It's probably not a great thing that, despite war breaking out between the United States and Iran, it almost feels familiar at this stage.
March has dawned and the long-simmering showdown finally boiled over last weekend. The US and Israel unleashed Operation Epic Fury on the Islamic Republic of Iran and, within the first day, had taken out the head of the snake, assassinating the oppressive Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
The commodity-laden ASX held its nerve early in the week, with traders quietly hoping for a Maduro-style quick fold, with the Revolutionary Guard just melting away - no such luck.
The Iranian regime proved far better prepared than the cash-strapped socialist dictator and retaliation came thick and fast: missile barrages, drone swarms and attacks on anyone and everyone within firing distance across the Gulf.
Iran was effective in essentially shutting down the Strait of Hormuz – a skinny choke point that just happens to handle about 20 per cent of the world's oil and natural gas.
Tanker traffic ground to a near-halt, facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iraq took hits, and suddenly, supply fears were front and centre. Oil surged around 13 per cent to US$82 a barrel by week's end.
US President Trump stood tall, declaring the offensive against the tyrannical top brass a roaring success, confidently predicting the whole thing would be wrapped up in a few weeks.
That prediction and a US dollar rally were enough to pull gold right off the boil, down more than 5 per cent to US$5080 (A$7240) an ounce to close the week.
Despite Trump’s rhetoric, fear spread across the week, with the market slipping around three per cent by Friday – a surprisingly palatable pullback as the old line about truth being war's first casualty rang truer than ever.
Western newsfeeds continue to pump one version of events, while Iranian state media spams AI-generated clips of sinking US carriers. The truth sits somewhere in the middle, while the Iranian people remain caught in the crossfire of bombs and internet blackouts.
Despite oil looking like black gold once again, our Runners convoy this week was an eclectic mix of critical minerals, proving that in times of chaos, the hard stuff underground often finds a way to shine.
OD6 METALS LTD (ASX: OD6)
Up 122% (5.4c – 12c)
The Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is critical minerals dynamo OD6 Metals, after it staked claim to a high-grade fluorspar project in the tier-one mining jurisdiction of Nevada.
The company’s shiny new Quinn fluorspar project is located about 220km north of Las Vegas and is OD6’s latest weapon in tackling Western supply concerns, with the US currently 100 per cent reliant on imported fluorine.
Fluorspar is the main source of fluorine and has been designated a critical mineral by the US, EU, Australia, Canada and Japan.
It is an essential component in the manufacturing of semiconductors, advanced batteries, aerospace and defence materials, and even nuclear fuel processing – hitting all the buzz words.
While the Quinn deposits have lain largely dormant for more than five decades, historic reports indicate substantial surface showings of very high-grade fluorspar.
Works at its Mammoth prospect, which has never been drilled, returned surface rock samples grading up to 80 per cent fluorspar, with remarkable channel-sampling results, including 15.2m at 48 per cent and 10.7m at 45 per cent.
OD6 has knocked off an accompanying $3.4 million capital raise to get the exploration ball rolling, with the eventual acquisition costing just $275,000 upfront, alongside a larger milestone-based back end.
The acquisition will add a third pillar to OD6’s critical minerals portfolio, which already includes the Splinter Rock rare earths project in Western Australia and the Gulf Creek copper-zinc project in New South Wales.
With fluorspar at the forefront of a 2026 critical minerals resurgence, it’s a perfectly timed foray into the US for OD6, up an impressive 122% on the week.
REGENER8 RESOURCES LTD (ASX: R8R)
Up 118% (11c – 24c)
Slotting into second place is junior exploration aficionado Regener8 Resources, after it acquired a highly prospective silver-lead-zinc project in the historic Srebrenica Mining District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The company says its latest Srebrenica North project lies in the burgeoning base metals region of Bosnia, marking Regener8’s entry into Europe’s prolific Tethyan Metallogenic Belt. It is also home to ASX resource monsters and takeover targets such as Strickland Metals and the recently gobbled-up Adriatic Metals.
The 80-square-kilometre project sits in a strategic sweet spot between two operating lead-zinc mines owned by private mining house Mineco and is adjacent to ground held by Canadian-listed explorer Terra Balcanica.
Despite a rich mining history stretching back to medieval times, remarkably, Regener8’s new ground has seen no modern exploration in more than 50 years, presenting a significant opportunity for the company.
An accompanying $2.38 million raise is earmarked for initial on-ground exploration programs before pivotal first-pass drilling in the near future.
The company is also actively advancing its existing Australian assets, including the North Achilles project in Western Australia, where similar base metals signatures are begging for drill-readiness.
With cash in the bank and a foothold in a district humming with activity, Regener8 flew off the shelves this week, up some 118 per cent on unveiling.
BLUGLASS LTD (ASX: BLG)
Up 80% (20c – 36c)
Taking out a third place is the curious case of BluGlass Limited and its potentially defence-changing advanced lasers.
The company shot up an impressive 80 per cent on a week when there was no news - but defence companies were booming - before the bourse bull breakers down at the ASX stopped the party on Friday with a ‘please explain’.
BluGlass and its next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) laser technology have applications for everything from semiconductors to perhaps the more poignant defence industry.
The company closed the week with a trading halt, stating it had a surprisingly price-sensitive announcement to release regarding an incoming customer order.
Exciting times indeed.
The company says its high-performance GaN compound, which is already well-known in LED’s and power electronics, will be focused on lasers, thanks to BluGlass - specifically visible-wavelength lasers in the blue and green parts of the spectrum.
The company is using its proprietary tech to grow very high-quality GaN layers at lower temperatures than industry-standard methods, enabling more precise crystal structures, fewer defects and more complex laser designs on a single chip with fewer performance trade-offs.
The end goal is to produce compact, high-power, high-quality lasers that outperform or cost less than what’s currently available from big players.
A technology now being touted as a potential use against – wait for it – intercontinental nuclear weapons. The defence industry believes that these lasers will be crucial in disarming missile threats and could be the safety net that the world has been looking for.
If BluGlass can eke out a slice of the very lucrative laser pie, it could turbocharge its contracts, hopefully like the one expected to drop next week.
LINDIAN RESOURCES LTD (ASX: LIN)
Up 43% (53c – 76c)
Pulling off perhaps the most impressive deal of the week is rare earths developer Lindian Resources, which has landed a major win by acquiring majority control of a fully built hydrometallurgical cracking plant in Kazakhstan for just US$15 million (A$21 million) – a pretty handy discount on the typical A$500 million-plus cost.
The share price surged as much as 43 per cent on some serious volumes this week as Lindian steps closer to becoming a fast-tracked high-margin downstream processing developer.
From the last quarter of this year, it plans to convert 12,500 tonnes per annum of monazite concentrate from its Malawian plant into MREC, in what it says will improve payabilities and strengthen offtake negotiations.
The feedstock will come from the Kangankunde project in Malawi, which hosts a 261 million-tonne resource at 2.19 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO).
The company says its plant, originally developed by Kazatomprom and Sumitomo, is ready to go, with Lindian paying US$3 million (A$4.26M) upfront and US$12 million (A$17M) million deferred until commercial production. The acquisition is expected to save years of development time and substantial capital while positioning it as one of the few non-Chinese players able to supply both concentrate and MREC to Western markets.
The deal and management at Lindian have now swiftly and impressively elevated Kangankunde from a standout resource play to one of the most advanced integrated global rare earths players outside China.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Todd
