In what the world has come to accept as the new volatile norm, markets this week showed no signs of settling down, once again hit by another round of confidence shakes, courtesy of US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable policy swings and his casual shrug toward a softer dollar.
The greenback kept sliding, with Trump brushing off the weakness and stirring up fresh US threats against Iran’s regime. With Tehran then firing back, saying it would unleash everything in retaliation, you have the ultimate pressure cooker.
Protests inside Iran keep boiling over into nationwide unrest, with the Islamic Republic being labelled as terrorists by the EU and US forces bulking up in the region.
The tensions tuned oil up by more than 6 per cent and gold inevitably went ballistic, ripping 10 per cent higher intra-week before profit-taking clawed some back, peaking at an all-time high of almost US$5600 (A$7900) an ounce.
The yellow metal settled lower by Friday, but the haul still clocked a monthly rise of more than 20 per cent - its fiercest stretch since the 1980’s.
Trump was also back at his tariff playbook, slapping hefty duties - up to 60 per cent in some cases - on Chinese EVs, chips and solar panels.
The moves sparked wild intraday swings in US markets, with exporters and importers alike scrambling as supply chains braced for the hit.
Still, Dr Copper merely shrugged off the noise like it was nothing, marching to even loftier all-time highs north of US$14,000 (A$20,000) a tonne powered by persistent supply crunches from the biggest producers and Trump’s parallel executive orders pumping billions into domestic infrastructure and defence spending.
As such, our Runners procession this week is once again heavy on precious and strategic metals - the who’s-who of hard assets. Gold plus plus plays led the charge on safe-haven momentum, as tungsten, antimony and platinum group elements mixes all helped our Runners catch some bids.
APOLLO MINERALS LTD (ASX: AON)
Up 290% (1c – 3.9c)
The Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week goes to Apollo Minerals in a sharp combo of critical and precious metals, after the company announced the reinstatement of its Couflens tungsten-gold project in southern France for a fresh five-year term, just as tungsten and gold prices surge higher.
The once-coveted producing tungsten mine at Salau - formerly one of the world’s highest-grade tungsten operations - sits at the heart of the 42 square kilometre Couflens licence, 130km south of Toulouse.
Salau churned through around 930,000 tonnes of mineralisation at a whopping 1.5 per cent tungsten oxide for some 13,950 tonnes of concentrate between 1971 and 1986.
Importantly, gold also tags along well with the mineralisation, but was never processed. Some tailings samples run up to an impressive 8.9 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, with partial historical core showing hits of 8.5m at 3.4g/t gold and 2 per cent tungsten oxide and deeper channel samples at 8m for 9.5g/t gold and 2.4 per cent tungsten oxide.
Apollo says its deposit remains open at depth, with prior drilling below the old underground workings confirming the system continues.
Tungsten prices are on a sustained tear, too, driven by tight supply, Chinese export curbs and booming demand from defence spending.
The company is frantically re-assessing historical data, planning programs, and plotting ways to unlock value at Couflens, which has been widely recognised as one of Europe’s standout undeveloped tungsten assets throughout the late 20th century.
The company’s shares surged on the news, blending potential reactivation of the high-grade Salau mine with untapped regional exploration upside along its 5km corridor of shear-hosted gold potential.
Hot on the heels of the permit news, Apollo tapped investors for immediate fresh funding in the form of a $6.5 million placement. A handy $800,000 was committed – subject to approval - from directors and officers as well, which is always refreshing when the board puts skin in the game.
The cash builds directly on the Couflens reinstatement, positioning the project for serious progress in a strategic metals market that could throw up some very interesting economic potential thanks to its gold credits.
TERRA METALS LTD (ASX: TM1)
Up 98% (20c – 39.5c)
Snagging second spot is WA explorer Terra Metals, whose precious metals intersection had punters buzzing, after assay results from the Dante project in the Musgrave region confirmed a major PGM sulphide discovery unseen since the days of the 2020 Chalice Mining discovery.
The standout hole delivered a stonking 4m at 6.71g/t PGE3 (platinum, palladium, gold) from 68m, including 3m at 27.78g/t PGE3 and a ripping 1m hit at 52.97g/t PGE3 - nested in a broader 35-metre stretch at 2.90g/t PGE3 from 48m.
The company says its mineralisation kicks off near surface and the hole was stopped at 102m, a full 138m short of target depth, hinting at more horizons below.
Drilling has nailed down a high-grade PGM sulphide system at its Southwest prospect, now spanning an 850m-long by 450m-wide deposit, with an average thickness of around 50m, open in all directions.
Apollo says there is serious scope for stacked repetitions in the feeder conduit, with assays still pending on multiple visual sulphide intervals, keeping the news flow pipeline humming.
Management has extensive experience with major platinum deposits worldwide and it reckons they’ve never seen hard-rock PGM grades like those in its discovery hole.
Comparisons to South Africa’s historic dunite pipes are gaining momentum, with the project sitting next to BHP’s abandoned Musgrave development, where nearly $1 billion was invested. This could spark real revival talk in the isolated but mineral-rich region.
NAGAMBIE RESOURCES LTD (ASX: NAG)
Up 90% (1c – 1.9c)
Rounding out the podium is another critical-precious metals blend in mining junior, Nagambie Resources, after inking a binding term sheet with $2.2 billion gold-antimony heavyweight Alkane Resources to unlock Australia’s highest-grade antimony-gold project at Nagambie.
The tenement package sits on a mining lease about 40km northeast of Alkane’s Costerfield operations.
Alkane has proposed an earn-in and joint venture over the flagship Nagambie Mine tenements, kicking off with a $1.5 million equity placement at 1.5c per share - a handy 50 per cent premium to the last close – coupled with funding for exploration to test depth potential.
Limited deep drilling has left plenty of room to chase extensions below existing workings, which Alkane flags as a priority.
Terms include an initial 12-month option for sole-fund exploration, followed by a 60 per cent earn-in via A$12.5 million in spend over three years, scaling to 80 per cent with another A$15 million, for a total of A$27.5 million in exploration over five years.
Post-earn-in Alkane will run the show, with access to its 150,000 tonne per annum Costerfield plant. By green-lighting ore trucking and sidestepping hefty standalone plant capex at Nagambie, the move shapes as a major value boost for the company.
The Nagambie resource hosts Australia’s highest-grade JORC-compliant antimony deposit with strong gold credits once again locked in. The company says it features a Costerfield-style ultra-high-grade system in the same proven district. With a current resource of just 539,000 tonnes at staggering 18.6g/t gold equivalent, including 58,000 ounces of gold at 3.3 g/t and 20,800 tonnes of antimony at 3.9 per cent.
The project has only been drilled down to around 250m, with geology mirroring Costerfield’s depth extensions down to a potential of 1000m, ripe for resource growth.
The partnership triggered monster volume on Friday with some 152 million shares traded for some $2.5 million, the biggest volume ever - as the market priced in the partnership firepower.
When a $2.2 billion antimony-gold heavyweight knocks with a fat premium placement and plant access, it’s less a joint venture and more a polite corporate mugging - in the best possible way.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Todd
