In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has given back its intraday gains and slipped into the red. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down slightly to 6,772.5 points.
Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
The Pilbara Minerals share price is down 4% to $3.66. This may have been driven by a broker note out of UBS. Its analysts have downgraded the company's shares to a sell rating with a $3.45 price target after taking an axe to their lithium price forecasts.
Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS)
The Ramelius share price is down 2% to $1.64. This may also have been driven by broker downgrade. According to a note out of Macquarie, its analysts have downgraded the gold miner's shares to a neutral rating with a $1.70 price target. This follows a mixed quarterly update from Ramelius.
St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM)
The St Barbara share price is down over 7% to 18 cents. Investors have been hitting the sell button after the gold miner released a very poor quarterly update. St Barbara posted a 59% quarter on quarter reduction gold production to 16,859 ounces with an all-in sustaining cost of A$4,548 per ounce. As a comparison, the gold price is currently in the region of A$3,000 per ounce. This means it cost more for St Barbara to get gold out of the ground than it receives for it.
Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)
The Sayona Mining share price is down over 7% to 7.5 cents. This may be due to broad weakness in the lithium industry. In addition, yesterday the company released its quarterly update. Sayona Mining reported a 6% increase in spodumene concentrate production to 31,486 tonnes with a unit operating cost of A$1,231 per tonne. As a comparison, Pilbara Minerals reported a unit operating cost of A$747 per tonne in the last quarter.
