The Pre-Start
Orezone poured first gold from its new 2.5Mtpa Bomboré hard rock expansion, with commissioning complete, mill throughput averaging 78% of nameplate and commercial production expected early in Q1 (ORE)
Antipa reported material progress across PFS workstreams for Minyari Dome, with a PFS MRE due next quarter, met recoveries of 89–98% & FID targeted mid-2028 (AZY)
Artemis’ board has approved $1.4B expanded Phase 2 development to 21 Mtpa expected to be funded from operating cash flow, Blackwater to produce 500kozpa gold for first 10 years (ARTG.V)
Ausgold’s updated DFS for Katanning increased life-of-mine production to 1.22Moz, lifts post-tax NPV5 to $1.03B, raised reserves to 1.33Moz and indicates ~$354m pre-production capital required (AUC)
Investigator’s Paris silver project DFS showed a ~6% lift in silver recovery at 53 microns and pit optimisation at $70/oz reduced cut-off to 22–27 g/t, expanding optimised inventory by ~13 Moz (IVR)
AIC Mines' step-out drilling at Jericho intersected J1 mineralisation up to 250m below the resource, including 3.6m at 2.7% Cu from 751m (A1M)
Sovereign signed a 36-month collaboration agreement with the IFC to align the Kasiya rutile-graphite project's DFS and ESIA with IFC performance standards, and grant IFC rights to seek or arrange project financing (SVM)
Australian Gold and Copper’s initial Achilles MRE is 10.3Mt at 116g/t AgEq for 38.5Moz AgEq, 58% indicated and 19% of the MRE is extrapolated beyond nominal drill spacing (AGC)
American Rare Earths produced a mixed RE oxide from Halleck Creek ore using its updated preliminary PFS flowsheet, with optimisations underway (ARR)
Franklin Resources increased its interest in Felix Gold from 5.20% to 7.13% following the recent placement (FXG)
Tembo’s holding in True North Copper was diluted to 22.8% after a placement, down from 25.9% (TNC)
Lyn Brazil (nominee of Brazil Farming) has resigned as a NED of Aurelia (AMI)
High Grade It
Miners are holding close to $180B worth of infrastructure assets and will increasingly sell stakes in power stations, pipelines and desalination plants as a way of bolstering cash flows, say industry analysts (AFR)
Korea Zinc plans to build a smelter in the US at an estimated cost of around $7.4B, backed by investments from the US gov’t and end users (Bloomberg)
Copper rose - clawing back some of Friday’s steep drop - as investors refocused on prospects for a tighter market in 2026 (Bloomberg)
Rio and its partners will pump $525m into studies & exploration work in a bid to bring the Rhodes Ridge into production by 2030 (Australian)
Indonesia’s exports of tin recovered in November, in a sign that concerns are easing over supply disruptions (Bloomberg)
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Wheelin’ n Dealin’
Perseus stated that in the absence of a change in the likelihood of the success of the PDI-RXR merger, it does not intend to submit a revised proposal for Predictive (PRU)
Glencore has spent $15m buying a stake in the gold developer that is believed to represent close to 5% of Endura’s issued shares (AFR)
Alicanto is acquiring the Mt Henry gold project from Westgold for $15m cash, 19.9% AQI post raise, $10m contingent on 2Moz MRE and $15m contingent on positive FID (AQI)
Rattlin’ the Tin
Concurrent with the acquisition of Mt Henry gold project, Alicanto is raising $28m at 5.5c per share (AQI)
Sunrise Energy Metals launched a follow-on placement for $32.5m at $6.50 (with a 1-for-1 attaching option), after its recent raises on Dec 3 (at $4.90) and Nov 17 (at $4.50) (SRL) Yes, again…
Theta Gold has executed a non-binding term sheet with Nebari for a US$80m senior secured loan with a 5-year term, interest SOFR+10% and warrants equal to 27% of funded amount (TGM)
Rio2 closed an upsized C$191m bought deal (RIO.TO)
Arafura’s SPP received $7.1m in applications (of a targeted $50m); no shortfall offers will be made (ARU)
Word on the Decline
Brewdog Perth from 5PM this evening. It’s Money of Mine’s Xmas drinks. Where better to find out some Word on the Decline?
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In the Weeds
From Laos to South America (YouTube) John Forwood interviewing Tony Manini
Critical minerals should not be stockpiled for military use (FT op-ed)
China Confronts the Cost of Dismantling the World’s Biggest Coal Sector (Bloomberg)
Critical Materials: Western Democracies' material impairment (Craig Tindale) A post that went viral overnight
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