The Pre-Start
MinRes reported an underlying net loss of $112m, while Onslow operated at an annualised rate of 35Mtpa over the past 4 weeks (MIN). Additionally, Bundey shared a letter, stating “my focus is on ensuring that Chris’ succession is robust and carefully planned in the best interests of our shareholders” (MIN) Further, it shared a maiden Pilbara Hub R&R statement, with reserves of 51Mt @ 57.5% Fe call at 9am Perth time
Lynas reported $8m in net profit, $101m in EBITDA and revenue of $557m (LYC) Trading on ~25x LTM revenue - not bad for a capital-intensive miner! Raising details below
Kazatomprom has also flagged the potential for future inventory build to support Kazakhstan’s planned nuclear energy infrastructure (KAP.L)
S32 announced underlying earnings of US$666m and a net profit of US$213m, leading to a US2.6c final dividend. FY26 unit costs to rise modestly (S32) Down 5%
Ivanhoe finished Kipushi debottlenecking early & under budget, lifting throughput 20%, while it signed an offtake with Mercuria for up to a third of its zinc (IVN.TO)
West African is in halt, following the Burkina Faso govt‘s request to acquire, for “valuable paid consideration” an additional 35% of its Kiaka subsidary (WAF)
Wesfarmers reiterated refinery production will ramp up over the next 18 months, while product qualification may take 3-9 months. Its past year share of spod con production was 145kt, with the business losing $59m (WES)
Perseus announced net profit of US$422m and a final dividend of 5cps, while its buyback has been renewed, with up to $100m to be invested (PRU)
IGO reported an FY25 EBITDA margin of 66% and underlying free cash flow of $49m, with Kwinana being impaired by $605m (IGO)
Sandfire earned net profit of US$93m on revenue that was up 26% to ~US$1.2B. It shared a Motheo R&R statement, with reserves standing at 42Mt at 0.9% Cu and 13.5g/t Ag for 381kt and 18.4Moz respectively (SFR)
Bellevue outlined plans to produce 130-150koz and 175-195koz over the next 2 years, with FY25 marked by a $46m net loss, supported by lease accounting (BGL)
Paladin shared details from a review of the PLS project, with the NPV updated to US$1.3B (at US$90/lb), while first production is targeted for 2031 (PDN)
Westgold declared a final dividend of 3cps, while updating its minimum dividend per share policy to 2cps, and approving a buy-back of 5% of its stock (WGX)
Ora Banda released drilling from Round Dam Trend, with a best hit of 8m at 20.6g/t from 132m (OBM)
Greatland reported adjusted net profit of $354m on $540m in EBITDA, with operating costs coming in slightly above expectation (GGP)
Les Davis has retired as a director from Black Cat (BC8)
High Grade It
Zijin said “global uncertainties have become unprecedented” and “the competition for critical minerals among major powers has entered a high-intensity confrontation phase” at its quarterly earnings (Bloomberg)
Banks are changing their tack on lithium, with UBS upgrading its spodumene forecast 32% in ‘26 on expectations for more meaningful Chinese disruption (MN)
MinRes has swung to a ~$900m annual loss, with chair Bundey issuing a letter to reassure investors (AFR)
Rio’s new CEO has axed two senior exec’s and appointed WA-native Matt Holcz to run its crucial iron ore division in a major leadership overhaul (Australian)
Citi said the US–global palladium and silver price gap was too narrow given tariff risks (Bloomberg)
Two recent accidents involving autonomous trucks are raising safety concerns, a workers' union at Escondida said in a statement (Reuters)
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Wheelin’ n Dealin’
Fenix is in trading halt pending a material acquisition (FNX)
Rattlin’ the Tin
Word on the Decline
Lots to digest with the MinRes’ results out today. And the call at 9am Perth time will be well attended, we are sure.
Last night, Rear Window broke the story of another truck rollover on the upgraded haul road - not great timing!
Pay attention to this statement of how this rollover occurred:
The well-reported design issues with the haulage operation to date include: (1) the road durability and (2) the centre of gravity of the custom road trains is potentially too high.
We think there’s another factor - especially when reading the statement out of MinRes in the Rear Window column.
On MINEDEX you can find a 3,000 page document on the Ashburton Infrastructure Project. It includes an early sketch of the haul road design well-before it was built. We understand many of the design parameters in this sketch were later changed, including the thickness of the base course and sub-base.
But there’s one design parameter we believe stayed the same from this concept to construction: the gradient of the road batter. It’s a gradient of 1:4 in the cross-section. And that might not seem particularly steep. But it is.
Is it a safety issue? Certainly not if the road trains were autonomous…
To be clear, we are not aware of the full scope of the road repairs embarked on by MinRes and whether some of those repairs included additional fill to flatten the road batters
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In the Weeds
Stan Bone: A Lifetime of Mining | Victorian Goldfields Documentary - A fascinating insight into what gold mining used to be!
BHP’s $9.6B mine project delay puts Aussies jobs on hold (Australian) Is Argentina a better investment jurisdiction than Australia?
Imboo – the 11,685 carat ‘Buffalo’ emerald - Not a bad little gem discovered in Zambia
MinRes jumbo truck crashes on its upgraded mining road (AFR’s Rear Window)
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Today’s Top Tweet
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Devil’s in the Detail
Don’t forget to read the footnote!
We put the odds of Lynas ever reaching nameplate at Kalgoorlie slightly higher than IGO with Kwinnana…
But we won’t die on this hill. Unlike IGO, this facility doesn’t move the needle for Lynas (other than as a crucially important negotiating mechanism with Malaysia).
Kudos to them for raising equity at a ~$14B valuation.. We still think they should buy Iluka now.
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