Announcements

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.

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.

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.

St George Mining has extended the boundaries of its world-class Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil after a second diamond hole returned 87.7m at 2.95 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 0.41 per cent niobium oxide from just 2m depth. The result confirms strong continuity of mineralisation west of the current 40 million tonne resource grading 4.13 per cent TREO.

Augustus Minerals has applied for an exploration licence at the historic Mt Kare goldfield in Papua New Guinea, adjacent to the 32-million-ounce Porgera deposit. The application, if granted could be a game changer for the $10m market capped company and Augustus appears to have ticked all the boxes in its drive to land the 2m ounce Mt Kare.

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.

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.

Larvotto Resources has unveiled a batch of cracking results from its first diamond holes at the company's Blacklode prospect in New South Wales, returning thick zones of gold and antimony almost at surface. The standout hit of 15 metres at 5.24 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 42 metres, including 4.2 metres at 14.46g/t, puts Hillgrove squarely on the radar for serious expansion.

Pilot Energy has scored a key environmental approval to conduct a 3D seismic survey in the offshore Perth Basin, targeting its Kingia gas play fairway and the massive potentially 1.1 trillion cubic feet (TCF) Leander gas prospect. The approval allows for a Eureka 3D seismic survey to cover a minimum 400 square kilometres area across its expansive WA-481-P exploration licence area.

Larvotto Resources story from the $3m purchase of its Hillgrove gold and antimony project in NSW 2 years ago to the $720m takeover bid it just received from US industrial metals player UCAC is remarkable however you look at it. The question now is does the company go the whole nine yards, get into production, stretch the mine life and reap the dividends or just submit and hand execution risk over to the 800 pound gorilla.

Horizon Minerals has pumped-up both its cash flow and bank balance from the company's September quarter activities, finishing the period with an enviable $34.3 million in its coffers on September 30. The company generated gold sales of $41.895 million during the quarter, with the bulk of the revenue coming from its Boorara operations.

Great Southern Mining has secured up to $337,500 in exploration funding under the WA Government's coveted Exploration Incentive Scheme to back two high-impact drilling campaigns. The cash injection will help the company chase depth extensions to its high-grade Duketon gold system and test platinum group element horizons at the East Laverton project's Diorite Hill complex.

American West Metals has struck more sizzling copper grades at its Storm project in Canada, including 12.1m at 5.6% copper with a hit up to 27.3%. The company says the new results point to a resource upgrade at Cyclone and strengthen its PFS, positioning Storm as northern Canada's next major copper development.

BMG Resources has struck more high-grade gold at its Bullabulling project near Coolgardie, with hits including 2m at 8.5g/t gold and 1m at 15.5g/t. The company says the mineralisation at Bullabulling North mirrors that of Minerals 260's 2.3Moz Bullabulling Mine next door, hinting the gold trend could extend into BMG's ground.

Dateline Resources has zeroed in on the hottest gold prospects at its Colosseum gold project in California, after a detailed 3D geophysical study by Vox Geophysics' Dr Kate Selway ranked six breccia pipe targets by their strength and depth. The review pinpointed three standout zones west and south of the current pits, primed for drilling as Dateline moves toward feasibility.

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.

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.

Middle Island Resources has appointed dealmaker Daniel Raihani as its new non-executive chairman to steer the company through its next growth phase. The move comes as Middle Island prepares to seal the deal to buy Konstantin Resources and kick off a maiden drilling program targeting copper, gold, silver, zinc and lead at Konstantin's Bobija project in Serbia.

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.

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.

Aguia Resources has made a major geological breakthrough at its Santa Barbara gold project in Colombia, unveiling a potentially massive stockwork vein system linking its key deposits. Along with a sweeping reset of its mining management and an upgraded processing plant, the changes are delivering double-digit feed grades, higher recoveries and the company's first doré bars, marking a powerful new chapter for the ASX-listed explorer.

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.

Estrella Resources has rolled out a string of new manganese-rich hits from its Ira Miri prospect in Timor-Leste, stretching the mineralised strike to almost 100 metres and it is still open both ways. The latest round of diamond drilling logged spectacular visual grades of up to 90 per cent manganese oxide as the company continues to shape what it believes could be a new manganese province.

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.

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.

Aguia Resources' Board has given the nod to bank finance of A$1.7M to boost its push for the company's Brazilian Tres Estradas phosphate development mine to open next year after the refurbishment of its processing plant. A credit line facility of approximately A$2.038 million has been agreed upon by the two parties to kick-off the plant upgrade works.

Peninsula Energy has turned the corner at its flagship Lance uranium project in Wyoming, completing a $69.9 million equity raise and firing up production of its first yellowcake. The milestone, which saw some big names enter its register caps a full operational and financial reset, positioning the company as a key supplier into a resurgent US nuclear industry.

Chariot Corporation may have struck the lithium jackpot, with site visits confirming sprawling, drill-ready lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites at its Fonlo and Iganna projects in southwest Nigeria. The two projects are part of a four-project portfolio in the Oyo and Kwara States, which the company recently pounced on after scooping up a 66.667 per cent stake in C&C Minerals Ltd.

Toro Energy is set to be acquired by Canadian uranium firm IsoEnergy, which plans to add to its portfolio of high-grade North American projects with the addition of Toro's flagship Wiluna uranium project. The market liked the deal too, sending Toro's shares to a 52-week high of 48 cents, up from yesterday's 32.5c close on the highest daily volume in 12 months of 7.3 million shares.