Public Company News

Terrain Minerals has finally pulled the drill rig from the company's Smokebush project on WA's Yalgoo belt, after knocking out an expanded 5000-metre campaign at its high-grade gold and silver prospects. The expanded RC drilling program was designed to reveal the extent of gold and silver-bearing structures at the project, ahead of defining a maiden mineral resource at the early-stage Smokebush by the middle of next year.

Javelin Minerals has bolstered its plans for near-term mining at its Eureka gold project near Kalgoorlie, having significantly upgraded the project resource to the higher confidence indicated category. The company says its upgraded resources and grades could expand its plans to fast-track mining at the project to recover 34,000 ounces of gold by next year.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining's Lighthorse prospect at Pinjin near Kalgoorlie has doubled its strike to 1450m via air core drilling, identifying broad gold anomalism to guide an upcoming major RC drilling campaign. The 99-hole, 4710m program revealed thick, shallow gold intercepts and a second anomaly 800m north, surpassing the company's Kirgella Gift/Providence footprint. This sets the stage for KalGold's largest-ever RC drilling effort.

Dateline Resources sits barely 10 clicks north of what could soon become the single most heavily backed rare earths operation on the planet, courtesy of a recent multibillion-dollar public-private partnership just announced between MP Materials and the United States Department of Defense. Dateline hosts geology almost identical to MP's Mountain Pass rare earths as well as a gold resource north of a million ounces.

St George Mining has development studies in full swing at its Araxa niobium and rare earth elements project in Brazil's premier mining state of Minas Gerais, as part of a global push to find new supplies. The company's inaugural drilling campaign is charging ahead, with 40 auger holes on a 500m grid completed for 512m as part of a reconnaissance program to test areas beyond the current resource envelope.

Lithium Universe Limited has kicked off a pioneering project to extract silver from discarded photovoltaic solar panels, leveraging technology developed by scientists at Macquarie University in Sydney. Global silver demand is set to reach a record 680 million ounces in 2025, driven by a 7% compound annual growth rate in industrial use, photovoltaics and artificial intelligence, triggering an anticipated 117.6-million-ounce market deficit.

King River Resources has unearthed more high-grade gold at its Kurundi project in the Northern Territory and is preparing to drill two iron oxide copper-gold targets at its Kuiper prospect this month. The company is working through a pipeline of drill-ready targets across its 5000 square kilometre Tennant Creek landholding, following earlier standout hits and geophysical success.

There are moments when policy collides with geology, and when it does, fortunes can shift overnight. The decision by the US Department of Defence, announced last week, to take a half-billion-dollar equity stake in the country's only producing rare earths mine has thrust the geopolitical spotlight onto a handful of ASX-listed juniors and reshaped their prospects in a flash.

This week's Bulls N' Bears ASX Runners of the Week is… Yandal Resources, after the company identified a gold discovery of potentially massive scale in one of WA's prolific gold belts. Imagion shot up on positive talks with the US FDA on its Phase 2 breast cancer imaging technology, Falcon intercepted some of the highest grade gold in Australian drilling this year and Bayan scooped up a strategic rare earths project next to the world-class Mountain Pass mine.

Ora Banda Mining has ended its financial year with a record 92,400 ounces of gold produced, a 32% increase over the previous year, marking the company's second consecutive year of more than 30% organic growth. Production includes 1400 ounces from third-party processing under an ore sale agreement with Norton Gold Fields at Paddington Mill.

BMG Resources has firmed up its belief in a substantial gold system at its Abercromby gold project in WA's Mid West region, after receiving broad mineralised hits from the first phase of a recently completed diamond drilling program. Scoping studies are now underway to assess the optimal mining strategy, with a low-capex, fast-tracked production scenario being evaluated.

Buru Energy has shed another non-core strategic asset, inking a deal to offload its hydrogen and helium subsidiary 2H Resources to Denver-based natural hydrogen hopeful Koloma Australia. The transaction is valued at up to a tasty $2 million in cash and comes as Buru narrows its focus on its flagship Rafael gas and condensate project in Western Australia's Kimberley region.