific critical minerals Trump Executive Order in an OD6 note?

Because fluorspar is used in the production of missile systems, military electronics, aerospace, AI semiconductor chip production and nuclear power...

Fluorspar was listed as one of the nine materials with the highest shortfall risk for the US military in a major conflict scenario. (source)

(like we are in now)

Read more: OD6 lodges drill permits and begins FAST-41 engagement for its Nevada fluorspar project

Viking Mines (ASX:VKA)

Over the last ~90 days, all of this happened in tungsten markets:

• US President Trump banned tungsten scrap exports.
• The UK government invested in a domestic tungsten project.
• Zimbabwe banned tungsten exports.

Then BREAKING NEWS this week:

The US Department of War is investing US$150M into one of the USA’s largest historic tungsten mines.

Part of a broader US$2BN funding deal - US$450M of it being from the Department of War:

(source)(source)(source)

After pouring billions of dollars into rare earths (stuff for magnets used in fighter jets, robots and AI)...

...and creating a few billion dollar+ success stories out of rare earth ASX small caps)...

The US government’s attention is now on tungsten - possibly the most important military critical mineral.

Tungsten is used in armour-piercing ammunition, fighter jets, and the warheads of Tomahawk, Patriot and Precision Strike missiles.

Hopefully the US government attention is the starter for a re-rate in small cap tungsten stocks now.

Like our Investment, $22.6M capped Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) - whose project isn’t that far away from the one some of that DoW funding will go toward restarting:

(source)

We think that the DoW funding has now de-risked the entire tungsten industry inside Nevada - mainly because the funding will bring online a project that CURRENTLY does not have a big enough resource to meet the US$2BN stockpile contract.

Which tells us that the plant that gets built at that old mine COULD start looking for feedstock from other projects in Nevada.

(Maybe projects like VKA’s...)

Read more: US Department of War puts US$450M into a Nevada tungsten restart. VKA is planning one in the same state.

Condor Energy (ASX:CND)

Six months on and the Strait of Hormuz is still shut.

Now, there is a second chokepoint at risk and one of the biggest solutions to the strait, a pipeline running east-west in Saudi Arabia, is also offline.

Oil coming out of the Middle East (~30% of the global supply) is now offline or at risk.

Terrible news for anyone who depends on oil coming out of the Middle East.

We think the lesson for big Middle East energy buyers would have to be a re-think of where they get supply.

(Sort of like what the US is doing with critical/military minerals)

And we think South America might be a part of the world these buyers turn to for that supply.

We are Invested in Condor Energy (ASX:CND), who holds 100% of a block offshore northern Peru with:

• 3.3 billion barrels of oil in prospective resources across (unrisked) six prospects. (source
  
  
• AND an existing 1 Tcf gas DISCOVERY - Piedra Redonda, which has already flowed gas to surface. (source)

And it looks like the big supermajors agree on our South America call too.

CND’s blocks are surrounded by $283BN Total and a few other majors have entered offshore Peru over the last ~2 years:

(source)

We even saw the Warren Buffet backed Anadarko (Occidental in the image above) commit to a first well on its block in 2027:

(source - article is originally in Spanish)

We think South America (including fingers crossed Peru) is going to be one of the regions those buyers look to allocate capital to and diversify supply chains out of the Middle East from.

Over the last ~90 days:

• Japan's Prime Minister announced an energy security package including state financing for pipelines that bypass Hormuz and a levy to fund alternative crude supply. (source)

AND

• South Korea just took delivery of oil from Argentina for the first time ever, with plans to make it more of a regular thing from next year. (source)

(source)(source)

South Korea's National Security Adviser even said:

"This is expected to provide an opportunity to diversify our crude oil supply sources, which are currently concentrated in the Middle East, by expanding them into South America." (source)

Confirmation to us that one of the up and coming oil & gas regions in the world right now is South America.

So CND with 3.3 billion barrels of oil in prospective resources across an existing 1 Tcf gas DISCOVERY...

... is capped at just ~$15.5M.

Read more: Buffett-backed Anadarko to drill US$100M+ well next to $15.5M capped CND's Peru block. CND's big catalyst is now pending

AFR - The great irrational mispricing is real in commodities, like now, where an underallocation to gold and hard assets is irrational.

AFR - China currency push targets Australia's biggest commodity exports, global mining companies are increasingly accepting payment in yuan for bulk commodities.

AFR - Terms out for WA gold player Wiluna Mining’s $500m ASX relisting, targeting a $180M IPO that could enable its return to the ASX with a market capitalisation of as much as $539.4M.

We are watching Wiluna Mining’s re-listing closely as we are Invested in WAU, who has a non-binding MoU to toll treat ore from its asset 20km away. A publicly listed Wiluna with improved access to capital is good for neighbour WAU.

Bloomberg - US takes $450 Million Stake in Tungsten Firm to Counter China, a move that expands the Trump administration’s push to secure critical minerals supplies outside China.

Reuters - Italy's Meloni visits Norway to boost energy, critical minerals ties, seeking to deepen cooperation in those areas and aiming to promote bilateral investment.

Bloomberg - Japan Eyes Defense Spending at 3.5% of GDP After US Pressure, which could send a shockwave through financial markets concerned about Japan’s spending plans.

Bloomberg - Pentagon Watchdog Sees Strategic Munitions Shortage, the number of weapons deployed in the first few months of the Iran war has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls.

Business Insider Africa - An African country that banned exports of its most important resource now bans two, Zimbabwe has added antimony and tungsten to encourage domestic processing of raw materials.

Mining.com - Japan's Mitsubishi Materials to expand tungsten recycling capacity at Akita, with US$52M invested and operations due to start in April 2029.

TechNode Global - Vietnam seeks to halt wolfram export, Ministry of Industry and Trade suggested that wolfram (tungsten) is off the list of minerals permitted for export in the current period.

AP - Saudi pipeline hit by drones to stay shut for weeks, the East-West Pipeline has been relied on for moving oil production from Gulf ports to the Red Sea to then be loaded onto tankers for export.

Reuters - Italy moves to speed oil, gas projects in energy security push, adopting measures to boost domestic oil and gas production, cut red tape for drilling licences and reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports.

CNBC - Oil Rises After Saudi Arabia Shuts Down Pipeline That Bypasses Hormuz, the Saudis have relied on the pipeline to shift crude oil exports away from the Gulf.

Al Jazeera - China faces oil challenge as prices soar and supply options narrow, now being forced to compete for replacement supplies – risking pushing prices still higher.

Popular Mechanics - A Scientist Bled to Death for Two Weeks. The Virus He Left Behind Is Sitting in His Lab. Ustinov was researching the deadly Marburg virus, but not with the intention to find a cure; his work to better understand the disease was with an aim toward weaponizing it.

We came across this article from ILA Chairman Jason Carroll, the exact same reasons apply today for having a readily available treatment for Marburg.

ILA is progressing an antiviral drug for this, read more on this from our most recent ILA Deep Dive article here: ILA’s drug is also being advanced for Marburg disease

(source)

ION - Dysprosium Elysium in the USA (Update Report) - Taylor Collison

IVZ - The world is your Oyster (Update Report) - MST Financial

SPA - General Meeting - 16 September 2026

IVZ - MST Oil & Gas Webinar Presentation - Unlocking a new hydrocarbon province in the Cabora Bassa Basin

VKA - Viking shines a light on ‘high-grade’ Linka tungsten (MD interview)

PUR - High-grade lithium lights up Rio Grande Sur (CEO interview)

RML - Nasdaq debut opens new chapter for US growth (CEO interview)

LSR - Lodestar Minerals: Virgin Mountain Moves Towards Drill Targets (Executive Director & CEO interview)

OD6 - OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) | A Major Permitting Milestone at Quinn (MD permitting update)

Tech - Jensen Huang: The Doomer Hoax, Superintelligence is Here, and The Future of AI (ft. President Trump) (All-In Podcast)

Tech - Elon Musk & Gwynne Shotwell on AI Risks and Peer Review, Starship, Terafab, SpaceX/Tesla Merger (All-In Podcast)

Biotech - Big Pharma Needs New Drugs. China Has Them | Big Take Asia (Bloomberg Podcasts)

Oil & Gas - SAUDI CUTS OFF EUROPE'S OIL AS PRICES SMASH RECORD HIGHS – w/ Chris Martenson (Mario Nawfal)

Oil & Gas - Oil Surges as Saudi Pipeline Shutdown Brings Fresh Supply Risk (Bloomberg Podcasts)

Oil & Gas - JPMorgan Says No Clear Endgame for Oil Markets (Bloomberg Podcasts)

Oil & Gas - Is Europe heading into another energy crisis? | DW News (DW News)

PNN - was highlighted as a Buy pick in Perth's Sunday Times (yes physical newspapers still exist, and people read them) by a Taylor Securities analyst:

PNN - Also got featured by CNN Brasil after its rare earth project won priority status in Minas Gerais:

MNB - Showed equipment en route to its phosphate fertiliser plant which is currently under construction in Angola (and more progress here):

A word of caution...

While we aim to highlight developments in the small cap space, investing in early-stage and small cap companies - like those we cover - is inherently risky.

These companies often face funding challenges, regulatory hurdles, and market volatility. Announcements may reflect aspirations more than guaranteed outcomes.

Things can, and often do, change.

Just because a company has signed a deal, released drill results, or appointed a new director doesn’t mean success is assured.

Always assume delays, cost overruns, or results that don’t pan out.

We’re here to share insights, not offer personal financial advice - so please do your own research and speak with a licensed adviser before acting on anything mentioned.

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Bye for now.