The Drill Down
Tuesday 1 September 2026
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Developing High-Grade Gold & Copper in a Tier-One Belt
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670Koz
Au Eq Resource
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700km²
Serbian Landholding
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7,000m
Drilling Underway
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MinRex Resources is advancing a high-grade gold, silver and copper portfolio across 700km² of Serbian landholding in the West Tethyan Belt, anchored by a 670Koz @ 2.9g/t Au Eq resource at its advanced Tlamino gold-silver project.
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Lead Insight
Minerals Exploration Boom Slowed by Productivity Handbrake
Mineral exploration expenditure rose 3.9% to a seasonally adjusted $1,142.9 million in the June quarter, 17.9% above the same quarter a year earlier and the highest on record, with the boom held back by sluggish productivity as costs for labour, fuel and machinery climb. Gold led the increase, up 23.6% to $565.6 million, ahead of iron ore at $234.7 million and selected base metals at $177.9 million. Petroleum exploration rose 24.1% to $583.7 million, 76.3% higher year on year.
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Our Take
Spending runs 29% above the June 2021 quarter while metres drilled at 3,170.3km still sit under that quarter's 3,428.2km, which puts the sector near $360 a metre against roughly $258 five years ago. Gold absorbed $565.6 million of the $1,189.8 million total, so the productivity bill is being carried by the one commodity whose price can currently wear it.
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Commodity Prices
Precious Metals (USD/toz)
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Gold
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$4,444
-0.09%
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Silver
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$67
+0.71%
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Platinum
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$1,812
+1.07%
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Palladium
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$1,362
+0.07%
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Base Metals & Commodities
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Copper USD/t
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$14851.23
+0.69%
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Nickel USD/t
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$16739.50
-0.61%
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Zinc USD/t
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$3955.95
+2.20%
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Lead USD/t
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$1907.40
+0.57%
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WTI Crude USD/bbl
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$86.68
+1.07%
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Prices updated as of 1 Sept 2026, 3:49 pm AEST
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Market Movers
Winners & Losers - Australian Markets
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Global Gold Mining Limited
No specific catalyst identified, with thin volume the likely driver. The company changed its name from MetalsTech Limited and its ASX code from MTC on 25 August 2026. Its sole asset is the 100% owned Sturec Gold Mine within the 9.47km² Kremnica Mining Territory in central Slovakia, where a pre-feasibility study is under way with Mining One and metallurgical samples have been sent to ALS Metallurgy in Perth.
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Alpha HPA Limited
No specific catalyst identified. The company is operating its HPA First Project in Gladstone, Queensland. Stage 1 is running at full capacity producing high purity aluminium materials whilst Stage 2 is currently under construction.
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Liberty Metals Ltd
Liberty intends to change its name to El Dorado Goldfields Ltd (new code EDO). The change follows the acquisition of the Oko North and Oko South projects in Guyana's Oko Gold District.
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Accent Resources NL
No specific catalyst identified, with profit-taking after a strong run the likely driver. Independent testwork at Central South University on the 100% owned Magnetite Range Project, 250km south east of Geraldton, rejected up to 46% of mass at 3mm while holding magnetic iron recovery above 97%, with high-speed dry separation producing concentrate grades above 60% Fe. The project carries a JORC resource of 523.3Mt at 31.3% Fe and remains in pre-feasibility, with both dry and wet flowsheets still under consideration.
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Tungsten Mining NL
The Mt Mulgine PFS returned a pre-tax NPV of A$6,823 million and a 55% IRR on A$870 million of initial capital for an 8Mtpa, 21-year operation, with AISC of US$127 per mtu net of by-product credits. The Probable Ore Reserve rose 6% to 144Mt at 0.10% WO3, with first production targeted for Q2 2029 and FID in Q1 2028. Profit-taking followed the release, with the company noting the A$870 million may only be available on terms that dilute shareholders.
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VBX Limited
No specific catalyst identified, with thin volume the likely driver. VBX is the sole developer of the Wuudagu bauxite project in the Kimberley, roughly 15km west of Kalumburu on Wunambal Gaambera country, where the resource was lifted to 131.9Mt at 40.2% Al2O3 on the addition of the D, E and F plateaus. A bauxite offtake and investment framework agreement was signed in late July 2026, with the definitive feasibility study and project financing the next milestones.
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Market data as of 1 September 2026, 4:10 PM AEST
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Presented By
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Sierra Nevada Gold
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ASX: SNX
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Emerging Saudi Arabian Developer & Explorer
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Sierra Nevada Gold is advancing As Safra, a large copper-gold system extending over more than 5.5km of strike in the Arabian Shield. Initial drilling has confirmed broad, continuous zones of mineralisation including high-grade intervals, with a major follow-up program now in preparation.
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Find Out More
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In-Country Operating Subsidiary
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Today's Stories
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Mining.com.au
Chinese-Backed Nickel Smelters in Indonesia Consider Output Cuts
Tsingshan Holding Group, GEM, Lygend Resources & Technology and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt have met over the past week to discuss lowering operating rates at their high-pressure acid leaching plants, with one proposal cutting output by about 30% each. No agreement has been reached, and some participants warn coordinated reductions would be difficult to implement. Indonesia accounts for more than 60% of global nickel supply, and its HPAL plants produced around 450,000 tonnes last year, more than 10% of global output.
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Our Take
Jakarta has already pulled the 2026 ore quota to between 260 and 270 million tonnes from the 379 million approved in 2025, a cut of roughly 30% that matches the reduction the smelters are debating among themselves. With sulphur adding about US$1,000 a tonne of nickel for every US$100 it moves, the cost curve is already forcing the cuts these producers have never managed to agree on voluntarily.
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DFC
"Friendshoring" Rare Earths Processing
DFC is providing project development support to Lancaster Exploration, a subsidiary of Canada's Mkango Resources, covering the final engineering design needed to begin construction at the Songwe Hill rare earths mine in Malawi and to advance it toward potential DFC financing. Mixed rare earth carbonate would move by rail to Nacala port in Mozambique and on to Poland for separation. Lancaster is working with Grupa Azoty Pulawy on a separation plant at Pulawy, with construction beginning in 2026, which would make it only the third such facility outside China.
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Our Take
Project development funding is the cheapest way to move an asset toward bankability, and finishing Songwe Hill's engineering is what makes DFC's own financing decision possible. Pulawy being just the third separation plant outside China is the real prize, because Malawi ore without non-Chinese separation capacity leaves the 85% processing share exactly where it is.
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AMEC
Gold Exploration Surges as New Deposit Drilling Jumps 69 Per Cent
Gold exploration spending rose 23.6% to $565.6 million in the June quarter, the largest increase of any commodity and well ahead of iron ore at $234.7 million and selected base metals at $177.9 million. Metres drilled on new deposits jumped 68.9% to 821.8km, with existing deposit metres up 20.3% to 2,639.8km for a total of 3,461.6km. Expenditure on new deposits rose 27.3% to $274.5 million.
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Our Take
Gold at $565.6 million now takes 47.5% of all mineral exploration spend, and the money has finally reached the drill bit with new deposit metres back to their September 2023 level. Greenfields still runs under a quarter of total metres against 36% in the June 2018 quarter, so the discovery pipeline is rebuilding off a lower base than the 69% headline implies.
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Liontown
Liontown to Earn Up to 100% of the Centenario Lithium Brine Project in Argentina
Liontown has executed a binding farm-in with NEXT Lithium Corp to earn up to 100% of the Centenario lithium brine project in Salta Province, Argentina, paying initial consideration of US$5 million cash and US$10 million in shares on initial completion. Full ownership requires US$40 million of project expenditure over four years plus milestone payments of up to US$140 million, settled in cash, Liontown shares or a combination at NEXT Lithium's election. An initial US$15 million programme over 12 to 24 months includes drilling on transient electromagnetic anomalies and earns a 49% interest.
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Our Take
The announcement states Liontown is not obliged to proceed with Phase 1, 2 or 3, so the A$195 million ceiling only binds if the resource delivers, and Phase 4 is struck at US$25 a tonne LCE on the first three million tonnes above 350mg/l. Tony Ottaviano has taken a four-year option on a brine district carrying TEM anomalies and no drilling, priced accordingly while Kathleen Valley holds the capital.
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Kamoa Capital
kamoacap.com
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This newsletter is for general information, education & entertainment. Kamoa Capital is not licensed and does not know your circumstances. Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice. Seek professional advice and read any PDS before acting. We aim for accuracy but make no guarantees and accept no liability. Views are opinions only and may include forward-looking statements that may not occur.
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