Announcements

Dalaroo Metals has landed significant grades from scout rock-chip sampling at its Bondoukou project in West Africa. Four of six quartz samples returned grades between 3.59 and 17.95g/t gold from quartz reef material exposed in artisanal workings extending about 600 metres along strike. The company is continuing its evaluation of the project, with mapping and geochemical sampling underway.

Horizon Minerals has moved Black Swan firmly into build mode after ordering long lead processing equipment to support its gold plant conversion near Kalgoorlie. The early commitment aims to de-risk the construction schedule and follows scoping studies that outlined a robust 2.2 million tonnes-per-annum gold-processing hub capable of producing 102,000 ounces per year.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… OD6 Metals, after the critical minerals outfit bagged the high-grade Quinn fluorspar project in Nevada to help tackle America's 100% reliance on imported fluorine. Regener8 Resources surged on the back of a savvy deal for a silver-lead-zinc project in Europe's world-class Tethyan Metallogenic Belt and BluGlass Ltd rode an 80 per cent “no-news” run on gallium nitride laser momentum and a looming price-sensitive customer order. Lindian Resources snagged a ready-built A$500 million cracking plant in Kazakhstan for a bargain-basement A$21 million, fast-tracking its Kangankunde rare earths play into an integrated non-Chinese producer.

Aurum Resources has returned thick, shallow, high-grade gold intercepts from a 30,000-metre step-back diamond drilling program at its 870,000-ounce Napié gold project in West Africa, ahead of a mineral resource update due this quarter. Best gold hits included 19m at 5.16g/t from 146m at Gogbala and 18.9m at 2.59g/t from 176.1m at Tchaga, supporting ongoing resource growth drilling.

Patriot Resources has delivered encouraging metallurgical results from its Tassa silver project in southern Peru, with test work pointing to strong silver recoveries up to 85.05 per cent and straightforward processing potential. The company has engaged independent specialists to review the results as it works to further de-risk the project and advance the project's development potential.

Great Southern Mining is probing deep at its East Laverton project in Western Australia, kicking off government co-funded diamond drilling to target a platinum group elements discovery. The program has started at the company's Diorite Hill target, with the drill bit expected to reach up to a whopping 900 metres deep.

Dateline Resources has wasted no time advancing exploration at its recently acquired Music Valley heavy rare earths project in California, mobilising airborne geophysics and specialist field teams. The renewed exploration of the area follows historical United States Geological Survey results that revealed high grade heavy rare earths mineralisation and supports Dateline's objective to build a domestic critical minerals pipeline in the United States.

Terrain Minerals has wrapped up an extensive drilling assault at its Smokebush gold and silver project in Western Australia, completing 7739m of deep targeting across its Lightning and Wildflower prospects. The company says it has been probing for potential repeat Lightning-style systems at geophysical anomalies in previously untouched areas as well.

Half of all equity market investments now hug index funds that are becoming big, fat and bloated. Far from being diverse, Dollar Bill reckons these funds are trading off the huge multiples of just a narrow few that can soak up the wall of money sitting in big funds. Dollar Bill compares index funds with his favourite pastime – punting small caps with his ears pinned back.

Xpedra Resources is set to begin a maiden drilling campaign at its Springfield gold deposit in central New South Wales after mobilising a reverse circulation drill rig to site. The program will target extensions to historical shallow high-grade gold and deeper mineralisation across a largely untested intrusion that has not been drilled since 1999.

St George Mining has tabled a step change to its already giant carbonatite-hosted Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil, boosting its mineral resource by 75 per cent to 70.9 million tonnes. A sharp 218 per cent increase in the measured and indicated category has also strengthened the project's development potential, while ongoing drilling and new discoveries point to further near term growth.

Lindian Resources has snapped up a 51 per cent stake in a fully constructed mixed rare earths carbonate processing plant in Kazakhstan for the bargain price of just US$15M (A$21M), transforming the company from a concentrate producer into an integrated downstream supplier. The deal positions Lindian to produce high-value mixed rare earth carbonates by Q4 2026, leveraging its Kangankunde monazite feedstock in Malawi and strengthening US–Kazakhstan critical minerals cooperation.

Dalaroo Metals has kicked off geological mapping at its new Goldridge project in north-eastern Côte d'Ivoire, outlining a coherent 2km northwest-southeast-trending artisanal gold corridor within the prolific Birimian belt. Drone surveys, structural mapping and reconnaissance sampling are underway as the company moves towards drill targeting in one of West Africa's most endowed gold terrains.

BMG Resources has launched a new drilling blitz at the company's Abercromby gold project near Wiluna in WA to beef up its 518,000-ounce gold resource and test for extensions to the mineralisation, which remains open in all directions. The 10,000 metre drill program is the first major assault on the company's significant gold resource since 2023 and will test multiple targets for strike and dip extensions to high-grade lodes.

Patriot Resources has pulled the trigger on a transformational silver deal, completing the acquisition of its high-grade Tassa project in southern Peru. With a 31.4 million-ounce silver-equivalent JORC resource already on the board and mineralisation starting from surface, the company has instantly reshaped itself into a serious emerging silver growth play with clear upside.

Ora Banda has delivered a standout half-yearly result, with stronger gold prices and higher sales volumes. A successful ramp-up of its second underground mine, Sand King, also contributed to the numbers, driving record revenues, earnings and cash generation compared with the previous corresponding period. Revenue for the six months surged 80 per cent to $336.3 million, underpinned by total equivalent gold sales of 62,583 ounces.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Hubify Ltd, after it raised $250,000 at a whopping 425 per cent premium to fuel its AI push and managed services partnership. Besra Gold surged on conditional mining lease approval for its Jugan deposit within the monster 2.3-million-ounce Bau gold project in Malaysia, European Resources jumped after smashing high-grade rare earth hits, including 4.5m at 1.4 per cent TREO at its Korsnäs project in Finland and Cosmos Exploration kept the lithium party rolling with a capital raise amid its Bolivian brine bonanza tie-up.

Dateline Resources has taken a slice of a US company with a grab bag of US critical minerals projects and picked up 100 per cent of a high grade rare earths project south of its existing Colosseum project in California known as Music Valley. The new project is showing early signs of the more lucrative rare earths yttrium, dysprosium and neodymium, among others.

Corazon Mining is ticking off the final regulatory boxes ahead of maiden drilling at its Two Pools gold project in Western Australia's Gascoyne region. With a heritage survey now underway and drilling approvals in hand, the company is preparing to test a sizeable gold footprint that hosts multiple high-grade historical intercepts and has never been systematically followed up.

Lindian Resources has received independent confirmation from Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation that monazite concentrate from its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi is exempt from radioactive transport classification under the IAEA's SSR-6 framework. The ruling simplifies logistics and strengthens Lindian's pathway to market.

Pilot Energy is about to break new ground in Australia's carbon game, with its Dongara direct air capture demonstration plant locked in for a June start-up. By pairing cutting-edge carbon removal technology with existing oil and gas infrastructure, the company is transforming its Western Australian Cliff Head site into a multi-purpose low-carbon energy centre.

Moonlight Resources has launched a phase two reverse circulation drilling program to chase up near-surface phase one gold hits at its Leo Grande prospect, part of its Clermont gold project in Queensland. The new drilling program will sink 70 holes for 5000 metres, following a successful maiden phase one campaign in 2025, which delivered big intercepts of gold mineralisation in every one of the 14 holes drilled, with all of them from or near-surface.

Augustus Minerals is about to take its first real swing at gold at its Music Well project, with drilling locked in to test a standout surface anomaly near Leonora. Backed by eye-catching rock-chip grades and a prime address in WA's Leonora–Laverton belt, the maiden program will finally put holes into a target that has never been drilled, despite sitting in one of the state's richest gold districts.

Estrella Resources has drawn first ore at its manganese project in Timor Leste, formally East Timor, with a 22,600-tonne manganese sample now on the way to potential off-takers who will buy the ore to test it. Notably, the freshly dug pit ended in mineralisation, setting up the possibility of full scale production if the samples check out.

Lindian Resources has added some serious operational muscle to its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, appointing a heavyweight process plant specialist to guide the project through commissioning, first production and a looming expansion phase. With stage one construction advancing and stage two studies underway, the timing could hardly be better as the company sharpens its focus on delivery and reliability.

As the company presses ahead with its carbon management and clean energy projects in Western Australia, Pilot Energy has locked in new leadership, appointing energy veteran Brian Siddall as chief executive officer to steer its course. The company says Mr Siddall brings more than 30 years of experience in oil and gas, spanning strategy, project development, execution and asset management.

Dalaroo Metals has bulked up its strategic land holding in West Africa by bolting on the Bondoukou gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, boosting its footprint in one of the world's active gold jurisdictions. The acquisition hands Dalaroo control of a fully granted mining lease in the Birimian terrane, about 35 kilometres northwest of the lucrative 4.5-million-ounce Tanda deposit operated by Endeavour Mining.

Dateline Resources has combined a high-powered series of geology surveys to zero in on two compelling carbonatite-hosted rare earths targets at its Colosseum project in the US state of California. An impressive suite of high-resolution datasets from geophysical, geological and geochemical surveys has provided a comprehensive view of the project, using the valuable insights to charge into a drilling campaign at the two prospective zones.

BMG Resources has sharpened its edge by hiring a seasoned mining executive as general manager to oversee project development and help steer the company's Abercromby gold project in WA's Agnew-Wiluna greenstone belt towards the earliest possible production timeline. Gareth McArthur has landed with 25 years of mining credentials, including project leadership across operational, technical and construction roles at Rio Tinto and smaller developers in WA.

Aurum Resources has delivered a whopping resource upgrade at its Boundiali gold project in West Africa, increasing the total gold for the project to 3.03 million ounces at one gram per tonne gold. The total resource has grown 26 per cent to 99.7 million tonnes at 1.0g/t gold, driven by infill and extension drilling at the company's BST1, BDT2, BDT3 and BMT3 deposits.

Consolidation seems to be an ever-increasing choice taken by small caps seeking a path to value creation. But it's worth noting crunching shares does nothing to fix a weak business - it merely changes the denominator. Having done a deep dive into the impact of consolidation, or reverse split research and live ASX examples, Dollar Bill unpacks why most resets underperform and what boards must get right if they want structure to amplify strategy.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Recharge Metals, which snapped up the Sunset Well project in the heart of WA's Leonora district complete with 94,500-ounces of gold. Cosmos Exploration muscled into Bolivia's lithium big leagues via its EAU tie-up with state-owned YLB and exclusive access to Vulcan's VULSORB lithium extraction technology, while King River Resources dusted off the historic Mindoolah goldfield in WA's Murchison belt, chasing high-grade reefs the old-timers left behind with modern rigs and a roaring gold price at its back.