Doug Bright

Octava Minerals has landed some exceptional high-grade indium results up to 860ppm in re-analysed rock chip samples from its Sweeney's prospect at the company's Federation copper-zinc-silver project in western Tasmania. A fixed-loop electromagnetic geophysical survey has illuminated strong sulphide connectivity at the prospect, paving the way for imminent diamond drilling.

Aguia Resources has appointed Tim Hosking as the company's new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, following the resignation of William Howe as Managing Director and CEO. The leadership change comes at a pivotal moment for the multi-commodity explorer, with its flagship phosphate operations in Brazil on track for first production in Q1 2026 and efforts intensifying to revive the company's gold assets in Colombia.

Altech Batteries has inked a non-disclosure agreement with a major global EV battery maker for a confidential collaboration to evaluate Altech's proprietary Silumina battery anodes. Altech has shipped samples of its alumina-coated silicon to China for evaluation, while preparing coatings on partner-supplied graphite. Latest tests demonstrate 83% capacity retention after 1000 charge–discharge cycles, following addition of only 5% of Altech's Silumina anodes to a standard graphite anode.

Chariot Corporation has executed a binding agreement with Continental Lithium to establish small-scale lithium mining operations across its four Nigerian lithium projects. The three-phase plan will transform selected artisanal workings into formal lithium production operations, targeting early cash flows through toll or onsite processing and existing Chinese buyer interest. Continental will operate on-ground while Chariot will arrange funding and offtakes. Mining operations will run parallel with regional exploration to identify new lithium resources.

Horizon Minerals is nearing the end of open-pit mining at its Phase 1 program at Phillips Find and its Boorara gold projects near Kalgoorlie in WA's Eastern Goldfields. With strong stockpiles built and first gold already flowing from both operations this year, Horizon Minerals is well down its path of transition from developer to consistent gold producer.

Lindian Resources has kicked off construction of its Tipume accommodation village at the company's world-class Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, representing an important development milestone. Kangankunde is a world class rare earths project that boasts 1000m mineralised drill intersections going well over 2 per cent total rare earths oxides. Australian critical minerals processor Iluka has already put its hand up for the offtake.

Meeka Metals has struck shallow high-grade gold south of the Andy Well underground mine in WA's Murchison district with a best hit of 4m at 27.82g/t gold, including 2m at 54.43g/t, extending the mine's Wilber Lode 450m further south. The latest intercepts lie directly along strike from the current southern ore development drives on the Wilber Lode, where on-reef development faces are reportedly running well ahead of the average reserves grade.

Soil sampling by Augustus Minerals has defined soil gold anomalism near Leonora in WA over a 1.2km x 0.6km footprint, with peak values ranging up to 44.1ppb. The high-grade core of the anomalism appears to be surrounded by a halo of lower but still significant soil values in the range of 2.7-9.3ppb gold, possibly associated with a lithological boundary.

Aurum Resources has delivered more bonanza-grade gold hits, including a stunning 3.1 metres at 70.78 g/t gold from its drilling program at the company's 2.41 million ounce Boundiali project in West Africa. The intercept is part of a broader 5.10m intercept at 43.13g/t gold from just 112.9m that lies outside Aurum's current gold resource estimate for its 16.2 million tonne BMT3 deposit.

ASX listed Neometals has welcomed the backing of the Government of Finland which will contribute a €48.7M (A$86.8M) grant towards the building of a vanadium recycling plant in the Finish port of Pori. The plant will recycle vanadium industrial waste streams using technology developed by Neometals which owns 86% of the €400M project and a 2.5% royalty over it.

Terrain Minerals is getting set to launch a 4500m reverse circulation drilling program at its 100%-owned Lightning gold-silver prospect in WA's Murchison, targeting a maiden JORC resource by mid-2026. The 21-hole campaign aims to extend known high-grade zones, test new magnetic targets and will probe a potential repeat discovery at Lightning, with first assays due mid-February.

Perth-based Horizon Minerals has struck a binding heads of agreement to sell its 100 per cent-owned non-core Lake Johnston nickel project in Western Australia to emerging explorer Forrestania Resources for a total consideration of $35 million which includes a $30m cash component. The deal, expected to settle by the end of January, remains subject to Forrestania securing the funding via a capital raise, also includes Horizon receiving $5m in Forrestania shares.

Corazon Mining has lodged a strategic tenement application to expand its Two Pools gold project in WA's Gascoyne region, targeting a hidden northeast extension of its high-grade Two Pools gold mineralisation. The project features historical high-grade gold intercepts, with one hole delivering 12m at 8.89g/t gold from 79m including 3m at 34.25g/t gold from 80m.

Meeka Metals has delivered another batch of high-grade gold intercepts from its Turnberry South deposit in the producing Murchison gold project, further reinforcing near-mine resource growth and extending the Stage 1 open pit beyond its initial two-year mine life. Standout results include 8m at 14.79g/t gold from 44m in the best hole which features a welcome 2m core going 53.05g/t gold.

Aurum Resources recent diamond drilling has delivered an intercept of 5m assaying 11.07g/t gold from 200m depth among other promising high-grade gold intercepts from its ongoing 100,000m drilling program at the company's 2.41 million ounce Boundiali gold project in West Africa. The infill and extensional campaign is targeting resource expansion and confidence upgrades at the company's BDT2 deposit.

Altech Batteries says batteries utilising similar technology to its sodium-nickel-chloride batteries deployed in South Africa up to 15 years ago have exhibited failure rates of just 0.6% to 1.5%. The company says those rates blitz the failure rates of lithium and lead-acid batteries.

Green360 Technologies' eco-friendly partial cement replacement product known as “Eco-Clay” and made largely from kaolin waste streams has passed a series of verification tests with the University of Melbourne assessing that it meets Australian standards. Eco-Clay is a high-reactivity calcined kaolinite or metakaolin that can replace up to 40% of Portland cement in concrete.

Norfolk Metals is re-assaying old copper core for gold at its Carmen project in Chile as it seeks to verify historic drill results and exploit a new zone that is sporting visible copper outcrops. The project is in Chile's copper-rich Atacama region where fresh targets are now emerging in the nearby Higueritas Belt.

Lindian Resources has received a green light from Malawi's government, confirming its Kangankunde rare earths are exempt from an executive order banning raw mineral exports as it will process the ore locally to produce monazite concentrate. The clarification arrives just a day after Lindian's initial proactive reassurance to investors, quelling market jitters that had briefly dented the company's share price.

Reach Resources is set to mobilise a reverse circulation drill rig in mid-November for a ~5000m infill and extensional drilling program at its Murchison South gold project about 800km north of Perth in WA. The program will undertake infill drilling within conceptual pit shells to convert inferred resources to the higher indicated status, while extensional holes and rock-chip sampling will test gaps near quartz veins and old workings.

American West Metals has mobilised for an indium and gallium resampling program at its West Desert project in Utah, USA. With $40M cash in the tin, the company also plans to expand its 33.67Mt zinc-copper-silver resource with updates expected in the first quarter next year. A drill program will leverage the company's 100% ownership of the land and permits to fast-track its critical metals exploration.

Aurum Resources has delivered an eye-watering 350 grams per tonne gold – more than 11 ounces to the tonne - over a 0.8m drill intersection from its BMT3 target in the northern third of the company's “BM” project area. The area is part of Aurum's Boundiali suite of contiguous or closely-adjacent gold exploration properties in the West African nation of Cote D'Ivoire.

Meeka Metals made a solid transition from developer to gold producer in the September quarter, producing 7148 ounces of gold for an extraordinary $2133 an ounce AISC at its Murchison gold project in WA. The company says its quickly ramped-up operations generated notional free cash for the quarter of $12.5m when considering gold that was produced but not sold by the end of the quarter.

Corazon Mining has picked up multiple high-priority gold drill targets at its Feather Cap project in WA's Gascoyne region after a review of historical data revealed some stellar previous gold hits like 20m at 3.01g/t from 40m and 7m at 6.21g/t from 6m. The 154 square kilometre project, next to Westgold's 2.4Mt Durack gold resource, shows significant potential, with a maiden drill program being planned to test three key target areas.

Corazon Mining is off and running in a new direction after finalising the acquisition of significant gold tenure with high-grade intercepts near major mines in WA's Gascoyne region and a $2m placement, alongside a 1:50 share consolidation. The process has sharpened the company's focus on 292 square kilometres of Gascoyne ground which features stellar intercepts like 12m at 8.89g/t gold near Catalyst Metals' Plutonic Mine.

Meeka Metals has hit thick gold zones of high-grade gold at Turnberry North, on the northeastern flank of its Stage 1 Turnberry open pit design, with 22m at 3.25g/t gold including 10m at 6.03g/t gold highlighting potential to expand the resources and extend the Stage 1 pit resource and mine life. With gold priced above A$6477 per ounce, about 2.7 times Meeka's pit optimisation price, revised pit designs promise fatter margins and underground upside that will boost the economics of the 1.2M ounce Murchison Gold Project.

St George Mining has tabled more stellar results in drilling from its Brazilian Araxa project, with a 98.4m hit going 3.07% TREO and 0.43% niobium pentoxide headlining the pack just 230m west of its resource. The company's share price has been on a wild ride since September when its first batch of RC drill results from Araxa stunned the market.

Titanium Sands has secured Stage 2 funding for its Mannar Island mineral sands project in northwest Sri Lanka. A recent meeting with the Finance Ministry supports the Industrial Mining Licence process and environmental studies are near completion. The funding will finalise studies and push the project forwards towards heavy mineral sands production.

Middle Island Resources has launched a maiden, 800m reverse circulation drilling program at its Serbian Bobija polymetallic project, targeting gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc mineralisation below the historic Bobija open pit from which channel sample results are pending. With Bobija rock chip results assaying up to 5.24g/t gold, 120g/t silver, 4.66% zinc and 4.36% lead, the company sees a possible analogue with the 20Mt polymetallic DPM Metals' Vares project in adjacent Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Terrain Minerals has reported high-grade gold assays alongside silver hits from its Lightning Prospect at the Smokebush Project in WA's Murchison, reinforcing a strong gold-silver correlation. One significant intercept of 22m yielded 2.87g/t gold from 105m, including 21m at 15.79g/t silver from 105m, 1m at 70.59g/t silver from 108m and 1m at 60g/t silver from 124m. Follow-up drilling is proposed to further develop the dual-commodity potential.

Altech Batteries is hailing a breakthrough with a major advance in its Silumina Anodes technology, recording 88.5% capacity retention after 500 charge-discharge cycles by adding just 5% alumina-coated silicon to graphite anodes. The company's latest Silumina Anodes deliver a charge capacity of 420 mAh/g which far surpasses graphite's capacity in the range of 230-250 mAh/g. Altech's Saxony pilot plant confirms scalability, promising longer EV range and lighter batteries.

Octava Minerals will launch aircore drilling next week at its Byro Critical Minerals Project in WA's Gascoyne region, following outstanding bioleaching test results which showed recoveries of up to 85% rare earths, 92% lithium, and 78% vanadium. Octava has planned an 18-hole, 1000m program that, pending final approvals, will target a maiden resource via testing of high-grade zones in the host Coyrie Formation.