European Metals, Synertec, Enlitic & Latitude66

Last week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runners batch was a complete mix of all kinds of licorice. From zero-emission lithium dreams to zero-emission gas field technology, artificial intelligence and a cheeky WA gold play, last week’s list had all the flavours.

EUROPEAN METALS HOLDINGS LTD (ASX:EMH)
Up to 150% (22c – 55c)

The Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week has been a rollercoaster lithium tragic European Metals after receiving provisional approval for a government grant of up to $645 million to bring the Cinovec lithium project into production.

The grant is one of the largest direct project-level financing packages ever delivered for a critical raw materials play within the European Union, and Cinovec has already been identified as a strategic project of critical importance for the EU under the Critical Raw Materials Act.

It looks like this long-held lithium is finally being built, whether the lithium price likes it or not.

The company said its grant reimburses up to 35 percent of eligible capital expenditures in annual expenditures, with the only real condition being that the project must be finished by Dec. 31, 2032.

For a depository that has been in dire straits since the Howard government, this represents a giant green flag wrapped in cash.

Cinovec is Europe’s largest source of hard rock lithium, with 7.2 million tonnes of lithium reserves located on the Czech-German border, which the company says is one of the most mining-friendly corners of the continent.

The plan involves a massive integrated mine and refinery spitting out battery-grade lithium hydroxide for the German auto industry, which is currently sweating over Chinese supplies.

Friday’s announcement fueled the share price, which traded for more than $3.5 million on the day, rising to an intraday high of 55c, up 150 per cent from last week’s close of 22c.

After a decade of studies, demos, and capital raising beyond memory, European Metals finally has a war chest that doesn’t depend on spot price or dilution.

SYNERTEC CORPORATION LTD (ASX:SOP)
Up to 120% (2c – 4.2c)

On the job last week was zero emissions tech darling Synertec Corporation, which signed a flagship contract with Shell’s Queensland Gas Corporation (QGC) to deploy its Powerhouse renewable microgrid at a working coal seam gas field in Queensland’s Surat Basin.

The deal marks the first time a major company has officially backed the technology for a brownfield coal seam gas (CSG) operation, now putting Synertec on the map.

The company says its Powerhouse system is a fully islanded, AI-controlled solar cell beast that operates 24/7 with zero fossil fuel backup and zero unplanned outages. The deal locks in its system for an initial five-year distribution to prove its mettle in the energy big leagues.

This is exactly the kind of thing upstream gas players need to hit decarbonization targets and ensure protesters block off tax-paying roads.

The deal is structured as a six-month BOOM (Build-Own-Operate-Maintain) trial with a fixed monthly lease; Essentially, it’s a try-before-you-buy agreement that allows Shell QGC to kick the tires on the technology before rolling it out in Queensland.

Delivery is planned for the end of next year, which means revenue will begin almost immediately.

Oddly, Tuesday’s aftermarket saw a mystery 40.5 million share move from 1.8c to $730,000, attracting immediate attention from the betting community.

Sure enough, on Wednesday morning the Shell contract went through, with the stock trading a full vertical rise from near 2c to an intraday high of 4.2c, trading at more than a million dollars for the week, a 120 per cent gain.

For a company that spent years trying to prove the technology in the field, this is the blue chip validation the market has been waiting for. If the Powerhouse unit performs as advertised, you can expect follow-on orders to snowball across QGC’s hundreds of wells and possibly across the gas industry.

ENLITIC INCORPORATED LTD (ASX: ENL)
Up to 105% (2.2c – 4.5c))

Medical AI dark horse Enlitic, which won bronze in the photo-finish last week, woke up from its slumber on Tuesday to announce that healthtech giant Royal Philips has been selected as one of only two approved vendors worldwide to provide AI-powered DICOM data migration and workflow tools for its entire enterprise imaging customer base.

Philips has revenues of $32 billion and a market cap of $40 billion and operates in more than 100 countries and is clearly the 800-pound gorilla in the radiology industry.

The deal instantly connects Enlitic’s ENDEX data standardization platform to thousands of hospitals, providing a direct revenue stream into a growing radiology market that analysts estimate is between $54 billion and $120 billion.

ENDEX uses “deep” AI learning to cleanse, de-identify and standardize complex imaging data during migrations or daily workflows; This is the exact pain point hospitals face when upgrading systems or merging data sets.

Enlitic’s shares rose on Tuesday, rising from 2.2c last week to 4.5c at midday, trading for more than $3 million and a 105 per cent gain on last week.

The company said the partnership opens the door to cross-selling Enlitic’s ENABLE module and could potentially enable deeper integration into Philips’ workflow suite.

With global radiology AI spending predicted to grow by a mind-boggling 30 percent over the rest of the decade, Enlitic has transformed from speculative side hustle to a bona fide global player almost overnight.

LATITUDE 66 LTD (ASX:LAT)
90% increase (4.8c – 9.1c)

Rounding out the Runners podium with a handy acquisition last week was gold junior Latitude 66, which most recently withdrew two binding option agreements to snap up an 80 per cent stake in the Laverton gold project.

The company says the deal covers approximately 17 mining properties awarded for 253 square kilometers of prime real estate in one of the world’s hottest gold addresses, and the project has a shallow JORC resource of 13,500 ounces that appears ready for exploitation.

The main prospect is the Red Dog open pit, which was mined by Matsa Resources in 2019 for approximately 12,704 ounces from a flat oxide blanket starting just 3m below surface at a very handy price of 2.3 grams per tonne (g/t).

That might seem like a little, but according to today’s numbers, that’s around $80 million worth of gold, and Latitude says this thing is literally open in all directions.

Previous drilling outside the old pit walls still holds some solid hits, such as 4 meters running 7.3 grams/t gold from 13 meters and 6 meters running 4.8 grams/t gold from 22 metres.

If you factor in the nearby Tin Dog syenite hosted system – again on a mining lease – you’ve got a decent little starter pack, just 7km from Brightstar’s Second Fortune mine and easily transportable to at least five working mills.

The potential for rapid progress was not lost on Latitude, which quickly moved into a rig station on the project before the ink on the acquisition was even dry.

The company recently divested its copper mines in Queensland, banking a non-dilutive $6 million war chest ($2 million in cash and $4 million in Carnaby Resources stock) and cashing it out, motivating it to put its rigs to work in the white hot gold market and address.

Management said its initial program targets immediate expansion at Red Dog and first pass drilling at Tin Dog, with results expected in time for Christmas.

While Laverton was the shiny new toy in the spotlight last week, it’s worth remembering that Latitude’s Finnish projects are still top of mind.

The company holds approximately 650,000 ounces of gold and 5,800 tonnes of cobalt at its flagship KSB and PSB gold-cobalt projects in Finland; It has a useful quality of 2.7 g/t gold in open pits.

Management has repeatedly said both Finland and WA are core, but for now Laverton offers the company a short-term, high-margin cash flow option that woke the market up last week.

Lattitude66’s shares rose on Thursday, approaching a peak of 9.1c from Friday’s low of 4.8c, up nearly 90 per cent on strong volume of half a million dollars.

Red Dog could easily turn out to have plenty of morsels left at an address with plenty of oxidized gold and needy mills a stone’s throw away.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au