Public Company News

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.

American West Metals has intercepted thick copper sulphides at depth at its Storm Copper project in Nunavut, Canada, with a diamond drill hole intersecting a lengthy 47 metres of visual copper sulphide mineralisation at its high-priority Cyclone Deeps target. The result reaffirms the potential for a large-scale, stacked copper horizon beneath the company's flagship Cyclone deposit, setting the stage for significant resource growth across its massive 2200-square-kilometre tenure.

Chariot Corporation has struck a milestone deal to acquire almost 70 per cent of five high-grade Nigerian lithium projects, featuring mapped spodumene pegmatites and rock chip grades of up to 3.31 per cent lithium oxide. The low-cost, staged earn-in model reflects the company's strategic approach and adds African firepower to a lithium portfolio already spanning the US and Australia.

Novo Resources has delivered a suite of high-grade gold results from its maiden reverse circulation drilling program at its Tibooburra gold project in northwestern New South Wales. The company revealed standout intercepts, including an impressive 12m running 5.9 grams per tonne gold from just 16m in its first hole, followed by a thicker 17m grading 2.4g/t gold from 59m along strike.