The Drill Down
Tuesday 28 April 2026 · Part 2
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Partner Spotlight
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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.
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Lead Insight
Ecuador Signs $1.7 Billion Mining Deal With China's CMOC Group
Ecuador has signed a $1.7 billion mining agreement with China's CMOC Group, extending Chinese investment in Latin America's critical minerals sector. The deal reinforces CMOC's regional expansion strategy as competition for copper supply intensifies globally. Project-level details were not disclosed in the source.
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Our Take
A $1.7 billion commitment from CMOC cements China's positioning in Latin American copper, and for Western miners and governments watching supply chain security, this is another data point in a trend that is accelerating faster than policy responses. Ecuador's willingness to engage Chinese capital also signals that resource nationalism has its limits when project finance is on the table.
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Commodity Prices
Precious Metals (USD/toz)
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Gold
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$4,628
-1.16%
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Silver
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$73
-3.00%
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Platinum
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$1,957
-1.20%
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Palladium
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$1,448
-1.88%
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Base Metals & Commodities
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Copper USD/lb
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$6.05
-0.55%
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Nickel USD/lb
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$8.67
+0.19%
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Zinc USD/lb
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$1.52
-0.57%
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Lead USD/lb
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$0.88
-0.17%
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WTI Crude USD/bbl
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$98.15
+1.85%
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Prices updated as of 28 Apr 2026, 3:48 pm AEST
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Market Movers
Winners & Losers — ASX Markets
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European Lithium Limited
Critical Metals Corp (NASDAQ: CRML) signed a letter of intent to acquire all outstanding EUR shares in an approximately $835 million deal, consolidating 100% ownership of the Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland. EUR shareholders will receive 0.035 CRML shares per share held, with the deal expected to close in H2 2026. The Greenland Government had already approved CRML's earlier transfer of the remaining 50.5% Tanbreez interest in April, removing the key structural overhang on the project.
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Oceana Metals Limited
Acquired 100% of the Serra Negra rare earths and niobium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil, for up to US$10.3 million in cash and shares plus a 2.5% NSR. Serra Negra is the largest known carbonatite complex in its province and three times the area of the nearby Araxá complex, home to CBMM's world-class niobium operation. Lab assays from historical drill core confirmed grades up to 8.41% TREO. A concurrent A$20 million placement at A$0.36, led by Canaccord Genuity, was strongly oversubscribed.
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Orpheus Uranium Limited
Released an update confirming the Oobagooma Uranium Project acquisition from Elevate Uranium's subsidiary has been extended to 22 July 2026 to finalise conditions precedent relating to third-party agreements. The move carries sentiment read-through from broader uranium sector momentum and the company's IsoEnergy-backed strategic positioning in WA uranium tenements.
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US1 Critical Minerals Limited
Resumed trading after a halt and completed a $1 million placement at $0.02 per share, a 16.67% discount to the prior close. NASDAQ-listed Snow Lake Energy anchored $500,000 and will hold approximately 13.6% of the company post-placement. Proceeds fund Tanzanian exploration and corporate costs. Selling is consistent with placement-day dilution pressure on a small-cap stock.
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Pantoro Gold Limited
Q3 production of 17,757 oz came in 19.5% below the prior quarter, while AISC blew out 24.5% to $3,204 per ounce. Full-year guidance was maintained but the quarterly result gives the market little confidence it will be achieved without a sharp H2 recovery. The combination of volume miss and cost overrun is a credibility-damaging quarter for a producer at current gold prices.
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Resolute Mining Limited
Continued sovereign risk repricing following the April 25 coordinated JNIM and FLA attacks across Mali. Resolute operates the Syama Gold Mine in southern Mali, one of the country's largest gold operations. The security escalation, which included the assassination of Mali's Defence Minister, is keeping sustained selling pressure on all Mali-exposed miners.
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Market data as of 28 Apr 2026, 4:10 pm AEST
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This Week's Poll
Which deep-dive would you most want to read next?
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○ Critical minerals policy
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○ Exploration Company Deep Dive
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○ Battery metals supply chain
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This Week's Research
The US Federal Framework: Capital, Permitting, and the Race to Supply Chain Sovereignty
The US Federal Framework: Capital, Permitting, and the Race to Supply Chain Sovereignty is a 17-page institutional-grade research memo produced by Kamoa Capital.
It is a structured analytical framework built for investors, mining executives, and government counterparts who need to understand how the US federal critical minerals architecture actually works and where the commercial opportunities and risks concentrate.
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China's Chokehold on Global Mineral Refining
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China controls refining of 19 of the 20 strategic minerals tracked by the IEA. This 17-page intelligence report quantifies the chokehold, maps the US$500B–$1.4T investment gap, and identifies where Western capital can still compete. Built on IEA, S&P Global, BloombergNEF and proprietary Kamoa Capital analysis of 2,419 processing facilities across 113 countries.
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Today's Stories
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AFR
Gold Explorer Sunshine Metals Kicks Off $18m Capital Raising
Sunshine Metals (ASX: SHN) has launched an $18 million equity raising to fund drilling and project advancement at its Ravenswood Consolidated Project in Queensland, joining a broader wave of ASX gold and base metals explorers tapping markets amid elevated bullion prices and improved funding conditions. Sunshine is advancing a near-term shallow oxide gold production strategy at its Liontown deposit, which hosts an initial production target of approximately 75,000 oz at 2.96 g/t Au within a broader 7.4Mt resource at 3.9 g/t AuEq.
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Our Take
The raising itself is less the story than what it signals. Gold explorers are accessing capital again at scale, and investor selectivity has returned to project quality and management credibility rather than pure thematic momentum. For juniors with near-term production pathways, the funding window is open. For those without one, it is narrower than the headline sentiment suggests.
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Mining.com
Silver Defies Bust, Holding at Elevated Levels in Bullish Signal
Silver prices have held at elevated levels despite expectations of a post-boom correction, with the metal now recording a sixth consecutive year of supply deficit. Analysts are treating the price resilience as a constructive signal for the broader silver market. The sustained deficit backdrop is providing structural support that distinguishes this cycle from previous silver rallies.
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Our Take
Six years of consecutive supply deficits is not a short-term trading story, it is a structural argument for silver that miners and royalty investors should be pricing into longer-dated positions. The metal's refusal to correct meaningfully suggests demand from industrial and energy transition end-uses is absorbing supply faster than the market expected.
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Financial Times Markets
Strategic Resources and Tyfast Energy Sign MOU to Build Canadian Vanadium-to-Battery Supply Chain
Strategic Resources and Tyfast Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an integrated Canadian vanadium-to-battery supply chain, connecting domestic vanadium mining output with battery storage applications for mining equipment, auxiliary vehicles, and defence platforms. The partnership targets a vertically integrated model from mine to end-use. No financial terms were disclosed in the source.
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Our Take
Vanadium redox battery demand from mining and defence is a credible and underpublicised offtake thesis, and a domestic Canadian supply chain MOU positions both parties well for government procurement interest. MOUs are not binding commitments, so the value here lies in whether this converts to a commercial agreement with defined volumes and pricing.
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Mining.com
Africa Mining Sector at Centre of Disinformation Campaigns: Report
London-based AI intelligence platform Refute identified 2,778 bot accounts responsible for more than 22 million engagements across 21 mining sites in the DRC, Niger, Mali, Rwanda, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire, reaching nearly 300 million users. Bot activity closely tracks real-world triggers: spikes included a 114% increase in Mali following the junta's revocation of 90-plus foreign exploration permits in October 2025, and a 417% jump when Barrick restarted Loulo-Gounkoto. Gold-related narratives drew the highest overall activity. Refute also documented a coordinated Kenyan bot network repurposing a tailings dam collapse in Zambia within days to stir opposition to Chinese investment elsewhere.
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Our Take
Disinformation that moves in lockstep with commodity price spikes and regulatory decisions is not random noise. It is a tool of geopolitical competition, and the Africa critical minerals corridor is now one of its primary theatres. For operators and investors, this raises a practical question: how much of the negative sentiment shaping project risk assessments in West and Central Africa is organic, and how much is manufactured.
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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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