Doug Bright

WA Gold's scoping study for its Abercromby project near Wiluna in WA has outlined a staged pit-to-underground operation targeting 114,494 ounces of gold, with an $8M start-up capex. The base case flags about $270M pre-tax free cash flow and a $229M NPV at $6000 per ounce of gold, with payback in 1.5 years. Drilling is continuing to grow and upgrade resources.

Lindian Resources has secured a local funding package with Malawi's NBS Bank totalling US$11.6M, comprising US$4.6M for equipment finance and US$7M for working capital. The asset facility will reimburse 90 per cent of its Komatsu mining fleet, while the working capital will provide a liquidity buffer as the company's Kangankunde build progresses towards mechanical completion in 2H 2026.

Bulls N' Bears Big Hits looks at notable drill intercepts recently reported to the ASX last week, led by New Murchison Gold with 18 metres at 10.3 grams per tonne gold from 54m, including 6m at 29.3g/t from its Crown Prince East pit in WA. Golden Horse Minerals' shallow 7m at 13.0g/t at Hopes Hill South and SQX Resources' wide 24.4m at 3.1g/t at Red Bird in Arizona round out the selection.

Terrain Minerals has concluded a 671m diamond drilling program at its Lightning gold project in WA to obtain rock density and important structural inputs for its upcoming maiden resource estimate in July. The company nailed a high-grade intercept of 3.4 metres assaying 4.96g/t gold from 213.6m depth, including 1m at 10.93g/t gold, which it says confirms continuity of higher-grade zones at depth.

Lindian Resources has locked in a significant diesel supply deal for its giant Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, de-risking its construction and commissioning program as it targets first production later this year. The company has secured a 12-month supply of 500,000 litres of diesel fuel at a fixed price of US$2.83 (A$3.96) per litre for the project.

Gold Fields and Great Southern Mining are sharpening the drill bits for a return to the joint venture's expansive Edinburgh Park gold project in north Queensland, with diamond drilling set to begin once the wet season wraps up in May. The company will test the high priority Mt Dillon target, defined by a strong induced polarisation anomaly and extensive hydrothermal alteration.

Aurum Resources has drilled to 220m vertically below its current BST1 resource at Boundiali in Côte d'Ivoire, confirming the gold system remains open at depth, as it pushes towards a Q3 2026 resource update. Deep drilling beneath its separate BDT3 target has also confirmed the mineralisation remains open. Best intercepts included 29m at 1g/t gold from 444m and 8m at 3.38g/t gold from 279m.

Terrain Minerals' Lightning prospect in WA's Mid West has burst to life with a standout 21.8g/t gold hit fuelling confidence the system is larger than first thought and primed to grow along strike and at depth. Latest results include 8m at 6.87g/t gold from 76m and a best 1-metre grade of 21.8g/t gold. With a mining lease secured and more assays still to come, a maiden JORC resource is due in July.

Dalaroo Metals has begun trading on the US-based OTCQB market under the ticker DALMF, giving North American traders market access in US dollars during local market hours. The company says the secondary quote is non-dilutive and adds no extra compliance beyond its ASX obligations. Dalaroo is progressing rare earth element exploration in Greenland and gold projects in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa.

Aurum Resources has announced a 34 per cent hike in its Napié gold project resource to 1.16 million ounces at 1.2g/t gold. The update lifts Aurum's combined project resources total to a whopping 4.2 million ounces, with only 13 per cent of the major Napié shear zone drilled. The company remains well-funded and continues to drill on the project, aiming at further growth.

American West says historical mine dumps at its West Desert project in Utah carry significant critical metals grades, including peak assays of 1807g/t silver, 176.5g/t gold, 1010g/t tellurium and 2.26 per cent copper, alongside other base metals, while rock chip sampling has also extended the mineralised footprint. The company is currently running a 5000-metre diamond drilling campaign on the project.

Dalaroo Metals has begun a 4400-sample soil geochemical program at the Goldridge prospect within its Bondoukou project in Côte d'Ivoire. The program is targeting a 9 km-long gold corridor to identify multiple drill targets, with soil assay results to guide follow-up trenching and scout reverse circulation drilling.

Peninsula Energy has restarted uranium precipitation and dried yellowcake production at its Lance project in Wyoming after replacing and commissioning agitator assemblies in its precipitation tanks. The nameplate capacity of the central processing plant remains unchanged at 2.0 million pounds per year and the company's 2026 guidance is unchanged at between 0.4 and 0.5 million pounds of uranium oxide.

Novo Resources is gearing up to drill its Wyloo antimony project in WA's Pilbara later this month, after finalising the A$6.2-million phase one tranche of an A$8.2M March placement, with A$2M still to come in tranche two. Drilling will kick off with 2500m of reverse-circulation holes at Wyloo, before moving to maiden drilling at Cronus, follow-up aircore drilling at Balla Balla and then its Teichman project, targeted for September.

Terrain Minerals is closing in on a maiden gold resource at its Lightning prospect in WA, with drilling at Smokebush rapidly building the geological picture as the company edges towards a defining milestone. The company is also advancing gallium and rare earths at its Larin's Lane prospect and drilling for rare earths at Lort River near Esperance, setting up a busy run of assays and updates.

St George Mining's Araxá drilling in Brazil has delivered its thickest intercept yet, headlined by 178.7 metres at 4.34 per cent total rare earth oxides and 0.75 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface. More long, high-grade hits continue to stack up, supporting a scoping study for a potential niobium operation and adding serious momentum to resource growth.

St George Mining has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boston Metal to test Boston Metal's molten oxide electrolysis process for producing ferroniobium at the Araxá project in Brazil. The process could simplify conventional refining steps, lower costs and cut carbon emissions, with rare earths also potentially concentrated in slag, thereby reducing onward processing costs.

MetalsGrove Mining has upgraded its Fifty-Five prospect at the Zuénoula project in West Africa, after soil sampling returned a remarkable peak soil gold value of 583ppb gold in a 3.3-kilometre-long section of a more extensive northeast-trending structural corridor. The regional sampling program has outlined seven prospects across the permit, with further infill and step-out sampling planned alongside regolith mapping and high-resolution LiDAR interpretation, ahead of drill targeting.

American West has kicked off a 5000m diamond drilling program at its West Desert project in Utah, USA, chasing multiple high-priority indium and gallium targets beyond the company's existing resource footprint. The program will test for high-grade indium-copper-silver-gold skarns in the company's Goldilocks Zone, Apex-style gallium targets along the Juab Fault and other gravity and magnetic geophysical anomalies similar to those at its West Desert resource.

Neometals Limited has delivered a compelling exploration update from its Barrambie gold-silver-copper project near Sandstone in WA's Mid West region. Newly received silver assays from drilling of the historic Rinaldi copper mine have strengthened the company's case for a coherent primary hydrothermal copper-silver system. The strong positive correlation between silver and copper downhole indicates that silver is genetically linked to a primary copper sulphide mineralising system and not just a surface effect.

MetalsGrove Mining is emerging as a focused West African gold explorer, with early soil sampling and mapping defining multiple targets at its Zuénoula project in Côte d'Ivoire. The project forms part of a larger 1315-square-kilometre landholding along a highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt, where the company is steadily moving towards drill ready targets.

Lindian Resources has brought its Tipume accommodation camp online at its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, enabling workforce mobilisation and removing a key logistics constraint as construction ramps up. The camp underpins Lindian's push toward first rare earths production targeted for Q4 2026.

Aurum Resources has secured firm commitments for a $28.8M placement at a premium price of 60 cents per share, anchored by Perseus Mining's $23.69M investment for a 9.9 per cent stake. With cash expected to top $60M, Aurum will push ahead with a Boundiali feasibility study and a 130,000-metre drilling program across its Boundiali and Napié gold projects in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa.

Neometals Limited has locked in a controlling stake of Utah Brine Corporation, gaining low-cost exposure to a lithium and potash brine opportunity in the Paradox Basin in Utah, USA. The venture has exclusive access to 24 inactive oil and gas wells for sampling and test work. Neometals will fund up to US$2 (A$2.82) million over three years.

Neometals has completed five reverse-circulation holes for 495m at the historic Rinaldi copper prospect within its Barrambie project, near Sandstone in WA's Mid West. Early results have confirmed primary copper sulphides 70m below surface, including the key copper ore minerals bornite and chalcopyrite. Early results from only 10 per cent of the submitted samples include 7m at a respectable 1.72 per cent copper from 82m depth.

Neometals Limited has delivered a positive scoping study for its Ironclad deposit at the company's fully owned Barrambie gold project in WA, pointing to a fast toll-milling run of up to 11,000 ounces of gold from an estimated 220,000 tonnes of ore at a grade of 1.8g/t. The study found that a proposed 50:50 mining services JV could fast-track mine development, with a kick-off in Q1 2027.

Dalaroo Metals has defined a high priority 2.5 kilometre drill target at its Bondoukou gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Geological mapping and surface sampling have returned gold values up to 17.95g/t gold and point to a large, structurally controlled Birimian style gold system ahead of drilling.

Corazon Mining has struck a deal with IGO Ltd to expand its Plutonic-Marymia gold footprint, lifting the company's contiguous landholding to 537 square kilometres. The agreement hands Corazon historic exploration data, including non-public De Beers work and opens up an underexplored greenstone corridor ripe for modern sampling and geophysics.

Meeka Metals is preparing to install a wash plant, extra crushing circuit and Steinert multi-sensor ore sorter at its Murchison gold project near Meekatharra to lift its plant throughput from 600,000 to 800,000 tonnes per year and provide a higher-grade ore feed to the mill. The $6 million upgrade is expected to be commissioned in the September quarter.

NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals has taken a major step towards scaling up its StemSmart stem cell therapy by launching its first manufacturing run with Australian cell therapy specialist Q-Gen. The milestone signals the start of transferring the company's patented production process to a clinical-scale facility capable of supplying future trials and potentially, commercial demand.

MetalsGrove Mining has launched surface mapping, rock chip sampling and high-resolution LiDAR ground imaging to home in on drill targets at its Zuénoula gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. The company expects the work to wrap up by the end of March, producing high-resolution digital terrain models and imagery to define historic prospects, refine structural interpretation, understand gold dispersion and prioritise future drilling targets across the project.

Estrella Resources has received the final assays from its 2025 drilling at the Werumata limestone project in Timor-Leste. The Baucau limestone averaged 83 per cent calcium carbonate and Batu Putih chalk averaged 77.5 per cent carbonate, values which would support a range of industrial acid-neutralisation uses. Bulk density work is underway ahead of a maiden mineral resource estimate targeted for mid-April.