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Horseshoe Metals (ASX: HOR) was a big mover after kicking off direct shipping ore (DSO) operations at the Horseshoe Lights copper project in Western Australia. The move returns activity to a past-producing copper-gold operation in the state's Murchison region, and DSO — ore of a grade high enough to be sold with minimal processing — is the vehicle for a staged entry to production. The company plans to stockpile and sell high-grade DSO material in 500-tonne batches at a time, with the first two stockpiles expected to be sold in October and December respectively.

Steven Sickerdick, GM – Oxide Copper Operations, described the development as a key milestone in bringing the under-developed HSL project back into production, with a staged and low capex/opex operation planned. "Today's announcement represents the first step in bringing HSL back into production," he said.

HOR rocketed up by 28.6% to 3.6¢.

Avita Medical (ASX: AVH), a leading therapeutic acute wound care company best known for its RECELL burn-treatment technology, is being closely watched on HotCopper after reporting positive results from its PermeaDerm-I clinical study. The study demonstrated that PermeaDerm, a biosynthetic wound matrix candidate, delivered clinically comparable outcomes to cadaveric allograft while reducing product cost by 70%. Cadaveric allograft — donated human skin used to cover severe wounds — is a longstanding option in acute wound care, but it carries cost, availability and handling constraints.

"The PermeaDerm-I study establishes compelling clinical and economic evidence supporting PermeaDerm as a modern alternative to allograft," said Cary Vance, president and CEO of AVITA Medical. "By combining comparable clinical performance with meaningful economic value and a simpler workflow, we believe PermeaDerm addresses an important need for hospitals while strengthening AVITA's differentiated acute wound care portfolio."

AVH was up 23.2% to $2.71 at the time of going to press.

DXN (ASX: DXN) attracted strong interest on news it has been awarded an approximately $4.1 million contract by Australia Pacific Airports, the operator of Melbourne Airport, for the supply of a prefabricated Edge data centre facility. Edge data centres are compact facilities sited close to the operations they serve, in contrast to large centralised campuses, and prefabricated construction — where the facility is built off-site and delivered ready to run — is an approach designed for locations where disruption must be kept to a minimum.

MD Shalini Lagrutta said Melbourne Airport is precisely the kind of Edge site where the company's model delivers the most value. "Critical ICT infrastructure needs to sit close to the operations it supports, and it must be delivered without disrupting an airport that runs around the clock.

"By building the facility in our factory and delivering it fully constructed and pre-tested, we take most of the risk off the customer's site and compress a program that would traditionally take years into months. We are seeing more and more customers reach the same conclusion; that prefabrication is the faster route to new capacity, and the better-quality one, compared with a multi-year upgrade of an existing facility."

DXN jumped 23.1% to 24.0¢.

Turning to the broader market, the S&P/ASX 200 opened lower today, dropping 36.40 points, or 0.40%, to 9,033.60. The bottom-performing stocks were Data#3 and Breville Group, down 6.15% and 5.74% respectively. The index has lost 1.91% over the last five days but sits 2.83% below its 52-week high.

Meanwhile, in resource news, an EIS — the formal environmental impact assessment step required before major Queensland resource projects can be granted approvals — has been prepared by Stanmore ID Extension for the proposed Isaac Downs Extension (IDE) project. The project would involve the development of an open-cut coal mine pit as an extension of the Isaac Downs Mine (IDM), part of the Isaac Plains Complex in Queensland's Bowen Basin, the state's premier coal-producing region. Approximately 46 million tonnes of run-of-mine (ROM) coal would be mined over 15 years, at approximately two million and 4.5 million tonnes per annum. The project would utilise existing infrastructure at IDM, including the coal handling and preparation plant and train load-out.

That's Wednesday's HotCopper Market Trends — I'm Colin Sandell-Hay. See you for close.

The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.