Rowena Duckworth

Estrella Resources is ramping up manganese extraction at its Ira Miri project in Timor-Leste after intersecting the targeted manganese horizon during pit excavation. With production underway, stockpiling on track and discussions advancing with international offtake partners, the company is closing in on delivering a 30,000t market sample and the country's first mineral export under its new Mining Code.

Corazon Mining has uncovered a whopping 4km gold anomaly at its Two Pools project in Western Australia after a comprehensive review of historical drilling and soil geochemistry. The work highlighted extensive shallow mineralisation, multiple high-priority targets and significant upside ahead of a maiden drill campaign scheduled for early 2026.

Aurum Resources has delivered fresh high-grade drill results from its Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, extending mineralisation at depth and along strike. The results support an imminent resource update and underline the scale and continuity of the system as the company advances toward pre-feasibility studies this year.

Dalaroo Metals has identified a strong zirconium–hafnium correlation at its Blue Lagoon critical minerals project in Greenland, confirming a zircon-dominated heavy mineral system. The results support a sedimentary heavy mineral sands model, low-cost gravity separation potential and materially de-risk both exploration and future development pathways at the project.

Octava Minerals has begun a maiden drilling campaign at its Byro critical minerals project in WA's Gascoyne region, targeting black shales prospective for rare earths, lithium and vanadium. The program follows strong bioleaching recoveries and coincides with improved acquisition terms, sharpening the pathway toward defining a large, low-impact critical minerals system.

Octava Minerals has restarted drilling at its Federation copper-zinc-silver project in western Tasmania, intersecting visible semi-massive sulphides at the Sweeney's prospect. Surface rock chips from the nearby Anomaly 1 prospect returned high-grade zinc, copper, silver, tin and indium, highlighting strong polymetallic potential across the project area.

Red Metal Limited's maiden drilling at its Pardoo gold project in WA's Pilbara region has intersected anomalous gold in younger cover sequences above basement rocks. Increasing gold, arsenic and antimony tenor running to the southeast has outlined a potential vector towards basement mineralisation, guiding follow-up drilling along a prospective granite–greenstone contact near the Hemi corridor.

Aurum Resources has delivered another strong set of high-grade gold hits from drilling at its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire, extending mineralisation at depth and reinforcing confidence ahead of a near-term resource update. With a prefeasibility study due this quarter and $40m in cash, the company is accelerating towards development.

Rio2 Ltd has poured first commercial gold at its 100 per cent-owned Fenix gold mine in Chile, marking its transition to producer status. The initial pour delivered 897 ounces of gold, with production now ramping towards 20,000 tonnes per day and a 2026 gold output target of 60,000 to 70,000 ounces.

Pilot Energy is set to commission a one-megawatt modular data centre at its Arrowsmith facility in WA's Mid-West in early 2026, expanding to 4 megawatts by mid-year. The Dongara Data Centre is expected to be the region's first live data centre and deliver near-term positive cash flow to support Pilot's energy transition strategy.

Larvotto Resources is fast closing in on mid-2026 production at its Hillgrove antimony–gold project in NSW, with plant refurbishment on schedule and underground mining back underway. Workforce numbers are ramping up as key permitting milestones fall into place. The company is also advancing rare earth metallurgy in WA and progressing copper growth options near Mt Isa.

Ora Banda Mining has delivered wider, high-grade gold results from drilling at its Waihi project near Menzies in Western Australia, further expanding the mineralisation envelope at Golden Pole. Thick, bonanza-grade intercepts have boosted the project's potential as a possible third underground mine for the company, sitting just three kilometres from its Davyhurst processing facility.

Terrain Minerals has resumed a 6,800-metre RC drilling program at its Smokebush gold-silver project in WA's Mid-West. Drilling will target extensions to high-grade mineralisation at Lightning, where previous results included 13 metres at 8.13g/t gold, and test new induced polarisation targets at the nearby Wildflower prospect.

Norfolk Metals has delivered more strong copper hits from its Chilean Carmen project, while locking in firm commitments for $2.1 million in fresh capital. Results confirmed high-grade copper sulphide mineralisation at depth, with funds to be used to drive phase two drilling and support resource definition across a highly prospective copper belt.

Larvotto Resources has extended high-grade gold-antimony mineralisation at its Hillgrove project in NSW after fresh drilling returned wide intercepts at the Blacklode prospect. The results have landed just as the Australian Government moved to establish a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve, with antimony named as a priority metal. This policy boost could accelerate the company's final mine approvals.

Dateline Resources has returned wide, open gold intercepts beyond its current resource in California, improving continuity and extending mineralisation beneath historic pits. Reverse circulation drilling to 300m stayed within the mineralised breccia pipe, prompting a shift to deeper diamond drilling to test lateral and depth extensions. The project hosts 27.1Mt at 1.26g/t for 1.1 million ounces of gold.

Estrella Resources has reached a key milestone after securing approval to extract up to 30,000 tonnes of high-grade manganese from its Ira Miri project in Timor-Leste. The bulk sampling program will allow the company to demonstrate the ore's quality to potential buyers, while generating local employment and advancing the project towards commercial development.

Larvotto Resources has continued to grow its Hillgrove antimony-gold project after diamond drilling at the company's Clarks Gully prospect returned high-grade results at depth and along strike. The program confirmed new parallel mineralised zones, open-ended extensions and bonus tungsten, reinforcing Hillgrove's credentials as a rare, multi-commodity critical minerals development approaching production.

Siren Gold has kicked off exploration at its Queen Charlotte project, with impressive gold and antimony results from channel and rock chip sampling. High-grade hits across multiple reefs have confirmed the presence of a large, mineralised shear system that previously hosted New Zealand's biggest antimony mine, setting the stage for further exploration and drilling.

St George Mining has delivered another round of exceptional drilling results at its wholly owned Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil. Thick, high-grade mineralisation from surface has extended the resource envelope, reinforcing expectations of a substantial upgrade to what is already a world-class mineral resource.

Pilot Energy has struck a binding agreement with renewables partner SN Energy to jointly develop a hybrid solar and battery project at the company's Three Springs in Western Australia. The deal unlocks upfront and milestone payments while supporting a proposed 50MW data centre, reinforcing Pilot's strategic shift from legacy oil assets into renewable energy and clean infrastructure.

Estrella Resources has strengthened its leadership with the appointment of seasoned mining executive Robert Mencel as chief executive officer, positioning the company to advance its limestone and manganese assets in Timor-Leste. Mencel brings more than 25 years of global project development experience, including multiple greenfield builds, as Estrella shifts focus towards development, funding and future production.

Red Metal Limited has advanced large-scale column heap leach testing at its Sybella rare earths project near Mt Isa in Queensland, building on earlier strong metallurgical results. The work aims to confirm low-cost sulphuric acid heap leaching of magnet and heavy rare earths, potentially paving the way for pre-feasibility studies in 2026 at the large granite-hosted discovery.

Red Metal Ltd has secured a joint venture with Artemis Resources to accelerate exploration at its Sharon Dam IOCG target in Western Australia. The deal allows Artemis to earn 60 per cent by spending $5 million, with drilling co-funded by a state grant. The underexplored project offers shallow cover and strong geophysical signatures.

Lindian Resources has locked in delivery of its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi by awarding the design and construction contract for the stage-one processing plant to Obsideo. The move has significantly de-risked execution, with recent plant optimisation likely to lift throughput, while keeping capex broadly in line, as the company targets first production in late 2026.

Aurum Resources has delivered another set of strong gold intercepts from its ongoing drilling at the Napié gold project in Côte d'Ivoire. The results continue to confirm wide, high-grade mineralisation that remains open along strike and at depth. With drilling ramping up and major resource updates planned, Aurum is building momentum in a strengthening gold market.

St George Mining has unveiled another batch of eye-catching rare earths and niobium assays from its giant Araxá project in Brazil, with thick zones of ultra-high grades outside the existing resource. The system remains open in all directions, with three rigs drilling 24/7 and more samples in the lab. The growing footprint is shaping Araxá as one of the Western world's standout critical-minerals discoveries.

American West Metals has geochemically mapped a monster 4km-long copper anomaly at its Storm project on Somerset Island in Canada, confirming another parallel structural corridor to its known high-grade deposits. The new Chevron prospect, along with fresh sulphide hits at Squall, Tornado and Cyclone, is rapidly defining a district-scale opportunity across the Midway–Storm–Tornado corridor in Nunavut's Arctic copper fields.

Octava Minerals is set to start the drill rods spinning with a 2000m diamond drilling program at its Tasmanian Federation project after uncovering overlimit indium above 500ppm, alongside standout zinc, tin, silver and copper grades from rock chips at the Sweeney's prospect. The company aims to test unmined sulphide zones in one of Australia's most promising polymetallic districts.

Estrella Resources has launched its maiden drilling campaign at the Werumata limestone project in Timor-Leste. The company is targeting high-purity calcite limestone across six diamond and 26 RC holes to underpin a potential 500 million-tonne JORC resource. With early drilling ahead of schedule and an offtake deal in sight, Estrella is accelerating its growth story in the new mining frontier that was formally East Timor.

American West Metals has struck more sizzling copper grades at its Storm project in Canada, including 12.1m at 5.6% copper with a hit up to 27.3%. The company says the new results point to a resource upgrade at Cyclone and strengthen its PFS, positioning Storm as northern Canada's next major copper development.

BMG Resources has struck more high-grade gold at its Bullabulling project near Coolgardie, with hits including 2m at 8.5g/t gold and 1m at 15.5g/t. The company says the mineralisation at Bullabulling North mirrors that of Minerals 260's 2.3Moz Bullabulling Mine next door, hinting the gold trend could extend into BMG's ground.