Doug Bright

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has chalked up encouraging results from maiden diamond drilling of its Kirgella Gift and Providence deposits at the company's Pinjin gold project, 140 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia's prospective Laverton Tectonic Zone. While good gold was intercepted in all holes, the real kicker is confirmation that the Pinjin system doesn't end shallow, with primary orogenic mineralisation extending well beyond previous drill limits.

Horizon Minerals has delivered a timely boost to its gold credentials, lifting its total mineral gold inventory by 6.5 per cent to a chunky 1.88 million ounces. A buoyant gold price has allowed the company to redraw its economic lines, capturing a swathe of lower-grade ounces and strengthening the development runway for its Kalgoorlie-centred Black Swan gold processing hub.

Dateline Resources has reported strong step-out drilling results at its Colosseum project in California. Best hits included 150m at 1.39g/t gold from surface, featuring a 55-metre section grading 2.83g/t gold. The hole targeted the northeast extension of the North Pipe breccia system beyond the current mineral resource boundary and ended in mineralisation, confirming the system remains open at depth.

BMG Resources is set to kick off a major 10,000m diamond drilling resource expansion program this month at its Abercromby gold project, 30km southeast of Wiluna in WA's eastern goldfields. The program is primarily aimed at expanding the existing 518,000 ounce gold resource estimate at the project and will be the first significant drilling at the project since the definition of the maiden resource estimate in 2023.

Early drilling results from Estrella Resources' Werumata limestone project in Timor-Leste have pointed to a bounty of clean, high-purity limestone, with intersections up to 55 metres thick, averaging a rich 84 per cent calcium carbonate. The broad, consistent intersections support the company's push towards its objective of defining an inferred mineral resource of at least 500 million tonnes from the interpreted large-scale calcite deposit.

Dalaroo Metals has enlisted rare earths industry pioneer Greg Barnes as a special advisor for its Greenland critical minerals project amid plans to pursue a secondary listing on the US Venture market. Barnes is best known for founding two of Greenland's most significant rare earths projects, the Kvanefjeld deposit and the Tanbreez project.

The latest geochemical results from Novo Resources' Wyloo gold-silver-antimony project in WA's southern Pilbara have confirmed multiple targets, paving the way for the company's first drilling of the project. Recent work has significantly upgraded the Wyloo SE prospect, where a confirmed polymetallic vein system carrying silver, antimony, arsenic, zinc and lead warrants early testing.

Exceptional metallurgical test results from Reach Resources' Murchison South gold project in Western Australia, showing up to 97 per cent recoveries, have confirmed that its proposed ore is free-milling, relatively soft and highly amenable to conventional gravity and cyanide leach processing. The results have demonstrated that the material is ideal for third-party toll milling or ore purchase agreements at nearby facilities.

Dateline Resources is homing in on what could be the deeper heart of its Colosseum gold and rare earths project in California after a suite of new geophysical surveys lit up the ground beneath the old pits. With gravity, magnetics, radiometrics and earlier IP data now converging, the company is about to put the theory to the test with diamond rigs.

Xpedra Resources has secured final NSW Government approval for its proposed maiden drilling program at its fully-owned Springfield gold deposit near Gulgong, about 210km northwest of Sydney. The drill rig is set to mobilise in the coming weeks once it completes its current task, with a mid-to-late February start, marking the first drilling program at the project since 1999.

St George Mining's Araxá project in Brazil is starting to look like the gift that keeps on giving. Fresh drilling has punched out more thick, high-grade rare earths and niobium from surface. The results have reinforced the project's status as one of the standout carbonatite-hosted critical minerals plays in the Western world and strongly hint that a much bigger resource may be taking shape.

Terrain Minerals has kicked off diamond drilling at its wholly owned Smokebush gold and silver project, about 350km north of Perth, in WA's prospective Yalgoo mineral field. The program plans to target the company's new Lightning prospect and is aimed at firming up geological information to support the company's proposed maiden JORC mineral resource estimate slated for the second quarter of the year.

BMG Resources has landed a $2.5 million placement at 2.1 cents per share, backed by cornerstone investor Tribeca Investment Partners - an internationally recognised firm specialising in high-growth resources plays - along with European strategic participants and strong retail support. The raise will fuel an expanded exploration push across the company's WA gold portfolio and comes amid today's 29.17 per cent share price hike.

Gold Fields is gearing up to re-start drilling at Great Southern Mining's extensive Edinburgh Park project in north Queensland, chasing the kind of large-scale gold systems that built some of the state's biggest mines. With multiple targets already showing the right geological fingerprints and encouraging results from one target so far, 2026 is shaping up as a pivotal year in this heavyweight exploration joint venture.

Ora Banda Mining has signed off on $63 million in key investments to crank up capacity across processing, mining and camp infrastructure at its fully-owned Davyhurst project in WA's goldfields. The centrepiece is a $10 million commitment to advance the proposed three-million-tonne-per-year standalone processing plant from its definitive feasibility study towards front-end engineering design.

Dalaroo Metals is charging ahead with a high-octane 2026 exploration blitz at its flagship Blue Lagoon critical minerals project in Greenland, hot on the heels of a knockout reconnaissance program in 2025. Results from that work have lit a fire under the stock, positioning Dalaroo as a serious contender in the global scramble for secure, conflict-free supplies of rare earths, zirconium, hafnium and niobium.

Dateline Resources has loaded its war chest, banking $35 million in fresh funding to push the accelerator on its Colosseum gold project in California. With permits in hand, a bankable feasibility study due this year and stratospheric gold prices, the company is positioning itself to move swiftly from study mode into construction, backed by robust economics and growing US strategic interest.

Dateline Resources has loaded its war chest, banking $35 million in fresh funding to push the accelerator on its Colosseum gold project in California. With permits in hand, a bankable feasibility study due this year and stratospheric gold prices, the company is positioning itself to move swiftly from study mode into construction, backed by robust economics and growing US strategic interest.

Estrella Resources has fired the starting gun on what could be Timor-Leste's first economic mining, with diggers onsite to mine up to 30,000 tonnes of high-grade manganese ore from its Ira Miri project. The latest activity follows the company's recent agreement with the country's national mineral authority, authorising the extraction of ore from Estrella's project for market appraisal purposes.

Peninsula Energy is gaining traction at its Lance uranium project in Wyoming, with Mine Unit 4 ramping up, wellfields delivering early wins and revised US uranium policy sharpening the outlook for producers. With Mine Unit 4 outperforming early expectations and a revamped processing plant now humming, the company's long-awaited production reset is finally beginning to show its teeth.

St George Mining has secured extra runway in its push to feed US rare earths demand with a year's extension of its alliance with REalloys, a key US supplier of magnets to US defence and energy labs. The original MOU with REalloys set a 120-day window to nail down a definitive offtake deal for up to 40 per cent of future production from St George's flagship Araxá project in Brazil.

Aurum Resources is sharpening its boardroom edge with the appointment of capital markets veteran Richard Simpson as non-executive chairman, bringing more than 40 years of experience to the role. Simpson will step into the role with more than 40 years in the game, spanning mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, corporate advisory and executive leadership.

Dalaroo Metals has defined what could be a brand-new critical minerals district in Greenland, after maiden stream and surface sediment sampling at its Blue Lagoon project returned consistent, high-grade rare earths, zirconium and hafnium along a 2.7-kilometre strike. This is the first time the area has seen a modern explorer in almost 50 years and the early indications are mouth-watering. 

Neometals Ltd's shares climbed 20 per cent after delivering a batch of strong gold assays from its Barrambie project in Western Australia's Mid West region. The results have delivered wide, high-grade gold intercepts at its historic Ironclad and Mystery mine sites, including a spectacular hit of 6m at 26.56g/t gold. The results have reinforced a strong northerly plunge in mineralisation, which is already feeding into an updated resource and mine plan.

Aurum Resources has reported more high-grade results from infill diamond drilling at its Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, including one metre that assayed more than one ounce per tonne gold. Drilling is currently focused on growing and firming up Aurum's BDT2 resource in the southwestern part of the main tenement block.

Neometals and Mineral Resources have announced that their 70:30 joint venture company, Reed Advanced Materials, has inked a three-year collaboration agreement with Italy's Industrie De Nora and De Nora's Japanese subsidiary, De Nora Permelec. De Nora, a recognised global leader in electrochemical technologies, including its CECHLO electrolysis solutions, will integrate its equipment with RAM's patented ELi Process.

Augustus Minerals has received drilling approval in WA after a heritage survey was completed with the Watarra Aboriginal Corporation Native Title Body on behalf of the Darlot People. The key permit has satisfied all prerequisite statutory requirements and clears the path for the company's maiden drilling campaign at the company's Music Well gold project.

Altech Batteries' shares surged after receiving conditional binding approval for a €46.11 million German government grant to support its groundbreaking CERENERGY sodium-chloride solid-state battery project in Saxony, Germany. The non-dilutive funding, representing about 30 per cent of eligible capital costs, falls under Germany's federal STARK economic development program and materially reduces financing risk for the company's planned 120MWh annual production facility.

Chariot Resources has executed a non-binding MOU with prominent China-based battery materials producer Shanghai GreatPower Nickel & Cobalt Materials Co. to explore collaboration across its prospective Nigerian lithium portfolio. The MOU outlines potential offtake for up to 200,000 tonnes per year of spodumene concentrate from one of Chariot's four Nigerian projects. Discussions also covered potential development financing, credit lines and offtake prepayments to accelerate exploration and production.

Dateline Resources has taken a major step in de-risking its fully-owned 1.1 million ounce Colosseum gold and rare earths project in California via the execution of an option agreement that secures critical water rights and near-mine infrastructure. The agreement provides access to about 27 acres of paved industrial land at the base of Colosseum Mine Road, complete with four existing buildings and two dedicated groundwater wells.

Larvotto Resources has kicked off underground mining at its 100%-owned historic Hillgrove gold-antimony project near Armidale in New South Wales, marking a major milestone in the restart of operations, which have been largely dormant since 2016, following a collapse in antimony prices. Mining contractor PYBAR Mining Services has mobilised equipment and personnel to site, with development works now underway

Neometals has received a third round of funding support for its Finnish Vanadium Recovery project in Pori, with EU-sponsored EIT RawMaterials committing an additional €1.5 million for technical work. The backing follows a recent €48.7 grant from the Finnish government and underlines growing institutional support for the low‑carbon project.