The Pre-Start
Black Cat shared that visible antimony can be seen from the first 4 diamond holes it’s drilled at its Mt Clement deposit (BC8)
Viridis has secured a strategic site for its research centre while finalising construction contracts (VMM)
Astral signed a Letter of Intent with MMS for a development partnership/JV with respect to the Think Big gold deposit (AAR)
Locksley produced an antimony ingot from ore sourced at its Mojave Desert mine (LKY)
Ballard shared further visible gold hits from infill drilling at Baldock, with the program targeted to be completed by this quarter (BM1)
Kaiser Reef shared that throughput at Henty has performed at up to 33% above nameplate, while decline debottlenecking is underway and a more productive fleet being utilised (KAU)
EV Resources has purchased a processing plant located at Los Lirios, Mexico for US$1.8m (EVR)
American West released assays from its Cyclone deposit at Storm, hitting 12.1m at 5.6% Cu & 21g/t Ag from 70m (AW1)
Deep Yellow’s MD & CEO John Borshoff will step down effective immediately, while supporting until end of Nov. Craig Barnes will lead as acting CEO (DYL)
Aura Energy announced that CEO and MD Andrew Grove has resigned, effective immediately, though he’ll provide support for 6 months (AEE)
Elevra’s CFO Dougal Elder has resigned, with Christian Cortes being appointed (ELV)
High Grade It
Rio Tinto’s new CEO Simon Trott said he’ll reduce layers of staff and simplify the company’s asset portfolio in a bid to accelerate decisions & focus the group (AFR)
Geraldine Slattery said Australia’s glory days in resources are fading as it faces growing competition for capital from friendlier business jurisdictions (Australian)
India's largest precious metals refinery ran out of silver stock for the first time in its history due to high demand from Indian customers (Bloomberg)
Anthony Albanese faces calls to resolve a $300-$500m compensation dispute with US investors in NuCoal during his meeting with Trump (Australian)
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a UK pricing & data research firm for transition minerals, has cut at least a fifth of its workforce in recent weeks (Reuters)
The CFO of Fortescue Zero resigned as hundreds of staff face the axe at the embattled green technology group (AFR)
Wheelin’ n Dealin’
US Antimony Corp has lobbed a bid to acquire 100% of Larvotto, offering 6 UAMY shares for every 100 LRV share (UAMY) offer comes on the back of UAMY buying a 10% stake in Larvotto via on-market purchases all the way through til Friday last week (LRV) On our math, UAMY paid at least up to $1.27/sh buying LRV stock on market, now their bid values LRV at A$1.40/sh at last close…
A cloud continues to hang over Coronado despite improving coal prices, after bids for the business came in below its value as it faces US production challenges (Australian)
BMG Resources has received unsolicited expressions of interest for its Abercromby gold project (BMG) Abercromby is 20km from Wiluna’s Matilda plant by haul road
Rattlin’ the Tin
Titan received US$10m from Lingbao Gold for a 9.9% strategic stake in the Ecuadorian gold-copper play (TTM)
Winsome received 17.65m Power Metals shares, with ~C$5m (WR1)
Litchfield completed a $6m placement to advance exploration of its Oonagalabi prospect (LMS)
Southern Palladium upsized its placement to $20m at $1.10 (SPD)
Jindalee raised $8m via a placement (JLL)
Asian Battery Metals has raised $6m via a placement (AZ9)
Word on the Decline
Everyone talks about Jadar’s social licence problem. The protests, the politics, the environmental permits.
But that might not even be the hardest issue. We think the bigger problem could be geological. One which even the engineering boffins at Rio are yet to overcome…
We expect discussion of Jadar to drift off into the abyss, especially under new CEO, Simon Trott
Got Word on the Decline? Simply reply or email [email protected]. We will always take your privacy seriously.
In the Weeds
A Stock Trader’s Guide to Navigating China’s Curb on Rare Earths (Bloomberg)
Adam Rozencwajg: Inflation Will Come Roaring Back, Gold’s Tale, and Shale Oil’s Long Goodbye (YouTube)
What Gold’s Rise (Really) Means for the World (Bloomberg Video)
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— #Robert Friedland (#@robert_ivanhoe)
8:06 PM • Oct 19, 2025
Devil’s in the Detail
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Companies mentioned: BHP, VALE, FMG, RIO, ZIM, SPD, THS.L, IMP.J, SBSW, VALT.L, MMI, CAY, BML, S32, UEC, UUUU, LEU, URA, GMKN.ME, NVDA, BP.L, SHEL.L