Public Company News

88 Energy has locked in a key piece of the puzzle for its next high-impact drilling campaign on Alaska's famed North Slope, executing a contract for a familiar rig to drill the potentially company-making Augusta-1 exploration well. The well is targeting a big, gross unrisked prospective resource of 64 million barrels and is slated for spud in Q1 2027.

Lindian Resources is on track to become a major rare earths producer, with construction at its Kangankunde project in Malawi on schedule as it closes in on first production by the final quarter of 2026. The company is fully funded for stage one development and expects to trigger its first mining blast and deliver first ore to the stockpile pad as early as next month.

Phase two reverse circulation drilling at Moonlight Resources' Leo Grande prospect within its Clermont project in Queensland has extended the gold footprint by a whopping 450m along the Leo Grande shear zone. Step-out drilling to the southeast and northwest returned broad near-surface gold intersections with several holes ending in mineralisation, highlighting further upside potential as more assays land.

Dalaroo Metals has entered the final approval stage for a significant licence expansion at its Blue Lagoon critical minerals project in southern Greenland. The move targets a "source-to-sink" geological system rich in rare earth elements, zirconium, and niobium. With stakeholder consultations complete, the company is now preparing for an intensive mid-2026 exploration program covering both onshore and high-priority offshore targets.

Bulls N' Bears Big Hits looks at notable drill intercepts recently reported to the ASX, led by BMC Minerals with 25.1m at 180g/t silver, 9.7% zinc and 3.4% lead from 327.5m. Caspin Resources' 13m at 1.16% tin at Bygoo in NSW and Barton Gold's shallow 3m at 20.6g/t gold in South Australia round out the selection.

St George Mining has recruited global engineering leader Worley to spearhead feasibility studies for its world-class Araxá niobium and rare earths project in Brazil. Following a competitive selection process, Worley will provide technical advisory services ranging from plant design to procurement. The partnership leverages Worley's 60-year track record in Brazil to fast-track development studies and move the high-grade project toward a formal commercial mining operation.

A global crisis is unfolding in the helium market following Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the closure of Qatar's Ras Laffan complex. With prices hitting $US2,000 per thousand cubic feet, critical industries face unprecedented supply shocks. ASX-listed explorers in North America, Australia and Africa are racing to fill the void, offering a strategic alternative to volatile Middle Eastern sources.

St George Mining has delivered additional thick, high-grade rare earths and niobium intercepts from surface at its Araxá project in Brazil. Best diamond drilling results included 43m at 8.02 per cent total rare earth oxides and 0.74 per cent niobium pentoxide, while step-out drilling has extended mineralisation 240m north of the current resource footprint.

Red Metal Limited is pushing its Sybella rare earths project near Mount Isa towards low-cost heap leach processing just as Australia and Japan step up critical minerals cooperation. The company's column leach tests are in progress, while ion exchange trials have delivered a nine-fold enrichment of rare earths and removed iron and aluminium, pointing to a simpler, cheaper flowsheet.

Maritana Minerals has delivered more sizzling gold intercepts from phase one diamond drilling at its Burbanks project, near Coolgardie in WA. One hole nailed a string of hits including its longest intercept of 4.20m assaying 42.43g/t gold from 289.63m, including 1.37m going an eye-watering 126.93g/t gold from 290.84m.

Larvotto Resources has pulled in more strong drilling results from the key Midas Gully mineralised system at the Metz Mining Centre, part of the company's Hillgrove gold-antimony project in NSW. The program nailed a standout hit of 13 metres at 8.56g/t gold equivalent from 253m depth, which included 1.2m at 34.53g/t gold equivalent. New geophysical results have also outlined fresh targets.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… 1414 Degrees, which more than tripled after its nanoparticle battery tech delivered a 50 per cent boost over traditional graphite, targeting the defence drone industry. Pathkey.AI charged higher on a proposed AI-driven semiconductor design acquisition through Chipforge, Eclipse Metals surged on a major resource upgrade at its Grønnedal rare earths project in Greenland and European Lithium ran on a proposed ~$1.2 billion scrip merger with NASDAQ-listed Critical Metals Corp for its Tanbreez REE and Wolfsberg lithium assets.