ASX Small Caps Weekly Form Guide

• Shaw and Partners’ Adam Dawes backs uranium, electrification and copper plays
• Haranga, Corporate Travel and LinQ lead the small-cap movers
• Patronus steps up its district-scale NT gold hunt

Stockhead’s end-of-week wrap covering small-cap ASX movers, news of note and expert recommendations.

The working week ending Friday, October 23 tracked like this:

S&P/ASX 200 (XJO): -0.50%, past five days; S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO): -3.46%, past five days

(Figures accurate at time of writing on the Friday afternoon home stretch.)

The ASX started the week with a pulse, adding 0.44% on Monday before Tuesday stole 0.33% back and hid it behind the couch.

Wednesday somehow found 0.16% despite NextDC stepping on a rake, then Thursday lost 0.43% as retailers, miners and energy all developed urgent appointments elsewhere.

By Friday lunchtime, Wall Street had kicked AI in the shins again, oil was above US$113 and the ASX was down another 0.31% – basically one more bad decision away from ordering another schooner.

TIPS TRIFECTA

This week, Shaw and Partners senior investment advisor Adam Dawes provides his recommendations.

NexGen Energy (ASX:NXG)

NexGen is one of the most exciting uranium development companies globally. It owns the Rook I project in Canada, one of the world’s largest high-grade undeveloped uranium deposits.

What makes this attractive is the resurgence of nuclear energy, driven by electricity demand, AI data centres and the need for reliable, low-carbon power.

The company received its major construction approval in March 2026 and has commenced construction.

As the project moves towards production, we see significant potential for value creation.

IPD Group (ASX:IPG)

IPD Group is an Australian business supplying the electrical equipment that keeps our economy running.

From data centres and mining operations to renewable energy and industrial automation, IPD supplies the essential switches, cables and power distribution systems.

What we particularly like is that Australia needs to spend heavily upgrading its electricity infrastructure. IPD can benefit from that investment without taking the same risks as developers building major projects.

It’s a practical way to invest in electrification and Australia’s growing electricity needs.

Austral Resources (ASX:AR1)

Austral Resources is a copper turnaround story with substantial growth potential. It owns copper assets in Queensland and is rebuilding its production platform following a major financial restructuring.

Copper is critical for electricity networks, electric vehicles and data centres, and demand is expected to benefit from global electrification.

What interests us is the combination of an improving balance sheet, existing processing infrastructure and opportunities to expand its resource base.

If management executes successfully, we believe there is potential for a significant re-rating.

IN THE MONEY

While the benchmark chopped and changed, these runners found another gear.

Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR)

+50% (past five trading days)

Late last week Haranga Resources struck 32m of gold mineralisation at 10.4g/t from 143m in the first hole drilled as part of its phase 2 underground drilling at the Lincoln gold project in California.

The single drill hole returned 13 individual intervals above 10g/t gold, with one section peaking at 1m at 51.4g/t gold.

HAR is working up to formal mine planning and an ore reserve estimate for Lincoln, with the current drilling program focused on upgrading and defining the project’s mineral resource estimate of 2.46 million tonnes at 5.1g/t gold for 402,000 ounces.

Corporate Travel Management (ASX:CTD)

+47% (past five trading days)

Corporate Travel Management is on a recovery lap after the airline industry body IATA released a $65 million security guarantee and restored its previous payment settlement arrangements.

CTD entered into a financial security arrangement with IATA in December last year after its FY25 accounts were held up by a forensic investigation into an accounting scandal involving CTD’s UK business, which triggered a trading halt back on August 26, 2025.

The company was removed from the ASX200 in December 2025 after an independent investigation found the group’s former UK chief executive had forged customer agreements, overcharged clients and retained owed funds.

This year, Corporate Travel clawed its way back to a net profit of $17.7 million for FY26 and resumed trading in September. The company expects the released security guarantee and restored payment arrangement to free up about $30 million in working capital.

LinQ Minerals (ASX:LNQ)

+37.5% (past five trading days)

LinQ Minerals has logged a 429m zone of visual epithermal and porphyry-style mineralisation and alteration in the first hole drilled at the Gidginbung South target, part of the Gilmore project in the Macquarie Arc of New South Wales.

LNQ geologists interpret the core as upper high-sulphidation epithermal-style mineralisation transitioning into deeper porphyry-style veins and alteration.

The combination could indicate the core of a broader system encompassing both the Gidginbung prospect and nearby Dam deposit.

LinQ will use the official assay results – expected in six to eight weeks – to guide its next steps.

WELL PLACED

Stockhead’s weekly pick.

Patronus Resources (ASX:PTN)

Patronus is stepping up a district-scale gold hunt across its more than 1,500km2 Pine Creek project in the Northern Territory, backed by an ambitious 30,000m drilling program and around 3,000 planned surface samples.

Its latest first-pass drilling has delivered gold at both Burnside North and Grove Hill.

The standout Hydra intercept returned 44m at 0.76g/t gold from 96m, ending in mineralisation, while Grove Hill yielded 3m at 2.37g/t from 15m.

Elsewhere, drilling has uncovered shallow gold at Davies No.2 and high-grade mineralisation below the historic Tally Ho pit, outside existing resources.

Its pipeline spans established deposits and new targets, offering both near-term results and longer-term optionality.

Next up are outstanding assays from both greenfields areas, expected in Q4, accelerated Hydra follow-up and planning for broader drilling in 2027.

Patronus also holds the Cardinia project in WA, giving it a combined 1.237Moz gold resource base and further exploration upside.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While LinQ Minerals and Patronus Resources are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

The views, information, or opinions expressed from any interviews or contributions in this article are solely those of the interviewees or contributing authors and do not represent the views of Stockhead.

Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.

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