In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is fighting hard to stay in positive territory. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up a fraction to 7,480.8 points.

Four ASX shares that haven't fared as well today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

The A2 Milk share price is down 4.5% to $4.80. This decline appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Credit Suisse this morning. In response to lockdowns in China and lower birth rate assumptions, its analysts have trimmed their earnings estimates and valuation accordingly. The broker has retained its neutral rating and cut its price target down by 10% to $5.15.

Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (AX: IXR)

The Ionic Rare Earths share price is down 5% to 7.8 cents. This morning the rare earths explorer announced the completion of a $30 million institutional placement. These funds were raised a 7.4 cents per new share, which represents a 10% discount to its last close price. Ionic will use the proceeds for a number of activities including completing the Makuutu Feasibility Study and its application for a mining licence.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

The Pilbara Minerals share price is down 3.5% to $3.08. This morning the lithium miner provided an update on its joint venture with Korea's Posco. The two companies will push ahead with the construction of a downstream lithium chemicals conversion facility in South Korea. Management believes the facility will put it in a very strong position to participate as one of the few near-term lithium fine chemicals producers with underwritten raw materials supply. However, the cost of the facility was higher than previous estimates.

Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX: TYR)

The Tyro share price is down 4% to $1.49. This follows weakness in the tech sector, which has offset the release of the payments company's weekly trading update. The latter revealed that payment volumes were up 53% over the prior corresponding period last week.

The post Why A2 Milk, Ionic Rare Earths, Pilbara Minerals, and Tyro shares are dropping appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has once again gotten out on the wrong side of the bed today and has opened lower. At the time of writing, the All Ords is down by 0.45% at 7,753 points. So perhaps enthusiasts of the Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: IXR) share price might be feeling pleased that the company isn't trading today. Ionic Rare Earths is currently stuck at 8.2 cents per share. And that's the level it will be staying at, at least for now.

Yes, Ionic Rare Earths shares are currently in a trading halt. This comes after the company put out an ASX notice this morning before market open confirming the halt.

We don't know too much at this stage, but here's what the company said this morning:

In accordance with Listing Rule 17.1 Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX: IXR) requests an immediate trading halt on its securities pending an announcement by the Company regarding a capital raising. 

The Company requests the trading halt remain in place until the earlier of commencement of normal trading on Monday, 11th April 2022 or when the announcement concerning the capital raising is released to the market.

So we know this is the result of a planned capital raising program, but that's about it at this stage.

A capital raising program is one way a company can raise additional capital to reinvest into its business. Or indeed for any other purpose it sees fit. A popular method is via a share purchase plan. This is where existing investors can apply for new shares at what is usually a discounted price.

But we shall have to wait and see what the company has to say on this matter before we can be certain. Until then, it's a waiting game for investors.

Ionic Rare Earths share price snapshot

Before today's halt, Ionic Rare Earths shares had been on a bit of a tear. The company has risen a pleasing 64% so far in 2022, rising from 5 cents a share at the start of the year to yesterday's 8.2 cents. Ionic Rare Earths is also up a healthy 36.67% in the past month alone.

Over the past five years, investors have enjoyed gains worth a whopping 310%.

At the last traded Ionic Rare Earths share price, this company has a market capitalisation of $279.69 million.

The post Why is the Ionic Rare Earths share price frozen today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: IXR) share price is on fire this week.

Shares in the rare earths explorer are up nearly 13% since the start of the week, currently swapping hands at 5.2 cents. In afternoon trade, shares are up 6% on yesterday's closing price. In early trading, they were as high as 5.6 cents.

Let's take a look at what might be helping this company's shares this week.

Exploring for rare earths

The Ionic Rare Earths share price is soaring on the back of a drilling update released to the market on 6 January. Ionic is exploring rare earths at the Makuutu rare earths project in Uganda.

Also impacting the share price could be increasing global demand for clean energy products. Rare earths are an integral component of the magnets found in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

The Ionic share price has jumped more than 10% between market close on 5 January and the current price.

The company said drilling results from the phase four drill program affirmed Makuutu is an ionic adsorption clay-hosted rare earth element project.

All of the 75 drill holes showed "clay and saprolite mineralisation intersections above the cut-off grade of 200 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide less CeO2".

Ionic Rare Earths said the project is one of only a few confirmed ionic adsorption clay deposits in the world outside of China.

Management commentary

Commenting on the results driving the Ionic Rare Earths share price, managing director Tim Harrison said:

Thickness of mineralised clay and minimal cover is crucial to minimising the opex [operating expenses] cost, and Makuutu continues to deliver with results from this batch reporting approximately 25% of the intercepts within the Makuutu Central Zone exceeding 20m thick, and over 85% greater than 10 metres thick.

The 100% strike rate in these results bodes well for what we think will be a very positive year ahead for Makuutu as we advance towards a considerable increase in resource confidence over the next few months and drive Makuutu towards a completion of the feasibility study and a mining licence application by October 2022.

Ionic Rare Earths share price snapshot

The Ionic Rare Earths share price has soared 136% in the past 12 months.

In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned more than 11% to investors over the same time frame.

The company commands a market capitalisation of roughly $181 million based on the current share price.

The post Here's why the Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) share price is having such a stellar week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: IXR) share price is taking off after the company announced its plan to acquire a rare earth technology developer.

The company has entered into a binding term sheet to purchase Seren Technologies Limited (SerenTech). It is now undergoing due diligence for the acquisition.  

At the time of writing, the Ionic Rare Earths share price is 4.55 cents, 10.98% higher than its previous close.

Let's take a closer look at the takeover offer.  

Ionic Rare Earth share price soars on proposed acquisition

The market's bidding the Ionic Rare Earths share price higher after the company announced an acquisition set to cost upwards of US$2.5 million.

SerenTech is a private company based in the United Kingdom. It has developed a unique rare earth separation technology.

The technology uses multifunctional amide ionic liquids to separate and refine rare earth elements. The resulting products have had more than 99.99% rare earth oxide purity at pilot scale.

Additionally, it can refine to high purity levels using mining ore concentrate or permanent magnet recycling.

It has demonstrated it can separate magnet rare earths – neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium – for modest capital requirements.

As a result, the company believes the technology will allow it to sell recycled magnetic rare earths to key markets in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Under the acquisition's terms, the company will pay US$1 million cash to SerenTech's owners.

It will also provide them with 48 million new shares. If valued at 4.4 cents apiece, the shares are worth US$1.5 million.

On top of that, the deal could see Ionic Rare Earths paying the sellers 2 milestone payments, together worth up to US$1.5 million.  

The acquisition is conditional on Ionic Rare Earths completing its due diligence. It's expected to go ahead in the second quarter of 2022.

Right now, the Ionic Rare Earths share price is 170% higher than it was at the start of 2021.

What did management say?

Ionic Rare Earths managing director Tim Harrison commented on the technology:

[SerenTech will advance] the company's plan to unlock additional value from the unique critical and heavy rare earth basket to be produced at Makuutu.

Importantly, there is immediate potential to roll out a strategy incorporating permanent magnet recycling into the near-term activities of the company, providing an interim step to help bridge the gap between production at Makuutu and going downstream with our own dedicated separation and refining asset.

The post Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) share price leaps 11% on acquisition news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: IXR) share price is diving today after the company released the results of a completed scoping study.

During late afternoon trade, the mineral exploration company's shares are going for 3.8 cents, down 19%.

What did Ionic Rare Earths announce?

Investors are heading for the hills, sending Ionic Rare Earths shares south after digest the company's latest update.

According to its release, Ionic Rare Earths advised it has received positive results from its Makuutu scoping study. The results obtained showed the potential to develop a sustainable, long-life, critical rare earth supply to international markets.

The study looked at an open-pit mine running a modular heap leach operation to create a mixed rare earth carbonate product. The base case scoping study considered running the mine over an initial period of 11 years.

Within the first year, production output could achieve 800 tonnes of rare earth oxide equivalent product. However, as more modules are added, the study assumes production could reach up to 3,800 tonnes in year 11.

The life of the mine is expected to deliver earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $1.71 billion. In addition, post tax free cash flow would total $1.02 billion, with a net present value of $428 million.

Pre-production capital expenditure is projected to cost approximately US$89 million for the first module. Expanding operations to cater for the second module is forecasted to be about US$40 million. Thereafter, adding modules from 2 to 5 would amount to US$172 million funded by the company's project cash flow.

Ionic Rare Earths declared a strong cash position of more than $12 million for the end of March.

More on the Makuutu Rare Earths project

Located 120 kilometres east of Kampala in Uganda, the Makuutu Rare Earths project is an ionic adsorption clay-hosted rare earth element deposit. The project is 100% owned by Rwenzori Rare Metals Ltd., a private Ugandan company. However, Ionic Rare Earths has acquired a 51% shareholding in Rwenzori Rare Metals.

The Makuutu project consists of 5 licences and is serviced by infrastructure such as roads, rail, power, and cell communications.

Words from the managing director

Ionic Rare Earths managing director, Tim Harrison commented on the result, saying:

The completion of this study with its positive project economics represents a critical milestone for the company. Combining the long life potential, with the low-cost modular capital development and high margin basket potential at Makuutu, confirms the project as one of the best potential new sources of critical and heavy rare earths in the near term.

We see this project as technically and financially robust and eminently financeable, and the company has received strong expressions of interest from strategic parties interested in accessing Makuutu's unique basket composition that contains approximately 70—75% critical and heavy rare earths.

Looking ahead, Mr Harrison further commented on the company's strategic direction, adding:

…We now move formally towards the BFS (Bankable Feasibility Study) which we plan to complete by Q3 2022, prior to submitting the Mining Licence in October 2022 that will allow us to make a Final Investment Decision with a low capital development threshold, and capable of generating strong shareholder returns over a long-life operation at Makuutu.

About the Ionic Rare Earths share price

Over the past 12 months, the Ionic Rare Earths share price has gained over 560%, with year-to-date performance sitting above 130%. The company's shares reached a multi-year high of 6.5 cents earlier this month before profit-taking swooped in.

At today's price, Ionic Rare Earths commands a market capitalisation of roughly $127 million, with 3.1 billion shares on issue.

The post Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) share price plummets 19% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: IXR) share price was flying earlier today after the company announced a new partnership with a Chinese minerals' explorer.

This morning, shares in the mineral exploration company were up 14.29% to hit a 5-year record of 6.8 cents each.

Since then, the Ionic share price has plunged the red, closing down 1.79%, at 5.5 cents. In comparison, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) was up 0.5%.

Let's take a closer look at Ionic's new partnership.

What's driving the Ionic share price?

In today's release, Ionic announced it had signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Aluminium Corporation of China subsidiary, Chinalco.

The MOU relates to Ionic's rare earth's project in Makuutu, Uganda. Ionic claims resources at the site cover an area of 20km to 37km and could have a timeframe of at least 30 years.

According to the release, Chinalco has conducted "extensive" due diligence works on the site over the past year. This includes assessing local infrastructure, drilling results, and Ugandan regulations. 

As part of the MOU, Ionic and Chinalco have agreed to use "reasonable endeavours" to cooperate in accelerating the development of the Makuutu project. As well, Chinalco may be able to invest in future Ionic projects, including direct investments in the Makuutu project. Chinalco is described as "the largest rare-earths miner and separator on the planet by market capitalisation".

Most of the MOU is non-binding except for some provisions, and the exclusivity portion will expire in 12 months. Despite the exclusivity clause, Ionic reserves the right to continue discussions with third parties that began before the MOU was signed.

Management commentary

Ionic managing director Tim Harrison welcomed today's announcement, saying:

We are very pleased to have signed this MOU which, further endorses the quality of the project and its strategic importance and will now enable the Makuutu Rare Earths Project to rapidly advance activities in the near term. 

We see Makuutu rapidly growing into a very large, long life producer of critical and heavy rare earths. Partnering with Chinalco potentially fast tracks the development process for Makuutu and will greatly assist in value creation for Ionic.

Foolish takeaway

The Ionic share price has gone gangbusters over the last 12 months increasing by 1,060%.

The price of many rare earth minerals has also climbed dramatically recently, as western nations look to secure their own supply of the vital metals.

Rare earth minerals have a variety of applications including magnets and super magnets, electronic equipment and batteries, according to Geoscience Australia.

The post Why the Ionic Rare Earths (ASX:IXR) share price hit a 5-year high today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.