The Pre-Start
Alcoa confirmed the permanent closure of the Kwinana refinery, which will cost US$600m over 6 years while it’ll incur a US$375m impairment charge (AAI)
Westgold shared its 3-year outlook, targeting 365koz, 420koz and 470koz at $2,750/oz, ~$2,450/oz and ~$2,500/oz AISC (WGX) Up 7%
St Barbara released FY26 guidance for Simberi of 54-70koz at AISC ~$4,200/oz, with Touquoy care and maintenance costs of ~$12m (SBM)
Perseus appointed Craig Jones as MD & CEO, effective today following the retirement of Jeff Quartermaine (PRU)
Boss confirmed Matt Dusci as MD & CEO (BOE)
Ramelius updated total mineral resources to 210Mt at 1.8g/t Au for 12Moz with ore reserves of 57Mt at 1.3g/t Au for 2.4Moz (RMS)
Broken Hill and Hartree Metals agreed to US$25m offtake financing facility to fund Rasp and Pinnacle at SOFR + 3.5% (BHM)
Nova’s subsidiary Alsaka Resources was awarded US$43m of US govt defence funding to produce antimony trisulfide at its Estella project (NVA) Up 28%
Southern Cross confirmed continuity at Rising Sun, hitting 0.5m at 342g/t Au & 2.8% Sb from 615m (SX2)
Black Cat shared drilling from Paulsens with hits including 5m at 90.5g/t from 86m at the Main Zone hanging wall (BC8)
White Cliff’s first assays from Danvers has led to a doubling of the strike, hitting 49m at 1.3% Cu from 75m, at the Rae Copper project in Canada (WCN)
Tanami completed RC program at Jims Gold mine with best intercept 13m at 6.61g/t Au from 280m, announcing new commencement of RC and DD progam to continue (TAM)
Austral revised its 2025 guidance to ~11.5k GEOs (down from 15k) as the leach circuit remains temporarily offline (AGD)
High Grade It
China has slapped a temporary ban on BHP’s iron ore shipments after a breakdown in talks over the renewal of price contracts (Australian) Stock dipped 5%, closed down 2%
Chinese commodity market pricing firm Mysteel disputed the veracity of Bloomberg’s story that CMRG ordered the freeze on BHP ore (AFR)
Australian PM Anthony Albanese labelled China’s ban on new BHP cargoes “disappointing” (Bloomberg)
Iron ore advanced after China’s state-run iron ore buyer told major steelmakers to temporarily halt purchases of all new BHP cargoes (Bloomberg)
Alcoa will permanently close its Kwinana alumina refinery in the latest blow to metals processing in Australia, igniting a feud between resources minister Madeleine King & Opposition leader Sussan Ley (Australian)
More than a dozen Australian miners held meetings in Washington, and were told that the administration is looking for ways to take equity-like stakes (AFR)
From the first metre to the final sample, K-Drill brings speed, precision and quality to every job. That’s why we’re Kalgoorlie’s trusted name in drilling.
Wheelin’ n Dealin’
Appian will buy a 2.9% NSR royalty in NexGold’s Goldboro gold project in Canada for an upfront cash consideration of US$24m (Appian)
The US will take a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and a 5% stake in its Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada (Bloomberg) LAC jumped 41% aftermarket
St Barbara has not received a sufficient proposal for its Atlantic assets, while numerous parties are doing due diligence as part of its Simberi process (SBM)
Nelson agreed a Right to Mine deal with MEGA Resources for the Yarri Gold project, with MEGA to provide up to $10m in development capital and take 70% of profits (NES) Hot on the heels of the share price doubling & an ASX please explain notice!
Rattlin’ the Tin
MMG priced an offering for US$500m senior unsecured convertible bonds due in 2030 with zero coupon and conversion at a 40% premium (MMG)
Zijin Gold shares closed 68% higher in their Hong Kong trading debut (FT)
Podium is undertaking $12m capital raise (POD)
Matsa secured a $15m funding package to advance Devon (MAT)
Yandal received firm commitments to raise $13.5m at 29c share (YRL)
Arafura noted its credit approval lapsed on Sept 30, while it works with the EDC to procure an extension, which it believes will come in shortly (ARU)
Brazilian Critical Minerals is raising $6m at 3c (BCM)
Word on the Decline
It’s not a Tungsten top until Greatland deals O’Callaghan’s, Australia’s largest tungsten resource. Ignore the fact it’s 300m under cover..
And speaking of the dense metal, we reckon Group 6 Metals, with its struggling restart of the historic King Island Dolphin mine, must be close to a deal that sees it return to quotation. Hot commodity prices usually fix operational woes. Usually.
Got Word on the Decline? Simply reply or email [email protected]. We will always take your privacy seriously.
In the Weeds
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Today’s Top Tweet
Devil’s in the Detail
You find a copper developer that screens “value” and ask the question, why?
A week ago, Celsius was a $20m company, which seems undemanding compared to the geology, albeit in the Philippines…
Clues for the value discrepancy usually lie within the Annual Report….
MMCI is Celsius’ in-country subsidiary, billed by the Chairman’s law firm:
Which also believes it has claim to a 3% finders fee on the project funding from the country’s sovereign wealth fund (which is ~US$76.4m in two omnibus loan agreements)
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Gold Mania, Niobium Dreams, and Antimony Nightmares (Emanuel Datt)
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