Sponsored Content for Gina Rinehart

With “hematite” iron ore discoveries slowing to a trickle, billionaires and others are turning to the once-maligned poor cousin of the iron ore industry “magnetite” that comes with almost biblical scale.

Hot on the heels of kicking off the oil well pad construction at the Rafael Shallow 1 project in Western Australia's Canning Basin earlier this week, Buru Energy has named David Maxwell as the company's new chairman. Maxwell will replace retiring chairman and founding shareholder Eric Streitberg, who is regarded as an industry stalwart after compiling a 50-year career.

In tough recent times for many junior mining companies on the ASX, luring a financially-powerful “big dog” onto the share register to provide some much-needed muscle has become a common boardroom pursuit. Bulls N' Bears takes look at some of those companies which have received both a timely cash injection and a share price boost up to recent highs.

Gold Mountain has etched out a second intriguing rare earths patch at its Down Under project in Brazil, with a further 85 assays returned from a scout stream sediment survey showing values up to 4582ppm TREO. The company recently collected 800 samples in a first-pass reconnaissance program at its freshly-minted tenure – a stone's throw from Brazilian Rare Earths' Rocha da Rocha critical minerals province.

With Mineral Resources turning a chapter and pulling the plug on its Yilgarn iron ore hub in Western Australia, the race for potential suitors vying for a look in at Esperance's newly-released rail and port capacity is hotting up. And the star-studded list of runners and riders positioning at the starting blocks makes for some very interesting reading.

In a significant move poised to bolster the immediate direction of its multi-mineral pursuits, White Cliff Minerals has secured well-known mining mogul John Hancock as a strategic advisor to its board. The company has engaged the son of Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart as it gears up for a substantial expansion of its project portfolio during the next year.

Bannister Downs Dairy will make a weekly donation of fresh milk to Foodbank WA's Centre for Hunger Relief at Perth Airport to be distributed to all branches across WA.

This week's Bulls N' Bears profiled ASX runner is … Imugene. Its share price jumped more than 212 per cent to join other impressive companies including Krakatoa Resources, TechGen Metals and GreenTech Metals.

Bookbuilds and Banter with Boz (aka Shaw and Partner's WA State manager Davide Bosio) draws on his years of capital-raising experience and deal-making in Perth to talk billionaires and battery metals as he laments the ultimate killer of the deal – time.

With an ever-increasing spotlight shining on rare earths, a former sleepy tourist town on the WA south coast could be on the cusp of becoming the next epicentre of a rare earths mineral boom. One of the major attractions of the area is the discovery of “clay-hosted” rare earths which, unlike their hard rock counterparts, can be considerably easier to mine – and they can exist in vast quantities.

White Cliff Minerals has polished off a high-resolution magnetic and radiometric survey at its Yinnetharra lithium and rare earths project about 100km northeast of Gascoyne Junction in WA. The operation is within earshot of several high-profile plays including Hastings Technology Metals' world-class Yangibana rare earths acreage and Arrow Minerals' emerging Reid Well prospect where rock chip sampling returned grades of up to 3.77 per cent lithium oxide.

Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting have been recognised this week at the 16th Annual Mines and Money Awards for Outstanding Achievement in London, winning two awards.Mrs Rinehart was awarded a special award for her outstanding contribution in the mining and resources sector.