Andrew Todd

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Hubify Ltd, after it raised $250,000 at a whopping 425 per cent premium to fuel its AI push and managed services partnership. Besra Gold surged on conditional mining lease approval for its Jugan deposit within the monster 2.3-million-ounce Bau gold project in Malaysia, European Resources jumped after smashing high-grade rare earth hits, including 4.5m at 1.4 per cent TREO at its Korsnäs project in Finland and Cosmos Exploration kept the lithium party rolling with a capital raise amid its Bolivian brine bonanza tie-up.

Corazon Mining is ticking off the final regulatory boxes ahead of maiden drilling at its Two Pools gold project in Western Australia's Gascoyne region. With a heritage survey now underway and drilling approvals in hand, the company is preparing to test a sizeable gold footprint that hosts multiple high-grade historical intercepts and has never been systematically followed up.

Augustus Minerals is about to take its first real swing at gold at its Music Well project, with drilling locked in to test a standout surface anomaly near Leonora. Backed by eye-catching rock-chip grades and a prime address in WA's Leonora–Laverton belt, the maiden program will finally put holes into a target that has never been drilled, despite sitting in one of the state's richest gold districts.

As the company presses ahead with its carbon management and clean energy projects in Western Australia, Pilot Energy has locked in new leadership, appointing energy veteran Brian Siddall as chief executive officer to steer its course. The company says Mr Siddall brings more than 30 years of experience in oil and gas, spanning strategy, project development, execution and asset management.

Dalaroo Metals has bulked up its strategic land holding in West Africa by bolting on the Bondoukou gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, boosting its footprint in one of the world's active gold jurisdictions. The acquisition hands Dalaroo control of a fully granted mining lease in the Birimian terrane, about 35 kilometres northwest of the lucrative 4.5-million-ounce Tanda deposit operated by Endeavour Mining.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Recharge Metals, which snapped up the Sunset Well project in the heart of WA's Leonora district complete with 94,500-ounces of gold. Cosmos Exploration muscled into Bolivia's lithium big leagues via its EAU tie-up with state-owned YLB and exclusive access to Vulcan's VULSORB lithium extraction technology, while King River Resources dusted off the historic Mindoolah goldfield in WA's Murchison belt, chasing high-grade reefs the old-timers left behind with modern rigs and a roaring gold price at its back.

Great Southern Mining is readying the drill bit for its Mon Ami gold project in Western Australia, with the company identifying multiple targets for resource extension at the mine-ready prospect. The company has initiated a detailed technical review of Mon Ami to speed up exploration that could lift the existing 55,500-ounce deposit, grading a handy 1.11 grams per tonne gold.

American West Metals has bolstered its US critical minerals push by hiring a top Washington advisory firm to steer the company's West Desert project into becoming the nation's first end-to-end indium supplier. The newly appointed Ervin Graves Strategy Group is a heavyweight in government relations, a move set to deepen the company's ties with US agencies and potential downstream partners.

Patriot Resources has masterminded a globally scaled copper-silver portfolio to ride the explosive wave of demand being driven by AI and data centres. The company has stitched together a set of perfectly timed high-grade assets in Africa and South America, as copper prices shatter records and silver surges on its dual role in the electronics industry and as a precious metals.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Great Dirt Resources, after a fresh $1.446 million placement to industry insiders woke up its manganese projects in northern New South Wales. EMC Gold Corp surged on permitting hopes for its monster Salave gold project in Spain, MetalsGrove ran on no news, just early boots-on-ground work at its Côte d'Ivoire gold project, European Resources ran on diamond drilling from its Korsnäs rare earths project in Finland delivering hits like 27m at 3767ppm total rare earth oxides.

Novo Resources has dusted off its Belltopper gold project in Victoria after boosting its exploration target to between 2.1 and 3.1 million tonnes of high-grade resources running 6.7 to 8.9 grams per tonne gold. The company says it has now outlined between 460,000 and 880,000 ounces of high-grade gold, with the upgraded figures accelerating plans for follow-up exploration in the world-class Bendigo goldfields.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Solstice Minerals, after it uncovered blockbuster high-grade copper-gold hits at its Nanadie project in WA. Alma Metals surged on huge copper intercepts and scale at its Briggs project in Queensland, contracting group RBR Group jumped after the Mozambique LNG got a green light for the restart of construction, with 4000 workers back on site and First Au raised $5.6 million to follow up fresh high-grade hits at its Gimlet gold project in WA.

Dalaroo Metals has ramped up its West African gold push, kicking off field mapping and drill targeting programs at its Bongouanoa project in southeast Côte d'Ivoire. The in-country geological team is now boots on the ground, advancing detailed structural mapping along key shear corridors, while early stakeholder engagement is building a solid foundation for operations.

Larvotto Resources has continued to rack up gold and antimony tonnes at its Hillgrove project in New South Wales, this time confirming broad zones of high-grade gold-antimony-tungsten across multiple lodes at its expanding Freehold exploration prospect. The 4300m diamond drilling program targeted depth extensions of historically mined old workings, with the company confident its results now validate the system's scale and depth persistence.

Horizon Minerals has generated another quarter of strong cash flows from gold sales, banking $23.3M from 3689 ounces sold, while ending the period with a healthy $37.5M cash balance and 14,300 ounces of contained gold in stockpiles. The robust quarterly came amid record-high gold prices and featured the safe completion of open-pit mining at the company's Boorara and Phillips Find open pits.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Apollo Minerals, which dusted off the historic high-grade Salau tungsten mine in France with a fresh five-year permit. Terra Metals unleashed a monster PGM sulphide hit at Dante in the Musgraves with a whopping 4m at 6.71g/t PGE3, sparking comparisons to South Africa's Bushveld monsters and Nagambie Resources inked a juicy JV with the $2.2 billion gold-antimony producer Alkane Resources on Australia's highest-grade antimony-gold play.

Meeka Metals has notched up another robust quarter at its Murchison Gold mine in Western Australia, lifting output to 9174 ounces while generating $23.9 million in cash, to take its holdings to $67.4 million. All-in sustaining costs came in at $2365 per ounce, underpinned by an average realised gold price of A$6275 per ounce on 7953 ounces sold for $49.9 million in revenue.

Horizon Minerals has continued to intersect bonanza-grade gold in drilling at its Burbanks gold project, south of Coolgardie in Western Australia, with assays confirming another stellar intercept grading up to 396.6 grams per tonne. The standout result of 2m at a whopping 235.7g/t gold from 248m depth included a 1.16-metre section grading 396.6g/t gold within a breccia zone of coarse visible gold.

Great Southern Mining has unveiled shallow gold hits at its Mon Ami project in Laverton, Western Australia, hinting at a potentially new parallel lode that could expand the deposit's existing 55,500-ounce resource. 2146 metres of aircore drilling was completed to target gold anomalies to the north, in hopes of expanding the existing 1.56 million tonnes at 1.11 grams per tonne resource.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Australian Strategic Materials, which bagged a $450 million takeover bid from NYSE-listed Energy Fuels Inc. Osteopore landed yet another exclusive Hong Kong distribution deal with MontsMed for its dissolving 3D-printed bone scaffolds, Olympio unveiled over 100 high-grade gold hits from drilling at its Bousquet project in Quebec and Riversgold continued the gold fever with shallow high-grade gold at its Kalgoorlie Northern Zone, plus a $2.15m strategic capital raise.

Buru Energy is inching closer to gas production in Western Australia after the Environmental Protection Authority approved exploration and well appraisal at the neighbouring Valhalla gas project in the Canning Basin. Buru received its own EPA approval in September last year and says the move is a major government endorsement of the onshore Canning Basin, where Buru's Rafael project is set to drill in the June quarter this year.

American West Metals has dropped a bumper resource upgrade at its flagship Storm copper project in Nunavut, Canada, increasing the deposit's contained metal by more than 20 per cent. The boosted inventory now sits at 28.2 million tonnes of mineralisation grading one per cent copper and 3.3 grams per tonne silver, for 276,000 tonnes of copper and 3.0 million ounces of silver – a 36 per cent lift in silver ounces.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Hydrix Ltd, which locked in a $2.5 million deal to develop SynCardia's next-gen fully-implantable artificial heart. Patagonia Lithium sealed a strategic partnership with oil-backed Ameerex to supercharge its Formentera brine project in Argentina's lithium triangle as lithium prices surge. Meanwhile, Energy Transition Minerals rocketed on Trump's fresh Greenland grab rhetoric, eyeing its mammoth Kvanefjeld rare-earth play for national security. At the same time, biotech junior AdAlta doubled after snagging exclusive rights ex-China to co-develop Shanghai Cell Therapy's lightning-fast two-day CAR-T cancer-killer therapy.

St George Mining has uncovered a new zone of high-grade niobium mineralisation at its Araxá project in Brazil, with assays confirming thick intercepts from surface well beyond the current resource. The company says the latest discovery lies 400 metres northwest of the existing resource in a previously undrilled area, marking a clear extension of the niobium system.

Chariot Resources has partnered up with a China-based lithium trader to negotiate potential funding and offtake for lithium from its recently acquired Nigerian project. Lithium-trader Fujian Jinjianqiao New Energy Technology has inked a non-binding memorandum of understanding to provide funding for the development of an on-site processing facility for Chariot to deliver spodumene concentrate to China.

Aguia Resources has tightened its leadership ranks, naming Tim Hosking as managing director to steer the company as its key South American projects gather momentum. The move follows his recent elevation to CEO. It comes as the multi-commodity miner edges closer to first mining at its flagship phosphate operations in Brazil, with initial production slated for the coming quarter.

Titanium Sands Limited has moved its Mannar Island heavy mineral sands project closer to production, after lodging applications for an industrial mining licence with Sri Lanka's mining bureau. The lodgement allows the company to wrap up its remaining environmental studies. At the same time, it is awaiting assessment under a forthcoming national mineral policy, as it advances towards developing its high-grade, ilmenite-rich deposit.

Aurum Resources has taken a major step towards development at its flagship Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire with three mining exploitation licence applications now lodged. The submissions cover the full project footprint and come ahead of key resource updates and a prefeasibility study due in the first quarter. Backed by a healthy cash position and an aggressive drilling program for the year, Aurum is advancing steadily in one of West Africa's most productive gold belts.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is Charger Metals which unleashed a ripping high-grade maiden gold discovery at its Xmas anomaly in the Yilgarn with 12m at 6.55g/t, Calix Limited stormed higher on blockbuster US water-treatment contracts and completion of its game-changing lithium demo plant with Pilbara Minerals. Investigator Resources also started the new year on the front foot, leveraging sky-high silver prices with a DFS update that bloated mineable ounces by 13Moz at the same time slashing the strip ratio at its pure-play Paris silver project in South Australia.

Horizon Minerals has pushed back its Black Swan plant conversion feasibility study near Kalgoorlie into the new year, opting to reassess project economics amid record gold prices. The company says delivery is now slated for the March quarter as it explores ramped-up throughput options buoyed by elevated gold prices exceeding A$6700 per ounce.

The Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Year is… Kaili Resources, which ran on hot air and a tight Chinese register for a meme-stock frenzy in under 48 hours. Dateline Resources got the ultimate Trump Truth Social shout-out for its Colosseum gold-rare earths play near the Mountain Pass mine in California, Locksley Resources unlocked antimony and rare earths just next door, Sunrise Energy Metals flew on its monster scandium deposit in NSW and Mount Ridley dropped Australia's biggest gallium resource out of nowhere. IPO of the year went to the aptly named Metal Powder Works, as goldies Forrestania, Focus and a lonely oil player Finder Energy rounded out the list.

Terrain Minerals has called a brief festive timeout on drilling at its Smokebush gold project in Western Australia, wrapping up a productive end to 2025 at its Lightning prospect. With more than a third of the current RC program completed, a newly granted mining licence and strong funding support, the company says it is well placed to hit the ground running when drilling resumes in January.