The company secured the new rig from the UK’s Marriot Drilling Group, ahead of its planned first campaign in Q2 2023.

As such, the company has withdrawn from a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) signed with Sofori for the hire of its drill rig, due to ongoing delays.

“The ongoing delays with Sofori’s rig forced us to consider other options, and fortunately an identical Drillmec HH102 became available with Marriott, a highly experienced UK based drilling company,” NHE Chief Executive and Co-Founder Justyn Wood said.

“Marriott bring significant expertise in oil and gas exploration, appraisal and development drilling, including recent exploration drilling in Northern Kenya.”

The new rig will mobilise to Tanzania later this month, and is expected to be on-site and ready to spud in September.

“We haven’t lost any time or momentum, the well locations have been finalised, landholder compensation is completed, and SLB (formerly Schlumberger) is also now signed up for integrated third-party services,” Mr Wood added.

“We’re ready to go.”

Noble Helium was up 9.76 per cent and trading at 22.5 cents at 2:40 pm AEST.

The company received firm commitments for the placement, which will see 500 million new shares issued at 0.4 cents each.

In addition to the placement, the company is offering eligible shareholders the opportunity to subscribe for a further $30,000 worth of shares, also at 0.4 cents apiece to raise a further $1 million.

All funds, in conjunction with existing cash results, will be used to further drilling and evaluation work at the company’s Crown Prince prospect, with remaining funds to go towards supporting “value-creating initiatives.”

“Following recent exceptional exploration results from both shallow reverse circulation (RC)  drilling and deeper diamond drilling at the SEB zone of the Crown Prince prospect the likely strong economic potential of the project is starting to be appreciated,” Ora Gold CEO Alex Passmore said.

“The capital raising positions the company strongly and sets us up for a very busy and positive second half of 2023.”

The new share purchase plan will open on July 14, 2023.

Following the completion of the raising, the company will have a cash balance of approximately $3.95 million.    

OAU was down 16.7 per cent, trading at 0.5 cents at 12:49 pm AEST.

The three big indexes all finished lower, weighed down by market fears another rate hike looms.

The S&P 500 shed nearly one per cent – its largest decline in six weeks. The New York Stock Exchange lost 1.2 per cent.

All 11 US sectors sank, dragged by energy and communication stocks.

Overnight, US labour market data showed there was only a moderate increase in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits, while private payrolls rose.

The report also suggested workers who were recently laid off aren’t remaining unemployed for long, finding new work in a shorter amount of time. The data also revealed more people are quitting their jobs.

The full US employment is due to be released later tonight.

Meanwhile, Facebook parent Meta dipped nearly one per cent. It came as news outlet Semafor reported Twitter has allegedly threatened to sue Meta over its new social media platform, Threads.   

The new platform to rival Twitter launched a day ago and has already accumulated more than 30 million users – including our own Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

Semafor’s report cited a letter sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Twitter’s lawyer, which accused Meta of hiring ex-Twitter employees, suggesting the new recruits revealed “highly confidential information.”

The Australian dollar lost 0.5 per cent. One Aussie dollar is buying 66 US cents and 52 British pence.

In commodities, crude oil saw a slight gain in the wake of the OPEC gathering in Vienna. The price of iron ore dipped, trading at US$113.50 per tonne.

All but one sector ended Thursday in the red. Miners were the biggest drag on the market, shedding nearly two and a half per cent. Consumer stocks lost nearly two per cent, while tech was the only sector to edge higher.  

Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge (PEB) saw its shares nearly double after a US Medicare provider reported it would delay implementing a decision to no longer cover the company’s flagship Cxbladder test.The original ruling would have seen the company’s US Medicare coverage end in less than two weeks, resulting in a major blow to the company’s revenue.

Alma Metals (ALM) gained 30 per cent after updating its mineral resource estimate for the Briggs copper project in central Queensland, now exceeding one million tonnes of contained copper.

And Critical Resources (CRR) was on the rise after striking more than 74 metres of spodumene-bearing pegmatite at its Mavis Lake lithium project in Ontario.

MTM Critical Metals (MTM) dipped on the launch of a soil sampling program at its Pt Kidman prospect within its East Laverton rare earth element project in WA.

Basin Energy (BSN) lost ground, despite adding two additional claims to its Geikie uranium project in Canada.

And Manhattan Corporation (MHC) shed more than 35 per cent. The fall came despite reporting high-grade spodumene samples of up to 2.24 per cent lithium oxide from its Chebogue lithium project in Nova Scotia.

The clinical-stage biotechnology company reported the “significant milestone” for its patient in the phase two trial for the treatment of canine B-cell Lymphoma.

B-cell Lymphoma in dogs is known to have a poor prognosis, and without treatment, many forms of the disease can be fatal within a matter of weeks.

PharmAust reported its commercial strategy is to take the “middle ground” in the treatment of B-cell Lymphoma, by inducing a stable disease for up to six months with minimal side effects, so that the family and the dog can enjoy their remaining time together.

In PharmAust’s current phase two study, a 13-year-old Beagle, Louie, has surpassed 365 days as a result of being treated solely with MPL, showing no side effects, while his quality of life remains “excellent”.

PAA suggested dogs given MPL and prednisolone – or, in Louie’s case, MPL on its own – after the 28-day trial period can live three times longer than expected with good quality of life and no chemotherapy-related side effects.

Louie’s owner Iain Gibson said Louie still enjoys his walks and “can still manage a decent pace” while sniffing everything in his path.

“Mealtimes are Louie’s favourite part of the day and his second favourite thing is cuddles,” he said.

“Louie also attends doggy daycare two days a week and loves to chill out with his pack at home, quite happy doing nothing as long as he has someone to do nothing with.”

Mr Gibson also reported that the trial was the best decision that could have been made for Louie.

“He deserved a break after the other issues with his knees and spleen he’s had over the years.”

MPL is already approved for veterinary use for a different indication in food-chain animals.

PharmAust is now working to repurpose MPL as a safe and effective cancer treatment without the associated side effects of chemotherapy.

PAA was up 2.53 per cent, trading at 8.1 cents at 1:41 pm AEST.

The company has contracted Strategic Metallurgy as its metallurgical consultant to conduct and manage the program.

Strategic Metallurgy will design the program to establish a preliminary economic processing flowsheet from the Mt Sholl deposits, through producing saleable nickel and copper sulphide concentrates.

Raiden reported the test work would also evaluate the “optimal path” to recover the significant PGE by-products in the process.

Raiden Managing Director Dusko Ljubojevic said the appointment of Strategic Metallurgy and its team is a “significant” step for progressing the Mt Sholl deposit forward.

“This initial metallurgical program will look to further improve and optimise the process from the historical work undertaken on Mt Sholl by previous operators and hopefully further improve the recoveries and grades of the concentrate,” he said.

“A positive outcome in this exercise will significantly propel the Mt Sholl project in terms of prospectivity and may allow us to evaluate some of the lower grade segments of the deposit, while continuing to expand on the high-grade mineralisation.”

Dusko Ljubojevic also noted if the characteristics of the concentrate permit, Raiden will look to generate further value by evaluating the beneficiation process and production of a battery grade nickel sulphate product.

The company is also engaging with downstream producers to evaluate potential for production of a battery grade nickel sulphate.

Raiden Resources was up 25 per cent, trading at one cent at 9:50 am AEST.

Relief from yesterday’s interest rate announcement may be short-lived after the Reserve Bank of Australia warned an increase could be on the cards. It comes amid growing pressure on the Federal Government to do more to fight inflation.

Turning to the sectors, and the majority closed lower – dragged by healthcare and financial stocks.

Krakatoa Resources (KTA) rose 78.2 per cent after returning high-grade rock chip results from its King Tamba critical metals project in Western Australia.

Peak assays from its sampling program included 4.3 per cent lithium oxide, 1.7 per cent rubidium oxide and 0.5 per cent caesium oxide. The company has now begun planning for a reverse circulation program in the area.

Dreadnought Resources (DRE) was also on the rise after announcing a mineral resource boost of 40 per cent at its Yin-Mangaroon rare earths project in Western Australia.

And Melbana Energy (MAY) gained 5.75 per cent after confirming flowing oil at its Alameda-2 well in Cuba.

AMP (AMP) took a 5 per cent dive today after a Federal Court judgement ruling in favour of class action claimants, Equity Financial Planners and Wealthstone, accepting they incurred losses of well over $920,000.

The proceedings were in relation to AMP’s Buyer of Last Resort policy and the impact on other class action group members is still to be determined.

Red 5’s (RED) share price toppled, despite delivering a fourth consecutive month of record gold production from its King of the Hills gold mine in Western Australia.

The most recent quarter pushed the company towards realising the top end of its second-half FY23 production guidance.

And Future First Technologies (FFT) shed 40 per cent. The fall comes after the appointment of Luke Donnellan as a Non-Executive Director. The company closed at 0.7 cents.       

Drilling is underway at the project, with 17 holes planned for around 3000 metres.

The company is testing two large-scale targets, which both lie adjacent to major structures.

SGQ reported that both appear to be co-incident magnetic and gravity anomalies that are interpreted to be mafic intrusions with the potential to be associated with “significant” nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) mineralisation.

The first target is a 25-kilometre-long magnetic anomaly with structural features that support the interpretation of a layered mafic intrusion.

The second, which spans two kilometres, has a “plug-like” feature that is also interpreted to be a late-stage mafic intrusion.

“St George completed its own high-resolution magnetic survey at Ajana followed by detailed gravity surveys over two priority targets – the results of which strongly enhanced our initial interpretation that the large magnetic features may be indicative of late-stage, potentially layered mafic intrusions which are prospective to host significant nickel-copper-PGEs,” SGQ Executive Chair John Prineas said.

“We believe that Ajana is an outstanding greenfields exploration opportunity and are excited to be on the ground drilling two very attractive targets.”

St George Mining closed 7.5 per cent higher, trading at 4.3 cents at market close.

The company’s latest findings came from outside the current resource and exploration target, with intersections including 185 metres at 2.85 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent from 90 metres, including 101 metres at 4.87 g/t gold equivalent from 106 metres.

Sunstone’s reported the results provided “strong evidence” that the Limon target within Bramaderos is a “significant” high-grade gold-silver discovery, with mineralisation extending from surface to depth.

The company noted the implications of the results are that Limon has the capability to deliver high-grade systems that are likely to be structurally controlled.

“These latest results are a very significant breakthrough with big positive implications for the size, grade and development prospects at Bramaderos,” Sunstone Managing Director Malcolm Norris said.

“The drilling is delivering shallow and substantially higher grades than the existing Bramaderos mineral resource estimate and exploration target.”

The high-grade intersections remain open for further drilling, which will be followed up alongside other similar areas nearby.

STM was up 11.5 per cent and trading at 2.9 cents at 12:35 pm AEST.

Mr Williams has more than 25 years of experience in the industry, and previously held an Executive Director for Orcoda, following the company’s acquisition of Betta Group in 2020. He is the founder of Betta Group.

In February 2022, Mr Williams resigned from the Orcoda board to focus on growing Betta Group and pursue other business interests.

“Along with fellow board members, I warmly welcome Geoffrey in rejoining the board of Orcoda,” ODA Managing Director Geoff Jamieson said.

“Geoffrey has been a strong supporter of Orcoda and Betta Group and brings relevant experience to our board.”

Mr Williams’ re-appointment comes into play from July 1, 2023.

ODA shares last traded at 27 cents.

The NASDAQ ended its best first half in 40 years on a high – up nearly 1.5 per cent. The S&P also gained one per cent, marking its best six-month run since 2019.  

All 11 US sectors advanced, while tech heavyweights set the pace. Apple stocks gained more than two per cent, as its market value ticked over the $3 trillion mark for the first time since January 2022.

Streaming giant Netflix gained 2.86 per cent. Facebook parent Meta increased by 1.94 per cent.

Back home, markets are divided as to whether the Reserve Bank of Australia will increase interest rates at its board meeting tomorrow.

It comes as new data from CoreLogic shows Australian house prices continue to rise by 1.1 per cent on average, after hitting a low five months ago.  

Sydney led the gains with a 1.7 per cent rise in prices. Brisbane rose 1.3 per cent, and Peth and Adelaide were up 0.9 per cent each.

Hobart managed to buck the trend, with the average house price falling 0.3 per cent.

The Australian dollar moved higher. One Aussie dollar is buying 67 US cents and 53 British pence.

To commodities, and oil prices continued to rise, driven by a US Commerce Department report showing annual inflation growing at its slowest pace in two years.

However, Goldman Sachs analysts said interest rate hikes would remain a “persistent drag” on oil prices.  Crude oil is trading at US$70.50 per barrel.   

Workers on the minimum wage will be paid nearly six per cent more per hour, while employer’s superannuation contributions will move up to 11 per cent.  Parenting payments are also increasing from 18 weeks to 20.

The legislation will also mean changes to wages in aged care and education sectors, and agriculture, food, mining and exploration industries are grappling with the potential impacts of the Aboriginal Heritage Act.

The new costs are imposed as companies are already managing inflationary pressures and higher interest rates. Positive, of course, to the general workforce.

Back to the market today, and five of the eleven ASX sectors slid, dragged by consumer staples, financials, health care and real estate.

Harvest Technology Group (HTG) has gained more than 22 per cent after securing an initial order for its Nodestream remote operations system technology. The order came from an allied Five-Eyes’ defence customer and is valued at more than $270,000 dollars.Encounter Resources (ENR) continued to climb, a day after intersecting three and a half kilometres of mineralised carbonatites at its Aileron critical minerals project in WA.And Blue Star Helium (BNL) ended the week on a high. Emerging from a trading halt, the company signed an agreement with US-based IACX Energy, to provide helium recovery services. The company closed the day at 2.6 cents 

Alma Metals (ALM) shares dipped, a day after releasing the final assay results from its drilling program at the Briggs copper project in Queensland…extending the copper-molybdenum mineralisation.

Meanwhile, clinical-stage biotech, Cynata Therapeutics (CPY) has appointed Dr Kilian Kelly as its CEO and Managing Director, effective tomorrow. The news follows the retirement of Dr Ross Macdonald.

And Bubs Australia (BUB) fell after revealing its subsidiary, Bubs China, is anticipating lower-than-expected revenue for the 2023 financial year.

Bubs China is projected to fall at the lower end of its $13.5 to $13.8 million target revenue, a decrease from its $53.6 million takings last financial year.

Dr Kelly has held the role of Cynata’s Chief Operating Officer since May 2019, and has been “instrumental” in advancing the company’s clinical pipeline since first joining Cynata as Vice President, Product Development in 2014.

Cynata Chairman Dr Geoff Brooke said the appointment of Kilian as Managing Director and CEO reflects the “exciting growth and maturation” of Cynata and comes at a crucial time.

“Kilian joined the company in 2014 and since then has demonstrated an extraordinary capability in swiftly progressing its ground-breaking cell therapy products from the laboratory to clinical trials,” Geoff Brooke said.

“He expertly navigated a complex regulatory, manufacturing and clinical pathway, leading to a highly successful clinical trial in this disease.”

The appointment comes with a $400,000 annual salary and short-term incentives worth up to 30 per cent of the total fixed remuneration.

The announcement follows the retirement of Dr Ross Macdonald.

Additionally, Dr David Atkins will join Cynata’s board of directors. He is the Managing Partner of international healthcare investment firm BioSicence Managers, a major shareholder of Cynata.

“Dr Atkins’ 30 years of international experience in product development and commercialisation across biotech, pharma and medical devices brings substantial life sciences and financial expertise to the Cynata Board, strengthening its capabilities,” Geoff Brooke said.

Cynata has agreed to grant 300,000 options to Dr Atkins for his work. Each option entitles the holder to subscribe for one fully paid ordinary Cynata share at an exercise price of 17.6 cents, a 45 per cent premium to the volume weighted average price (VWAP).

The options will be for a term of five years and will vest in equal monthly tranches over the first three years of Dr Atkins’ term as director.

Dr Stewart Washer will step down from his position as a Non-Executive Director.

CYP was down four per cent, trading at 12 cents at 3:14 pm AEST.

The company has promoted its Deputy CEO, Cris Moreno, to the role of Managing Director and CEO.

Mr Moreno has more than 20 years of global experience delivering major capital projects in the energy and chemicals sector.

“Since joining us as Deputy CEO in 2022, Cris Moreno has been instrumental in transforming Vulcan from a development-focused team into an integrated development, execution and production company, and has built up a highly capable project directorate,” Managing Director and CEO Dr Francis Wedin said.

“Importantly, he also has unique experience in the lithium chemicals and battery cathode industries in Europe.”

The appointment comes with a $600,000 annual salary plus superannuation, and long-term incentives worth up to 110 per cent of the total fixed remuneration in performance rights.

Mr Moreno said it’s a “privilege” to be leading the Vulcan team into its next chapter to empower a zero-carbon future.

“Our mission is clear: we are working hard to become Europe’s leading Zero Carbon Lithium business and enabling energy security through geothermal renewable energy,” he said.  

Meanwhile, Dr Wedin, who founded the Zero Carbon Lithium project, will continue in an executive capacity by moving to the role of Executive Chairman. There will be no material changes to his contract.

“I am moving to Executive Chair with the same, unchanged daily focus, to continue to drive the company forward and ensure we maintain our strategic direction and liaise with our stakeholders,” Dr Wedin explained.

Additionally, Gavin Rezos, Non-Executive Chair since 2019, will continue to serve on the Board as Non-Executive Deputy Chair.    

VUL was up 2.43 per cent and trading at $4.22 at 10:39 am AEST.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ report revealed there were 9000 less jobs in May than in February.

Interestingly, the biggest decrease was in the private sector, with 2.3 per cent less jobs, while the public sector held steady, employing only 0.3 per cent less workers.

There were also key Retail Trade figures from the ABS today showing that in April consumer spending plateaued.

Back to the market, and four of the 11 sectors saw decreases, dragged by utilities and real estate stocks.

Western Yilgarn (WYX) gained a 60 per cent uptick after uncovering targets at its Julimar West nickel-copper-platinum group element project in Western Australia.

Toys R Us (TOY) continued to climb, a day after executing a secure finance facility agreement with Tru Kids Inc. for up to US$2 million.

And mining contractor, Macmahon Holdings (MAH) has climbed after releasing its quarterly guidance, nearing its earnings margin target after narrowing its 2023 financial year guidance expectations.

The company now expects to deliver revenue of around $1.9 billion, with underlying operating earnings of between $113 million and $118 million. This sits at the higher end of its previous guidance range.

Nimy Resources (NIM) fell 44 per cent. The fall came despite the company’s recent geophysical results highlighting “strong” potential for anomalous lithium over “significant” widths at its Mons nickel project in WA.  

App creator, Tinybeans’ (TNY) shares decreased after the completion of an institutional entitlement offer and placement. The company’s Chair, Chantale Millard, said the funds will allow the company to unlock its next phase of growth.

And health stock, Invex Therapeutics (IXC) closed lower for a second day, after yesterday reporting lower-than-expected enrolments for its intracranial hypertension EVOLVE phase III trial.

The company set out to register 240 patients with newly diagnosed intracranial hypertension within a 24-month period. As of this week, the company had enrolled just 13. The company is now making amendments to the study.

Carly Holdings is offering a new way for car dealers to subscribe any of their vehicles to drivers without the need to establish their own subscription business. It’s expanded its service suite with CarlyNow, a direct-to-dealership car subscription service.

Carly’s CEO, Chris Noone joins me now. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Noone:

Thanks very much.

Julia Seymour:

Now Chris, firstly, how does Carly currently work with car dealers?

Chris Noone:

So we work with a number of automotive dealers throughout Australia. The way we work with them currently is that the automotive dealer will provide a list of cars to us. We will display them on our website. We will do the marketing. We will find the subscribers for the vehicles, collect the payments, do the verification checks, apply the insurance to the vehicle, and then we’ll let the dealer know that the customer is coming to collect that vehicle.

Now, typically, that customer will have the vehicle on average for around five and a half months. The dealer is responsible for preparing the car and handing it over to the customer, and then we manage the car while it’s on the road with the customer. We do the fleet management. We look after any insurance issues. We organise servicing as well. So that’s the current way that we operate with dealers. They have to dedicate a fleet of vehicles to our service, and we essentially do the marketing for those. That’s a little bit different to what we’re announcing with our new product.

Julia Seymour:

So Chris, tell us about your new product, CarlyNow.

Chris Noone:

So we announced CarlyNow a couple of weeks ago at the Australian Automotive Dealer Association Conference in Sydney, which was attended by over 800 automotive dealers. We announced this product because we wanted a simpler way for car dealers to meet their customers’ needs. So CarlyNow is an online app and it enables dealers to do their own subscriptions on their own vehicles. Essentially, it allows them to create a subscription on the fly by leveraging our technology, our platform, our services, our payment infrastructure, our ID verification services, and also our fleet management services as well. So the typical situation is that a customer could be talking to the dealer right now, they could be saying, oh, I’m not sure if I want to buy a car. Or they might have actually placed an order for a car, but it will take six months to be delivered.

With CarlyNow, the dealer can actually use CarlyNow to actually subscribe any other vehicle to that customer. So let’s say the customer’s ordered the blue car that will be available in six months. They can say, great, that vehicle’s ordered. We’ll see you in six months of that vehicle. In the meantime, we’ll give you exactly the same car, but it’s in red. We know it’s not your ideal colour, but we’ll give you that car. We’ll subscribe it to you through CarlyNow. And the customer is happy because they’ve got a vehicle. The dealer is happy because they’ve met the needs of that customer and they’re also generating revenue from one of their vehicles as well. There are other opportunities where customers might be thinking, oh, I’m not quite ready to buy, maybe I will, maybe I won’t. So the dealer could say, well, why don’t we subscribe a certain vehicle to you for a few months? The other opportunity is electric vehicles where people are not really sure if an electric vehicle will suit their needs. Once again, they can enter the customer’s details into CarlyNow into the vehicle details, and we can create the subscription and all the protections and services that come with the whole CarlyNow product. So it allows the dealer to take advantage of an immediate opportunity, capture a customer, monetise them, and keep them happy.

Julia Seymour:

And how will this benefit Carly shareholders?

Chris Noone:

This gives us another string to our bow, and it also allows us to clip the ticket of our car dealers who are entering the subscription market. So we operate a direct model where we have our own fleet of cars that we subscribe to customers. We also provide services to other companies that have their own fleets, such as automotive dealers, automotive manufacturers, and also fleet management companies. So we have direct income, but we also have this other income where we’re supporting others to enter the subscription business. So essentially the benefit for our shareholders is that it’s a substantially increased revenue potential with very little cost for our business.

Julia Seymour:

And are you confident this will be a success?

Chris Noone:

Certainly am. We’ve had great feedback at the conference a few weeks ago. We’ve been testing it in the market for quite a while now, and it already leverages many of the services that we’ve already proven in the market. So with vehicle delivery delays still continuing, some people concerned about the economy and whether they should take out a loan or finance, or whether they want a more flexible option like subscription, we think there are many reasons that dealers will really jump on this product.

Julia Seymour:

Chris Noone, Carly Holdings CEO. Thank you for joining me today.

Chris Noone:

Thanks very much. Great to be here.

The company has been drilling across five exploration target areas within its Canegrass battery minerals project in a bid to grow its mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 79 million tonnes at 0.64 per cent vanadium pentoxide.

To date, the company has drilled 13 holes for 2214 metres at the Kinks South target along a 1.1-kilometre trend.

The program returned multiple and consistent thick zones of massive magnetite, which is known to host vanadium mineralisation within the project.

Each hole encountered magnetic intervals, including four zones totalling 63 metres of strongly magnetic horizons, containing three bands totalling 42 metres of logged massive magnetite, remaining untested to the west and south.

It also struck three zones totalling 61 metres of strongly magnetic horizons containing four bands totalling 35 metres of logged massive magnetite.

“The drilling underway at Canegrass is delivering positive indications ahead of receiving assays,” Viking Mines Managing Director and CEO Julian Woodcock said.

“The Kinks South target area has the scale and potential to deliver substantial resources towards the company’s strategic objective of defining a high-grade resource greater than 30 million tonnes at more than 0.9 per cent vanadium oxide.”

The company’s 6000-metre drill program is due to continue, with assays expected to be returned throughout July and August.

VKA last traded at 1.1 cents.

Mr Simons joined the company following the recent acquisition of Vampr on June 1, taking on the role of Jaxsta Chief Strategy Officer. Following his promotion to CEO, he will continue to assume these responsibilities on top of the new leadership role.

Mr Simons co-founded Vampr in 2015, alongside Hunters and Collectors singer, Barry Palmer. As CEO, he transformed Vampr into the world’s largest social-professional network for musicians with 1.3 million users, colloquially described as the “LinkedIn for creatives.”  

WiseTech (WTC) Founder and CEO Richard White, who last week became a substantial shareholder in the company as part of its $3 million capital raise, said he’s had his eye on Mr Simons for several years during his tenure at Vampr.

“I have been impressed by his tenacity, focus, vision and particularly the ability to build a commercial model that grows and retains revenue and customers,” he said.

“Now that Vampr is a part of Jaxsta, Josh will, no doubt, contribute his drive, skills and experience to the larger business.”

The incoming CEO said he believes Jaxsta has a “clear vision” going into FY24.

“Revenue, cost efficiency and profitability remain the top priorities for Jaxsta and I look forward to building on the current momentum,” Mr Simmons said.

“We have the foundation for a transformational global music product as we continue to integrate Vampr into the business and scale the Vinyl.com platform.”

Mr Simons replaces Beth Appleton, who will step down from the CEO role immediately.

“The board thanks Beth for her significant contribution to Jaxsta during a period of growth and change,” Jaxsta Chair Linda Jenkinson said.

“We wish her all the best for her future.”

Ms Appleton has agreed to work with the board and Mr Simons to ensure a smooth transition.

JXT was down 3.57 per cent and trading at 5.4 cents at 10:47 am AEST.

Prader-Willi syndrome is a highly debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder, which is estimated to occur once in every 30,000 people. Along with very low muscle tone and feeding difficulties in infancy, the syndrome also causes an unregulated appetite, learning disabilities, sleep disturbances and gastrointestinal complications.

Neuren’s open-label, phase two trial will be conducted on up to 20 children aged between four and 12 years old with the condition, to examine the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of NEU’s NNZ-2591 drug over 13 weeks of treatment.

Each subject will receive two daily doses of the drug as an oral liquid.

In parallel with conducting the phase two trial, Neuren has planned to execute additional development work ahead of its next phase of trials.    

“The Neuren team is very excited to be working with the community to complete this important first study of NNZ-2591 in young children with Prader-Willi syndrome,” NEU CEO Jon Pilcher said.

“We are eager to assess the potential impact of NNZ-2591, having observed highly encouraging effects in the pre-clinical model.”

Concurrently, Neuren is conducting phase two trials of NNZ-2591 in children with three other neurodevelopmental disorders: Phelan-McDermid, Pitt Hopkins and Angelman syndromes.

Each of the four programs has been granted orphan drug designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are being developed under Investigational New Drug (IND) applications.

NEU was down 0.58 per cent, trading at $12.19 at 3:57 pm AEST.

The company announced it had entered a binding agreement with Welcome Exploration to acquire the tenements, which lie adjacent to both its Roebourne lithium project and Azure Minerals’ (AZS) Andover lithium discovery.

Raiden will hand over $50,000 for the purchase and will issue $365,000 worth of fully paid ordinary shares based on the 20-day volume weighted average price (VWAP).

Welcome’s 20 per cent equity interest will be free carried until a decision to mine has been announced.

Raiden reported that the acquisition would provide the company with a “significant and prospective” lithium exploration portfolio in the Andover Complex, spanning 39 square kilometres. The tenements are also considered prospective for nickel sulphide mineralisation.

“With a credit to Raiden’s management team, the company has managed to secure prospective ground, immediately adjacent to one of the most exciting lithium discovers this year,” RDN Managing Director Dusko Ljubojevic said.

“The project area is also considered highly prospective for nickel sulphide mineralisation, with two of the tenements being adjacent to the high-grade Andover/Ridgeline deposit.”

Raiden now looks to undertake a project-wide evaluation of the lithium-hosting pegmatite potential.

“Plans for evaluation and field work of these recent acquisitions, along with the remaining projects in the Pilbara, are ongoing and the Company will provide updates to the market as the results become available,” Mr Ljubojevic added.

Raiden Resources was up 14.3 per cent and trading at 0.8 cents at 1:13 pm AEST.