Public Company News

Rio2 Limited is acquiring the Condestable copper-producing mine in Peru for a total of US$217 million, instantly transforming the company from a single-asset Chilean gold developer into a diversified Latin American precious-and-base-metals producer with immediate cash flow. Under the deal signed with private owner Southern Peaks Mining, Rio2 will pay US$180 (A$326) million on closing, expected in January 2026.

Pilot Energy is in the final stages of a farm-out process for its wholly-owned WA-481-P gas exploration permit, with offers from short-listed parties due to close before the end of the month. The company's 8605 square kilometre offshore tenure extends between Cervantes and Geraldton and is the biggest Commonwealth offshore exploration license in Australia, embracing 130 graticular blocks in shallow water along Western Australia's Mid West coast.

Beetaloo Energy has landed the final watershed approval in the Northern Territory, clearing the decks to sell appraisal gas from its Carpentaria 5-H well and kick off pilot production. In a first-of-its-kind decision on Aboriginal Freehold land, gas will soon flow directly into the local market, sharpening the company's pathway to early revenues and commercial sales.

St George Mining has delivered its thickest-ever high-grade rare earths and niobium diamond drill hit in the short but spectacular history of the company's 100%-owned Araxá project in Brazil, boring through a staggering 115.65m from surface. Latest assays confirm the carbonatite host system is not only enormous but continues to grow in scale, continuity and quality, with the new results set to drive a substantial resource upgrade in 2026.

Lindian Resources has kicked off a drilling campaign at its North Knoll prospect. The target, which returned rock chips assaying of up to 7.15 per cent total rare earths (TREOs), is one of several high-grade carbonatite-rich lenses previously identified near the company's world-class Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Phoslock Environmental Technologies, which resurrected this week, flicking the switch on its Chinese factory after four years in the dark. Freshly minted Black Horse Mining galloped out of the IPO gates in a revival at the heart of Victoria's 80-million-ounce goldfields, DGR Global reminded everyone of its 6.8% stake in SolGold and its copper-gold monster in Ecuador, which copped a bid and African Gold got proposed to by its Canadian sugar-daddy Montage in a $264 million all-scrip merger in Côte d'Ivoire.

Meeka Metals has delivered more high-grade gold hits from the prolifically mineralised Fairway Shear Zone, which forms part of the company's Murchison gold project in Western Australia. Rosapenna is a new drill target within the shear, with a best hit of 23m grading 1.05g/t gold, including 4m running at 4.67g/t gold. The mineralisation remains open in three directions and highlights the potential for a new discovery.

Larvotto Resources has bought and taken delivery of Canadian-based Elemission's game-changing ECORE automated core scanning system. The new technology will make the company's NSW Hillgrove antimony-gold project the only operating mine site in Australia equipped with on-site laser ablation and atomic emission spectroscopy capability. The ECORE system delivers near real-time, high-resolution multi-element geochemistry and quantitative mineralogy.

Chariot Corporation has reported high-grade lithium oxide of up to 5.96% in first-pass rock chip sampling at its Fonlo and Iganna projects in southwest Nigeria, confirming the existence of fertile lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatite systems and highlighting the country's growing appeal to Australian explorers. The company says the assays from six rock-chip samples, ranging between 2.66 per cent and 5.96 per cent lithium oxide, have showcased the potential for high-grade lithium-bearing pegmatites at both projects.

Aguia Resources is ramping up preparations for mining at its Três Estradas phosphate project in Brazil, with upgrades progressing ahead of schedule and production slated to begin in March of next year. Work at the mine site is advancing steadily, with a drainage system for the sump area and a 9-kilometre municipal road access already complete.

Octava Minerals has kicked off the first drilling in almost half a century at its Sweeney's prospect in Tasmania, zeroing in on a rich mix of copper, zinc, silver, tin and untested high-grade indium. With historic hits still wide open and a 2000-metre diamond program now underway, the company is pushing to unlock the tonnage, scale and metallurgy on a long-ignored polymetallic system.

Dateline Resources has hit yet more solid gold intercepts from beneath the North pit at its Colosseum project in California, delivering wide zones of gold up to 132.6m grading 0.95 grams per tonne. Importantly, the results surpass the grades in the nearby resource blocks surrounding the mineralised intercepts hinting at an upgrade in ounces for the company.