Defence and gold drove the growth in value of Western Australia's listed companies last financial year, fueled geopolitical uncertainty and economic instability.
Capricorn Metals has continued its project buying spree, striking its seventh deal this year in a move to acquire land north of its Mt Gibson project for $1.5 million.
Goldminer Capricorn Metals aims to boost its holdings near the Mt Gibson gold project by buying Warriedar Resources, in an all-scrip deal which values the explorer at $188 million.
Gold-focused Capricorn Metals has increased its footprint in Western Australia's Murchison region, following news of its acquisition of the Ninghan gold project.
Capricorn Metals chief executive Paul Criddle has been granted leave pending the resolution of aggravated assault charges, to which he recently pleaded not guilty.
Capricorn Metals produced 30,599 ounces of gold during the March 2025 quarter at its flagship Karlawinda gold project, up from 28,702oz in the previous quarter.
Capricorn Metals is poised to increase its foothold in the Murchison region; after announcing it had filed documents to acquire the Mummaloo gold project.
Capricorn Metals will expand its Karlawinda gold project footprint, in a deal worth up to $3 million to aid its push to grow production from the Pilbara goldmine.
West Perth contractor CPC Engineering has secured two new contracts in the red-hot gold sector, bringing in $24 million worth of new work with AngloGold Ashanti and Capricorn Metals.
A day after announcing its board had approved expansion for its flagship Karlawinda gold project, West Perth-based Capricorn Metals has launched a $200 million capital raise.
The state's workplace safety regulator has initiated legal action against mining companies over work fatalities, under new laws which increased the maximum penalty to $3.5 million.
Goldmining executive Simon Lee will retire in November, after calling time on a prolific multi-decade career of success which has fingerprints across the sector in Australia and abroad.
This week's Bulls N' Bears Runner of the Week is … BPM Minerals. The exploration company hit high-grade gold at its Claw project in Western Australia and its share price surged on massive volume. Octava Minerals' stock also leapt on an antimony discovery from historical drill results at its Yallalong project, while other movers-and-shakers this week were Mithril Silver and Gold and Metal Hawk.
The number of women running ASX300 companies has stagnated in the past year with a survey also showing multiple WA companies have no women in their executive leadership group.
Surefire Resources' soil sampling at its Yidby East gold project in Western Australia's Mid West region has identified anomalous base metals similar to of the nearby Golden Grove style of volcanogenic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposit. The company's Phat Boy target sits about 50km south/south-east of 29Metals' world-famous Golden Grove and other nearby VHMS deposits in the same belt.
Shares in Capricorn Metals and West African Resources dipped slightly on Friday, after both companies provided preliminary production updates for the March 2024 quarter.
Metallurgical testwork on samples from Surefire Resources' Yidby gold project in Western Australia's Murchison region alludes to almost 70 per cent more gold than previously reported by the company. And it is a timely finding for Surefire as the gold price continues to glitter, trading last week at a stunning all-time Australian high of $3308 per ounce.
DiscovEx Resources has stretched its Hercules prospect to a whopping 7km of anomalous gold found in soil after a sampling program at its Edjudina project, about 200km north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The extensional program completed north of the Hercules target produced multiple higher-tenor results within the broad anomalous zone, adding to several prospective targets already identified at the project.
Capricorn Metals recorded a slightly higher net profit after tax during the first half of the 2024 financial year, as it remains on course to meet annual production guidance targets.
DiscovEx Resources says it is cashed up to bolster exploration activities at its Sylvania and Edjudina projects in Western Australia after banking more than $250,000 from recent tenement and shares sales. The company says a geophysical survey will follow up on previous soil-sampling gold and lead hits at Sylvania in multiple areas of both disseminated and semi-massive sulphides along the Prairie Downs Faults Zone.
DiscovEx Resources has continued to build the prospectivity of its Sylvania project near the Western Australian town of Newman after its maiden soil-sampling program returned anomalies of up to 78ppb gold and 1315ppm lead, close to the mineralised Prairie Downs fault zone. The company says it is the first time the zone has been investigated for gold.
The pipeline of big resources projects in WA increasingly features complex processing plants, despite a spate of large cost blowouts on projects currently under way.
New leadership is in store for ASX-listed NiCo Resources after announcing the resignations of founding non-executive chairman Warren Hallam and chief executive Rod Corps.
