Organised by Perth-based boutique investor relations consultancy Read Corporate, the conference aims to bring investors face-to-face with the management teams behind new and exciting exploration, development and mining projects.

It’s been a challenging year for financial markets but Read Corporate’s Summer Series has been carefully curated to feature 23 companies with exposure to energy and resources that are primed for growth and development in 2024.

All companies presenting are making a solid effort to prove up their resources and move their projects further along the development pathway and up the value curve.

Enjoy a full day of presentations, canapés and drinks and register to attend by following this link www.resourcesrisingstars.com.au/events.

Emerging gold stocks under the spotlight

“What we’ve tried to do here is select stocks that will be attractive to investors in 2024 in terms of repositioning their portfolios,” Read Corporate managing director Nicholas Read says.

“We’re hoping the new year brings a bounce back in the commodity space, particularly in new energy metals such as lithium, copper and nickel, and we’re already starting to see a bit of that happening with gold stocks.”

All eyes will be on headline act Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL), which has just poured its first gold bar at its namesake high-grade gold project in WA – a huge feat given the skills shortage and current economic climate.

In the wake of Bellevue’s recent delivery of first gold and with commissioning to continue over the December 2023 quarter, investors will be interested to hear how the ramp up of production and optimisation activities is progressing.

Catering to the fans of a good turnaround story, this year’s conference will feature presentations from two gold stocks which have enjoyed stunning turnarounds on the ASX this year – Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) and Red 5 (ASX:RED).

The once struggling low-grade producer Spartan made the difficult decision to shut down operations at its Dalgaranga gold mine in WA’s Mid West last year.

After a strategic rethink, the company decided to turn the drill rigs around in a different direction in the low-grade Gilbeys greenstone belt and began to reel in hits of up to 59m grading 12.5g/t, 54m grading 6.55g/t and 32m grading 8.58g/t.

Now with a high-grade 721,000 oz resource and six drill rigs on the go, Read says Spartan are going at a ‘flat out’ pace and are now valued at $350m.

Meanwhile, RED are well and truly past their commissioning and ramp up issues from yesteryear.

“They’ve have had two or three good quarters, they’re hitting their straps and are on track to hit guidance for FY2024,” Read says.

“Their hard work and efforts are reflected in their market cap which has pushed through $1b recently.”

Steve Parsons, the geologist who founded the now $1.67b Bellevue Gold, will present in his new role as managing director of AuTECO Minerals (ASX:AUT).

AuTECO announced the transformational acquisition of the Green Bay copper-gold project on the Baie Verte peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, earlier this year, home to a 39.2Mt resource at 2.1% copper equivalent for 811,000t of contained copper equivalent metal, most of it in the higher-confidence measured and indicated categories.

“They have a name change and capital consolidation coming up and, in the wake of the transformational Green Bay acquisition, will be one of the most sought-after copper stocks on the ASX – especially with Steve in the driver’s seat,” Read says.

Gold developers on the line up include Rox Resources (ASX:RXL) with their 3.2Moz Youanmi gold resource near Mt Magnet in Western Australia and Resources Rising Stars first-timer Ausgold (ASX:AUC).

AUC delivered an update to their resource at the Katanning gold project during the September quarter which confirmed it as the largest free-milling, open cut gold development project in WA.

Astral Resources (ASX:AAR), with its +1Moz resource inventory near Kalgoorlie, is also on the speakers’ list.

Two lithium IPO stocks, James Bay Minerals (ASX:JBY) and Pioneer Lithium (ASX:PLN), will discuss their upcoming drilling programs in Canada.

Both companies have been really strong performers since their respective listings and are trading well above their IPO prices, Read says.

Investors will also be gearing up to see Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT), backed by ex-Pilbara Minerals boss Ken Brinsden.

“Everyone will be interested to hear what Ken has to say – he’s such a spokesman for the industry in terms of what’s going on in the lithium market.

“The lithium market has been sold down this year, but Ken’s had that experience of successfully navigating the previous downturn in 2017 and 2019 – investors will be eager to know where lithium will go from here and how quickly it will bounce back.”

The Resources Rising Stars Summer Series will be on in Sydney (14 November) and Melbourne (16 November).

Attendance is free, but registration is essential.

Visit www.resourcesrisingstars.com.au to sign up for the event, or find details on how to watch the presentations online.