The Drill Down
Monday 1 June 2026 · Part 1
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Presented By
ASX: TM1
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Australia's Next Major PGM Discovery
Terra Metals' Dante Project hosts large-scale Bushveld-style copper-PGE sulfide reefs just 15km from BHP's $1.7Bn Nebo-Babel development. With world-class polymetallic mineralisation from surface and strong metallurgical outcomes, Dante is rapidly emerging as Australia's next major PGM system.
Explore the Discovery
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Lead Insight
Codelco's Profit Surges as Strong Copper Prices Offset Output Drop
Codelco reported a Q1 2026 pre-tax profit of $825 million, nearly four times the $213 million recorded in Q1 2025, despite own copper production falling 8% to 272,000 tonnes. Output at El Teniente dropped 26% following last year's collapse that killed six workers, and Chuquicamata was down 18% on lower ore availability. The company left its 2026 production guidance of 1.33 to 1.36 million tonnes unchanged. The results land alongside ongoing fallout from 2025 production irregularities uncovered by internal audit, the appointment of new chairman Bernardo Fontaine, and a broader Chilean government review of the company's recent performance.
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Our Take
Copper prices carried Codelco through an operationally weak quarter. That cushion won't always be there, and the production audit controversy is not resolved. Fontaine's profit-over-volume mandate is the right call, but the gap between what Codelco claims to produce and what it actually delivers remains a live question.
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Commodity Prices
Precious Metals (USD/toz)
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Gold
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$4,540
+0.98%
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Silver
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$75
-0.47%
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Platinum
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$1,921
-0.02%
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Palladium
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$1,357
-0.72%
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Base Metals & Commodities
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Copper USD/lb
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$6.42
-0.44%
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Nickel USD/lb
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$8.58
-0.69%
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Zinc USD/lb
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$1.61
+0.09%
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Lead USD/lb
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$0.91
-0.34%
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WTI Crude USD/bbl
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$89.51
+2.46%
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Prices updated as of 1 June 2026, 8:03 am AEST
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Market Movers
Winners & Losers - Canadian Markets
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GoldQuest Mining Corp
Released high-grade assay results from five metallurgical drill holes at the 100%-owned Romero Gold-Copper Project in the Dominican Republic, with highlight intercept LTP-173 returning 38.6m at 45.01 g/t Au, 14.31 g/t Ag and 2.44% Cu, including 26.85m at 63.82 g/t Au. Metallurgical test work confirms geo-metallurgical domains are amenable to conventional flotation processing, supporting the ongoing bankable feasibility study.
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Deep Sea Minerals Corp
Filed a listing application with the Nasdaq Capital Market, seeking to uplift from the CSE to broaden its US institutional and retail investor base and improve trading liquidity. If approved, Deep Sea Minerals would become the third seabed exploration company on Nasdaq alongside The Metals Company and Odyssey Marine Exploration. The company is at an early engagement stage with Pacific region governments regarding seabed exploration concessions.
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McFarlane Lake Mining Limited
No new news Friday. Continues to run on the back of the 28 May announcement of a $6.75 million investment led by Michael Gentile, who committed $6.35 million, and Pierre Beaudoin, advancing the flagship Juby Gold Project in Ontario's Abitibi Greenstone Belt.
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Military Metals Corp
The Ministry of the Environment of Slovakia issued an unscheduled decision cancelling the company's exploration license at the Trojarova Antimony-Gold Project, which hosts a maiden inferred resource of 67,000 tonnes of antimony and 222,000 oz of gold. Military Metals rejected the decision as unjustified and is preparing an appeal to the Minister of the Environment, required within 15 days. Shares fell as much as 60% intraday before partially recovering.
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Power Metallic Mines Inc
Upsized its brokered LIFE offering from C$25 million to C$30 million on strong investor demand, issuing up to 24 million shares at C$1.25 each with Red Cloud Securities as lead agent. An over-allotment option could add a further C$3.75 million. The offering is expected to close 10 June 2026. Dilution from the enlarged placement drove the sell-off on announcement.
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Aztec Minerals Corp
No new catalyst today. Most recent news was the 28 May announcement that the Tombstone Property JV Management Committee approved a further 3,500m of RC drilling at C$1.4 million, bringing the total program to approximately 22,200m. The expanded drilling targets the North Contention Area oxide gold-silver zone in Arizona, with results expected into Q4 2026. Aztec holds an 85% interest in the JV.
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Market data as of 1 June 2026, 9:30 am AEST
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This Week's Poll
Which emerging mining region will attract the most exploration capital over the next 3 years?
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○ Saudi Arabia / Middle East
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○ Scandinavia / Greenland
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Partner Spotlight
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The right shareholders don't find you. You find them.
Cashu Group delivers independent equity research and targeted investor marketing for ASX-listed resource companies. The coverage that builds conviction, and the reach to make it count.
Find Your Shareholders
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Today's Stories
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Rare Earth Exchanges
China Owns the Patent High Ground in Rare Earths
China filed 19,994 rare-earth patent families between 2014 and 2024, roughly 23 times Japan's 861 and more than 50 times South Korea's 380, using EPO DOCDB family methodology. That patent dominance maps directly to manufacturing control: China holds an estimated 94% of global rare-earth permanent magnet production. Chinese universities alone account for roughly a quarter of all rare-earth patent families, reflecting an academic-industrial fusion that the West has not replicated. Germany, often cited as a technology leader, is characterised in the analysis as a structurally dependent downstream consumer rather than a patent power.
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Our Take
Patent dominance at this scale is not a soft advantage. It is a hard lock on what Western companies can build, license, and commercialise without Chinese cooperation. Supply chain independence requires processing independence, and processing independence requires IP independence. The West is behind on all three.
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Reuters
Trump Issues Memo on Higher Pay for National Security Staff Involved With Critical Minerals
The White House issued a memorandum authorising higher compensation for up to 400 national security positions involved in critical minerals investment and supply chain work. The memo targets the recruitment of investment, engineering, financial, and legal professionals needed to expand US capacity in critical minerals, advanced materials, and strategic supply chains. The move signals the administration's recognition that the talent required to execute its critical minerals agenda is competing against private sector pay scales.
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Our Take
Paying up for critical minerals talent inside government is an acknowledgement that the existing civil service pay structure cannot attract the people needed to execute this agenda. It is a small but telling signal that the administration is treating this as a genuine institutional build, not just a policy announcement.
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Reuters
Tin Re-Balances but Investors Are Still Betting on Scarcity
Tin's physical market has rebalanced from the speculative frenzy that took prices toward record highs earlier this year, but investors continue to price in future structural scarcity despite no immediate evidence of shortage. Reuters columnist Andy Home notes that tin, alongside copper and silver, is pricing anticipated long-run tightness rather than current supply conditions, and that the investment meme around AI-driven electronics demand has proven durable even as short-term dynamics contradict it. Until something materially changes the narrative, the elevated price floor is likely to hold.
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Our Take
When a market is pricing a structural story rather than a spot one, the entry point for producers and developers improves even as the near-term supply picture softens. Tin developers in credible jurisdictions are benefiting from an investment thesis the physical market has not yet caught up to.
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Mining.com.au
Indonesia's Septembergate: How the New Export Regime Impacts Global Nickel and Coal Markets
Our full analysis of Indonesia's Septembergate is now live on Mining.com.au. DSI becomes sole exporter of coal, palm oil, and ferroalloy from 1 September 2026, not January 2027 as most market participants are positioned for. The piece works through the scale problem, the nickel compounding thesis, the FX retention mechanism, and the three signals worth watching through year-end.
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Our Take
Over the weekend, we partnered with Mining.com.au and released a deep dive into the evolving situation in Indonesia. Enjoy.
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Bloomberg
Congo Adds Lithium to Strategic Minerals in Higher Tax Bracket, Tripling Royalty Payments
The Democratic Republic of Congo has approved lithium's inclusion in its strategic minerals category, a move that could require lithium miners to triple their royalty payments. Tantalum, niobium, tungsten, uranium and rare earths were also added to the higher-tax bracket. The decision materially raises the cost of operating lithium and critical mineral projects in one of Africa's most resource-rich nations.
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Our Take
Tripling royalties on lithium in a jurisdiction already carrying serious political risk. DRC is pricing itself out before the first tonne ships.
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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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