Andrew Todd

Thunderbird Resources’ joint venture partner Firetail Resources is ramping up exploration efforts at their Picha JV copper project in Peru, ahead of maiden drill testing set for the second half of this year. Firetail is upping its game with geophysics, soil sampling and structural mapping underway to unlock the region’s substantial copper porphyry potential.

The United States Interior Department has reconfirmed ASX-listed Dateline Resources’ rights to mine and explore for gold and rare earths at its flagship Colosseum project in California. The long-awaited decision paves the way for a dual-commodity future for the company, just 10km from the US’s only operating REE mine, Mountain Pass.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runners of the Week is… Whitehawk Ltd, after it became a core cyber partner in a massive US$920M (A$1474M) US government contract. WA junior goldie OzAurum surged on results from its Cross Fault discovery next to Carosue Dam, Argent’s cannabis-based epilepsy therapy was approved for prescription in Germany and Galan turned down an unsolicited $240M bid for its Argentinian lithium projects.

Galan Lithium has turned down a US$150 million (A$240M) cash offer from a Chinese-French combo to acquire its lithium brine projects in Argentina, labelling the proposal “opportunistic” and “undervalued”. The market responded swiftly, with Galan’s shares soaring more than 50 per cent to a high of 16c per share - defying the broader ASX index and lithium market sentiment.

Javelin Minerals has taken the final hurdle ahead of drilling at its Eureka gold project, 50km north of Kalgoorlie, by completing of a heritage survey that clears the path for a maiden 3000m reverse circulation drill program. The company has a rig secured and ready to target extensions of high-grade lodes and a series of untested anomalies around the existing high-grade pit.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Saferoads. The company's share price rocketed after it pocketed $10.8 million from the sale of its Road Safety Rental arm. Errawarra Resources acquired an historically high-grade silver mine in the Pilbara, RareX Ltd announced stunning gallium hits from its project in the Kimberly and Belararox Ltd intersected promising visual copper in its chase for a mammoth copper porphyry in Argentina, as the red metal hit all-time highs.

Chariot Corporation has secured convertible note deal, roping in up to $2 million to fuel its lithium hunt across the United States and Australia. The company has locked in an initial $600,000 drawdown from New York-based investor Obsidian Global, with the potential to tap an additional $1.4m over the next 12 months.

Titanium Sands Ltd has cleared another big hurdle in its quest to bring its vast Mannar Island heavy mineral sands project in Sri Lanka into production after the country’s environmental authority issued terms for the company’s pivotal environmental impact assessment. The milestone sets the stage for the final environmental studies required for Titanium Sands to secure an industrial mining licence to bring its high-grade deposit into production.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Tlou Energy. It says share sellers are gone, and the Botswana energy firm is back to business as usual. Renewable solutions group GreenHy2 announced a tech contract with a leading Euro supplier, Besra recouped some share price losses as it focussed on its substantial Bau gold project and Trek found glimmering visual gold in drilling core samples as the gold price cracked US$3000 an ounce.

Thunderbird Resources has expanded its gold footprint in NSW, lodging an application for a strategic 118-square-kilometre expansion to its Kookabookra gold project immediately to the east. The company is doubling down on its gold presence in the state, suggesting that Kookabookra could host an intrusion-related gold system – similar to the kind of deposits that’s delivered multi-million-ounce gold hauls at places such as Fort Knox in Alaska and Kidston in Queensland.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Wide Open Agriculture. Its share price ran on sales of its lupin protein to Europe, Latin America and Australia. South African helium producer Renergen announced maiden commercial sales of its liquid helium, Resolution Minerals acquired three antimony/gold projects on Australia’s east coast and Metal Powder debuted on the ASX on its metal powder process technology.

Ora Banda Mining has again struck gold, with a stellar set of high-grade intercepts at its latest discovery, Little Gem, south of its Riverina gold camp, outside Kalgoorlie. The company is gushing over its latest results from a drilling program exhibiting thick, rich lodes of gold. The results have sparked an immediate 16-hole follow-up campaign to pepper a 4.7km gold trend emerging south of its flagship Riverina mine.

GreenTech Metals has jagged enticing visual intersections at its Whundo copper-zinc project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region from the first two diamond drill holes in a 4000m stage two program. The holes intersected thick zones of massive and semi-massive sulphides. The tantalising results from the company’s Shelby and Austin targets confirm down-plunge continuation of mineralised shoots at the project.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Industrial Minerals. The company had no news this week, instead its share price ran up on speculation about its high-purity quartz projects and tariffs pricing. Base metals explorer Litchfield identified two big sulphide-bearing targets for drilling, fintech group InFocus announced a stablecoin deal with a Seychelles tech provider GBO and TG Metals acquired an advanced gold asset in WA.

St George Mining has kicked off a major downstream processing study at its high-grade niobium-rare earths project Araxá in Brazil, aiming to fast-track the project into production following completion of its acquisition last week. Metallurgical programs are already underway and are soon to be accompanied by a substantial drilling campaign scheduled to begin this month.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Wide Open Agriculture. The company surged on news its high-protein lupin isolate had received approval for export into China. Pacific Edge received a stamp of approval for its bladder cancer diagnostics test, Forbidden Foods and its oat milk range received on-market buying from major shareholder Steve Smith, and Olympio acquired a Canadian gold project in a major mining postcode.

Ora Banda Mining has continued its smooth transition to become a high-grade underground miner, with its Sand King underground ramping up production and over-delivering on gold returns from its Davyhurst project in Western Australia. The company says it has successfully processed its first batch of Sand King ore, with both the reconciled gold grade and metal recovery exceeding expectations at the recently opened underground mine.

Novo Resources is pushing ahead on multiple exploration fronts across Australia ahead of drilling at its John Bull and Tibooburra gold projects in NSW, while ex-tropical cyclone Zelia throws a temporary spanner in the works with flooding at its Karratha and Balla Balla gold projects in WA. Drilling across all projects is slated for next quarter as the gold price continues to push all-time highs.

Aurum Resources has uncovered more high-grade gold outside the 1.59-million-ounce resource boundary at its Boundiali gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, intercepting 12m of gold running at a staggering 22g/t. The intercept from 145m downhole was the first assay of four holes drilled at the company’s BD Target 3 for 678m and features bonanza grade sections of 2m at 35.59g/t and 7m of 27.5g/t gold.

Ora Banda Mining has posted a blistering half-year result, raking in record revenues of $186.4 million, up 94 per cent on last year, from its Davyhurst gold project in Western Australia. The company, which is sitting on a $57.8m cash pile, saw surging production and cash flows last year. It sold 47,824 ounces of gold in the six months to December.

After a week of market elation and ASX all-time highs, this week saw the index experience a serious pullback as banks and miners alike were left with nowhere to hide.

Reach Resources’ share price surged 29pc this morning to 1.8 cents, up some 125pc on this time last week, after the company unveiled initial drilling results from its Murchison South gold project in Western Australia. The first two reverse circulation drill holes intersected shallow high-grade gold, including an impressive 41m section grading 2.01g/t.

Chariot Corporation has secured strategic West Australian lithium and gold assets by obtaining seven tenements in the Southern Cross greenstone belt, a world-class lithium and gold address. Chariot swooped in after a series of relinquishments by other gold and lithium explorers over the past two years, taking advantage of a countercyclical opportunity. The company says it has successfully leveraged the strategy elsewhere.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is… Caprice Resources. The company’s share price rocketed after unveiling gold results at its Island Gold project in the Murchison. EV Resources and its ultra-high-grade molybdenum in Peru surged thanks to China’s export bans, Scorpion acquired yet more Murchison hot property and Latitude 66 is returning to test its high-grade gold projects in Northern Finland.

BMG Resources is poised to ramp up drilling at its Abercromby gold project near Wiluna in Western Australia, with phase one results expected any day and phase two drilling scheduled to begin next month. With the first-round results from December’s 1076m diamond drilling campaign expected imminently, BMG is confident that visual observations suggest the project’s existing 518,000-ounce gold resource is set to grow.

Ora Banda Mining has uncovered a new gold discovery – along with another set of blockbuster results from deep drilling at its Riverina mine in Western Australia. The results will also extend the deposit’s mine life. The company’s depth extension drilling campaign has continued to intersect high-grade gold for more than 300m below its current mine plan, further extending the life of mine at the company’s ever-refining Davyhurst operation.

St George Mining has secured $8 million in backing from leading global mining engineering firm Shandong Xinhai Mining to fast-track the development at its high-grade Araxá niobium-rare earths project in Brazil. The company has formed a major strategic partnership with the engineering and construction services giant through an agreement that includes an engineering, procurement and construction contract over Araxá.

Terrain Minerals has launched into stage two drilling at its Wildflower gold project in WA’s Mid West region, following its recently completed, high-impact sulphide conductor drilling in the Albany-Fraser Belt. The company has turned its focus to the surging commodities of gold and gallium at its broader Smokebush project, ramping up a 1368m RC program targeting gold discoveries and gallium metallurgy research that is currently underway.

Xanadu Mines has handed over the reins of its flagship Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia, following the successful transition of operatorship to its joint venture partner, Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining. Zijin will now progress the world-class Kharmagtai project towards final development, following a promising prefeasibility study delivered by Xanadu late last year.

Terrain Minerals has launched into an eagerly awaited reverse circulation drilling campaign early at its Lort River copper-nickel project in Western Australia’s renowned Albany-Fraser Belt. The campaign will target two high-priority Nova-Bollinger-like sulphide conductors, hot on the heels of promising ground-based electromagnetic survey results completed last month.

Legend Mining has reached for some innovative exploration techniques at its Rockford nickel-copper project in WA’s Fraser Range, earning it a windfall $1.77 million research and development cash refund from the taxman. Legend’s high-power fixed loop electromagnetic equipment has pushed the boundaries of traditional electromagnetics by identifying targets at depths below 600m.

Reach Resources has kick-started a highly anticipated reverse circulation drilling program at its Murchison South gold project marking the first time its new geological model will be tested at the site near Paynes Find in Western Australia. The program is focused on reevaluating previous structural controls and targeting high-grade zones identified to be connected to the newly interpreted Primose fault structure.