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Eyes on MinRes as Investors Inspect Onslow

Eyes on MinRes as Investors Inspect Onslow

Harmony make their anticipated MAC move, Guinean permit revocations widen investor concerns

May 28, 2025

The Pre-Start

MinRes has downgraded guidance to 7.8-8Mt (MIN share), from 8.5-8.7Mt. It anticipates operating at a 28-31Mtpa run rate by June, whilst maintaining its target of nameplate by Q1 FY26 (MIN) the 52-page investor presentation is detail-heavy on Onslow as investors visit today
NexGen shared what it claimed were its best assays from Patterson Corridor East, hitting 15m at 15.9% U₃O₈ from a program that added 9 intercepts (NXG)
Predictive was made aware that the Argo & Bokoro exploration permits were included in the 100+ that the ministry revoked, though no formal communication was received. This does not include the bulk of Bankan’s ounces (PDI)
Assays from Southern Cross’ Sunday Creek included numerous narrow high-grade hits at depth, with exploration work continuing (SX2)
Rox released assays from its recently completed Step Up drill program, with 2 rigs remaining to target Youanmi extensions (RXL)
New Murchison confirmed mineralisation with grade control assays at Crown Prince (NMG)
IGO has withdrawn from the Yeneena farm-in JV with Encounter (ENR)
Lion Selection emerged as a 7% shareholder of Sunshine Metals (LSX)

High Grade It

Rio, MinRes & Gold Fields joined a chorus of juniors condemning Coolgardie council’s plan to double mining rates, issuing a warning for WA (West)
MinRes blamed problems with its private haul road for an Onslow production downgrade, but insisted there’s reason to be optimistic (Australian)
Friedland has drawn parallels to the setbacks faced by SpaceX on its journey to servicing 90% of total space payload, as quakes shake the Kakula mine (MNN)
BHP trimmed down its local headcount by ~100 last week, all related to its WA iron ore division (West)
Nigeria will commission 2 Chinese-backed lithium processing plants this year, with 2 more on the way, marking a shift from raw exports (Reuters)
Chinese lithium producers are starting to slash output again after prices of the battery material crashed to a 4-year low (AFR)
Guinea revoked 4 gold exploration permits from Endeavour Mining as it continues to reclaim inactive & non-compliant rights (Bloomberg) Reuters reported a further 129 permits being cancelled
Agnico Eagle surpassed Newmont as the largest gold miner by market cap (Bloomberg)
The US Supreme Court cleared a major obstacle to Rio’s construction of Resolution copper mine, rejecting an appeal by a Native American group (AFR)

Drilling you can count on from the team that puts the K in Kalgoorlie. For safe, reliable and productive drilling, get in touch with K-Drill.

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

Czech group Sev.en is understood to have bought more than US$40m of Coronado’s debt (Australian) “which could pre-empt a takeover move” - yeahhhhh we don’t think equity holders are going to have a win here if Sev.en is buying the debt for 67c on the dollar…
Harmony Gold entered into binding docs to acquire MAC Copper for US$12.25/sh in cash (32% premium to 30-day average), implying an equity value of US$1.03B (HMY.NY) Metals Acquisitioned! HMY to fund the deal with a US$1.25B bridge facility & cash reserves
Harmony’s deal to buy MAC could be the first test of the Albanese government’s revamped FIRB process (AFR)
Bastion Mining lodged a bidder’s statement concerning its proposed takeover offer for Xanadu (XAM)
Hastings is set to acquire Great Boulder’s interest in the Whiteheads gold project (HAS, GBR)
Beacon executed an option agreement to acquire tenements at the Wealth of Nations mine, located ~10km NW of BCN’s Jaurdi plant (BCN)

Rattlin’ the Tin

New Found Gold has announced a C$49m bought deal financing and C$20m placement to advance the Queensway gold project after a disappointing maiden resource (NFG.TO)
Black Rock Mining received credit approval to increase commitments by US$25m to US$204m with various African lenders (BKT)
Warriedar received firm commitments for a $17m placement at 10c (WA8)

Word on the Decline

There’s a rumour that Sinomine has halted all lithium production from their Bikita mine in Zimbabwe last week (~350kt/yr)…

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In the Weeds

Iceberg Research dropped a short report on The Metals Company, the aspiring deep-sea miner (Report) amazing to read the comments in the tweet thread…
Strictly Boardroom: Developing critical minerals in 10 bullets (MNN)
Chen Jinghe's third IPO: The ambition & anxiety of "China Gold King" (Weixin)
3 things to look for in a fundie, from someone who’s met hundreds (AFR)
Rise of the Machines: How 1B humanoid robots by 2050 will drive a surge in critical minerals demand (Livewire)
The diamond industry isn't in a downturn, it's a disassembly (LinkedIn)