Andrew Todd

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Mount Ridley Mines, which unearthed a monster 24,584-tonne gallium resource from its WA clay rare earths project. Eden Innovations cashed in on AI data centre fever, Whitebark Energy breathed new life into its Warro gas behemoth with giant dry gas-zone revelations and Pivotal Metals pocketed $5.4m to drill Quebec's copper-nickel veins as the red metal hits record highs.

Thunderbird Resources is approaching the final verdict on its Slasher Flats gold acquisition in Central NSW, with the Springfield gold deposit emerging as a leading contender for early drilling. The company says the existing known high-grade hits are likely just a slice of a much bigger system that is still begging for the drill bit at Springfield. With historically limited shallow drilling having already delivered thick, near-surface gold, Thunderbird says its prospects are likely to continue to considerable depths.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Investment house ASF Group, which sent the market nuts after entering the crypto space, rocketing 4900% before the ASX pulled the plug. Vectus Biosystems followed with a sharp biotech bounce, licensing its fibrosis-fighter to NASDAQ-listed XORTX. Hawk Resources swooped into WA's scandium spotlight and Thor Energy lit up the uranium charts with a no-cost US waste-recovery deal.

Ora Banda Mining has drilled into fresh high-grade gold at its Little Gem and Riverina Deeps discoveries in Western Australia's Goldfield region, with thick high-grade hits like 25.6m at 4.3 grams per tonne gold. The results stretch the near-mine mineralisation both along strike and at depth at the prospects. They will eventually tie into the company's flagship Riverina mining camp and extend its overall project life.

Ora Banda Mining has delivered a cracking September quarter, smashing records and adding $38.5 million in cash to its mounting $122.7 million money pile. The company also dropped all-in sustaining costs for its gold by 20 per cent to just $2872 as ounce capped off a successful quarter.

Dateline Resources MD Stephen Baghdadi has pumped another $277,000 into Dateline, bringing his total personal investment in the company just since June to $1.35m, boosting his stake to 12 per cent of the $1.3b company. Dateline's Colosseum project in the USA has driven a market frenzy this year, with punters liking both its gold endowment and its potential for rare earths.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Entertainment Rewards, after it copped a fat takeover bid from its top shareholder at ten times its market value. Litchfield hit a copper-zinc monster in the Top End, Morella Corp pulled near-perfect rubidium from its WA pegmatites and TrivarX nabbed brain cancer imaging IP, backed by a biotech bigwig, showing small caps can shine amid gold's glare and global jitters.

In a sign that US critical minerals have reached fever pitch, American West Metals' share price exploded just minutes after announcing a $7m capital raise to fund work on its massive indium resource at the company's West Desert project in Utah. The company's share price ran from 4.9c at last close to touch 9.8c at one stage.

Pilot Energy has inked a deal with United Arab Emirates-based Kala Data to launch modular data centres at its Arrowsmith production facility in Western Australia's Perth Basin. With Cliff Head's oil production winding down, 90 per cent of Arrowsmith's 4.4-megawatt gas-fired power capacity sits idle and is ripe for repurposing into a initial 1MW modular data centre at the project.

Siren Gold has fired up the rigs at its flagship Sams Creek gold project in New Zealand's Tasman district, launching 7000m of drilling to beef up its gold resource. With a mining permit decision looming and a scoping study on the horizon, the company is betting big on its ability to stack more ounces on its already sizeable 824,000 ounce endowment.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Infini Resources after it nailed eye-popping uranium visuals and XRF hits from its Canadian drill blitz at Portland Creek. Xstate Resources struck a gas column jackpot deep in Queensland's Surat-Bowen Basin, Pure Foods Tasmania's gourmet pâté stormed Coles' national shelves with a tenfold order boom and Battery Age Minerals got the green light to drill its high-grade gold-silver beast in Argentina, proving small caps can thrive on metals mania and geopolitical fireworks.

Ora Banda Mining has jumped out the gates to kick off the financial year, with a record 30,595-ounce gold quarter. The company banked a hefty $38.5 million in free cash flow, pushing its piles of cash to $122.7 million. Ora Banda says its Sand King underground mine ramp-up is now humming, after FY25's heavy capital injection, where it expects even more gold to flow for the quarter to 2026 ahead.

Solara Minerals now has boots on the ground and is soil sampling at its newest Wilgeena gold project in Western Australia's burgeoning Murchison gold region. The company says it is targeting gold anomalism within its Peak Hill schists, host to its neighbouring 114,000-ounce Hermes South deposit as Solara looks to join the regions gold resurgence.

Chariot Corporation has thrown its hat in the ring for a dual listing on the United States OTCQB Venture Market, as the Trump administration moves to secure its domestic lithium stakes in nearby players. Chariot's decision comes hot on the heels of growing buzz from US investors eyeing the company's Wyoming and Nevada lithium projects and several successful Australian OTC listings successes.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Everlast Minerals, after the newbie blasted onto the boards with a $6 million oversubscribed IPO for its Bangladesh mineral sands play. Finder Energy's Timor Sea oil farm-in with national heavyweight TIMOR GAP slashed the funding hurdles for first gushers, Environmental Clean Technologies zapped into the forever chemicals fight by grabbing Rice University's flash heating tech, and Swift Networks' tie-up with aged care giant Opal HealthCare unlocked screens and upsold cash amid regulatory rewrites.

Dateline Resources has landed a cracking validation at its Colosseum gold-rare earths project in California, with a second geophysics survey confirming a standout carbonatite rare earths target. The fresh results double down on the project's potential to deliver a major rare earths discovery. Drilling continues at the white-hot United States play.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Stakk Limited, after it inked a blockbuster Robinhood deal to power its banking push with embedded finance tech. Carnegie Clean Energy's wave power whiz caught some US OTC buzz without a whisper of news, Lord Resources' copper visuals at Ilgarari sparked a drilling frenzy in WA, and Kula Gold's visible gold hits at Mt Palmer lit up the Southern Cross goldfields amid small-cap fireworks and resource blues.

Buru Energy has clinched the environmental nod from the Western Australian government for its Kimberley gas resource appraisal campaign in early 2026. The well environmental plan greenlights the company's next steps in unlocking the project in the Canning Basin, paving the way to drilling in the first half of next year.

Octava Minerals is forging ahead on its dual-pronged assault on copper and critical minerals, announcing ambitious drill programs and geophysical surveys at its Sweeney's copper-zinc-silver-tin prospect within the Federation project in Tasmania. With boots on the ground and rigs powering up, the junior explorer is progressing exploration at Federation's Sweeneys prospect for the first time in four decades.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… 333D Limited, after it revealed a new Bitcoin moonshot policy to complement its digital asset management efforts. Imagion Biosystem's cancer imaging comeback is close to starting a pivotal phase two cancer trial, Zenith Minerals turned up a potentially monster gold discovery in Queensland and Locksley Resources' Trump-fuelled critical minerals bet added 249 claims to its California project.

St George Mining has forged a strategic alliance with United States-based magnet materials group REAlloys to commercialise its high-grade Araxá rare earths project in Brazil. The company's memorandum of understanding with REAlloys opens the door to collaboration on metallurgical test work, tech reviews and processing optimisation with the industry specialist.

Dateline Resources has launched a 10,000m drilling assault at its 1.1-million-ounce Colosseum project in California, targeting both gold and rare earths discoveries through to the end of this year. The company says its program of infill and extensional drilling around Colosseum's existing gold resources will feed into its ongoing and accelerated bankable feasibility study, due early next year.

Aurum Resources has nailed early diamond hole results at its Tchaga gold deposit in Cote d'Ivoire, signalling strong potential for resource growth at depth for its emerging asset. The first two diamond holes at Tchage, within its smaller 870,000-ounce Napie gold project, have extended known gold mineralisation to 340 metres below surface - nearly tripling the area's previous known depth of mineralisation.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… 4DMedical Limited, after the lung imaging tech dynamo secured sweeping FDA and US Medicaid approvals. ABx's ionic clay coup, SenSen's AI urban edge and Middle Island's takeover-tinted Serbian play showed juniors can steal the spotlight in a market spooked by US indicators. With gold blazing, biotechs bleeding and China's military flexing, these Runners are riding a choppy terrain to small caps stardom.

Ora Banda Mining has intercepted even more bonanza grade gold at its Waihi deposit in the company's Davyhurst project in Western Australia's Goldfields, intercepting up to 159 grams per tonne of gold at depth. Hard on the heels of recent high-grade discoveries reported from its 7.5-kilometre-long Round Dam trend, early results are pointing at Waihi's potential to become the company's third underground gold mine.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Invictus Energy. The company's stock soared after a Qatari-backed Sheikh made a major African gas grab for its monster Cobora gas project. Basin Energy was also in the spotlight after acquiring a Queensland uranium-rare earth double act while Ark Mine's and TechGen also sizzled, all combining to take out this week's Bulls N' Bears Runners of the week.

Ora Banda Mining has ignited exploration near Menzies with a breakthrough at its Round Dam trend in Western Australia's Goldfields. Early results from a 62,000m drilling assault have uncovered a potentially transformative gold system along the 7.5km Round Dam, just 3.5km from the company's 1.2 million tonne per annum Davyhurst mill.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Kaili Resources, after its share price broke records by flying up 8333% in a day on news of it was drilling for rare earths in South Australia. Magnetite Mines flew too on its own SA rare earths project, also on the Lime Coast, Argent Biopharma acquired a set of cannabis biotech ahead of a targeted US listing and Octava revealed a microbe-based bioleaching breakthrough at its lithium-rare earths play in WA's Gascoyne region.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… OD6 Metals, after it unveiled a low capex, lower-cost product from its mammoth Splinter Rock rare earth project near Esperance. Mount Ridley Mines rode the rare earths coattails based on its nearology to OD6 in the rare earths region, ActivePort Group launched an Australian first private cloud superhighway and Energy Transition Minerals shot up on a 60 Minutes story on its monster Greenland rare earths project.

Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Rhythm Biosciences, after it after it revealed promising results from a study of its simple bowel cancer diagnostic blood test. Roolife Group inked a blockbuster e-commerce partnership supply agreement with multi-national Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management, Waratah Resources unveiled a 208m intersection of high-grade gold in NSW land of the copper-gold giants, and Lindian resources secured a funding and offtake partnership with Iluka Resources to lock-in a domestic rare earths supply.

Lindian Resources has forged a multi-pronged major offtake agreement, cornerstone funding and strategic partnership with global critical minerals heavyweight Iluka Resources to push its world-class Kangankunde project in Malawi towards first production. The seismic deal for the company cements Kangankunde as one of the pre-eminent rare earths developments on the planet, as Iluka scrambles to lock in a strategic rare earths supply for Australia.

Aguia Resources is charging into the new financial year with its dual-commodity strategy, after delivering its first gold sales from its flagship Santa Barbara project in Colombia. The company says it is laying the groundwork for next up phosphate production in Brazil's agricultural heartland, as it reported a promising start to its gold bullion journey.