September Report

The Fund returned 15.3% in September, buoyed by positive sentiment towards critical minerals mining and processing.

Metallium rose 48% after receiving a modest US$100,000 grant from a US Government SBIR program. Importantly, this opens the door to much larger grants in the future. The focus of the grant is on gallium recovery from gallium-rich e-waste. Gallium exports from China to the US were banned last year, and the price has since increased fourfold to US$1.2 million per tonne. This strategically important metal—of which the US produces very little—is used in high-speed, low-power data centre semiconductors and is critical to the AI arms race.

The company also announced a collaboration with Canadian-listed Ucore in rare earth oxide separation. Currently, most downstream rare earth processing is conducted by Chinese companies such as China Northern Rare Earth, MP Materials (US), and Lynas Rare Earths (Australia). MTM and Ucore offer a potential pathway for other companies to process their materials, although Ucore’s first plant in Louisiana is not expected to be operational until mid-next year.

Brazilian Rare Earths rose 60% after announcing government approval for a rare earth pilot plant in Brazil and a major new discovery at its Sulista project. The pilot plant approval is an important indicator of government support for the project, despite its uranium content. It should be noted that Brazil operates three nuclear reactors and is a net importer of uranium, which it seeks to displace with domestic production. The Sulista discovery confirms that the original Monte Alto deposit is not the only high-grade deposit on the company’s vast 1,800 sq km tenement. It also enables the company to increase the size of its future processing plant, improving economies of scale.

The Fund’s largest holding, IperionX, rose 14% after announcing detailed capacity expansion plans—initially to 1,400 tonnes in 2027 and 10,000 tonnes by 2030. The US currently consumes about 100,000 tonnes of titanium per year, suggesting substantial room for growth. At 1,400 tonnes, the company expects to generate approximately US$100 million of EBITDA at the low end of its forecast range and US$450 million at the high end. While prices are likely to decline as volumes scale, 10,000 tonnes could yield around US$1 billion of EBITDA.

Howmet, the largest company in the titanium industry, trades on around 30x EV/EBITDA, so even allowing for a significant discount, it is easy to see how IperionX could become a much larger company than its current US$1.8 billion market cap. We note that there are some highly speculative US-listed critical minerals companies, such as TMC, which plans to mine ocean-floor nodules and is valued at US$3.6 billion.

Australian radiotheranostic developer Clarity Pharmaceuticals rose 20% on expectations of imminent CoPSMA study data, which will compare Telix and Clarity’s prostate cancer diagnostics.

On the negative side, Australian biotech Alterity Therapeutics, which is developing a drug for the degenerative disorder Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), fell 35% despite raising A$20 million and releasing a market study estimating peak sales potential of US$2.4 billion for its lead drug ATH434, a figure that compares very favourably to the company’s current A$120 million market capitalisation.

Australian cardiac resynchronisation therapy device company EBR Systems fell 10%, despite receiving US reimbursement approval for its device, clearing the way for strong revenue growth in 2026.