The Pre-Start
VUL ($1.8B) - Vulcan was granted a State royalty exemption for lithium production to Dec 2030
KCN ($1.4B) - Kingsgate produced 21.0koz gold and 183koz silver in the March quarter, closed with $213m cash/bullion/doré (+~19% QoQ), maintained FY26 guidance, and paid a $26m interim dividend
BC8 ($904m) - Black Cat will invest $20m from operating cashflow over 12 months to lift Lakewood capacity from 1.2Mtpa to 1.5Mtpa
SBM ($877m) - St Barbara secured permit condition approvals for the Touquoy restart in Nova Scotia, targeting a return to gold processing by end-2026 with 38koz over 13 months from 3.0Mt stockpiles, initial capex of C$11.4m and AISC of $2.5k/oz
BMC ($687m) - BMC Minerals received a positive Decision Document for the Kudz Ze Kayah ABM Mine, clearing the way to progress Yukon permitting
CTM ($322m) - Centaurus Metals received non-binding offers for up to US$320m of project finance from 10 financiers for the Jaguar nickel project
CAY ($294m) - Canyon CEO Peter Secker resigned (staying for transition) as the Minim Martap bauxite project targets first production in Q2 and first shipment in Q3 2026, with cash plus the US$140m AFG facility “fully funding” capex to first shipment | ▼ 6%
MM1 ($179m) - Midas reported pXRF 32m at 1.8% Cu and 11g/t Ag from 152m in SPRC062, 300m west of the discovery at Spaatzu
KAI ($130m) - Kairos lifted the Mt York MRE to 61.7Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 2.1Moz (up 50%), with 66% Indicated
DRE ($109m) - Dreadnought drilled 24m at 1.8% Nb₂O₅ from 72m at Stinger within Gifford Creek | ▲ 5%
AAL ($90m) - Alfabs will close its Wollongong workshop and make redundancies as it consolidates mining workshops, and has refinanced its Malabar loan
MMA ($83m) - Maronan restarted surface drilling at the Maronan project
LM8 ($76m) - Lunnon Metals outlined Lady Herial gold lodes plunging 500m
ASN ($74m) - Anson Resources reported 148ppm Li in drilling fluids from Mt Fuel‑Skyline Geyser 1‑25 at its Green River project, but drilling halted at 9,239ft
NMR ($55m) - Native Mineral Resources restarted gold ore production at Blackjack and expects first Podosky ore late April
CLA ($52m) - Celsius pushed MCB financing and FID to Q4 2026, broadening to offtake-linked, bank and strategic equity streams, and is replacing Sodor/PMR as MMCI's 60% Filipino partner amid a dispute and interim order | ▼ 7%
NMT ($39m) - Neometals signed a binding mining services JV with BML Ventures to develop the Ironclad gold deposit at Barrambie, profits split 50:50
RIM ($39m) - Rimfire lifted the Murga Inferred MRE to 56.1Mt at 138 ppm scandium (212 ppm Sc₂O₃), up 300%, and will seek approvals for June‑quarter drilling and metallurgical test work at Fifield | ▲ 7%
PL9 ($33m) - Prairie Lithium set Q4 2026 commissioning for its DLE facility, with 100% of phase 1 output (150 tpa LCE) under offtake to Hydro Lithium, which will supply and operate $10m of refining equipment | ▲ 8%
GA8 ($33m) - GoldArc posted 10m at 8.04 g/t gold from 26m in initial grade control RC at Mt Stirling, with BML Ventures funding a 34,000m program
High Grade It
Washington, Canberra agree to fund more than $5B worth of Australian critical minerals projects under landmark $13B deal (Australian)
Trump orders naval blockade of Strait of Hormuz to strangle Iran’s key revenue source (AFR)
Democratic Republic of Congo raises $1.25B in international bond sale for critical minerals (MiningMX)
Brazil proposes state-run rare earths firm to rival China in critical minerals (Bloomberg)
Former Barrick CEO Mark Bristow paid more than US$20m in severance (G&M)
A new windfall tax on LNG exporters would jeopardise $70B in gov’t revenue and increase the risk of energy shortfalls, according to the nation’s gas lobby (AFR)
Neo Performance Materials starts heavy rare earth production at Silmet plant in Estonia (Mining.com)
Angola's Lobito Atlantic Railway suspends operations due to flooding, impacting copper and cobalt transport (Reuters)
Check out the latest edition of Model Answer’s CFO Labs right here to get your hands on handy mining dashboards, guest articles and plenty more!
Wheelin’ n Dealin’
CIA ($2.8B) - Champion Iron will compulsorily acquire the remainder of Rana Gruber after securing 92.5% acceptances
BOC ($255m) - Bougainville Copper signed a non-binding cooperation agreement granting Lloyds Metals and Energy 90 days’ exclusivity to conduct DD on redeveloping Panguna
DRX ($85m) - Diatreme will vend the Cape Flattery Silica project into its JV with Sibelco for JV shares valuing the asset at $26.0m
Tahmoor mine attracts 20 potential buyers after 20% coal price surge (AFR) including Tony Caruso led consortium and mining contractor RStar
Rio Tinto attracts over a dozen bidders for California boron assets (Bloomberg) WE Soda, Magris Resources, US Silica Holdings and Apollo are among them
Botswana seeks to increase stake in De Beers amid Anglo American's 85% sale (Bloomberg)
Rattlin’ the Tin
WHC ($6.9B) - Whitehaven secured a new US$600m 4.5-year senior secured facility to refinance with a headline rate ~6%
SLS ($147m) - Solstice Minerals completed a $32.6m placement at $1.00/share
E25 ($86m) - Element 25 raised $18m at $0.30 to fund the Butcherbird manganese expansion targeting 1.1Mtpa
Australia and US back Tronox rare earth refinery with $849m financing support (Bloomberg)
Eni invests US$70m in Nouveau Monde Graphite for critical minerals access (Reuters)
In the Weeds
The Next Big Trade? - Part II (Le Shrub)
Peace Sells, We Are Buying (Super Spiked)
Gina Rinehart faces court ruling over Hancock iron ore fortune dispute (AFR)
Wood Mackenzie warns WA lithium producers of no near-term price surge (The West)
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Today’s Top Tweet
Ownership & Oversight
BGL ($2.7B) - Yarra Capital Management and associates sold $18.3m of Bellevue Gold shares, cutting their stake below 5%
FFM ($1.6B) - Regal lifted its stake in Firefly Metals to 8.5% from 7.4%
CXO ($860m) - Fourth Sail Capital US sold $7.4m of Core Lithium, cutting its stake to 4.6%
TVN ($828m) - Tivan appointed Robert Gerrard as COO
AIS ($467m) - First Sentier Investors became a substantial holder in Aeris
NVA ($326m) - Nova Minerals appointed Ashlie Thorburn as CFO
Devil’s in the Detail
A “thank you for not rinsing your stock” freebie, but presumably only if EEA is allowed it too…
Canyon announcement today