Sparc fires up following three-way hydrogen tie-in

This week the market again encountered a diverse mix of high-flying winners, with those finding favour on the market comprising a new-age hydrogen tech developer, an immune-related disorder biopharma firm, a mining company growing its scandium critical mineral resource and a drug developer joining forces with a Japanese pharmaceutical firm to fight kidney disease.

Sparc Technologies (ASX:SPN)

86 per cent up (from 18c to 33.5c)

Taking out top spot in this week’s Runners is Sparc Technologies, which excited the market when it revealed its three-way joint-venture with mining giant Fortescue and the University of Adelaide is taking an ambitious leap forward with their innovative direct solar to hydrogen technology.

The parties confirmed this week a decision has been taken to move to stage-two of the Sparc hydrogen JV.

Punters initially warmed to the news on Tuesday, steering the share price 3c higher on the day to finish at 20.5c with 408,000 shares changing hands. But it was the following day when the real action took place with traders expressing raucous support for the move lighting a fire under the hydrogen gas developers’ share price, firing it up to an 11-month high of 33.5c on volumes of 1.68 million shares.

Trading continued to hum along at a rapid clip with the stock hitting an intra-day high of 32c on Thursday on turnover of more than 900,000 shares. When compared to average daily turnover of less than 100,000 shares across the preceding two months, the price action strongly suggests Sparc is no one-day wonder with interest in the new-age technology remaining high.

The novel reactor technology utilises a photocatalyst material and sunlight to produce green hydrogen directly from water without the need for electrolysers, which has been considered the go-to method for splitting water into both hydrogen and oxygen.

Sparc says stage-two will involve the construction and testing of a first-of-its-kind pilot plant with the aim of supporting ongoing reactor development and scale-up.

Argent Biopharma (ASX: RGT)

64 per cent up (from 17c to 28c)

Claiming the silver medal in this week’s Runners is Argent Biopharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company aiming to develop successful treatments for central nervous system and immune-related disorders.

The company announced on Tuesday it had successfully raised US$4.5 million (A$7.25 million) in a share placement, which quite incredibly was priced at US40c (AU64c) per share - a massive 377 per cent premium to the last closing price of 17c on the ASX before entering a trading halt on Friday last week.

Market pundits must have agreed that its shares were indeed trading too cheaply and piled into the stock, which had an average daily share turnover of less than 20,000 shares across the previous 20 trading days before this latest chapter.

After Tuesday morning’s news, the price jumped from its 17c close before the trading halt, to reach a high of 26c on the day. Volumes touched 335,000 on Tuesday and 362,000 on Wednesday, nearly 20 times its average daily turnover, with a peak of 28c for the week.

The company recently amended its decision to delist from the ASX and will now retain its listing on the local bourse, however it has pushed ahead with its delisting from the London Stock Exchange.

Management says it has a growing investor base in the United States and will explore the potential for a dual listing on a US-based exchange.

Australian Mines (ASX : AUZ)

Up 60 per cent (from 1c to 1.6c)

Steaming home and grabbing third place for the week is junior mining company Australian Mines. It revealed on Wednesday a significant increase in its mineral resource at the company’s Flemington scandium deposit, located about 450km west of Sydney in central NSW.

The mineral resource has increased to 6.3 million tonnes of scandium at 458 parts per million (ppm), with accompanying nickel and cobalt credits.

Traders gave their tick of approval witnessed by massive volumes of 51.3 million shares on the day lifting the price to a high of 1.3c. Subsequently, on Thursday another 20 million shares traded holding those highs before an end-of-week burst of activity erupted on Friday where another 65 million shares were swapped around and a fresh three-month high was recorded in afternoon trade of 1.6c.

Scandium is a critical mineral that plays a key role in solid oxide fuel cells which is an efficient clean energy technology used in power generation.

The metal is often alloyed with aluminium to make a lightweight, strong and highly corrosion-resistant alloy to reduce the weight of aeroplanes, spacecraft, rocket cones and vehicles to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

The company reported that using an even lower cut-off grade at 100ppm, the resource rolled in at 28 million tonnes grading 217ppm scandium.

Dimerix Limited (ASX : DXB)

Up 44 per cent (from 36c to 52c)

Missing out on a top three placing but still producing a more than solid performance during the week is another clinical-stage biopharma company Dimerix Limited, which revealed a tie-in with Japanese firm FUSO Pharmaceutical.

FUSO acquired exclusive rights to develop, register and commercialise Dimerix’s DMX-200 drug in Japan for the treatment of Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (kidney disease). FUSO will bear responsibility for all clinical trial costs in Japan and Dimerix will cover clinical trial costs outside the Asian country.

News of the tie-in on Tuesday got the market hyped as it wrapped its arms around the stock running the share price to a six- month high of 52c on Thursday. Indicative of the interest, huge volumes of 31.1 million shares on Tuesday started the move which was followed by almost 9.8 million shares Wednesday and a further strong trading day of 6.6 million on Thursday when the price hit its new six-month peak.

Dimerix expects to receive $7.2 million in payments from FUSO within the next three months and potential development and sales milestone payments of an eye-catching $100 million. It also expects to receive between 15 to 20 per cent royalties on net sales.

The company focuses on treating patients with kidney diseases and its DMX-200 is currently in a phase-three clinical trial in Japan, having treated 1400 patients last year.

There appears to be no market sector proving to be the dominant force in recent weeks, although there are signs that innovative or lucrative deals amongst the medical fraternity are attracting a great deal of attention. While gold continues to ride high, and critical metal explorers never seem far away from the headlines, technology and med-tech stocks look to have started 2025 with a bang.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au