Meantime, the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) is up 0.3%.

On The Bull this week, market analysts revealed buy ratings on two mining shares at opposite ends of the market in terms of size.

One is the biggest ASX mining share on the market, the other is a micro-cap stock.

Let's take a look.

BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)

The BHP share price is $42.96 on Thursday, up 1.5% today and up 7.5% in the year to date.

Remo Greco from Sanlam Private Wealth has a buy rating on the ASX large-cap mining share.

Greco said the Sanlam team has been "lukewarm" on BHP shares for some time, but fundamental changes are now underway.

The analyst commented:

The new chairman Ross McEwan appears to be driving positive change, and the prize is a better balanced business with the copper division becoming more prominent.

As we've reported, the 'Big Australian' is now the world's largest copper producer.

In FY25, the red metal represented 45% of BHP's total underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA).

Greco said BHP dividends would likely stay around current levels as the miner reinvests more of its profits.

We're not overly concerned about dividends if the global miner generates share price growth.

This will depend on the company allocating its capital expenditure in a responsible and profitable manner.

We believe BHP can achieve this and suggest it's a worthy addition to portfolios at current levels.

BHP has a market capitalisation of $215 billion.

Maronan Metals Ltd (ASX: MMA)

Maronan Metals is a mineral explorer that owns the Maronan lead-silver and copper-gold deposit in Cloncurry, in Queensland's northwest.

At the time of writing, this ASX micro-cap mining share is 32 cents, up 5% today and up 43% in the year to date.

Tony Locantro of Alto Capital has a buy rating on Maronan Metals shares.

He says the miner's Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study for the Starter Zone of its Maronan deposit, released in September, indicated potential for a long-life and diversified polymetallic operation.

Locantro commented:

A strong economic case to develop the starter zone of the Maronan underground project in North Queensland has been delivered.

Both onsite processing and toll treating options were provided, with standalone life-of-mine (LOM) free cash flow of $683 million and pre-production capital expenditure of $266 million.

A regional toll treatment option assumes LOM cash flow of $595 million and pre-production capital expenditure of $98 million.

Maronan Metals says the starter zone represents approximately 22% of the deposit's silver-lead mineral resource estimates and less than 10% of its copper-gold estimates.

On the company website, Maronan says:

The team at Maronan are working hard to "turn a discovery into a mine".

Since IPO in 2022, over 27,000m of new drilling has been completed which has fed into the recently announced 2025 updates to the project's mineral resource estimates.

The inferred and indicated silver-lead mineral resource estimate at Maronan is 33.1Mt at 6% lead (Pb) and 108g/t silver.

The starter zone has an indicated 5.3Mt at 5.2% lead and 116g/t silver, and an inferred 6.9Mt at 4.8% lead and 109g/t silver.

The inferred and indicated copper-gold mineral resource at Maronan is 32Mt at 0.85% copper, 0.63g/t Gold, and 7g/t silver.

Looking ahead, Locantro concluded: "We see strong resource growth and conversion from inferred to indicated as a key driver."

Maronan Metals has a market capitalisation of $75.5 million.

The post 1 large-cap and 1 micro-cap ASX mining share to buy: experts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Motley Fool chats with the best in the industry so that you can get an insight into how the professionals think. In this edition, Alto Capital investment advisor Tony Locantro discusses two ASX shares that are ready to break out.

Hottest ASX shares

The Motley Fool: What are the two best stock buys right now?

Tony Locantro: Proteomics International Laboratories Ltd (ASX: PIQ), they're in the mid-eighties [cents]. They have developed the PromarkerD test which can pick up a diabetic kidney disease before it happens, well in advance. The science is proven. 

They just need to roll that out, [and] look at reimbursements. They've been able to manufacture 50,000 components to get that test out. 

They've announced some licensing of an esophageal cancer test as well. They're working on that. And recently, they came out with some positive biomarkers for endometriosis, which affects one in nine women, and this could lead to the world's first non-invasive test because it does take years to diagnose.

The company has some laboratory services which it provides, and the revenue matches the cash burn but you think that their expenditure will increase. The market cap is undemanding at around $85 million. Solid management that owns a lot of the company and I think it has outstanding growth. 

It's an outstanding growth opportunity in the biotech sector. 

The second stock I'm buying is a company called Maronan Metals Limited (ASX: MMA). I should disclose that I was heavily involved in the initial public offering (IPO) at 20 cents. The stock is now trading at 34 cents.

​​So, they're about to drill at the Maronan lead, silver and copper gold resource in the Cloncurry region of North Queensland. It is already a sizable resource that requires deeper drilling to expand on the 30 million tonnes at 6.5% lead. That includes a hundred million ounces of silver. They also have a separate copper gold resource that's around 11 million tonnes for 300,000 ounces of gold and some copper.

It's in that vicinity of other major mines, and it could be part of a consolidation play in North Queensland. And the company's capped around $50 million and has recently raised $15 million in its IPO. 

Again, we have extensive holdings, but it's one of these companies that has an existing resource. The grades do get better with depth, so they're trying to basically drill and increase the resource. There was a mining study completed in 2016, which showed favourable mining optics. 

So, highly speculative, but those are my two best buys on the market at the moment.

MF: With these minerals companies, are you ever worried about the cyclical nature of commodity prices?

TL: No.

MF: Because they're mainly exploratory companies that you're looking at?

TL: Yeah. 

At the moment, a lot of these mining companies are being hit with COVID issues. They've been hit with cost blowouts. A lot of the gold producers are now having to add dollars to their all-in sustaining cost. 

But my theory is that a good resource will override any commodity price or cycle. And even though they're higher risk, you're still in that exploration phase where you've got to move through DFS [definitive feasibility studies] really to get towards production.

So a big resource, I think it's going to be valued, and it should be noted that around 80% of the mines in Australia are discoveries made around 1980 or [before] that, so there hasn't been a lot of major discoveries and those that are made are rewarded with good re-ratings.

The post 2 'outstanding' small-cap ASX shares that could explode: expert appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.