The Pre-Start
Barrick announced Mark Bristow is stepping down, with Mark Hill named Interim CEO (B.NYSE)
Newmont CEO Tom Palmer is stepping down after 12 years to be replaced by COO Natascha Viljoen in a flagged transition (NEM)
29Metals experienced a further seismic event at the Xantho Extended orebody at Golden Grove. The previous Dec quarter timeline to reinstate ground support is being assessed, with zinc guidance withdrawn (29M)
Liontown agreed to amend the pricing mechanism in its long-term offtake with Tesla to shift away from hydroxide indices to spodumene concentrate (LTR)
Wia’s scoping study for Kokoseb outlined an initial 11-year LOM with forecasted open pit production of ~146kozpa at AISC of US$1,447/oz, with a post-tax NPV of US$646m and IRR of 38%. Capex came to US$359m (WIA)
Asante announced the start of the Bibiani sulphide plant, which is expected to lift recoveries from 60% to 92% (ASE.V)
Antipa released new assay results including 12m at 16.6g/t Au and 0.13% Cu from 143m at Minyari (AZY)
New Murchison completed its first month of mining of 31kt at 3.23g/t Au trucked to Westgold’s Bluebird (NGM)
Lindian will self-perform mining after evaluation of 5 contract proposals. Mining costs expected to decrease by~30% with capex held in line at Kangankunde (LIN)
Strickland released assays from diamond drilling at Gradina, hitting 49m at 1.4g/t gold from 331m (STK)
Lunnon reported RC exploration drilling results with a best hit of 10m at 1.23g/t Au from 33m at its Kambalda gold-nickel project (LM8)
Toubani extended mineralisation outside of the Kobada MRE, with drilling hitting broad zones between 120-250m below surface (TRE)
Chilwa met work showed multiple product streams, including ilmenite recovery of 95% for a 51% TiO2 product and zircon recovery of 47% for a 66% grade product from Mposa ore (CHW)
Native Minerals completed its second gold doré pour, producing 3 bars totalling 393oz from mineralised waste material at Blackjack (NMR)
Challenger received approval for EIA to enable haulage of ore from Haulilan to Caspso for gold toll treatment (CEL)
RTG’s final assays from a diamond program at Chanach returned hits of 21.9m at 0.39% Cu from 52m and a gold intercept of 6m at 9.23g/t from 31m (RTG)
London investor Helikon has updated its Predictive stake to 6.7% (PDI)
High Grade It
Iron ore declined due to a cautious tone ahead of a major holiday in China that’ll see mainland markets closed for a week from Wednesday (Bloomberg)
MinRes will slash its contractor workforce by ~100 people after fixing the notorious Pilbara haul road (Australian)
The US Treasury’s gold reserves have surpassed $1T in value - more than 90 times what’s stated on the government’s balance sheet (Bloomberg)
Commodities are on a tear since the Fed began rate cuts, with analysts tipping the rally in precious metals will broaden out to base metals next year (AFR)
NextEra said that the U.S. nuclear regulator has approved the license renewal for two units of its Point Beach plant for another 20 years (Reuters)
PNG’s National Court dismissed a multi-billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Rio over damage allegedly caused by the Panguna copper mine (Bloomberg)
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Wheelin’ n Dealin’
Rattlin’ the Tin
NGEx Minerals is raising C$100m via private placement at $25/sh, with Lundin family trust to maintain their interest in the company (NGEX.TO)
James Bay Minerals is raising $25m to advance the 1.4Moz Au and 7.3Moz Ag Independent project in Nevada (JBY) and renaming to Black Bear Minerals
Jaguar Mining announced a bought deal financing of C$25m to fund the restart of the Turmalina gold mine (JAG.TO)
Zijin Gold Int’l will start trading in Hong Kong tomorrow after its $3.2B raise in the world’s largest IPO since May (Bloomberg)
Artemis announced a C$700m revolving credit facility, extinguishing its project loan facility (ARTG.V)
Hillgrove increased its raising to $28m (HGO)
Tesoro upped its capital raise to take on $34m (TSO)
Saturn Metals is in a halt to raise capital, seeking $35m at 58c to progress its Apollo Hill gold project (STN)
Word on the Decline
So it was only 5 months ago that Macmahon won a 2-year contract at Deflector. And now we’re hearing word that the working relationship with Vault is fractured. Has Macmahon been given a please vacate notice? 🤔
Got Word on the Decline? Simply reply or email [email protected]. We will always take your privacy seriously.
In the Weeds
Glencore has lost its swagger (Bloomberg oped) "...Institutional investors in Glencore have grown increasingly frustrated with the commodity giant’s underperformance, with several large shareholders privately questioning the company’s strategy..."
Dryblower: Lithium's dead cat bounce
Keyu Jin interview (Lex Fridman) Insightful discussion on China, focused on political/business/cultural differences
What bubble? Why the equity market still has room to run (AFR oped) Written by Ellerston’s Vimal Gor
China’s Copper Smelters Are Stuck Between Past Habits and Present Pain (Bloomberg)
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Today’s Top Tweet
Time to merge Barrick and Newmont?
— #Rick Rule (#@RealRickRule)
6:30 PM • Sep 29, 2025
Grasberg and prabowo, a double whammy to indo bronze supply
— #Tin Investor (#@TinInvestor)
10:15 PM • Sep 29, 2025
Catch up on our latest episode
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Inside a $3.8B Gold Deal + The US Wakes Up
Stocks mentioned: GOR, GFI.NYSE, DEG, YRL, SMI, FAL, LAC.NYSE, UAMY.NYSE, HBM.TO, GLEN.L, MIN, DRR, VOXR.TO, LYC, NEO.TO, MDKA.IDX, CAY, REE
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