The end of the financial year and quarter also marked the passing of Harry Markowitz – the 1990 Nobel Prize laureate who first introduced Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT).
Today MPT is cannon, but it wasn’t always. In a nutshell, MPT goes like this: if company performance is not always reflected in the share price, then individual stocks’ performances should come secondary to the portfolio’s overall performance, and diversification is key to spread and manage risk.
The Investor Insight basket of 16 stocks – spread across resources, technology and property, and from micro-cap to ASX-50 – performed well for the financial year, up 8% against the All Ordinaries (+7.4%) and the ASX200 (+7.4%).
There were many significant milestones ticked during the quarter, however the Investor Insight basket finished flat, down 6% against the All Ordinaries (+0.22%) and the ASX200 (+0.24%).
VRX Silica (ASX: VRX) was one of the quarter’s strongest performers. After many months of waiting, it’s Environmental Review Document (ERD) for the Arrowsmith North Silica Sand project was accepted for Public Environmental Review (PER). The low-capex, 30-years-plus Arrowsmith North project has a six-month ramp up period before it would be producing high-purity silica sand for glass manufacturing. For investors, the EPA acceptance of the ERD has been a long time coming. For the Bruce Maluish-led company, it is a crucial milestone, not just for Arrowsmith North, but for its entire portfolio of silica sand projects – Muchea, Arrowsmith Central, Arrowsmith Brand and Boyatup.
Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) added another 62% to the total Mineral Resource Estimate at the Finniss Lithium Operation near Darwin in the Northern Territory. Investors will be champing at the bit to see how this will impact the Ore Reserve Estimate and mine life, particularly at the high-grade, long-life BP33 project. Core’s Mine Management plan for BP33 – the second proposed mine at Finniss – was approved by the Northern Territory Government. This was the final approval required before pulling the trigger on early works, which the Board promptly did, allocating up to $50 million for a covered box cut, water management and improved access to the site.
BMG Resources (ASX: BMG) showed its exploration chops, delivering a 11.1Mt @ 1.45 g/t Au for 518koz Au maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at its Abercromby gold project near Wiluna in WA. The Bruce McCracken-led company said that the shoestring ~$8 per ounce discovery cost, spread over three drilling campaigns, demonstrated its success at leveraging value with the drill-bit. Investors agreed. The Company raised $2.7 million to fund further works at Abercromby, and also at its recently acquired Bullabulling lithium-gold project near Coolgardie, which delivered strong lithium hits from the maiden RC campaign.
Magnetite Mines (ASX: MGT) delighted investors with a maiden ore reserve at the Iron Peak deposit, which has become the highest-quality deposit among the bundles of magnetite resources at its Razorback project in South Australia. Test work confirmed that Iron Peak would greatly enhance overall recoveries of iron ore and, as the base feed for the first 10 years of Razorback’s proposed operation, ensure a sustainable production of five million tonnes a year of premium-grade concentrates (67.5-68.5% iron) that are necessary for so-called green iron production.
Robotic brick-laying company, FBR (ASX: FBR) smashed its previous lay speed record of 109 blocks per hour. The next-generation HadrianX robot laid more than 300 USA cement masonry blocks per hour during a calibration program. For context, that’s more than 70 vertical square metres of wall per hour. The company said investors could expect higher lay speeds as the calibration program progresses. Once complete, the new HadrianX will be available for commercial work.
