The Drill Down
Wednesday 10 June 2026 · Part 2
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Presented By
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ASX: KAO
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Namibia's Copper Belt.
Ready to Drill.
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69.6%
Peak Cu Grade
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40km
Mineralised Trend
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89%
Cu Recovery
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Two fully permitted copper projects in Namibia, an emerging exploration jurisdiction on the radar of global miners. The Chalkos Project carries peak surface grades of 69.6% Cu and 2,030 g/t Ag across a 40km mineralised trend. Drilling commences soon.
Discover Kaoko
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Lead Insight
China's Zinc Margins Crushed as Fees Plunge to Record Lows
Chinese zinc smelters are facing a worsening feedstock shortage that has driven treatment charges on imported zinc concentrate to minus $50 a tonne, a record low in Fastmarkets data going back a decade. Fastmarkets' most recent assessment, published May 29, put spot charges at minus $70 to minus $30 per tonne, deepening further since the Bloomberg report. China accounts for roughly half of global refined zinc output but relies heavily on imported ore, and the last time treatment charges turned negative was 2024, which triggered coordinated production cuts among major smelters to stem losses. A repeat of those cuts is now being openly discussed across the industry.
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Our Take
Negative treatment charges at this depth are unsustainable, and history says smelter cuts follow. If the 2024 playbook repeats, refined zinc supply tightens, prices lift, and the miners with concentrate in the ground become the ones with pricing power.
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Commodity Prices
Precious Metals (USD/toz)
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Gold
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$4,197
-1.48%
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Silver
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$64
-1.72%
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Platinum
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$1,672
-3.17%
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Palladium
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$1,209
-1.51%
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Base Metals & Commodities
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Copper USD/t
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$13,966.60
-0.83%
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Nickel USD/t
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$17,977.00
-2.09%
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Zinc USD/t
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$3,528.94
+0.41%
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Lead USD/t
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$1,969.10
-0.09%
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WTI Crude USD/bbl
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$88.25
+0.06%
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Prices updated as of 10 June 2026, 3:49 pm AEST
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Market Movers
Winners & Losers - ASX Markets
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White Cliff Minerals Limited
White Cliff reported drillhole DAN26012 at the Danvers target on its Rae Copper Project in Nunavut, Canada, intersecting 19.81m at 6.64% Cu from 152.4m, including 7.62m at 11.38% Cu and 3.05m at 17.68% Cu, with one interval assaying 1.52m at 21.1% Cu, the highest-grade result on record at the project. The 2026 program has now confirmed copper mineralisation over 2.6km of strike along the Teshierpi Fault Zone, with the system open in both directions and untested at depth. A second diamond drill rig is due on site before month-end.
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Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited
Southern Hemisphere reported that diamond drilling beneath RC hole 24LHRC055 at its 100%-owned Llahuin Copper-Gold-Molybdenum Project in Chile has logged extensive visible copper sulphides from 84m to 256m downhole, including chalcopyrite-dominant mineralisation associated with stockwork quartz-sulphide veining and porphyry-style alteration. The result extends mineralisation well below the previously reported RC intercept of 81m at 0.53% CuEq and supports the company's view that the Cerro-Ferro trend hosts a substantial porphyry system with an exploration target of 260 to 340Mt. Assays are expected in four to six weeks.
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Cokal Limited
Cokal received its RKAB production approval for its BBM Project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, with mining operations expected to recommence by mid-June following pit dewatering and site preparation. The company has coal stockpiled at Batu Tuhup Jetty and is finalising an approximately 10,000 tonne export shipment of Low Vol Hard Coking Coal for delivery by end of June, structured by M Resources Group through PT Sumber Global Energy.
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Alicanto Minerals Ltd
Alicanto is digesting its A$28 million two-tranche institutional placement, completed to fund the acquisition of the 915,000oz Mt Henry Gold Project in Western Australia's Southern Kalgoorlie Terrane from Westgold Resources. The deal, completed in February 2026 at A$0.055 per share, also underpins a 50,000m multi-rig drill program at Mt Henry, with Westgold retaining a 19.9% stake. Today's softness reflects the market absorbing post-raise dilution pressure.
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Apollo Minerals Limited
Apollo raised A$9.3 million across two placements in January and February 2026, with institutional fund Tribeca Investment Partners becoming a substantial holder at 5.6%. Proceeds are directed to the Couflens high-grade tungsten-gold project in southern France, which includes the historic Salau mine, and which had its exploration permit reinstated by France's highest administrative court in January 2026 following a seven-year legal process. Today's move reflects continued post-raise dilution pressure on a micro-cap name.
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Cobre Limited
No specific catalyst today. Cobre is advancing its 100%-owned Ngami Copper Project in Botswana's Kalahari Copper Belt, targeting an in-situ copper recovery development across an exploration target of 200 to 308Mt at approximately 0.45% copper. BHP holds a separate earn-in over the Kitlanya East and West tenements under a US$25 million agreement, while Tribeca Investment Partners holds a strategic stake in the Ngami ISCR project. Today's decline reflects broad sector selling pressure.
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Market data as of 10 June 2026, 4:10 PM AEST
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This Week's Poll
Is the US critical minerals policy push creating real opportunities or just noise?
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○ Real, investable opportunities
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○ Some signal, mostly noise
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○ Irrelevant to my portfolio
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Presented By
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Enabling fractional mining royalty investment
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Today's Stories
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Mining.com
US House Passes DOMINANCE Act for Critical Minerals Security
The US House of Representatives passed H.R. 7037, the Developing Overseas Mineral Investments and New Allied Nations Cooperative Engagement Act, targeting American critical minerals security and reduced dependence on foreign-controlled supply chains. The legislation represents a concrete policy step by Washington to shore up access to strategic materials. No funding figures were attached to the bill in the available summary.
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Our Take
Legislative intent is not the same as capital deployment, but the DOMINANCE Act gives allied-nation miners a clearer political tailwind when pitching US offtake or financing arrangements. Companies with projects in Five Eyes or NATO-aligned jurisdictions should be referencing this bill in their investor materials now.
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Bloomberg
Brazil Rare Earth Ambitions Clash With Strained Mining Regulator
Brazil's ambitions to become a major rare earths supplier are being constrained by a mining regulator struggling to process the volume of new applications and approvals required. The bottleneck threatens to slow Brazil's challenge to China's dominance in the critical minerals space. The tension sits between high-level political will and the on-the-ground capacity of bureaucratic institutions.
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Our Take
A country can have world-class geology and still fail to convert it into production if the permitting machinery cannot keep pace, and Brazil is now a live case study in that risk. Investors in Brazilian rare earths explorers need to stress-test their timeline assumptions against regulatory throughput, not just resource quality.
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Australian Mining
Mining Industry Backs Clearer Cultural Heritage Rules in Australia
Australian mining industry bodies have expressed support for clearer and more consistent cultural heritage rules, signalling a willingness to engage with regulators on frameworks that provide project approval certainty. The issue has been a source of tension and delays across Western Australia and other jurisdictions. Industry backing for reform, rather than resistance, reflects a strategic shift in how miners are approaching the regulatory relationship.
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Our Take
Industry bodies publicly supporting cultural heritage reform is a pragmatic repositioning after years of reputational damage from high-profile incidents, and it signals the sector understands that predictable approvals are worth more than regulatory minimalism. For investors, clearer heritage rules mean fewer late-stage project blowups, which is a genuine reduction in development-stage sovereign risk for Australian assets.
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AFR
Pan African Set to Join ASX Gold Top 10 with Emmerson Takeover
JSE and LSE-listed Pan African Resources is acquiring 100% of Emmerson Resources in an all-share deal valued at approximately A$311 million, consolidating full ownership of the Tennant Creek gold joint venture in the Northern Territory where Pan African already holds a 75% interest. Emmerson shareholders will receive 0.1493 Pan African shares per share, delivered as ASX-listed CHESS Depositary Interests at a 36.4% premium to Emmerson's pre-announcement close. The shareholder vote is scheduled for June 15, with a final court hearing on June 19 and completion targeted around July 2. Pan African is simultaneously pursuing a foreign-exempt ASX listing, which would position it as the first South African gold miner with a dual listing in Australia, with the group forecasting production of more than 275,000 ounces in FY2026 and targeting approximately 100,000 ounces annually from Tennant Creek within three years.
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Our Take
An ASX listing from a 275,000oz producer with low-cost African assets and a growing Australian footprint adds genuine weight to the local gold sector. The Tennant Creek target of 100,000oz per year is the number to watch, and the June 15 vote is the near-term catalyst.
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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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