The Drill Down
Wednesday 8 July 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
BHP Staff Confirm Historic Strike Action at Mining Giant's Port Hedland Operations
BHP port workers have given notice of an eight-hour strike on 16 July at Port Hedland, the world's largest bulk iron ore export terminal, after roughly seven months of stalled enterprise bargaining over pay and conditions. Represented by the Combined Ports Unions and covering around 450 employees, it is the first protected industrial action at BHP's Pilbara operations this century. Unions hold authorisation for further rolling stoppages, and a full day of disruption puts about A$120 million of BHP iron ore revenue at risk.
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Our Take
One eight-hour stoppage barely dents shipments; the precedent is what matters.
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Commodity Prices
Precious Metals (USD/toz)
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Gold
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$4,129
+0.57%
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Silver
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$61
+1.46%
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Platinum
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$1,639
+0.09%
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Palladium
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$1,274
+0.96%
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Base Metals & Commodities
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Copper USD/t
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$13722.84
+0.47%
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Nickel USD/t
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$16257.00
-1.20%
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Zinc USD/t
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$3573.54
+0.72%
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Lead USD/t
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$1900.60
+1.11%
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WTI Crude USD/bbl
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$72.69
+3.19%
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Prices updated as of 8 July 2026, 3:48 pm AEST
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Market Movers
Winners & Losers - ASX Markets
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Peregrine Gold Ltd
Peregrine Gold ran hard then called a trading halt pending an exploration and project update at its flagship Newman Gold and Iron Ore Project in the Pilbara. The surge came ahead of that announcement, which is yet to be released, so the catalyst behind the move is still to be confirmed.
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Axel REE Ltd
No specific catalyst identified, with no price-sensitive news on the day. Axel REE is a thinly traded, sub-A$15 million junior advancing its flagship Caladão rare earths and gallium project in Brazil via low-capex in-situ recovery, and the spike rides the strong rare earths thematic running through the market this week.
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Taiton Resources Limited
T88's only announcement was a routine notification of director options, not a catalyst. Taiton is a thinly traded, roughly A$4 million explorer with its flagship Kingsgate molybdenum project in NSW and copper-gold and rare earths ground in South Australia's Gawler Craton.
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Minerals 260 Limited
Minerals 260 delivered a maiden pre-feasibility study for its Bullabulling gold project near Kalgoorlie, headlining an A$2.3 billion NPV, a 43% IRR and about 150koz a year over 19 years, plus a resource lifted to 6.2Moz. Shares fell heavily anyway, a sell-the-news response to modest Stage 1 scale, an AISC near A$2,520 an ounce and first production not due until late 2028.
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IperionX Ltd
IperionX priced a US$50 million public offering of American Depositary Shares at US$21.98 each, led by US institutions, to fund scale-up of its US titanium metal business, including its Virginia manufacturing campus and the Camden-Titan project in Tennessee. Shares fell on the dilution, with the offering struck below the pre-raise price.
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Alara Resources Limited
Alara Resources, a copper producer in Oman, launched a non-renounceable entitlement offer to raise up to $3.84 million at $0.032 a share, a discount to its last price, to fund exploration across its Block 22B, Block 8 and Daris projects. The raise is partly underwritten by major shareholder ATI, and the stock eased on the dilution.
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Market data as of 8 July 2026, 4:10 PM AEST
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This Week's Poll
Which Best Describes You?
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○ High-net-worth investor
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○ Government / Institution
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Today's Stories
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Bloomberg
US Defense Agency Seeks to Buy Up to $300 Million of Lithium
The US Defense Logistics Agency has issued a solicitation to buy up to US$300 million of battery-grade lithium carbonate, around 16,200 tonnes, for the National Defense Stockpile, with bids due by 17 July and the award going to the lowest technically acceptable price. Purchases would run over five years, tapering from about 3,700 tonnes in year one, with material delivered to warehouses in New York, Nevada, Indiana and Ohio. It follows a March information request and extends the Pentagon's broader push to stockpile critical minerals and cut reliance on China.
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Our Take
At ~3,200 tonnes a year, this barely registers on global lithium balances. The signal counts: lithium joins the defence stockpile, another ex-China demand floor stamped with the DLA playbook.
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The West Australian
Iron Ore Miner Tapping Alan Bond's Former Resort Island Off the Kimberley Put Into Administration
Cockatoo Island Mining, the private operator working to revive the high-grade iron ore mine on the Kimberley island that once hosted Alan Bond's resort, has been placed into administration with KordaMentha appointed amid royalty debts, according to The West Australian. The company acquired the leases in 2020 with rights running to 2032 and had been planning an underground restart of a deposit historically shipped at grades up to about 67% iron. The island sits in Dambimangari country under a co-existence native title agreement, adding to the obligations any operator there must fund.
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Our Take
World-class grade has never been Cockatoo's problem. Sub-sea mining, remoteness and royalty obligations keep sinking operators here, a reminder that ore quality cannot outrun a broken cost and obligation stack.
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Reuters
Canada Agrees on a Potential C$400 Million Teck Investment for Strategic Metals Production
Ottawa has signed a strategic investment agreement to expand germanium, gallium and antimony output at Teck's Trail smelter in British Columbia, Canada's only germanium producer. The Canada Growth Fund will make an equity-like investment of up to C$400 million, part of an up to C$850 million total spend that could double Trail's germanium and antimony capacity, alongside a government offtake structure. It is the first deal under the new Canada Critical Minerals Accelerator, aimed at cutting reliance on China, which supplies most of the world's germanium.
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Our Take
Smelting capacity is where the critical-minerals bottleneck really sits, and governments now fund it directly with equity and offtake. Trail is the template Western states keep copying to reshore supply.
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Business Insider Africa
Fresh Gold Discovery in an East African Country Triggers Government Crackdown on Illegal Mining in a Gold-Rich Community
Uganda's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has suspended gold mining in Kayungwe sub-county, Kanungu district, after a two-month rush drew hundreds of informal miners to a hilltop at Kanoni village following reports of fresh deposits. The site sits under an exploration licence held by Shiye Miners, so the artisanal diggers were operating illegally, and officials cited water pollution from mercury, environmental damage and health risks at the unsanitary camp. The government says it wants miners to formalise into licensed cooperatives rather than shut them out. Gold is now Uganda's biggest export at US$5.8 billion in 2025, up from US$3.3 billion, driven largely by refining and regional trade.
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Our Take
Uganda's US$5.8 billion gold export line is mostly refining and re-exported regional bullion, not domestic mines. Formalising artisanal supply is how it defends that trading hub as scrutiny of African gold flows tightens.
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Mining.com
China Gold Reserves Rise Most Since 2023 Even as Bullion Tumbles
China's central bank added to gold reserves for a 20th straight month, lifting holdings to 75.44 million fine troy ounces. The buying continued even as bullion prices fell.
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Our Take
The PBoC buying through a price decline for a 20th consecutive month shows official demand is strategic rather than price-sensitive, providing a structural floor under gold. That persistent central bank bid is a bullish backstop for producer valuations.
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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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