Registered by Australia Post PP 643938/0071. No pages or articles in this publication may be reproduced in any form without the consent of the publisher. This includes photographs either taken by Paydirt Media staff or provided by other parties.PAYDIRT (ISSN 1445-3436)Published byPaydirt Media Pty Ltd.A.C.N. 063 985 133Head Office: Suite 9, 1297 Hay St, West PerthWestern Australia 6005P.O. Box 1589, West PerthWestern Australia 6872Phone: (+61 8) 9321 0355Facsimile: (+61 8) 9321 [email protected]: Editor: Dominic PiperDeputy Editor: Michael WashbourneSenior journalist: Rhonda MalkinJournalist: Michael CameronArt director: Nick BrownAdvertising:Head of Advertising: Richa FullerSubscriptions: Nicoletta AnticPhone: (+61 8) 9321 0355Facsimile: (+61 8) 9321 0426Pre-press and printing:Vanguard Press, 26 John St,Northbridge WA 6003Member of:Paydirt MediaExecutive chairman: Bill RepardFinance manager: Giovanny JeffersonAccounts/administration: Vanessa CaleConferences: Angelique Julien,Paula Fujita5265 NEWSHastings Technology Metals will vault into the rare earths producer stakes after striking a deal to acquire a fully-permitted but unconstructed hydrometallurgical mixed rare earth chloride facility in Thailand. The $US15 million purchase will not only allow it to become a producer of value-added products but offers an avenue to revive the company’s flagship Yangibana rare earths project in WAREGIONAL ROUNDUP There is no slowing down for Australia’s intrepid junior and mid-tier resources sector. This month’s global wrap includes the release of feasibility studies from Globe Metals & Mining and Sovereign Metals in Malawi, a big capital raising for Midas Minerals in Namibia and a Donald Trump tick of approval for Resolution Minerals in IdahoCOVER While its peers are heading far and wide to find new, developable copper projects, Cyprium Metals has stuck close to home and is on the brink of getting major reward. The company has been quietly plugging away at the refurbishment of the troubled Nifty copper mine in the Paterson region of WA but with a production restart imminent, it suddenly finds itself the centre of intensifying interest. Dominic Piper spoke to executive chairman Matt Fifield about the opportunitySOUTH AUSTRALIA After a period in which the sector fell off the agenda, mineral exploration is back on the priority list for the reelected Malinauskas Government in South Australia. Minister for Energy & Mines Tom Koutsantonis has pledged to fund the neglected PACE exploration initiative and the State is re-emerging as a place to exploreCOPPER Despite oscillating as a result of the US-Israel invasion of Iran, the copper price is still holding at a barely believable plus-$US13,000/t. The dramatic rise over the last nine months has spurred the ASX exploration sector into action, with a plethora of companies emerging with pre-development stories. Paydirt looks at the opportunities laying in waitCONTENTS53Member of:202632in support of Australia’s mining industrymaroomba.com.au539 771445 34300704 Australia’s Paydirt May 2026May 2026 VOLUME 1. ISSUE 348 $11.95PLUS...South Australia clears exploration pathCopper spotlightRed hot, red metalCypriumrewires Nifty●●
PAGE 4 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTMy grandad was the eternal optimist, always thinking we had a chance of winning 5-0, or scoring a last-minute equaliser, his enthusiasm was infectious. Uncle Eddie, on the other hand, was the pessimist in our gang. He talked himself into failure in almost every match. As soon as the opposition had possession of the ball, even if it was 50 yards from goal, he’d be predicting impending doom. If or when they eventually did score, he’d say: “I told you so, typical!” and march out the ground five minutes before full-time. I asked my grandad why Uncle Eddie always came to the match, “he loves the Boro” was his response. It’s true, he’d been to the ground during the darkest seasons, where wins had been as infrequent as sunny days on Teesside and the club languished in the third tier of English football, far away from the glamour of the Premier League. But, he kept coming back and his pessimism was still intact even during our rare periods of success. Uncle Eddie springs to mind when I hear some of the executives of junior companies in the mining industry. There is no doubt being the head of a junior mining company can be a hard slog. Your fortunes are so often beholden to factors outside your control, whether geological or macroeconomic, but you must still appease shareholders who have unrealistic expectations or brokers who want to cut a deal.However, there have been few better times to be an executive in the sector than the last two years. Commodity prices are flying, demand is rampant and investor interest is at levels unseen for more than a decade. But, like Uncle Eddie, talking to some executives only elicits negativity, particularly from those working in Western Australia. For these executives, WA is always “too expensive” or “you can’t get ground” or “the approvals system is too slow”. When you ask why they keep operating here, the answer is invariably along the lines of “well, because it is the best mining jurisdiction in the world”.Of this, there can be little doubt. We cover many jurisdictions in the pages of Paydirt and pride ourselves on shining a light on what we believe are overlooked, underappreciated or misunderstood regions of the world. However, facts are difficult to argue with and there are reasons why WA continues to attract much of Australia’s and indeed the world’s mining investment dollars. Other jurisdictions may be less expensive, have more walk-up prospects, offer better tax regimes, quicker regulatory systems or provide lower input costs, but nowhere offers the same combination of prospectivity, predictability and expertise as WA. In many other jurisdictions, identification of a project or prospect is just the start of a long, unpredictable journey towards development. In WA, if you secure a licence and follow the laws and regulations, there will be no surprises preventing you from reaching production.The development pathway in the State is proven to be stringent but robust.When international investors are looking at mining projects and ask for proof of an asset’s ESG performance, WA companies often find it quite difficult to express their credentials because these credentials are so embedded in the industry. While companies in other places may be able to get all the way to project development while hiding environmental, social or governance skeletons in the closet, the WA system prevents such projects getting anywhere near that stage.Issues are either ironed out earlier in the process or the project is stopped, and not even necessarily by the regulator. The wealth of industry knowledge within the State means any company which presents a project looking “too good to be true” is quickly assessed by peers. Occasionally these projects stand up to scrutiny, but more often they are proven to have flaws – whether expensive or sometimes fatal – and are quietly put on ice. Longer-than-hoped-for approvals, delayed drilling programmes or expensive power and labour might all elicit a “typical WA” response, but ultimately the junior mining sector keeps returning to the State because it remains the best bet for finding, developing and executing an economic mining project.So, a lot like Uncle Eddie, these executives may grumble, but they’ll be back because nowhere else can generate the same response. I can only hope Middlesbrough eventually develop a winning record to resemble that of WA mining.When I was a kid, I used to go to Middlesbrough’s English Premier League matches with my grandad and his [email protected] @DominicPiper
Forgotten rare earths developer Hastings Technology Metals Ltd appears set to attain long-awaited producer status later this year – but not via the asset which has served as its flagship for more than a decade.Hastings has struck an agreement with Enuo Holdings Pte Ltd for majority board control and governance rights over a fully-permitted but unconstructed hydrometallurgical mixed rare earth chloride (MREC) processing facility in Kabin Buri, Thailand.Total consideration for the acquisition is capped at just $US15 million, comprised of Hastings shares, production-contingent deferred payments and commissioning costs funded by Enuo.Hastings estimates it will cost about $US1 million over the coming months to complete construction and commission the initial 5,000 tpa plant, which the company has already flagged will be scaled to 30,000 tpa next year.Monazite concentrate from one of Enuo’s existing mines in Africa will be used as the feedstock for the upcoming commissioning phase, with first MREC production slated for Q4 2026.Perhaps most crucially for Hastings, the acquisition of a hydrometallurgical plant is set to revive the stalled development of its flagship Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region.Hastings chief executive Vince Catania unashamedly described the Thai plant as a “game-changer” for the company and its shareholders.“A rare earths mine does not work if you don’t have a hydromet plant,” he told Paydirtlast month.“Without one, there’s very few places in the world – if any – where you can sell your concentrate. So, in order to have an operational rare earth mine, you first need to be able to feed your concentrate into a hydromet plant.“This is a pivotal moment for Hastings because if you look at the pathway that Lynas [Rare Earths Ltd] and MP Materials [Corp] have taken before us, we are going down a very similar pathway. We look forward to being in that same league in the next few years.”Hastings currently owns 40% of Yangibana, having finalised a JV transaction with Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd last September when the Andrew Forrest-backed group was officially anointed manager and operator of the project.Located about 250km north-east of Carnarvon, Yangibana is widely considered Australia’s most advanced undeveloped rare earths project. Hastings previously spent more than $150 million – roughly one-third of the estimated total project capex – on erecting critical infrastructure at site, including a 294-room accommodation village and 2km airstrip, as well as purchasing long-lead items such as the SAG mill and flotation cells.Yangibana was declared “shovel-ready” in mid-2024 just as prices for neodymium and praseodymium bottomed out, barely two years after hitting highs not seen since the turn of the last decade.Catania said the purchase of the MREC plant would allow development discussions concerning Yangibana to resume in earnest.“We, as Hastings, see this as a fantastic opportunity to progress Yangibana into construction and producing a concentrate to one day go through our Thailand plant,” he said.“We work very closely with Wyloo because our opportunity is their opportunity. The JV is operating like any good relationship should – in a positive, productive way – and we look forward to advancing Yangibana with our JV partners, Wyloo, to be able to get it into construction and production, hopefully in the very near future.”Wyloo chief executive Luca Giocovazzi echoed those sentiments in a statement released by Hastings.“This development is a valuable strategic option for the Yangibana JV,” he said. “It represents a capital-efficient downstream pathway and a fast route to market for one of the world’s highest-grade NdPr deposits.“Wyloo is working closely with Hastings and we look forward to jointly exploring the economic benefits of this processing option.”First concentrate from Yangibana could be fed through the Thai plant during the proposed ramp-up to 30,000 tpa, potentially starting as early as next year. Hastings has also flagged accepting other monazite feedstock from third parties to support this production phase.According to Catania, the MREC facility is primed for commissioning with all site buildings structurally complete and permitted. It is also situated 175km from Laem Chabang, home to one of the largest container ports in South-East Asia with established direct-shipping connections to potential key customers in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the US.Hastings previously contemplated building a downstream plant in Onslow, about 430km by road to the north of Yangibana.“We hunted around the world for the best spot to build a hydromet plant and this fell in our lap for a fraction of the cost it would take to build one of these on a greenfields site,” Catania said.“The replacement value to build one of these hydomet plants from scratch is over $US300 million.“We looked at multiple locations, obviously at Onslow but also in Saudi Arabia, Estonia and the US, so we’ve done a huge amount of due diligence on what is the best location.”Hastings became the second ASX-listed rare earths developer within the space of a month to pounce on a MREC facility after Malawi-focused Lindian Resources Ltd penned a deal to acquire the SARECO downstream plant in Kazakhstan, also for just $US15 million.Lindian used the momentum from the transaction to raise $100 million early last month, ensuring Stage 1 development of its Kangankunde mine in Malawi and the upcoming refurbishment of SARECO will be funded entirely from equity. – Michael WashbourneHastings pounces on Thai hydromet plantAUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 5
Element 25 Ltd managing director Justin Brown expects to ink new offtake agreements “well before” the expanded Butcherbird manganese mine in the Pilbara enters the commissioning phase early next year.Offtake remains on the table for Stage 2 production from Butcherbird, although it could feasibly be the next domino to fall after Element 25 raised $18 million last month, all but ensuring the company is fully funded for the impending expansion to 1.1 mtpa.Led by Sydney-based stockbroker Petra Capital, the single-tranche placement to new and existing shareholders was essentially the final piece of the funding puzzle to triple Butcherbird’s existing nominal production capacity, the company having secured a $50 million loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) last year.Manganese powerhouse OM Holdings Ltd grabbed the offtake rights for Stage 1 and seemingly would be the frontrunner for Stage 2. Element 25 indicated earlier this year it had identified a “preferred” offtake partner but was still negotiating commercial terms for the additional concentrate.Brown said offtake was the least of his worries.“Very pleasingly, there’s interest from multiple parties, which is always encouraging,” he told Paydirt.“We’ve obviously still got a very good relationship with OM Holdings, they’ve got plenty of smelting capacity in Malaysia and we’re always looking at ways to strengthen that relationship, but pleasingly we’ve got interest from a couple of other really strong parties as well, so we’re just working on how we kind of dovetail it all together.“It’s probably fair to say that we see ample demand for our planned production, so we’re not worried about that aspect at all. It’s now just down to the finer details of pricing models, payment terms and logistic plans. We intend to have that all bedded down well before production starts, so there will be some news to follow shortly, if all goes to plan, which I’m sure it will.”Element 25 was seeking to achieve financial close of the NAIF loan – comprised of $42.5 million in senior debt and a $7.5 million cost overrun facility – at the time of print.Last year’s updated feasibility study priced the expansion at $64.8 million with manganese oxide concentrate production over the estimated 18-year mine life set to generate pre-tax NPV of $561 million with IRR of 96%.Butcherbird, about 130km south of Newman, remains Australia’s largest onshore manganese resource with 274mt delineated to date.“This expansion [from 365,000 tpa to 1.1 mtpa] was always part of our strategic development pathway that we outlined a few years ago, even prior to the Stage 1 development which we did during COVID,” Brown said.“It’s going to put us on the map as a significant manganese producer and push us a long way down the cost curve as well. We’ll be a much larger-scale, low-cost producer into global markets.“And it’s at a great time too, because if you look at the production profile for manganese ore in Australia, it’s actually been in decline for a few years. Bootu Creek is running out of ore, Woodie Woodie is fairly mature now and Groote Eylandt is getting pretty long in tooth as well. So, we think this is a really good time to bring a new project online.”Financial close with NAIF will likely be followed by the appointment of the construction contractor. Element 25 has already signed up the likes of Altris Engineering (lead project engineer), MMD (plant design and procurement) and KISA (logwasher build and assembly) to key contracts.Most key contractors are expected to mobilise to site by mid-year. “It’s not a complex build,” Brown said. “I think once we get under way, it will be a pretty streamlined process.“There’s only three or four main bits of equipment and then it’s some pretty simple sort of concrete, structural steel, and electricals to bolt it all together.”Brown also confirmed the company would “carve out” an unspecified amount of production from the expanded Butcherbird mine for its proposed downstream facility in the US state of Louisiana, the world’s first high-purity manganese sulphate refinery outside China.Recent geopolitical events have somewhat stalled Element 25’s pursuit of further funding for the Louisiana plant, having already received $US166 million from the US Department of Energy, $US85 million from General Motors and $US30 million from Stellantis.Brown said the opportunity to establish a viable downstream arm remained a very attractive proposition for any manganese business.“Bulks can be pretty lucrative and we’re obviously pursuing those returns for investors but it’s typically a high volume, lower margin business, whereas I think the downstream represents a lower volume, much higher margin business,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot of time, effort and cash on developing this [downstream] technology, which is first of its kind in the sense that it produces a near-zero waste, high-purity manganese product ideal for these refineries in jurisdictions like Louisiana, or perhaps Japan or Europe, as time progresses.“It’s really a chance to showcase that technology and generate maximum return for shareholders. We’re working very hard to achieve that and we’ll obviously keep the market informed as we progress those [funding] conversations.” – Michael WashbournePAGE 6 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTElement 25 tunes up for Butcherbird expansionNEWSElement 25 expects to start commissioning the expanded Butcherbird manganese operation early next year
Nedbank Ltd Reg No 1951/000009/06. Licensed fi nancial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP16).Cathy Nader Principal Mining and Critical MineralsNivaash Singh Head Mining and Critical MineralsLee-Anne de Bruin Chief Financial Offi cer PerseusNedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) has reinforced its standing in global mining fi nance with the successful execution of a US$400 million refi nancing for ASX- andTSX-listed Perseus Mining.The transaction supports Perseus’s continued expansion across its multijurisdictional African portfolio and highlights Nedbank CIB’s capability to lead complex, cross-border mandates in a rapidly evolving mining investment landscape shaped by the energy transition and geopolitical volatility.The mandate followed a competitive international process involving regional and global lenders, with Perseus selecting Nedbank CIB to lead and coordinate the refi nancing as joint bookrunner. This appointment refl ects confi dence in Nedbank CIB’s ability to coordinate across jurisdictions and execute in a complex international environment.The facility attracted strong interest from commercial banks and, under Nedbank CIB’s coordination, the syndicate grew from 6 to 8 lenders at close, broadening Perseus’s funding base. Structured to uphold prudent leverage levels and preserve liquidity headroom, the facility refl ects the capital discipline that remains essential in the gold-mining sector.Nedbank CIB was the only African bank appointed to bookrun the transaction, standing alongside leading international institutions in the fi nal lender group. Throughout the process, the team coordinated documentation, lender engagement and cross-border alignment within tight timelines, ensuring that the multijurisdictional requirements across credit appetite, regulatory frameworks and operational strategy were fully met.Nivaash Singh, Head of Mining and Critical Minerals at Nedbank CIB, said the transaction refl ects the bank’s focused mining fi nance capability. ‘Mining fi nance demands precision and a deep understanding of operational risk, jurisdictional dynamics and capital structure optimisation. Our role in this refi nancing demonstrated the coordination and experience required in a competitive international environment.’ The refi nancing also supports the construction of Perseus’s Tanzanian mine while maintaining steady production across its West African operations. The addition of Tanzania broadens the company’s geographic footprint and balances output across established mining jurisdictions.Nedbank CIB executes US$400 million debt refi nancing for Perseus Mining, cementing its position in global mining fi nanceCathy Nader, Principal in Mining and Critical Minerals at Nedbank CIB, said lender confi dence in the Perseus refi nancing is anchored in disciplined structuring and clear risk allocation. ‘For multijurisdictional producers with operating cash fl ows and growth projects, fi nancing must balance expansion with resilience. When credit structures provide visibility on cash fl ow strength and jurisdictional risk, lenders can support growth while maintaining long-term stability.’Perseus’s Chief Financial Offi cer, Lee-Anne de Bruin, said: ‘Perseus has received very strong support from a consortium of high-quality international lenders, including 2 additional international banks joining the syndication. The transaction was more than 100% oversubscribed, which we regard as a major endorsement of the underlying quality of our assets and future cash fl ows. With cash and undrawn debt capacity exceeding US$1.2 billion, we are fully funded to deliver on our 5-year outlook and pursue future growth opportunities, while maintaining our commitment to returning capital to shareholders through ongoing dividends and share buy-backs.’Gold continues to play a critical role in global fi nancial markets, serving as both a store of value and a hedge during periods of economic volatility. Matthew Stretch, Principal in Mining and Critical Minerals at Nedbank CIB, said the refi nancing refl ects a growing appetite among lenders for African gold producers with established cash fl ows and disciplined expansion plans. ‘As producers extend their footprint across jurisdictions, access to diversifi ed capital pools is becoming more attainable. Structured fi nancing enables expansion while maintaining lender confi dence in long-term stability.’The transaction strengthens Nedbank CIB’s position in natural resources fi nance, spanning gold, platinum group metals, diversifi ed mining and critical minerals. By combining its structuring capabilities with syndication expertise and balance-sheet participation, the bank continues to extend its reach across complex mining transactions.Gold continues to play a critical role in global fi nancial markets, serving as both a store of value and a hedge during periods Matthew Stretch, Principal in Mining Matthew StretchPrincipal Mining and Critical MineralsSunshinegun_21608
NEWSPAGE 8 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTKey players from Australia’s mining community have reported the first impacts of what the International Energy Agency (IEA) has declared the biggest oil supply shock in history, with many preparing to take a hit to their bottom line over coming months.Oil prices have surged to near-record highs of $US150 a barrel since the end of February when the US launched its first airstrikes on Iran, escalating conflict in the Middle East and prompting closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s preeminent shipping routes.Diesel prices have also soared to more than $3.20/L in Australia with some mining companies reporting the cost of contracted fuel supply had increased 50% during the first half of April and was expected to be even higher again by the start of this month.In light of the US-Iran war, the IEA last month retracted previous forecasts of a sizeable oil surplus in 2026, instead flagging supply would fall 1.5 million barrels per day this year, equating to about 1.5% of global demand.The IEA now anticipates demand growth will drop by 80,000 barrels per day this year, compared to the predicted rise of 640,000 barrels per day it forecast at the start of March.“The Iran war has thoroughly upended the global outlook for oil consumption, with worldwide demand now expected to move into contraction instead of growth,” the Paris-based agency said.“Resuming flows through the Strait of Hormuz remains the single most important variable in easing the pressure on energy supplies, prices and the global economy.”The IEA also said its projected demand drop of 1.5 million barrels per day over the course of this quarter would represent the deepest contraction since the COVID-19 pandemic.As this edition went to print, most Australian mining companies indicated they had adequate supplies of fuel at their operations for the foreseeable future.Evolution Mining Ltd – Australia’s second largest homegrown gold producer – achieved record quarterly production and net mine cash flow from its unheralded Mungari operations in the Eastern Goldfields during the March period, a feat which managing director Lawrie Conway said was aided by the company’s contracted oil supplier fulfilling its obligations.“To date we have had no material operational impacts, not just from fuel but our overall consumables,” Conway said on Evolution’s conference call for the March quarterly results.“[We] are actively managing our supply chain logistics and have appropriate response action plans in place. The greater focus of the team is ensuring continuity of supply of all goods and services. “Fuel represents 2% of our total costs and while there is current elevated pricing, it is not having a material impact on our cost base.”Australia’s largest homegrown gold producer, Northern Star Resources Ltd, also indicated at the start of last month it was not experiencing any fuel supply issues, while acknowledging the global oil shock “remains a focus for the business and a key risk for the broader mining industry in Australia”.Northern Star has already downgraded its guidance for FY26 to just above 1.5 moz after experiencing unrelated operational issues at both its flagship KCGM asset and the Jundee production hub.Other Australian gold producers such as Ramelius Resources Ltd, Meeka Metals Ltd, Bellevue Gold Ltd and Capricorn Metals Ltd also confirmed they held adequate supplies of fuel at their respective operations despite reporting mixed production results from the March quarter.Queensland copper producer AIC Mines Ltd revealed that while its Eloise operations continued to receive its full contracted allocation of diesel, the cost of purchasing fuel had “risen materially”.AIC managing director Aaron Colleran said the company had paid circa 50% more for diesel in the first half of April compared to the average contract price for the first three months of the year.“This price equates to an additional cost of approximately $1 million in the month of April, compared to the average month year to date,” Colleran said, adding the company’s direct diesel costs represented about 10% of all production costs for the Eloise mine near Cloncurry.“The month of May is expected to be higher again, given current prices are 20% above the April contracted net price. We estimate that the increase in diesel costs could result in an increase in AISC and AIC of approximately 40-50c/lb in the June 2026 quarter, which would equate to an increase of approximately 12-15c/lb for FY26.Miners brace for more diesel painAIC Mines has indicated higher diesel prices are starting to have an indirect impact on its Eloise copper operation in Queensland
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 9When the World Health Organisation (WHO) finally declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 following the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus over the preceding month, no industry was spared from the ensuing market carnage.The ASX200 lost more than a third of its value and commodity prices were hammered, especially gold, usually seen as the safe haven commodity in times of uncertainty. A similar market reaction was witnessed when the US declared war on Iran at the end of February this year. In March alone, the gold price fell almost 18% from a record high of nearly $US5,300/oz at the start of the month. Gold subsequently recovered some ground through the first half of April, trading just above $US4,800/oz at the time of print.Similarly, the ASX200 plummeted more than 10% through March but had regained 8% by April 15.Back in March 2020, PCF Capital managing director Liam Twigger (now deputy chair of Argonaut Securities Pty Ltd) pondered if the collapse was the result of an overperformance of the equity markets in the preceding months.“I think the global equity markets were completely overvalued and a major pullback was to be expected anyway,” Twigger told Paydirtat the time.“The markets had already built in every bit of upside with the earnings multiples and interest rates. It only needed one event to deflate everything, but no one could have contemplated it being something like this.”Perhaps the same could be said for the market’s reaction to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, especially as diesel prices continue to soar globally in the wake of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.Governments at both state and federal level in Australia have launched relief packages aimed at keeping exorbitant fuel prices at bay, similar to the stimulus rolled out back in early 2020 to combat the economic effects of the pandemic.Twigger also noted at the time it was a successful exercise post the GFC in 2008, although with a couple of key caveats.“Following the GFC, there was a global effort – led by the US – to get the world’s economy back on its feet,” he said. “During the coronavirus crisis, it seems to be every man for himself, led by Donald Trump as witnessed in the reports – denied by the parties involved – that he had offered a German company $US1 billion to buy exclusivity to the vaccine it was working on. There is no coordinated response to this and that will suffocate the rebound.”Higher fuel prices have also put a squeeze on both the volume and quantity of capital raisings by junior explorers and developers since mid-March. An eerily similarly series of events occurred this time six years ago.Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive Warren Pearce expressed concern at the time.“Already some companies have informed me that without the ability to raise funds, they will struggle to carry employees and meet overheads through this period,” Pearce said.“As COVID-19 weighs heavily on the market, we are growing increasingly concerned for the future of the smaller mineral exploration companies that need to raise funds to survive. These companies are small businesses without a source of revenue that live on capital raised on the ASX and from private equity to explore for opportunities.”Western Australia relished in minimal hard lockdowns to stop the spread of COVID-19 over the next two years, with a flourishing resources sector underpinning strong growth to the State’s bottom line through that period.Just as it is doing now with regards to the fuel crisis, AMEC lobbied the WA Government to keep the mining industry ticking along in the best interests of both state and national economies.By late April 2020, then WA Minister for Mines and Petroleum Bill Johnston was hailing the early actions taken by the State Labor Government and its Premier Mark McGowan.“I think it shows in a crisis [that] governments are key to solving problems and if you have a government like we do in Western Australia – strong, stable leadership from the Premier – you can solve problems by working cooperatively with industry,” Johnston told Paydirt at the time.“We didn’t wait until there was a crisis. Under Mark’s leadership, we were very early in engaging with industry to make sure we were listening to what the challenges were. We were there in advance, we were there working with industry to solve problems as they occurred rather than trying to play catch-up.”At the time of print, AMEC was seeking feedback and data from its members on where fuel shortages and cost increases were impacting operations, to refer to the WA Government in due course.The global oil shock has drawn comparisons to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this decade. We look back at how the resources industry initially reacted to the last great global crisis“The high diesel price is also having indirect impacts on costs with increases already flowing through to concentrate haulage and FIFO charter flight charges. At this stage it is difficult to estimate the likely quantum of the indirect impacts on AISC and all-in costs.”The full impact of elevated diesel prices on the exploration sector also remains unclear. At the start of last month, the Australian Drilling Industry Association (ADIA) welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to temporarily halve the fuel excise but cautioned it would not address the “broader challenges” facing many drilling contractors.“Diesel is a fundamental input for drilling operations,” ADIA chief executive Jeff Miller said.“The reduction in fuel excise will help ease immediate cost pressures, particularly for contractors working across large distances and in remote regions.“Drilling contractors are often operating at the front end of project delivery, in exploration programmes and early-stage works. If fuel availability becomes uncertain, it has a cascading impact across the entire project pipeline.“Maintaining consistent diesel supply is essential to keeping Australia’s exploration and resource development pipeline moving.”Global advisory firm BDO has also sounded a warning that ongoing fuel volatility will continue to hit “the heart of Australia’s mining sector” unless urgently addressed.“Persistently high diesel prices are reshaping operating economics for fuel-intensive businesses with limited ability to pass on costs,” BDO risk advisory partner Anand Raniga said. “In a mining context, these gaps can quickly translate into cost leakage, disputed volumes and unplanned losses when volatility hits.” “Organisations need granular visibility of fuel consumption, clearer accountability and a robust understanding of supply and price exposure before making broader strategic decisions. Treating current disruption as temporary risks higher transition costs and reactive decision-making. “Mining companies that act early to strengthen fuel governance can stabilise margins, protect production and preserve strategic flexibility in an increasingly volatile environment.” – Michael Washbourne
PAGE 10 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTIn a world-first, polymetallic nodules lying on the ocean floor at depths of 6,000m below sea level are set to be harvested and processed in a dedicated commercial refinery for the US defence and manufacturing sectors.Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd and Glomar Minerals LLC have entered into a consortium agreement to establish a critical minerals processing facility in the US, combining Glomar’s mineral licences and extraction equipment with Cobalt Blue’s processing and refinery skills set. The partnership, named Project Infinity, will set about building a 200,000 tpa facility to process the nodules – which contain cobalt, manganese, nickel, copper, iron, titanium and rare earths – initially targeting the high-value manganese sulphate and cobalt with nickel and copper byproducts.From the 200,000t of nodules, about 40,000t of manganese, 1,000-2,000t of cobalt and 1,000t of nickel and copper are expected to be produced at the plant. Cobalt Blue’s experience and technical IP from its Broken Hill cobalt project (BHCP) in New South Wales made a perfect match for Glomar. The BHCP is awaiting environmental approvals and feasibility studies and designed to supply vertically integrated feedstock to the planned Kwinana cobalt refinery (KCR) in Western Australia.With learnings from its planned vertically integrated projects in hand, Cobalt Blue has spent the past 12 months completing test work on polymetallic nodules as part of developing minerals processing technology for the KCR, which began in 2023. Initial feedback on the US processing facility concept has been strong and Cobalt Blue managing director Andrew Tong said the market was excited about the potential for growth.“As yet we haven’t laid out all the commercial details, we’re still working through that – which will come out over the next 12 months or so,” Tong explained to Paydirt. “As we work through our feasibility studies, nobody is quite sure what the economics of this is going to look like but people are very convinced that there’s lots of metals, convinced about the supply chain need for the metals – which is the whole reason why we’re doing this as a small 200,000 tpa plant.”Advanced site selection for the plant is currently under way across eight states in the US predominantly focusing on the Gulf of America and North Atlantic Ocean coastline. Funding is likely to be derived from multiple sources, including commercial opportunities and government support.The consortium could face strong resistance against ocean harvesting of the nodules from environmental groups and NGOs given it represents a polarising debate between finding new critical minerals supplies and protecting marine ecosystems. It’s an issue Tong said the consortium recognised.“When people delve into the details around collecting and harvesting the nodules from the bottom of the ocean, the International Seabed Authority [ISA], [established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] has been there for a long time,” he said. “They’ve been working through a permitting and regulatory system, however, there hasn’t been any agreement yet on that.”Glomar’s current exploration licences are based in the international waters of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a 4.5-6 million sq km submarine fracture zone in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico, managed by ISA. “Practically, that means that all of these licences, including the ones that Glomar and other metals companies have, they’re all exploration licences and until the permitting system is agreed by everybody, they can’t be converted to mining leases,” Tong said.With work still under way through ISA, the consortium will concentrate on taking trial samples from their exploration licences to feed the plant until the UN agency approves the move to mining licences. “It’s at that point [when mining licences are issued] that we think much bigger plants and projects will move ahead,” he said. “It’s a subtle nuance but from exploration licences into that 200,000 tpa plant [we will] test the whole sector to make sure it can work responsibly, environmentally and economically before the whole thing then takes off into the future.”A timeline of 18-24 months has been set for completion of a feasibility study, which if all goes well, would trigger progression to FID and construction of the plant. Although offtake demand is likely to come from jurisdictions outside the US, Tong will continue to focus on distributing as a domestic supplier for US markets.“Groups like Ford, GM and others are pushing heavily on manganeserich batteries as the future next decade of batteries versus nickel-rich batteries, which has been the last 10 years or so,” he said. “To be able to deploy manganese-rich batteries they need to have lots of manganese sulphate and right now 97% of it is produced in China.“So, the critical minerals aspect is, ‘hurry up guys, get manganese sulphate production happening, do it here in the US please’.”As for the KCR and BHCP, work will continue alongside the polymetallic nodule concept with Cobalt Blue close to FID for the KCR, pending offtake agreement negotiations and financing. It’ll be no small feat given BHCP is expected to become one of Australia’s largest cobalt operations.“All of the work has been done for Kwinana, our piloting, permitting, the test samples, the feed agreement with Glencore [plc], everything’s ready to go.” – Rhonda MalkinNEWSCobalt Blue and Glomar Minerals are diving into the ocean to find new supplies of critical minerals from polymetallic nodules such as these samplesDeep sea mining’s new critical minerals contender
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 11Notably lower iron content within the Murga scandium resource in New South Wales could allow Rimfire Pacific Mining Ltd to undercut its deep-pocketed neighbours.Rimfire upgraded the Murga resource by some 300% last month to 56.1mt @ 138 ppm scandium for 7,760t with metallurgical testing now under way to determine whether the project could support atmospheric leaching. Rio Tinto Ltd and Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd plan to exploit the scandium potential of two resources to the north of Murga but face the prospect of processing on site using the effective but notoriously cost intensive HPAL method.Rimfire managing director David Hutton told an investor meeting in Perth a week before the resource boost the company was in the “unique” position of potentially being able to use the cut-price processing method.“These deposits that Sunrise and Rio have are typically characterised by 45-55% iron and when you have that high iron content, you have to go down HPAL route – think Murrin Murrin and the recovery of nickel from laterites there – that is costly processing,” Hutton said.“These [scandium] deposits are typically laterite-hosted, we’re talking flat-lying laterite blanket-like deposits that have formed over very young mafic volcanic rocks and intrusive rocks called ultramafic or peroxides.“The Burra [Rio Tinto], Syerston [Sunrise] and our flagship Murga deposits are all within a 10km radius of one another and compared to Syerston and Burra, Murga has less than half the iron content. Our projected processing costs are going to be significantly less than our competitors’ if we are able to use atmospheric processing.“To help us with this, we have engaged a metallurgical consultant. It is not easy finding a scandium specialist metallurgical consultant, Rio engaged the best one in Australia and we are going to use the same consultant.”Rimfire has tapped Boyd Willis to help it assess Murga’s potential to support atmospheric leaching. Willis has over 30 years’ experience consulting for companies such as WMC and Metallica Minerals, as well as on the Mindoro project in the Philippines and Murrin Murrin itself.Rimfire also aims to continue drilling at Murga. The company plans to complete a 100m by 100m drilling campaign at the resource’s north-west boundary, several possible extensions in the north-east and south of the defined mineralisation, as well as 50m by 50m infill holes in two areas to lift grade.Last month’s resource boost places Murga just shy of Syerston in terms of tonnage but the company hopes a recent acquisition will lift its appeal. The Rabbit Trap licence adjacent to Sunrise’s northern boundary could boost the company’s average grade across its entire Fifield landholding but Hutton stressed the company had yet to get drill rigs spinning.Syerston’s 60.3mt resource @ 390 ppm includes a measured and indicated component of 23.5mt scandium @ 408 ppm and Sunrise plans to focus on several “high-grade zones” calculated at a 600 ppm cut-off within this resource envelope.Hutton told Paydirt Rimfire still represented a smarter investment. He highlighted the greater upside at the company’s comparatively underexplored tenements, as well as Rimfire’s relatively low share value (approximately 1.5c/share at the time of print, compared to Sunrise’s circa $10.60/share). Murga’s potential for atmospheric processing instead of HPAL would easily account for the difference in grade between Sunrise, Rio Tinto and Rimfire’s resources, but both methods produced the same quality of scandium oxide, according to Hutton.Scandium is a vital additive in many defence applications but its supply is currently dominated by China. The US defence industry in particular is eager to find and fund new sources of supply. “This is part of the broader discussion I have been having about geopolitical risk. All of the refined scandium, which is scandium metal, comes out of China and 85% of the scandium oxide produced comes out of China [but] they’ve got export restrictions in place,” Hutton said.“We’ve already seen the US defence logistics agency give Rio the contract to supply them with scandium oxide, it’s not a lot but it’s in the contract.” – Michael CameronRimfire pokes holes in HPALRimfire increased the resource for its Murga project by 300% last month
PAGE 12 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTNEWSIMDEX equipped for cycle turnAs a fresh wave of uncertainty begins to creep on the sector, IMDEX Ltd boss Paul House could not be more confident the leading mining-tech provider boasts the resilience to withstand another potential downturn.IMDEX is coming off the best half-year performance in its nearly four-decade history, posting record numbers for revenue ($247 million), EBITDA ($78 million), NPATA ($34 million) and operating cash flow ($67 million) over the period ending December 31.On the back of those strong set of results, a record interim dividend of 1.7c/share was also issued to shareholders in late March.Whether IMDEX can uphold that momentum through the rest of FY26 and beyond remains to be seen. Like many of its clients, the Perth-headquartered business continues to monitor the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, awaiting clarity on how it will ultimately impact the purported commodities super-cycle.Any potential slowdown in the global exploration market might previously have spelled disaster for a key industry player such as IMDEX. House, however, said a series of strategic pivots first established three years ago had future-proofed the business for inevitable pullbacks in on-theground activity.“Three years ago, we set ourselves a challenge to define a business that would meet certain parameters, regardless of cycle,” House told Paydirt.“We set a number of parameters and, lo and behold, the next three years thoroughly tested them, but we came out the bottom end of FY25 thankfully having met or exceeded the tests we set for ourselves around what IMDEX was going to look like when it was primarily exposed to an exploration cycle, and what impact that would have on our quality of earnings and our earnings growth outlook. Those are the two levers that define your value as a business and they’re directly descended from how your market views you and how your customer values you. “To come through three years where underlying exploration activity declined 35% and our overall top line grew 30% over the same period, we sit here today feeling like we’ve executed pretty well. But that’s not for us to say, it’s for our customers to say.”IMDEX’s recent half-year dividend payout coincided with the company’s shares hitting an all-time high of $4.59 and its market capitalisation surpassing $2 billion for the first time.House pointed to the multitude of strategic acquisitions IMDEX has brought into the group over the past few years as one of the main catalysts for not only growth in the marketplace but also the retention of its extensive client base.Since the start of this year alone, IMDEX has finalised the acquisitions of Krux Analytics, Datarock Holdings Pty Ltd and Advanced Logic Technology SA (including a controlling interest in Mount Sopris Instruments Inc). All purchases have helped expand the company’s two primary business units, Drill Site Technologies and Digital Earth Knowledge.“No matter what we do well, it has to work in concert with what a client needs and I think that’s been demonstrated in the M&A moves we’ve made over the last three or so years,” House said.“Despite whatever the market is doing, in terms of underlying activity, we have continued to add things to our business – technologies, services and solutions – that are capable of solving the No.1 problems of our customers. “I think today we have a collection of No.1 products that collectively can make a No.1 service offering.”IMDEX has long been the reputed leader in drilling optimisation and downhole intelligence solutions, having pioneered many next-generation technologies which enable rapid discovery and delineation of new resources and reserves across a host of projects globally.House said most conversations with clients currently seeking this offering were underpinned by a desire for greater productivity, while balancing out the rising costs of exploration and mining in general.“That whole productivity conversation is probably the most welcoming aspect of all conversations we’ve had over the last 12 months,” he said.“We’re very aware of the rising cost environment in which we live and we’re also very aware that if we can move decisions upstream, we could have faster, real-time decisions as a result of what we might collect.“To do that requires innovation and an agile mindset and that’s why, at IMDEX, we’re making sure we’re ready to serve the industry as it rounds a corner.”A long-time advocate for the wider resources community, House also mused there has been a noticeable shift in sentiment towards exploration and mining from those not directly attached to either industry.“Probably for the first time in my 30 years of involvement in the sector, we have a broader societal awareness about the role of mining and minerals in our economy,” he said.“We stand at the crossroads of a very interesting time in our industry. We’ve seen some 90-plus countries release a critical minerals policy of some sort, we have numerous countries following that policy into regulation and we have seen a reduction or an expedition of green tape or red tape, whichever way you want to describe it, to enable resource projects being developed.“I feel for the first time since I was growing up on a farm and we were facing the same challenge around where did your milk and your potato chips come from, knowing full well it wasn’t the corner deli, it was somewhere much further away on a farm. “We’re now facing that same kind of awareness around mining. The demand for the metals we take out of the ground is yawning wider.” – Michael WashbournePaul House
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 13A resource update is set for the conclusion of the KNP DFSAfinalised DFS could be on the cards for Ardea Resources Ltd’s Kalgoorlie nickel project (KNP) by the end of next month with a recent $5 million capital raising providing financial certainty to bring the study to a conclusion.The large body of work, expected to also lift the 40-year mine life and reserve defined in the 2023 PFS, has not gone unnoticed globally with talks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and US President Donald Trump including Ardea into a Japan-US Critical Minerals Joint Fact Sheet. The bilateral meetings, occurring in October last year and again last month were held to solidify secure robust supplies of critical minerals outside of China. Ardea’s inclusion in a framework of this scale was not only a nod to the project’s global significance but testament to the strength of its consortium with Japanese partners Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Corp. It also highlighted the renewed sense of urgency for jurisdictions to support large-scale nickel projects like Ardea’s, particularly on the back of the turnaround in nickel spot prices. The Australian Government also added to a $500 million letter of interest, in conjunction with USE XIM’s $US350 million, by selecting KNP as a participant of an Investor Front Door (IFD) pilot programme designed to streamline regulatory approvals and improve access to Government financing pathways. No doubt a large factor in Ardea’s tap on the shoulder as a “nationally significant project” for the IFD programme was the initial support of a $1 billion letter of interest proposal from USE XIM and EFA received in February. The inclusion in the IFD programme is expected to fast-track development of KNP through approvals and funding processes. Ardea managing director Andrew Penkethman believes the support is a natural progression of the strong relationship between Australia, Japan and the US.“We’re in a perfect position now having the natural resource endowment we have in Australia – KNP is the largest nickelcobalt resource in Australia and one of the largest in the Western World outside of direct potential competitor countries,” Penkethman told Paydirt. “China, through their links in Indonesia have done a tremendous job of developing and expanding nickel production in Indonesia but it’s predominantly Chinese-dominated production.“Then obviously we’ve got Russia, also a very large nickel-cobalt producer and the US has been quite open in wanting to secure its critical mineral supply chain – so we see it as being consistent with those stated objectives from the US.”While the geopolitical alignment between the US, Australia and Japan will continue to be transformative for Ardea, Penkethman believes the market is yet to fully appreciate its significance in the nickel supply chain. “The nickel market in Australia, for two years now, has been incredibly challenging, but there’s been some green shoots appearing since December last year and a growing realisation on the criticality of supply chain security and diversity,” he said. “We can’t depend on production just from Indonesia, they’ve got their resource and reserve grades declining. They’ve either mined, or are in the process of mining their highest value ore, their operating costs are increasing, they’re under increased environmental scrutiny – we’ve seen a lot of documentation on the runoff into the local creeks, rivers and oceans.“There’s been some tailings storage facility collapses, some industrial accidents and tragically life lost. There’s a growing realisation that Indonesia can’t continue to provide all the nickel the world needs.” Given the imperative for new sources of nickel and the overwhelming national and international support for KNP, Ardea is expected to hit the ground running post DFS. The KNP consortium will make a “mini-investment decision” to progress into FEED as part of a short assessment phase alongside State and Federal approvals processes and an application for State Government Lead Agency Status.“The FEED phase will take the DFS level of engineering from about 30% up to about 60% and once that FEED phase is completed and the approvals have been secured, we’ll then be in a position to make the FID,” Penkethman said. – Rhonda MalkinArdea wraps up DFS amidUS-Japan talksAndrew Penkethman
PAGE 14 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTNEWSMarkets would be hard pressed to find backers with a greater insight of Australian gold exploration and development opportunities than those on home soil, a fact Horizon Gold Ltd relished in a recent $30 million raising for its Gum Creek project.Australian investors poured into the chance of being part of Horizon’s story which, for the past five years, had been supported predominantly by majority stakeholder Zeta Resources Ltd through its 70% holding. The raising was more than double the previous effort of $12 million achieved in July last year, a feat likely attributed to the financial and engineering focus of incoming managing director Scott Williamson who took over the top job at Horizon from Leigh Ryan in January.With his geology background, Ryan steadily added 1 moz to the resource on the West Australian asset over five years, with the most recent November update lifting total resources to 37.97mt @ 1.89 g/t for 2.3 moz following more than 28,000m of drilling. The update brought an 8% increase in total ounces and a 26% increase in grade from the May 2023 resource, setting up a strong platform for development.Further impressive shallow intercepts followed a month later from the Goldfinch, Robin and Thornbill prospects with the latter delivering a 11m @ 3.18 g/t from 84m (including 5m @ 6.41 g/t from 85m) hit. Gum Creek has continued to deliver in 2026, most recently at Kingfisher with an intercept of 4m @ 11.35 g/t gold from 431m (including 1m @ 42.2 g/t from 432m) reported.Williamson is in good company at Horizon, sharing a history with several other ex-Resolute Mining Ltd operators. Arriving at Horizon after his eight-year stint as managing director of Blackstone Minerals Ltd and with $30 million in the coffers, his mandate is clear.“Our feasibility study is due around June and then we move into a permitting phase,” Williamson told Paydirt. “While we’re going through that, let’s call it the quiet period, with respect to the development, we’re going to hit the drill bit really hard, we want to drill 80,000m.“We’re currently adding ounces at $20/oz so we want to put $20 million into exploration out of the $30 million and the remainder will go on the feasibility and permitting processes.”Horizon is aiming for a fast-track to FID, which will be delayed a few months by some additional layers of permitting from the State Government’s changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act being introduced on July 1. “It’s disappointing because it’s an extra few months in the biggest gold bull market we’ve ever seen and we could be mining a lot sooner, but we’ve got another box to tick, which is fine if it’s a greenfield site, but we’ve got a mine that’s been mined for decades,” he said. “We were one of those states that was easier to work in, and now we’ve sort of gone backwards, we’re in the pack, and the Fraser Institute [February report] was a good example of how we’ve slipped down in WA.”Despite the increased red tape, Williamson is doubling down on development of Gum Creek, planning an aggressive diamond drilling campaign focused on the Kingfisher and Omega underground mining prospects. The programme will also include one RC rig which will look at oxide open pit prospects. “There’s actually 37 previously mined open pits and they’re all open over that 80km belt and the processing plant will sit right in the middle,” Williamson said. “All of these pits have gold along the extents of the strike – and that’s so easy for us to find gold and it’s so cost effective.“We know the orebody just keeps going, one goes for 8km through to another one and so we just drill in between through to Swan Swift [prospect] and that’s probably our best target.”Horizon already has a mining permit for its Swan Swift deposit, meaning it could be taken quickly into production via toll treatment through nearby mills such as Westgold Resources Ltd’s Meekatharra or Tuckabianna facilities, while awaiting permitting approval on a planned mill at the Gum Creek site, a decision which is pending board approval. “We’d rather focus on the big one and just go all in but if the permit takes longer, then we’re sort of forced to do something, [producing] 70,000-80,000oz over a 1-2 year period as a little starter pit,” Williamson said. “Our bankable study would just be open pits so we’ve tried to make the study as low technical risk as possible, free milling, simple metallurgy.“We’ve got an asset that we can build a mining company from, but the question is whether I’ll get to build it or not because there’s a lot of interest in this – it might be the shortest job I’ve ever had. A lot of the interest we’re getting is actually from outside of that region, even though there’s a lot of synergies around us and there’s a lot of M&A [locally]. People see this as a bolt-on to what they already have.” – Rhonda MalkinSwift production likelyfor Horizon Gold Drilling on the Kingfisher underground prospect will be coupled with exploration at theOmega prospect Scott Williamson
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 15Nevada’s old gold meets new conquests in 49 MetalsSandwiched between the 20 moz Round Mountain mine and the 16 moz SiliconMerlin deposit in Nevada, 49 Metals Ltd is ready to move forward on three projects in the US’s most prolific mining state after raising $10 million through its recent IPO.Nevada produces up to 5.5 moz gold annually or 75-80% of all US gold production and includes the largest gold-mining facility in the world – Nevada Gold Mines, jointly owned by Barrick Mining Corp and Newmont Corp – which produced about 2.6 moz in 2024. Despite this rich mining history, Nevada remains considerably underexplored, a dynamic 49 Metals chief executive Phil Carter believes harks back to the State’s buy-and-hold mindset.“People hold land there for a long time and it doesn’t get explored, so once you hold permits over there you’ve kind of got them forever which doesn’t incentivise expenditure in the ground,” Carter relayed to Paydirt. “These things you sit on for years and years and no work happens, that’s the way America is. They haven’t got that exploration mentality that we do here in Australia.”Carter hopes to inject the Australian “can do” attitude into its flagship Gold Mountain, project while also pursuing the Sinter and Buffalo Canyon projects. Gold Mountain sits on an epithermal gold system, which is markedly different to the Carlin Trend in Nevada’s north-east, where lower grades and refractory gold are found.The area was mined 120 years ago and historical shafts and old workings are scattered throughout the mountain with 49 Metals identifying gold from field sampling, mapping and previous drilling. The gold is structurally controlled with high-grade veins up to 5 g/t surrounded by a low-grade halo of 0.4-0.8 g/t. TSX-listed mid-tier miner Centerra Gold Inc previously operated Gold Mountain and put together a non-JORC resource of up to 462,000oz.If 49 Metals can validate Centerra’s historical work, it could quickly move Gold Mountain into the realms of neighbouring West Vault Mining Inc’s Hasbrouk project which boasts a 700,000oz resource.“It [Hasbrouk] is fully permitted and basically construction ready, they just need to pull the trigger on raising the equity or the debt, build the project and they can be in cash flow in a pretty short term,” he said. “Its all heap leach, low-grade and shallow – it just shows that these sorts of oxide resources can make a significant amount of money if you find it at surface and find enough of it.”49 Metals has put the drill bit to work on an 8,000m RC programme at Gold Mountain, hoping to prove up 100,000-460,000oz gold equivalent from the high-grade structures. Beyond this work, the project also contains a strong association with pyrite identified through an IP anomaly which is predicted to be 100-200m below surface.“We think it’s pyrite, it’s never been drilled before, and if it is pyrite it’s probably got gold in it,” he said. “The geophysics doesn’t cover all of our property, it covers a little bit of our project, it shows a 1.2km strike of this anomaly.“If we drill down to it and we prove it’s pyrite and prove it carries gold it gives us a resource below the oxide layer. That gives us two cracks at the cherry – this oxide resource potential and the sulphide resource potential on the same project.”Once the results are in from the first 20% of drilling, expected in the back end of July, 49 Metals will jump back into the remainder of the programme by Q3 2026, pending rig availability. If the heavily oversubscribed IPO was anything to go by, it would appear the market is eager to see what 49 Metals can define and the company could elicit more than just a passing glance from established miners looking to consolidate in Nevada.Carter is keeping all of his options open including a pathway into production.“Given it’s Nevada, it’s pro-mining, if we can prove up even a small resource like our neighbours it gives us a good pathway to production and cash flow,” he said. “There are miners in Nevada who are looking to buy production-ready assets too, so if we can prove it is a production-ready asset that’s going to make money, I’m confident we’ll be able to potentially find a home for it as well.“We’ll do the work to do both [sell or develop] and then whatever the best outcome for shareholders is, that’s what we’ll do.”If the sale option does emerge, 49 Metals can rely on the experience in its board, which is made up predominantly of members of uranium play 92 Energy, a company acquired by Atha Energy Corp in April 2024 to create a large-scale Canadian uranium exploration company. “They did similar to what we’re going to do now, we’re going to drill early,” Carter said. “They drilled early, found a good hit of uranium and ended up selling it to a bigger company. Within two or three years they actually cashed out – they sold the business for a higher price than the IPO.”The next most advanced asset in the 49 Metals portfolio, Buffalo Canyon, will provide a good “fallback position”. It has a nonJORC resource of about 300,000oz where a small mine was also operated, producing 40,000oz. The third leg, Sinister, lies about 5km from Gold Mountain and is early stage. Carter said both projects required further field work and expansion, expected to run at a slower pace but alongside the work being completed at Gold Mountain. – Rhonda MalkinPhil Carter
Paydirt deputy editor Michael Washbourne (second from left) with other major award winnersat the 2025 Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie#paydirtmedia #magazines #conferencesWherever we are...trend with us
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 17OPINION‘Dark money’ weakens AustraliaMining doesn’t just support the Australian economy – it is the economy. But numerous forces are arrayed against this important industry. Forces who receive foreign donations from sources they refuse to reveal.This dark money is trying to turn public, and political, opinion against mining, and in doing so, threatens to weaken Australia.From the copper fields of Cloncurry to the iron ore and gas wealth of Western Australia, our national prosperity has always been built on resources. With a nation so abundant in resources, it’s imperative we return to drilling and mining for our own sovereign capability as well as to supply trading partners.It’s time that Australia produced its own fuel. Drilling in places such as the Officer, Arckaringa, Eucla and Bight Basins will replace the declining Bass Strait fields and again produce domestic supply. Instead of wasting hundreds of millions on hydrogen pipe dreams we should be producing oil to power agriculture and gas to produce fertiliser here. It’s crucial now more than ever that governments support the exploration and development of oil and gas reserves to back in energy security, local manufacturing and jobs, and to bring energy prices down.We need to be unlocking new resource corridors to drive our economy, so we are less reliant on imports, while creating more jobs and prosperity.Yet too many Australians still see mining as a distant, regional activity, rather than the engine that funds jobs, infrastructure, healthcare and household stability across the country.On a recent holiday to Japan, I toured a rehabilitated copper mine and overheard an Australian couple. The husband praised the economic contribution of mining, but his wife was concerned about environmental impacts.This sums up the attitude of many Australians who know we need to mine, but who also don’t realise mining in this country impacts only about 1% of our entire landmass.At a time when cost-of-living pressures dominate public concern, we must reconnect the dots. Every royalty, every export dollar, every mining job flows through to stronger communities and essential services. Undermining this sector through policy uncertainty, excessive regulation, or ideological opposition risks weakening the very foundation of our economy.The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) alone, in addition to tax holding deductible gift recipient status, is receiving $6.7 million in Federal funding from the Albanese Labor Government over the next three years – despite being publicly condemned by the Federal Court.And even more worryingly, they received a blind grant from unknown sources paying off the costs they were ordered to pay.This funding has come with no strings attached – and no disclosure as to where it has come from.Australia has some of the strictest political disclosure laws in the world but groups like the EDO, who actively campaign against the prosperity of Australia are not subject to such laws.In 2014, the then Secretary-General of NATO said that the Russian Government was responsible for the anti-fracking campaign in the UK.This campaign undermined the UK’s energy sovereignty and ultimately on financial security, allegedly to increase Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. We would be naive to think that campaigns like that are not playing out here in Australia.Here in Australia, we have had the EDO attempt to disrupt and discredit a gas project critical to Australia’s energy security, and vital for the energy security of our close partners like Korea and Japan, who supply our liquid fuels.A group which received $6.5 million from a mystery donor to pay their court-ordered costs after being found to have confected evidence. Why this issue is not of more concern astounds me.In this increasingly uncertain and unstable time, the transfer of dark monies to “activist” or “philanthropic” groups to pay for their targeted anti-mining campaigns must be a key focus of us all.Many such groups repeatedly claim to be fully transparent in their funding arrangements, but when one looks at the financial disclosures of the Australia Institute, or the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, those statements simply list dollar figures next to generic “revenue” items.No clarity, no detail, no transparency.Where is this funding coming from?What is it being used for?Are there malicious actors attempting to influence our decisions and weaken Australia?We must have more transparency of who or what is funding these groups.If they are running campaigns to actively undermine or sabotage Australia’s energy or economic security, not just through lawfare but campaigns such as gas reservations, increased taxes, bans on seismic and greenfield coal projects – they must disclose where their funding comes from.The fundamental truth is that our economy is wholly reliant on the strength and success of our resources sector. Billions in corporate taxes, royalties, wages and PAYG tax. Thousands of Australian businesses supported by the strength of mining; hundreds of thousands of jobs generated; millions of Australian families who can rely on publicly-funded Medicare; all thanks to the resources sector.Yet they are not connecting the dots of how the resources sector contributes to the economy. And this is our failure. We need to ensure that these issues, which are harming Australia’s investment environment, harming new projects, stalling approvals, are not impacting the mining industry, and all that it contributes to.We must re-energise our economy, rebuild investment confidence, and restore our way of life. Because this is worth fighting for.Senator Susan McDonald is Shadow Minister for Resources and for Northern Australia. Includes excerpts from a keynote speech to the Minerals Week Conference in Canberra
Africa Down Under continues to be the leading forum for Australian-African business and government relations.Since the inaugural conference in 2003, ADU has assembled the best success stories fromacross the African continent. This is a must-attend event for anyone doing business in Africa.In addition to creating a melting pot for pro Africa-Australia relations, ADU forms the principal pillar of “Africa Week”, Australia’s week long celebration of the strong and growing business, social and cultural ties between Australia and the entire African continent.Join us on 2-4 September 2026 when Perth once again asserts its position as a global capital for African mining.24TH EDITIONTo present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact Angelique Julien on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or [email protected] must-attend industry event to promote your brand!
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mineralprocesscontrol.com.auLow cost, high rateand accurate metalsassaying chemicalsand technologymineralprocesscontrol.com.auPAGE 20 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTTwo ASX-listed developers with projects in Malawi published feasibility studies last month, confirming their respective potential to become leading suppliers of niche critical minerals.Globe Metals & Mining Ltd was the first cab off the rank with a BFS for its Kanyika niobium project, highlighting a post-tax NPV of $US1.025 billion ($1.46 billion) and IRR of 48% over 24 years.Development capex for the initial build was priced at $US139 million ($199 million), comprising the requirements for both the mine and refinery. Average annual operating costs were estimated at $US14.26/kg N2O5 (after factoring in the tantalum byproduct credit), placing the Kanyika project in the lowest quartile on the global niobium cost curve.Other key metrics from the DFS included average annual EBITDA of $US205 million ($293 million), net sales revenue of $US6.98 billion ($9.975 billion) and a 72% gross margin, both calculated over the life-of-mine.The DFS was based on a reserve of 33.8mt @ 3,050 ppm NbO5 and 142 pm Ta2O5 and focused on a phased development plan, initially targeting niobium production of 1,502 tpa before scaling up to 3,477 tpa.Globe is targeting FID in Q3 2026 with project evaluation and advanced funding, offtake and EPCM negotiations continuing.Based on that timeline, construction could begin before the end of the year with first production slated for Q1 2028 and the expansion phase completed in early 2030.Globe interim chief executive Charles Altshuler said the phased development approach allowed for improved capital efficiency while reducing execution risk.“Importantly, Kanyika represents one of the few near-term opportunities to establish a new, large-scale source of niobium supply outside Brazil,” he said.“As demand continues to grow across aerospace, defence, data centres, AI and advanced manufacturing, we are seeing increasing strategic interest in securing longterm, conflict-free supply. “We believe the project is well positioned to transition into development and deliver long-term value for shareholders.”Following Globe’s announcement, Rio Tinto Ltd-backed Sovereign Metals Ltd confirmed via a DFS that its Kasiya project is poised to become the world’s largest producer of both natural rutile and natural flake graphite.Kasiya is also forecast to be the lowestcost graphite producer globally.The DFS builds on the outcomes of Sovereign’s previous optimised PFS, flagging pre-production capex of $US727 million to deliver an initial 12 mtpa operation, later scaled up to 24 mtpa delivering 222 mtpa rutile and 275,000 tpa graphite over the 25-year mine life.Key financial metrics include total revenue of $US16.21 billion, annual EBITDA of $US476 million, pre-tax NPV of $2.2 billion and IRR of 23%.Total life-of-mine development capex was priced at $US1.24 billion while operating costs were estimated at $US450/t FOB Nacala.A technical committee from Rio Tinto, a 19.9% shareholder of Sovereign, provided input and oversight in the Kasiya DFS, ensuring it complied with the World Bank Group’s IFC performance standards.Sovereign managing director Frank Eager said the study was a defining milestone for its flagship asset.“To deliver a DFS of this quality, depth and confidence, rarely achieved by a pre-production company, reflects the calibre of partnerships that Sovereign has assembled around this project,” he said.“The successful completion of large-scale field trials, combined with the expertise of our experienced owner’s team and the technical support provided by Rio Tinto, reinforces Kasiya’s potential to be a long-life, low-cost, and reliable source of two critical and globally strategic minerals. Kasiya is not simply a mining project – it is a globally strategic asset.”REGIONAL ROUND-UPMalawi projects nearing the start lineSovereign’s DFS confirmed Kasiya as potentially the largest producer of both natural rutile and natural flake graphite globally
Global leader in innovation, manufacturing and supply of gold miningand assaying chemicals and technologies since 1995.UP TO 600 SAMPLESPER 12 HOUR SHIFTScan to discover more...AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 21AFRICAMidas managing director Mark Calderwood and senior geologist Oliver Tors discuss the diamond drilling campaign at the T-13 prospect on OtaviMidas Minerals Ltd can put its foot to the floor after posting a maiden resource and raising a further $28 million to accelerate its Otavi copper project in Namibia last month. Midas has enjoyed a brisk start to its exploration push at Otavi, 360km north of the Southern African country’s capital, Windhoek, putting four rigs – two diamond, two RC – into action in January as it began its chase for sediment-hosted, structurallycontrolled coppersilver-gold deposits in the style of Central African copper belt in Zambia and the DRC. While all four rigs continue to turn on the T-13, Spaatzu and Deblin prospects, the wealth of pre-existing data Midas acquired with its purchase of Otavi has allowed it to publish a maiden resource before completing its first drilling campaign.The inferred resource of 10.5mt @ 1.6% copper and 21 g/t silver for 169,000t copper and 7.1 moz silver was built from the historical database of 43-holes for 16,800m drilled by previous owner Nexa Resources Corp into the T-13 deposit. T-13 has been traced over a 2.2km strike and 80m width, with the 300m-long main zone (6.6mt @ 2% copper and 30 g/t silver) drilled down to 400m.Having subsequently drilled several of its own holes into the deposit, Midas expects further upgrades and expansion of T-13.“I anticipate infill drilling will continue to refine and define the robust nature of the high-grade zone, over significant widths, which points to potential strong optionality for economic studies,” Midas managing director Mark Calderwood said. “Geologically, the current 1.4km-long T-13 trend remains an open book ready for further growth. Infill drilling is actively progressing with the goal of delivering a more detailed dataset for the area with first results expected in the June quarter.”Calderwood said T-13 was only the first of several emerging targets at Otavi, with the company already excited by early hits from Spaatzu.A surface geochemical anomaly extending 2.5km by 600m, Spaatzu had never been drilled by Nexa but Midas found immediate encouragement, returning hits of 44m @ 1.36% copper and 36.8 g/t silver from 23m, (including 16m @ 2.55% copper and 72.6 g/t silver), 26m @ 1.37% copper and 31.1 g/t silver from 45m, 56m @ 0.57% copper, 13.9 g/t silver and 1.12% lead from 4m and 18m @ 1.1% copper and 26.5 g/t silver from 70m in its first round of drilling. The company is now eyeing a maiden resource for Spaatzu by the end of the year and having seen its share price climb from 40c to $1.04 following the acquisition of Otavi last year, Midas was quick to lock in gains, raising $28 million at 75c/share in April. Calderwood said the money would applied directly to the ground, with additional work planned for T-13 and Spaatzu, as well as several other prospects.“We plan to use the proceeds from this placement to advance our resource definition and exploration drilling on the Otavi project,” he said. “At the same time, we will also undertake additional metallurgical test work on several deposits.”– Dominic PiperMidas locks in funding for Otavi
PAGE 22 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTChile has broken with precedent and opened its annual global copper gathering with a day of panels devoted to lithium, as it seeks to decisively diversify beyond the red metal that has powered its economy for decades.The inaugural World Lithium Conference, organised by consultancy CRU and the International Lithium Association, kicked off what the copper industry knows as CESCO Week in Santiago on April 13.After months in the doldrums, lithium prices have rebounded to more than twoyear highs as concerns over oil supplies from the war-hit Middle East spur fresh interest in the metal used in batteries for EVs.Lithium supply is meanwhile tightening due to the closure of a key mine in China, an export ban in Zimbabwe, and dwindling lithium carbonate stocks.Chile has the one the world’s largest lithium inventories – an estimated 13mt – according to the US Geological Survey.With five mining companies, including Rio Tinto Ltd, angling for development rights, Chile’s new president, José Antonio Kast, is spoilt for choice as the country puts its vast deposits up for partnerships.“The lithium strategy rolled out in 2023 was a pretty good direction, so what we are hoping is the new Government takes it up and makes it simpler and faster to award new contracts,” CleanTech Lithium plc chief executive Ignacio Mehech said.London-listed CleanTech has been awarded a licence to produce lithium, but it still needs an environmental permit to mine. It is fundraising to contract a $US750 million mine on the edge of the lithium-rich Salar de Laguna Verde.There is strong momentum behind lithium, with the number of active mining operations globally doubling over the past four years to reach close to 80 mines in 2026, according to CRU.Demand for lithium in stationary batteries continues to grow, helping to offset weakness in the EV market, according to CRU’s head of lithium and battery materials, Martin Jackson.“Lithium will remain the most competitive technology for its energy density for many years to come,” he said.Lithium carbonate prices in China are expected to average around $US22/kg this year, excluding VAT, according to CRU, an increase of about 135% from the previous year.Speaking to Reuters in Santiago, Carlos Diaz, vice president of lithium at Chilean lithium miner SQM said he expected the price of lithium carbonate to hover in a range of $US15-18/kg in 2026.“From time to time you will find like $US20 or something, probably you will find $US12,” Diaz said. “But it’s not going to be $US7 or $US8 like it was last year; probably not $US50 like it was three years ago.”The investor community is also bullish. Investment bank Macquarie estimates global lithium demand will jump by more than 20% a year through the end of the decade due to demand from energy storage, even as growth in EV demand eases.“Current market tightness suggests a compelling setup for sustained upward price momentum as demand inevitably outstrips delayed supply,” Asad Farid, director of the strategic materials equity fund at J. Safra Sarasin Sustainable Asset Management, said.Chile’s further diversification into lithium comes at a time when tensions between China and the US are spilling over into natural resource-rich regions like South America.China has steadily increased its share of global lithium demand over the past four years, rising from 75% to nearly 90%. The Guangzhou Futures Exchange price for lithium has established itself as an industry benchmark.Chile has already had a taste of the type of diplomatic balancing act required as it pursues a China Mobile-backed fibre-optic link between the wine town of Valparaiso and Hong Kong despite US objections.“With the current approach of President Trump, perhaps we have to think twice if we go for Chinese investors,” Marcelo Awad, a mining veteran in Chile, said.Awad is advising to TSX-listed Wealth Minerals Corp which is in talks with India’s state-run Coal India Ltd about a potential JV and is looking for investors for its $US750 million lithium mine.However, some believe that Chile should continue with its neutral stance.“The biggest discussion here right now is how Chile will manage to keep good relations with every country, including China,” CleanTech’s Mehech said, adding that Chile cannot afford to choose one country over the other. – ReutersREGIONAL ROUND-UP mineralprocesscontrol.com.auLATIN AMERICALithium bulls set to gatecrashChile’s copper party
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 23NORTH AMERICAResolution snagsUS opportunityResolution Minerals Ltd has produced an intermediate antimony product just a week after the Trump administration officially anointed the company’s flagship asset in Idaho.The Antimony Ridge project (part of the wider Horse Heaven antimony-gold-tungsten project 212km north-east of Boise) was added to the US Government’s Fast41 programme last month. The Federal initiative promises streamlined permitting and environmental review processes for critical minerals projects.Resolution used large samples of stibnite taken from historical open pits at Antimony Ridge to test a conventional pyrometallurgical processing method known as volatilisation. Using this method, the company delivered an intermediary product containing 99.38 weight percent antimony trioxide. The initial tests were carried out by Ontario-based Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc but a concentrate processing option is also being assessed by Independent Metallurgical Operations Pty Ltd in Perth. ANSTO is assessing a hydrometallurgical processing path. Resolution chair Ari Zaetz told Paydirt it was too early to say what type of processing facilities Horse Heaven would host to beneficiate its antimony but revealed both on and offsite beneficiation could be used to process the project’s antimony and other mineral endowment.With support for US critical minerals mining projects burgeoning, Zaetz said the inclusion of the project on the Fast-41 list boded well for the company’s prospects of securing local support, especially with the company expected to float on the NASDAQ “in the coming weeks”.“We need to get permitting and we want to get as much support as we can to get it done, so we can do everything fast – we want to capture the moment,” Zaetz said.“There is a lot of enthusiasm for domestic critical minerals projects in the US and there is a place for Resolution to be listed on both exchanges [the ASX and the NASDAQ]. We are currently listed on the ASX, we have many of our shareholders on the ASX, the advantage [of a dual listing] would be to provide them with better liquidity.“In general, in the US, domestic mining did not previously attract that much investment, I think that has changed, there is now an appetite for domestic mining projects in the US.”3D modelling of Antimony Ridge identified more than 100 antimony and silverbearing veins, vein swarms and stockworks over a 68ha area to 250m depth. Rock chip and soil samples show the highgrade sub-parallel vein swarms occur within a broader zone of lower grade veinlets and stockworks grading 0.5-2% antimony.The bulk samples Resolution used to produce the antimony trioxide intermediate were taken in concert with a comprehensive 250-hole drilling campaign under way at Antimony Ridge. Zaetz said Resolution wanted to keep its options open during the initial drilling and had sought approval for as many drill holes as possible in order to maximise its programming flexibility.“Those [250 holes] are in the permit, we don’t have to drill all those holes, the number of holes we drill will be subject to our results,” Zaetz said. “When we applied for the permit, we wanted to apply for as many as we could get. We will start out with a few holes but then, with success, we didn’t want to go back and have to apply for permission to drill more holes.”The modelled stockwork and antimonybearing veins at Antimony Ridge were mined during both world wars and the Korean war, returning antimony grades consistently above 30% and up to 50% as well as silver above 250 g/t and up to 1,420 g/t. Following the initial drilling at Antimony Ridge, Resolution planned to start Phase 2 drilling at the Golden Gate project, also part of the wider Horse Heaven landholding 2km to the north-west, this month. All drill holes in last year’s maiden campaign at Golden Gate intersected gold mineralisation and were open at depth. Having secured the services of two geologists intimately familiar with the project, the company was well-positioned to build a detailed understanding of Golden Gate in a very short timeframe. “The antimony was mined during World War 2 and the tungsten was mined in the 1980s,” he said. “We actually have the geologist who managed the mining operation in 1980s and the geologist who drilled there in the 1990s, so they have brought the company good expertise and familiarity with the project.“So far, the mineralisation is open-ended. We think we will have a resource there [at Golden Gate] either in late 2026 or early 2027.” – Michael CameronResolution’s Antimony Ridge project has been added to the US Government’s Fast-41 programmeGlobal leader in innovation, manufacturing and supply of gold miningand assaying chemicals and technologies since 1995.
PAGE 24 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTUnity Metals Ltd was not surprised when it caught wind of Rio Tinto Ltd plans to go copper hunting in Cambodia given its own early success next door to the country’s biggest gold mine.Three plus-18 g/t gold intercepts in Unity’s first six holes at the flagship Ngot gold project – 230km north-east of Phnom Penh – suggest the asset could one day rival the neighboring 910,000oz Okvau gold operation 2km to the north.A source in the Cambodian Government told Unity managing director Craig Mackay Rio Tinto intended to establish a presence in the South-East Asian country. Mackay told Paydirt Cambodia’s promising geology and permissive minerals ownership rules made burgeoning interest from the top end of town hardly surprising.“Cambodia is prospective, there’s copper and there’s obviously gold but most of the country has seen very little work. The other thing is the regulatory environment is attractive – you can own an asset 100% with a 3% gold royalty,” Mackay said. “There is no government free carry, it has the right rocks, and it is under explored – it is a good spot for exploration.“Rio is probably more interested in the copper, I doubt they are interested in the gold side of things but it will be interesting to see what happens there.”Unity received the assays from an ongoing circa 50-hole campaign at Ngot which included hits of 0.5m @ 18.4 g/t gold from 14.9m, 1m @ 21.8 g/t gold from 125.6m in diorite-hosted stacked quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite veins from surface – geology which bore a striking resemblance to Okvau.Cambodia’s attractive cost environment has seen Okvau owner, Emerald Resources NL, achieve incredible margins in recent years. Coming online in mid-2021, Okvau posted AISC of $US754/oz in its first full year of production with $US1,032/oz AISC recorded in the December quarter last year.Mackay said Cambodian contractors were very busy with local drilling companies flat out servicing mostly private Chinese and local interests. Australian companies enjoy a good reputation in-country which Mackay attributed to Emerald’s focus on local employment. He said Unity had every intention of emulating this focus by prioritising Cambodian equipment and personnel, whose skills he described as exemplary. Mackay said relations with locals had been cordial to date with nearby communities proving invaluable sources of information. First-hand accounts of where previous tenement owners had found success were especially useful at targets such as Rohav Mountain in the project’s east. Unity aims to identify potential feeder zones for a complex of informal alluvial workings downhill at the target.“The Ngot licence is pretty much all forest so we are dealing with the surrounding villages but we’ve had no issues with them,” Mackay said. “It is always really useful to get that local knowledge – these guys can find stuff that we probably couldn’t.“The area is really heavily forested, there is no outcrop and these little pits put in by the local artisanal miners are actually really handy because you can sample some of the mineralisation to get the orientation of the veins.“We like Rohav Mountain because we are getting visually quite broad zones of mineralisation there, probably broader than Ngot Central where all our results to date have come from. “We’ve got this artisanal alluvial operation draining from the area we drilled – it’s the biggest artisanal working on the licence and they are getting some really interesting material from that. We are pretty keen to see the assays we get out of that, maybe that will determine where we focus next.”Unity had completed “about 75%” of the maiden drilling programme and expected to finish the remainder in the weeks after this edition went to print. Mackay said the company would make its final decision on where to concentrate its efforts based on pending assay results.“Really, the 8,000m of drilling we are doing now is about making the first discovery, it’s all fairly broadly spaced to test the best of our geophysical and geochemical targets,” Mackay said.“Once we get a few good hits, we will start doing infill and focusing on certain areas.” – Michael CameronCambodia’s rumoured major interestUnity’s drilling has been focused on finding the source for nearby alluvial gold workingsREGIONAL ROUND-UP mineralprocesscontrol.com.auSamples of gold from alluvial workings downstream from Rohav Mountain
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 25Afarm-in agreement between LCL Resources Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd on the Ono project could be the catalyst for a large copper-gold mine development in Papua New Guinea.Rio Tinto will make payments of up to $1.5 million to LCL, linked to milestones, and can earn a 51% interest in Ono through $8 million in exploration and 4,000m of drilling. The interest can increase to 80% on a $40 million exploration spend or definition of a 1.2mt copper equivalent resource and completing a scoping study. LCL gained the attention of the mining major more than 12 months ago based on the similarities between known copper porphyry systems in PNG and the existing gold skarn resource at Ono, combined with high-grade base metal concentrations in a lower limestone unit. “It’s a pretty amazing deal for us because that $8 million is all the work that we can’t finance, that we really need done, things like airborne geophysics that you would take for granted if you’re in Australia,” LCL executive chair Chris van Wijk told Paydirt. “It would be very difficult for a company of LCL’s size to raise $8 million to do that work.“We’ve ended up positioning ourselves in between the stage where we know we’ve got good projects, [but] they’re probably projects that belong in a major rather than a junior. We’re happy to get into the early-stage work like stream and soil sampling that the majors are not doing and generate projects, but ultimately, we know we need a partner who will effectively take the project to the next level.” LCL will aim to prove up a significant copper porphyry discovery, partly based on historical Rio Tinto/CRA data dating back to the 1970s.When van Wijk joined LCL in April 2024, he combined the data from CRA and the upper skarn of the Kusi project, determining it had been “driven by an intrusive”.“The guys [LCL] have drilled an intrusive on the fringes of that skarn and then you’ve got this really interesting trench – excavated by CRA – which is a couple of 100m stratigraphically below which has got these bonanza lead, zinc and silver grades,” he said. “That’s pretty typical when you get an intrusive that’s coming out, the metals are coming off the top of the fluids.“If there’s a lower horizon, it’ll tend to drop out a lot of the base metals and then the gold is deposited stratigraphically above.” It was the discovery of an outcropping porphyry system, from trenching and soil work at the Dada prospect south-east of Kusi which provided the impetus to open a conversation with Rio Tinto. “I think geologically one of the other things that drew them to it is that the big deposits are often on these cross-arm transfer structures and we’ve got almost the whole striking extent of that,” he said. “There’s good geological evidence to show there are a number of intrusions coming up on that structure, you can see them in the mags, which is the image that was in the announcement that we put out.”Soil sampling south of Kusi is already under way and LCL will begin working on regional sediment sampling for indicated mineral testing along with geophysics and geochemistry studies over the next 12 months.With $3 million in the bank from the sale of its Colombian assets and another $4 million to land in the coffers at the end of next month, LCL is on the hunt for more projects but is more than likely to look outside of PNG while sticking to copper-gold plays. “We see it [copper-gold] as a sweet spot in the market for the long term,” he said. “In terms of where we will be looking, obviously Australia because we’re based here, we know the geology quite well but it’s very expensive to get a foothold in Australia “[There’s] really good opportunities in Canada for a 100%-owned package that we could generate ourselves, so we’ve started to put a bit of effort into that. We’ve visited Latin America – it’s a lower risk jurisdiction, but we’re not in a rush to do anything, we want the right sort of opportunity to come along to spend our money on.”– Rhonda MalkinLCL on track with Rio in PNG ASIA-PACIFICCopper-gold plays will remain a sweet spot in LCL’s portfolioGlobal leader in innovation, manufacturing and supply of gold miningand assaying chemicals and technologies since 1995.
PAGE 26 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTCOVERThe last 12 months have seen the likes of FireFly Metals Ltd, Midas Minerals Ltd and Marimaca Copper Corp make big waves on the ASX with international copper plays identified as capable of filling the pressing need for more red metal.In contrast, shares in Cyprium Metals Ltd have traded in a narrow band of 30-45c in the last six months despite the company now firmly established as Australia’s next domestic copper producer through a 2026 restart of its Nifty operations in Western Australia’s Paterson province. Cyprium is preparing to switch Nifty back on mid-year, processing re-established heap leach pads through a refurbished SX-EW plant to produce up to 6,000 tpa of copper cathode. It is a simple, low-cost entry into the copper producer ranks for Cyprium and one which will set it up for further expansion in coming years. Surprising then, that Cyprium has experienced little of the market enthusiasm overseas-focused peers have. There may be frustration within the company but executive chairman Matt Fifield is actually quite comfortable with Cyprium’s present status.“I don’t mind that we have that underdog tag because there are many times in this business when people say they are not sure about a project, only to say: ‘I always knew there was something in it’ once you’ve proved them wrong,” Fifield told Paydirt. “For Cyprium, it is about being cleareyed with our strategy and showing investors we are capable of executing this project and de-risking it. That is our job for 2026 because ultimately the world is looking for copper and we have the ability to bring on copper units very quickly.”Part of the market reluctance to push Cyprium could be attributed to Nifty’s chequered history. Having been discovered by WMC in 1981, the mine started in 1993 as an open-pit oxide copper mine, treated via the heap leach and SX-EW plant the company is preparing to restart. Underground sulphide mining ran for 13 years through to 2019 before it was placed on care-andmaintenance amid a soft copper market and escalating underground mining costs. Cyprium arrived in March 2021 but found a rapidly contracting market as no inducement to push the project back into production.Fifield stepped into the breach in September 2023 when he led a recapitalisation plan as managing director of Pacific Road Capital Management, which took on 15.5% of the company.His immediate task was to dispel the fears that Nifty’s best days were behind it. “We’ve had to do a lot of ghostbusting,” Fifield explained. “In some ways it is similar to FireFly at Green Bay in Newfoundland, Canada. That was an asset which had collapsed a company and was full of ghosts but through exploration and providing a steady hand, they got market support, not from Canada where it had a reputation, but from Australia.“Nifty’s reputation in the Australian market was similar but I feel like we spent As Australian copper bulls scour the world looking for ASX companies with assets capable of immediately feeding a buoyant market, one potential solution is sat ready to go in the country’s mining heartland.Cyprium pieces brokenNifty together again
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 27much of 2024 and 2025 doing our ghostbusting and in 2026 it becomes all about execution.”While it may not have caught the attention to the extent FireFly has Cyprium still enjoys strong support.In August last year, the company raised $80 million via a placement and entitlement offer at 2.8c/share. It then undertook a 1:10 share consolidation before following up with another $41 million placement and entitlement offer at 52c/share in January. Fifield said both capital raisings were heavily oversubscribed, reflecting the growing interest in the Cyprium story.“We could’ve raised a lot more, they were more than 2.5 times oversubscribed,” he said. “That was a reason for going back to the market so soon – there were others as well – the August raising was terrific and had brought in a lot of great shareholders and we were starting to build a really nice base of support. But we have some near-term catalysts which should de-risk the asset further but didn’t have a lot of liquidity.”The double capital raising was also a response to shareholders who are increasingly eager to see Nifty pushed along.“Our shareholders were saying: ‘let’s go faster’ and so we felt with a bit of extra money we would be better capitalised,” Fifield said. “It allows us to start tackling what comes next as we look towards developing the open pit earlier.” This is the essence of Cyprium’s advantages over copper peers – cost and timeframes.“Time is one of the great accretive things that we have in our favour – we can move more quickly because of the brownfield nature of the infrastructure,” Fifield said. “In a greenfields project, you are waiting three years or more to see the results of that capital raising. With us, we can put it to work almost straight away into the ground.”“This is a far easier project to execute than spending billions of dollars to build a greenfields project. We have the advantage on cost of capital and we have the speed of access.”A third element is simplicity. Cyprium’s plan involves refurbishing existing leach pads and the SX-EW plant at Nifty to restart copper cathode production later this year.Refurbishment work started in the December quarter with the re-establishment of the heap leach support infrastructure, including cleaning the drainage systems and ponds to receive the copper-rich solution, a construction of new acid terminal and the turning over of the existing heaps.At the SX-EW plant, Cyprium is refurbishing the B Train, one of two lines in the plant. DECMIL was awarded the $27-31 million contract last year with all long-lead items now delivered to site.The remnant pads have a reserve of 10.6mt @ 0.41% copper and resource of 12.7mt @ 0.43% copper. Once the existing leach pads are processed, additional feed will come from recommissioning of mining to recover the remaining oxide ores in the open pit, giving the project a four-year mine life. At $29.9 million, last year’s PFS highlighted just how capital light the restart will be, particularly with a forecast pre-tax NPV of $86 million and IRR of 110%, based on a payable copper price of $US4.25/lb.“We are lucky that the project is mostly built, and we’re only required to spend $30 million, not the $100 million that could usually expected on a brownfields project,” Fifield said.Fifield admits Cyprium’s far-from-glamorous restart plan may have limited the market response.“This is a crawl project,” he said. “The first step in the entire process is ‘scrappy’, it’s essentially a tailings retreatment project and that probably explains why we haven’t had a re-rating but we should make good money out of it.“We are feeling internally the progress we are making. The team has encountered problems but they are solving them. It is the process of executing a project on our own feet but also with our partners Macmahon and DECMIL. We’re getting better as a team and execution is night and day from where we were a year ago. Now it is about trying to show that publicly.”Part of that external communication will be to demonstrate the link between Nifty’s modest 6,000 tpa restart and Cyprium’s Cyprium’s restart of the SX-EW plant is progressing with the electrowinning cells stripped, cleaned and ready for refurbishment Nifty was once considered to be in one of WA’s most remote mineral regions but the Paterson is now the focus of widespread copper and gold exploration efforts
PAGE 28 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTCOVERwider vision, which includes switching on the operation’s 2.9 mtpa sulphide concentrator and getting back into the sulphide ore.“When we open the oxide, as you’ve pre-stripped to get down to the sulphide zone, we can treat it and it will at least pay for the pre-strip, and in this price environment, we think it could make some money,” Fifield said.Accessing the 125mt @ 0.83% for 1.038mt copper sulphide ore will pave the way for a restart of the concentrator, priced at $173 million in the 2025 PFS. “The end goal has always been consistent, we have a mill capable of producing up to 50,000 tpa copper concentrate,” Fifield said. “The reserves we currently have [83mt @ 0.9% for 753,000t contained copper] are not as high grade as what the flotation plant was designed for, so we would get 25,000 tpa concentrate.“You can then debottleneck it by adding more crushing and grinding capacity and that will get you to somewhere near 45,000 tpa production. But if you have the plant built, it becomes a question of how we fill it.“So, while we have had this focus on executing the first plan, the big catalyst this year is to show our plans to get to at least 45,000 tpa copper concentrate production. I think that is something the market will understand much clearer.”Fifield’s comments about the pursuit of higher-quality feed for the Nifty concentrator were borne out in the January capital raising announcement where the emphasis was on accelerating regional exploration plans around Nifty and the wider Paterson project, including the 370mt @ 0.43% copper sulphide, 106.3mt @ 0.67% copper oxide Maroochydore project.“The Nifty orebody looks to continue at depth, and we’ll be looking to see if it’s economic down there,” he said. “But this whole area is a big sediment-hosted copper province so the mineralisation doesn’t just happen once, it happens in a whole area. It’s from fluids that are being driven from Telfer and dropping out at the area where Nifty is.”With an exploration history dating back more than four decades, Cyprium has plenty of information to lean on.“We have a million metres of historical drilling data. We are racking and stacking that drilling information and then doing some generative and confirmatory drilling around it. There’s so much information here it’s almost like a data play.”The exploration strategy has been split into three categories – within the shadow of the Nifty headframe, truckable targets on or just off the state agreement lease and then the rest of the portfolio in the Paterson province, including Maroochydore.For Fifield, it is the kind of land package which wouldn’t look out of place in a midtier producer.“You don’t see copper companies with ground like this in Australia, certainly not since Oz Minerals has gone,” he said. “We see Nifty as being a lot like Prominent Hill, it’s a big, high-volume surface mine then we have growth projects like Maroochydore, which is like a Carrapateena. Our exploration portfolio is going to just keep on giving and giving and we are spending the money on it.”The shift in focus also reveals Fifield’s growing confidence in Cyprium’s future. Having arrived at the company as part of a rescue operation, the 30-year industry veteran is increasingly assured that the company is ready to make a major leap.“I’ve spent 30 years involved in mine start-ups, recapitalisations and turnarounds and I’ve been looking for an opportunity like this,” he said. “It has always been the case that a company with our asset base should have a $2 billion market cap. It is our job to de-risk it in order for people to see that value. And we are doing that, we have taken an overlooked asset and repositioned it. We now have a good “Nifty’s reputation in the Australian market was similar but I feel like we spent much of 2024 and 2025 doing our ghostbusting and in 2026 it becomes all about execution.The Nifty complex started operations in 1993 with heap leaching of oxide ores. In 2006 it was expanded to incorporate an underground sulphide mining component. Cyprium has plans to revive both circuits
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 29team and a strong balance sheet and we can go and do it.”While the Cyprium plan is built on longterm foundations, there is added incentive given copper’s recent bull run. LME prices hit $US13,842.50/t in January before softening following the onset of the US-Israel attack on Iran. By mid-April, the price rebounded to $US13,000/t ($US5.95/lb), highlighting the resilience of the recent run. As the supply/demand gap widens, Fifield sees only greater opportunity for Cyprium.“The copper price has certainly put more fuel in the fire,” Fifield said. “Yes, Nifty didn’t work at $US3/lb and when we started this journey it was $US4.50/lb. But it certainly does work at $US5/lb or $US6/lb.” Short-term volatility aside, Fifield sees no end to the current positive trend. “The read-through for copper is so interesting,” he said. “It is one of the major growth enablers of human ambition. There is not an industry in the world that can achieve its business plans without access to more raw material, particularly copper.“It feels like we are at the same point as we were in 2002-2004, the beginning of that commodity super-cycle. There is a lot of M&A and shuffling of portfolios, but there are no greenfields projects, the pipeline is pretty thin, which means we are in the age of the brownfields developments.”Such projections fuel the sense that every copper play on the ASX is on the verge of winning the lottery. The copper sector has traditionally been the domain of the majors but for the new generation of juniors emerging, reaching the mid-tier space is increasingly alluring. Fifield wouldn’t be drawn on whether that was Cyprium’s ultimate goal but it is apparent he sees Nifty and the company’s other “We are lucky that the project is mostly built, and we’re only required to spend $30 million, the $100 million that could usually expected on a brownfields project.The 2.9 mtpa flotation circuit will likely require additional front-end capacity to reach 45,000 tpa copper concentrate production given the lower-grade nature of the existing reserve
COVERPAGE 30 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTNifty’s concrete batching plant has been cleaned and serviced ready for operationassets playing a part.“It comes back to our ability to bring on copper units very quickly,” he said. “That gives us options, but it is all about working out what is best for our shareholders. Sometimes the right move is to take on a more expensive capital partner if it means you can speed up the project, but we have to assess that.“The best thing we can do is continue to execute and I’m sure at some point there will be recognition of the de-risking job we have done. It is far easier to buy these projects than spend billions building them.”Having lifted the operation out of the gutter, there is no reason why Cyprium can’t get Nifty reaching for the stars.– Dominic PiperMatt Fifield
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 31“It is our job to de-risk it in order for people to see that value. And we are doing that, we have taken an overlooked asset and repositioned it. We now have a good team and a strong balance sheet and we can go and do it.Copper cathodes produced during Nifty’s last incarnation
PAGE 32 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTSOUTH AUSTRALIAAustralia’s most innovative exploration incentive programme is set for a relaunch after the Peter Malinauskas ALP Government was returned to power in South Australia in March – and the State’s junior sector is preparing for a major boost as a result. When the then Mike Rann-led Government introduced its Plan for Accelerated Exploration (PACE) initiative in 2004, the scheme was established with a goal of generating $100 million in exploration expenditure by 2007, it’s mix of co-funded drilling and investment in pre-competitive data a first for an Australian jurisdiction.Within a year, PACE had fuelled a 55% increase in spending to $55.5 million and by 2006, $191.4 million was being spent on exploration in the State. The success was maintained through the next seven years, with SA exploration reaching a peak of $331.3 million in 2007 and remaining as high as $311.6 million in 2011.However, the lingering effects of the GFC and the Fukushima incident saw a dramatic fall in expenditure through the 2010s and with government priorities pulling elsewhere, the PACE programme was left to drift.The nadir for the SA exploration sector came in 2017 with just $46.2 million spent in the State. There has been a steady increase since – peaking at $292.9 million in 2023 – but SA Minister for Energy and Mines (and State Treasurer) Tom Koutsantonis identified the need to reinvigorate the sector last year.In February, Koutsantonis pledged to reestablish the PACE programme with $12 million over four years should the Labor Government be re-elected.“It is estimated that every dollar of government investment under PACE schemes leverages up to $20 in private capital,” South Australian Labor said during its election campaign. “The programme also supports junior and new market entrants targeting emerging plays, helping to build greater capability and complexity within South Australia’s energy production sector.”Association of Mining & Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive Warren Pearce said PACE funds could begin to flow quickly once the returning Government was bedded down.“We have been told PACE funds should be available in three months,” he said. “It is an important initiative and demonstrates that the Government is starting to be more supportive and encouraging of exploration.”The Government’s financial support for the sector comes as exploration activity, Since then-Premier Mike Rann (left) opened Oz Minerals’ Prominent Hill mine in 2009, South Australia has enjoyed only one further mine opening, Oz’s Carrapateena in 2016 South Australia gets back on the PACE
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 33if not expenditure, has begun to ramp up again. The December quarter saw $49.2 million spent on exploration in SA, the lowest level since September 2022. However, with prices for key commodities copper and uranium displaying positive momentum, Pearce is seeing signs of a burgeoning exploration scene.As well as the Government’s legislative changes, SA was recognised in the recent Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, ranking fourth globally in its investment attractiveness index, above Western Australia, and first globally in the survey’s mineral potential index.“There is a fair amount of optimism in the sector,” Pearce said. “It feels like mining and government have found their mojo again and as Minister Koutsantonis is also Treasurer, he will help us really drive forward around critical minerals strategy and PACE. “The Fraser Institute survey was a good result for SA – the State finished top of the Australian list of most attractive investment locations – and that is being talked up by both government and industry, we had a big turnout for our pitch battle function in Adelaide last month and the new director general is also pushing the department.”Koutsantonis will further influence SA’s investment attractiveness if he can push through the Mining Act amendment bill which stalled in the last term of government.The amendment is designed to counter the 18-year compulsory relinquishment currently built into all mining leases in SA. It passed through the State Parliament’s Lower House last year but when the Upper House applied further amendments, it was sent back to the House of Assembly and couldn’t be enacted before the election period.Pearce said it was crucial the amendment bill was passed in its original form. “It will provide a boost to exploration and project development by ensuring companies investing in South Australia can continue to put money into the State,” he said. “It is particularly important for those companies two or three years away from having to relinquish their licences but need to make investment and continue progressing their projects. Eighteen years sounds like a long time but when you consider the time many of these companies have held the licences, four or five years in many cases, it doesn’t give them much time.”The amendment bill faced opposition from the Coalition in what played out as a miners-versus-farmers debate but Pearce is eager to see how a resurgent One Nation party will inject itself into the debate.The right-wing populist party came second in the statewide first preferences, enjoying a 20.3% swing away from Labor and the Liberal Party. However, the seatby-seat distribution will see it take only four seats in parliament against the Liberals’ five and ALP’s massive majority of 29.“The way the SA system works, that big One Nation vote won’t translate through in one election, although it might be enough that the ALP and One Nation could pass the amendment bill together,” Pearce said. “The questions will be how One Nation operates as they are a bit of an unknown quantity in SA. They have a well-known figure in Cory Bernardi, but that’s it. Will they behave in parliament and work with the Government around legislation or will they be a protest party? That will be really important for the mining industry and at the moment we just don’t know. “Across the country, One Nation has been relatively supportive of those things which grow the economy. The party has been quite sensible at the federal level and in Western Australia but it is a stateby-state proposition. We’ll see how they come together as a group. There will be new MPs and how they respond will give us a good indication.”The proposed amendments and reintroduction of PACE are part of a wider acknowledgement that for all the exploration activity, SA has failed to deliver any new mining operations over the last decade. Pearce said much of the State’s mining discussion revolved around BHP Ltd and the future of the Whyalla steelworks, rather than the lack of new developments.“SA is different to everywhere else in Australia in that there is one major and then juniors and that is why we continue to emphasise the importance of juniors,” he said. “BHP is a really important part of the SA economy but its dominance does mean the State is tied to BHP timeframes. So, for all the discussion about the Northern Waters project assisting BHP’s expansion and the big investment to save Whyalla, there has been little in those announcements for juniors.“Juniors need things as soon as possible, and you get the feeling that government is beginning to recognise that.”– Dominic Piper
PAGE 34 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTSOUTH AUSTRALIAThe Honeymoon uranium mine was on the rocks last year but owner Boss Energy Ltd is confident a new operating plan will rekindle the project in ways which go past simply reducing overheads.Boss intends to publish a completely new feasibility study for Honeymoon this year, involving wider spaced ISR production wells, a move the company said would not only unlock satellite deposits but reduce the operation’s exposure to supply chain disruptions.After declaring a revised long-term outlook late last year, Boss completely withdrew the enhanced 2021 Honeymoon feasibility study, lowered its production outlook post 2027 and announced the new feasibility study. The mine’s FY26 production guidance was left unchanged.Managing director Matt Dusci told Paydirt the entirely new Honeymoon scoping study (scheduled for this quarter) and subsequent feasibility study (due in the September quarter) were expected to clarify the diverse operational benefits offered by wider-spaced wells.“You’ll see a double saving. Firstly you’ll see sustaining capex drop because we will be able to put that same level of infrastructure on a wider area,” Dusci said.“Also, we should see a drop in our C1 capital costs because one of the main cost drivers is our use of sulphuric acid, it is part of the lixiviant we put into the well field. By increasing the well spacing, we basically optimise reagent use and resonance time in the aquifer and with that cost saving, we can bring in a lower grade resource because we can make better margins at lower grades.”In March, Boss updated the satellite Gould’s Dam resource to 38.7mt @ 388 ppm uranium for 33.1 mlb at a ratio of 23% indicated to 77% inferred material. “Gould’s Dam is quite a significant resource so the approach we’re taking would be – let’s get Honeymoon working first so we are certain that sort of approach can work at Gould’s Dam, where we have expansive mineralisation,” Dusci said. “We know it has good hydraulic connectivity, and we know under the old plan we wouldn’t have been able to optimise that resource. Under the new plan, we feel like there is a very good chance we can get comfortable optimising that resource and getting the most out of it.“That is the next step after completing the new Honeymoon feasibility study – we can see those satellite resources becoming quite important for the company.”Dusci said the help of ISR experts in France previously employed by one of the world’s largest uranium producers would help the company navigate the more detailed planning and greater complexity expected from a wider spaced wellfield strategy. “Our sophistication is significantly higher and to meet that challenge we decided to bring in the best people we could into the business,” he said. “One of those people is based in Paris, they have worked for Orano [SA] in Kazakhstan.“We’re working with universities in Paris – that is the expertise we need for the increased sophistication this new wide spacing approach involves. As a result, our confidence in the technique has improved substantially. That expert has a PhD in hydrogeology and geochemistry, we are building a team around that knowledge. “We always look for the best talent; we believe the success of a company is a direct result of the talent that is brought into the organisation, especially when it comes to innovation and technology.”Boss’ new production approach is underpinned by technology. Advanced modelling of the Honeymoon resource makes use of historical data and new inputs from delineation drilling this year. The vast processing capacity required for detailed modelling means much of the computational leg work must be carried out overseas. “We have put all the inputs into threedimensional space, so we now have a good understanding of uranium distribution, hydraulic connectivity and mineralogy, which are then run through reactive transport simulation models,” Dusci said.“We are running that out of Singapore, they are simulating all of that fluid flow, chemical reaction and how the fluid is passing, the reagent changes, the chemistry, the hydraulic flow. It is simulating that from injector to extractor across the whole wellfield.“That’s the innovation approach and that is part of this whole new feasibility we are working through. There is only one other company in the world using this approach and that is Orano. “They’re quite complicated models; they take days to run and that’s why we need the processing power available in Singapore.” – Michael CameronAn operational reset at Honeymoon could unlock lower grade resourcesBoss lines up second Honeymoon
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 35After more than 20 years of going solo, Havilah Resources Ltd may have found the perfect duet partner to sing the praises of its Kalkaroo copper-gold project. Havilah has been synonymous with Kalkaroo – in the Curnamona province of north-east South Australia – since its listing in 2002. It has built a sizeable resource of 1.1mt copper, 3.1 moz gold and 23,000t cobalt over that time but despite previously having Oz Minerals as a JV partner, it’s never had enough funds to really go hard at one of Australia’s most underexplored provinces. However, thanks to the arrival of $8 billion market-capped Sandfire Resources Ltd as an earn-in partner in February, Havilah finally has the firepower to give Kalkaroo and the wider Curnamona district the attention it deserves. Under the terms of the deal, Sandfire has the exclusive right to earn up to 80% of Kalkaroo for an upfront payment of $117.6 million, comprising $31.5 million in cash and 4.6 million shares. Upon completion of a PFS or at any time within 24 months, Sandfire can take the 80% for a second payment of $105 million, with 30-70% in cash and the remainder in shares. In addition, Sandifre has committed to spending $30 million on regional exploration on Havilah ground over the same period.Havilah managing director Chris Giles said the arrival of Australia’s largest independent copper miner was confirmation of everything his company had been saying over the last two decades. “It is one of the most prospective but underexplored copper districts in Australia,” he told Paydirt. “It is wedged between the Mt Isa Inlier and the Gawler Craton, the two most copper-rich provinces in Australia. It was formed at the same time, with the same processes. So, from a geological point-of-view, we could find the same province.“Despite this, it is very much underexplored, largely because all the entire district is covered by thick sand. If these rocks outcropped, the area would’ve been covered in headframes years ago. But the cover means you can’t do geochem, the only way to explore is by relying on geophysics and drilling.”The final, decisive reason for Sandfire’s willingness to commit funds was the success Havilah has had at Kalkaroo. While the junior has struggled to make the complete economic case for the remote deposit, Giles believes the injection of Sandfire could elevate it to a new plane. “We have proven there is copper and gold there by finding Kalkaroo, but it is open at both ends and we have drilled down to 200m and it is still open at depth,” he said. “The truth is we don’t know how big it is. Maybe we have already found the worldclass deposit in the district but haven’t fully defined it. That is what Sandfire are here to find out.”Junior company management and shareholders can often feel conflicted when they welcome a large partner into their cornerstone project. On the one hand, they are grateful for the funding but on the other they are suddenly beholden to very conflicting timelines and thresholds. Giles said Sandfire was already proving to be a different kind of JV partner. “Our priorities are much more aligned than if we were in a JV with a major,” he said. “They haven’t forgotten they were a little explorer as well once. It is completely different to dealing with the frustrations of partnering with a major. “Sandfire has a good, clear line of command all the way up to managing director Brendan Harris. It has been a real pleasure to work with them. They have top-quality people, they roll up their sleeves and get to work.”Giles is also comfortable with the delineation of responsibilities. Having taken Kalkaroo as far as it could under its own steam, Havilah will benefit from having the deep pockets and development expertise of the Sandfire team. “They will spend $50-100 million on diamond drilling and studies to determine the size of the deposit, what scale of project it could be,” he said. In the meantime, Havilah will be in charge of the alliance’s regional exploration strategy and Giles is excited by the opportunity to delve in with a $30 million budget. “They have given us a free hand,” he said. “We have 8-10 prospects within trucking distance of Kalkaroo, each with ore-grade intercepts. There is a very good chance of finding Kalkaroo No.2, 3 and 4.”Giles is clear-eyed about the work Havilah will undertake.“If you are poking around the same area for 20 years hopefully you are a bit wiser about the area,” he said. “We’ve got all the prospects but have never had the funds to define resources on them. We’re explorationists at heart and still have a lot of ideas so we are excited about this opportunity. Like all juniors we never had the capital to do the work and this is the first time in 20 years that we have adequate funding and that always means your chances go up. We know exactly where we are going as soon as the rigs start up next week.”– Dominic Piper Havilah and Sandfire find harmonyHavilah has welcomed a massive cash injection from Sandfire into its Kalkaroo copper-gold project
PAGE 36 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTSOUTH AUSTRALIAThe impending release of a PFS for the landmark ionic clay-hosted Koppamurra rare earths project will mark the start of arguably the most pivotal period in Australian Rare Earths Ltd’s (AR3) short history.As this edition went to print, the PFS was nearing completion and expected to be published by the end of the current quarter. Upon its official release, AR3 will pull the trigger on the decisive pilot plant programme at ANSTO in Sydney with the results informing the subsequent DFS.AR3 is also preparing to submit its mining lease application for Koppamurra, about 380km south-east of Port Adelaide, having completed the prerequisite scoping process in accordance with South Australia’s regulatory framework in November last year.“We’ve got a few big deliverables over the course of this year that will materially move the project forward, while continuing to derisk it and showcase its potential,” AR3 managing director Travis Beinke told Paydirt.“What will allow us to launch into a DFS later this year is the successful completion of the pilot plant operation. We will run that pilot plant with ANSTO for about 3-4 months and the information that we learn will be fed into the DFS, ensuring a pretty seamless flow from PFS, through pilot into a DFS.“It certainly is a big, really pivotal year for us in terms of what we plan to and will deliver.”Beinke added the PFS would be “quite mature and advanced” to the point some of the assumptions were almost at DFS-level given the amount of testwork completed over the past few years on the conceptual Koppamurra flowsheet, underpinned by heap leaching and a rapid rehabilitation design.AR3 reported earlier this year that optimisation testwork had achieved circa 70% recoveries of magnet rare earths, while halving the use of magnesium sulphate in leach solutions had no measurable impact on final extraction and would likely deliver a cost benefit.“What we expect the PFS will demonstrate is we have a low technical risk, simple flowsheet to develop an ionic clay project in a capital efficient way,” Beinke said.“We’re learning a lot through this optimisation period. Even as recently as earlier this year, we’ve managed to make material improvements to the flowsheet with what we’ve learned. As a result, we are now intending to produce a mixed rare earth oxide instead of a mixed rare earth carbonate, which is what most ionic clay projects will produce.“We’re taking an alternate route in the purification steps of that final product – an oxalic acid precipitation, which will produce a mixed rare earth oxalate, which is then calcined into a mixed rare earth oxide. It’s a higher purity product which we expect will be attractive to potential customers.”AR3 was the first company to float an Australian ionic clay-hosted rare earths project on the ASX almost five years ago and remains one of the few groups across the bourse still pursuing development of this type of asset.Since its IPO, the company has grown the Koppamurra resource to 236mt @ 748 ppm TREO (including a high-grade subset of 68mt @ 1,000 ppm TREO) with almost half of that total classified as measured or indicated.“We are certainly the most advanced ionic clay project in Australia,” Beinke said.“Given the potential size and scale of the project, we will essentially be able to develop our project over multi decades. The resource, combined with the extensive flowsheet development work that we’ve been pursuing over the last 2-3 years with ANSTO, has certainly enabled us to design a project that can be delivered in a sustainable way – with low capital risk, low technical risk, with speed to market – all of which allows us to continue to be the most advanced project in Australia.”Beinke is quietly confident the company’s mining lease application will receive the green light in due course. His confidence stems from a combination of the recently completed voluntary scoping process which establishes an upfront framework of what issues need to be addressed in the submission, as well as extensive engagement with key stakeholder groups and regulatory departments.Koppamurra is 30km south-east of the Naracoorte township with the tenements under application straddling the SA border with Victoria.“We’ve done a lot of work from very early on with the local community to bring them along on the journey through discovery, exploration into project development,” Beinke said. “We feel we’re in a really good position to understand what those key issues are. We’ve had tremendous support from some key stakeholders within the initial project area that we intend to develop.”Meanwhile, AR3 resumed drilling at its Overland uranium project in the Murray Basin last month, seeking to test two large sedimentary target zones where grades of up to 201 ppm U3O8 were reported from historical work.The company has also added two other SA uranium projects and some early-stage rare earths prospects in Queensland to its growing portfolio, but Beinke insisted AR3 was not spreading itself too thin.“Koppamurra is very much the focus today because we feel the project is in a really good position at a time where market conditions are such that the demand for new Western supply is only increasing and the ability to get into the market early will be very important,” he said.“With that, we’re certainly keen to complement the Koppamurra project with a number of earlier stage exploration projects within the portfolio. So, between advancing Koppamurra and some exploration at Overland, we’ll certainly continue to look for other valueaccretive opportunities that can complement the portfolio over time.” – Michael WashbourneAR3 in the pilot’s seatAR3 is close to finalising a PFS for its Koppamurra rare earths project
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 37Barton Gold Holdings Ltd has moved forward with its hub-and-spoke model in South Australia and is targeting first production from the Tarcoola project by mid-year to support a PFS on the larger 1.6 moz Tunkillia project.An optimised scoping study released last year confirmed the scale and efficiency of Tunkillia was enough to support a second mill to complement the refurbished Central Gawler mill at the Challenger project. Central Gawler is currently subject to a DFS for processing shallow pit material from the Tarcoola deposit with the option to take ore from adjacent historical and new open pits. The strategy to operate the only two mills in the region is expected to provide Barton with a strategic advantage both for its own ore but also for potential third-party mill feed either through toll milling or acquiring material from surrounding projects.Resource drilling is under way at Tunkillia, including geotechnical and metallurgical drilling, to upgrade pit optimisations, upgrade the resource, declare ore reserves and upgrade the scoping study into a PFS, to allow the company to submit a mining lease application. Barton managing director Alexander Scanlon told Paydirt the Challenger project had mineralisation present at one of two existing open pits along with additional mineralisation near surface which could be adapted into a further two open pits. “The idea is to create a really simple base load operational startup where you’re using historical higher-grade tailings and open pit or near-surface mineralisation for a really low-risk start,” Scanlon said. “Then, once you have the mill up and running then essentially your development optionality for all of your other assets, including your high-grade underground mine, goes up considerably because you already have the mill spinning.” The strategy will enable Barton to build a platform large enough to start operations on its own, deliver near-term production and medium-term scale while also having the option for long-term regional consolidation.In July last year, Barton flexed its acquisition muscle in the region, gaining the Wudinna gold project from Cobra Resources Ltd for $15 million in cash and shares, adding 279,000oz gold to its portfolio. “That project has some very interesting characteristics, it’s on a main highway on country roads that connect to the future Tunkillia mine,” Scanlon said. “[It] also has metallurgy which indicates that rather than building a whole new mill you could just crush, grind and float about 600,000t into 36,000t of concentrate, which is 100 tpd.“You just have two trucks going up the highway with a product that’s worth about $4,500/t then you’re just tipping that in your existing infrastructure and essentially supercharging it because for very little marginal cost [you] dramatically increase productive output.”Scanlon said he considered Barton’s assets in the same vein as “portfolio managers” acting as professional investors who “happen to be running a gold development business”. “[Tunkillia] will be a really high efficiency mill and if there are a bunch of other smaller people around us who want to use our infrastructure, we could either buy their project where we take all of the risk, or we could leave the development risk with them and buy the ore at the mine gate,” he said. “Now they get to be the producer but they’re providing feed to us for our mill, we might get less of a profit from doing that, but we’ll take much less risk.“What if we invested just a little bit more to increase the capacity of that plant and we made it a 1.2 mtpa plant and we charge people $150/t to go through that plant, and it only costs us $35/t to operate? Now I’m making $150 million per annum gross profit, risk free, without using up any of my own resources. “If you can build optionality and flexibility into your infrastructure, it actually gives you the ability to make some very superior returns over time. It means we could retain that plant to mine mineralisation over time but anytime we want we could let someone else use it and preserve our mineralisation and earn a pretty similar profit.”Barton will spend 2026 crystalising this commercial pathway and expects to publish about 50,000m of resource upgrade drilling from Challenger and Tunkillia imminently. “The objective on that commercialisation front is by the end of 2026 we want to start the early site works at Challenger to basically get it refurb-ready and we want to apply to build Tunkillia,” he said. “This is like a straight-to-scale strategy where we just happen to be starting the smaller operation on site because we’ve got the time to do it.”– Rhonda Malkin Barton readies for first productionAfter five years of patient exploration, Barton is set to crank up the Central Gawler mill
SOUTH AUSTRALIAPAGE 38 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTHillgrove regained producer status with the move to underground operations at Kanmantoo in early 2024, some four years after processing the last batch of ore from nearly a decade of open-pit mining activities.Fulker formally joined the company on July 1 that year, marking his return to South Australia after six years as chief operating officer at Sydney-headquartered gold producer Evolution Mining Ltd. Prior to that, the underground specialist served in the same role at Oz Minerals, then-operator of the Prominent Hill and Carrapateena copper mines.“It’s a pleasure being back in South Australia,” Fulker told Paydirt last month ahead of the second anniversary of his appointment at Hillgrove.“When I was here last time, we were dealing with Carrapateena and those sort of growth stories. I found the South Australian regulatory environment was very supportive and I haven’t seen any difference coming back this time. They help where they can, they don’t shortcut systems and they actually try to find solutions, as opposed to trying to find hurdles to get things up and going.“I don’t want to disparage the rest of Australia, but it’s probably one of the best and easiest jurisdictions to work in from that regard. I espouse the ease of working here in South Australia.”As it stands, Hillgrove is South Australia’s second largest copper producer, albeit there is a considerable and obvious gap to leader BHP Ltd, which acquired the Oz business for $9.6 billion just as Kanmantoo was being restarted.By definition, the company is also the latest addition to what remains a very small and niche list of Australian copper miners.Hillgrove has guided copper production of 12,750-14,000t at $5.75-6.25/lb AISC for 2026, having delivered 11,315t copper at $6.19/lb AISC in 2025, the company’s first full year of underground operations.“Last year was that year of building the mine and building the footprint to deliver in 2026,” Fulker said.“We also have a straight copper guidance, it’s not a copper equivalent guidance. A lot of people forget that gold is adding a lot of value to this business. Last year we mined 2,500-3,000oz gold – and that was without Nugent, which has a higher global gold grade, so we do expect that will go up this year.“The fact is our guidance is what we are judged by and everything demonstrates that we will be within our guidance this year.”Fulker’s official first day in the Hillgrove office came just two days prior to the company declaring commercial production from the Kanmantoo underground, about 55km south-east of Adelaide. Upon his arrival, it quickly became apparent he would need to spend at least the balance of the calendar year watching Hillgrove sprouts fromstable footprintBob FulkerBob Fulker sought stability in his first year as managing director of Hillgrove Resources Ltd, while the second was predicated on growth of the company’s Kanmantoo underground mine. So, as he enters his third year at the helm of what technically remains Australia’s newest copper producer, it’s no surprise his focus has turned squarely to delivery.
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 39and observing.“I always find it interesting to stop and listen when you first start a new role, then you can actually start building and creating,” he said.“Given it was already the second half of 2024, the year was pretty well set but there were still a lot of improvements that had to be made. For example, at Nugent, the decline and portal was just starting to be thought about when I started and we had to bring all those things into fruition in 2025.”Kanmantoo operated at circa 900,000 tpa run rate in its first year before consistently exceeding 1.5 mtpa by the end of December 2025 quarter.Hillgrove is currently pushing the Kanmantoo plant, which continued wet processing during the care-and-maintenance period earlier this decade, to achieve a run rate of 1.7-1.8 mtpa from next month.“We’ve come from basically nothing three years ago to doing just shy of 2 mtpa through a 3.6 mtpa plant,” Fulker said. “That’s pretty impressive and pretty awesome when you think about the speed of growth and speed of bringing it to fruition.“The plant was still working well at the back end of the open pit. It was run on water consistently through the care-and-maintenance period. When we started the plant on feed, because we hadn’t really spent money on refurbishing and all those sort of things, there were some areas where we had to do a little bit more routine maintenance. Plants, it’s about how you maintain them, not how old they are, and this one has been well maintained.“It’s actually a plant that’s now in its third location, so it’s not new, but it’s a classic example of the old man’s act [the ship of Theseus proverb] – we’ve changed four handles and five heads and she’s still going strong.”The introduction of a third mining front at Emily Star, alongside Kavanagh and Nugent, will go some way to helping Hillgrove increase its mining and processing rates over the course of this year and beyond.Like Nugent, Hillgrove is confident Emily Star can be brought into the mine plan on time and on budget. A development decision is expected early in the second half.Fulker said the cost benefits associated with operating multiple mining fronts began with improved efficiencies.“Improved efficiencies means you can do it for less cost, so you can actually have either less equipment or you can increase your tonnes commensurate without increasing your costs, so therefore your unit rate comes down in conjunction with your tonnes going up because your costs don’t go up at the same rate,” he said.“Emily Star, as well as Nugent and Kavanagh, they are at three different horizons and you can marry your different horizons in to get a smoother, longer-term cost structure by feeding in material that has a lower tonne-kilometre regime with a higher tonnekilometre regime.“That optionality gives us the ability to actually manage and control our costs.”Hillgrove has increased resources and reserves at Kanmantoo by 14% and 43% respectively over the past year with exploration continuing to yield potential future ore sources such as Saddle Zone, Paringa, Valentine and Critchley.North Kavanagh is likely to be the next cab off the rank on the mining front with an exploration incline included in the company’s $8-10 major capital works budget for 2026.Fulker said more mining fronts did not necessarily mean more tonnes through the 3.6 mtpa Kanmantoo mill which was originally sized to accommodate the open-pit mining activities.“With large plants, you can either de-rate it, you can put less through it or you can stop it – all of those things give you different permutations of cost benefit,” Fulker said.“What we’ve decided to do is run it at a lower run rate, but still stop it when we don’t have the dirt. Therefore when we stop it, we don’t have the consumables and the like, so our cost structure goes down. “We are running it at a slower rate than 3.6 mtpa at the present time, but that gives us higher recovery and longer residence time in the mill, which gives us a better concentrate grade as well. Therefore, from an economic perspective, it gives a better return. “You need a certain style of orebody to be able to fill a mill of this size and you need to be able to get the development and infrastructure in place to enable the process to occur. That takes time, but I think we’ve escalated quite nicely over the last couple of years. So, I’m not saying that we’re going to fill the mill, I’m saying that we’re doing it in an appropriate fashion.”While the company’s March quarterly results were not available at the time of print, Fulker indicated shareholders could expect continued positive progress from the December period.Hillgrove produced 2,962t copper across the final three months of 2025, a 5% quarteron-quarter increase from the September period. It was also the company’s highest quarterly output since the start of underground mining at Kanmantoo almost two years ago.Fulker said continued operational success and delivery had the company primed for a higher valuation than its current sub-$140 million market cap.“The operation is up and running, it’s running smoothly and we’re delivering quarteron-quarter,” he said.“If you look at the analysts’ review, they all believe that, because we are getting into the cash generative phase, we are ripe for a re-rate once people start to see that and realise that.“I hate saying that we should be worth ‘x’ dollars or more, but it will come. That’s why I don’t mind flying under the radar from a production perspective, but we are a public company and we have to actually tell people what we’re doing – and then do it – and that’s what we’ve been doing for last 12-18 months.” – Michael WashbourneHillgrove has successfully converted the Kanamantoo copper mine into a long-life underground operation
PAGE 40 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTSOUTH AUSTRALIAIf you were looking for a single company to encapsulate the story of South Australian exploration over the last two decades you would be hard pressed to find any more appropriate than PTR Minerals Ltd. Spun out of Prominent Hill discoverer Minotaur Resources, PTR – then under the moniker of Petratherm – was at the vanguard of the nascent South Australian geothermal energy sector. After that industry lost steam at the end of last decade, management returned to its roots and began hunting SA for base and precious metals opportunities. However, by last year it had turned up what could prove to be the State’s next major mineral sands discovery. “In a way, this is all about getting the band back together,” PTR chief executive Peter Reid explained to Paydirt. “Petratherm was spun out of Minotaur and after doing really well for a decade, it died a slow death with the rest of the geothermal industry.“In 2018, we rejigged Petratherm as a copper-gold explorer with many of the original Minotaur team, including myself and Derek Carter as chairman, back on board.”The company headed off to its Comet project on the Gawler Craton with hopes of building on gold shows dating back to the mid-80s, however in true explorer style, Reid ensured he was not wedded to one type of target.“I was keen to go back and find the gold and while RAB drilling did return some gold, we also found a lot of rare earths in the clays,” he said. RAB drilling through 2022 delivered confirmation of the presence of rare earths at Comet with hits including 3m @ 2,819 ppm TREO, 3m @ 2,701 ppm and 4m @ 3,042 ppm. Follow-up drilling on the Meteor prospect at Comet returned rare earths values of more than 4,000 ppm but it was petrological analysis of rock chips which revealed a layered mafic intrusion enriched in apatite and titanite.The breakthrough led PTR to participate in the competitive bidding process for the Muckanippie licence 40km southwest which it had identified as covering a layered intrusive sequence known as the Muckanippie anorthosite complex.“The work at Comet showed the rare earths were associated with a mafic intrusion and we were getting high titanium as well as elevated PGMs and vanadium in the drilling,” Reid said. “That led us to the large, layered intrusion at Muckanippie and you could see straight away in the historical drilling the high titanium values.”PTR’s review of the historical drilling over the mafic intrusion identified titanium dioxide values of up to 10.5%, including intercepts of 40m @ 5.5% TiO2 and 23.7% iron from 4m and 94m @ 6.4% TiO2 and 24.8% iron from 56m.By September 2024, the company was confident it had a sizeable high-grade heavy mineral sands project on its hands with an exploration target for the Rosewood prospect of 237-377mt @ 5.3-7.95 TiO2 declared. “It has been a fortuitous path but each step made sense along the way. The gold led us to the titanium, the titanium led us to the heavy minerals,” Reid said. “We are now very confident there is already a project there, even though we haven’t got to the resource stage yet.“Several rounds of drilling have allowed us to identify mineralisation over a continuous 40sq km area with two high-grade zones of 22sq km.”Drilling results have been remarkably consistent, delivering plus-10m intercepts starting at 5-6m below the surface, including hits of 26m @ 17.2% heavy minerals, 22m @ 19.1%, 28m @ 13.6% and 11m @ 16.4%. Having completed 400 holes for more than 10,000m of drilling, PTR is now preparing a maiden resource for this quarter.It is also advancing metallurgical work, with initial testing suggesting the material will recover well. The first round of sampling showed conventional separation with spiral circuits and a wet magnetic process could produce recoveries of 86-95% heavy minerals and a heavy mineral concentrate grade of 95%.“It is already double the grade and thickness of standard deposits but because it has been altered it has these high titanium grades allowing for a high-grade bulk concentrate,” Reid said.In March, PTR released further metallurgical results which demonstrated that magnetic and electrostatic separation were effective in upgrading the heavy mineral concentrate to produce five highgrade titanium product streams ranging from 55.4% to 84.2% TiO2.The metallurgical test work will continue in parallel with the resource development, potentially allowing PTR to begin marketing Rosewood products later in the year. “Because of its high grade and high titanium values, it could potentially be a market disrupter,” Reid said. “It is now about defining what products we have and a 3t composite sample is being tested in order to refine the process and the products we can generate.”Other feasibility work is being conducted concurrently, including environmental baseline studies and desktop design work on plant, pit and logistics. “We are doing all that now, because once the resource is out, we really want to fast-track it,” Reid said. “We think that in four years’ time we can be selling concentrate, which should coincide with a stronger mineral sands market.”– Dominic PiperPTR revives SA’s exploration eraMetallurgical testwork has shown PTR’s Rosewood heavy mineral sands material is amenable to simple separation techniques
Despite the impending release of a PFS for its flagship West Australian project, McLaren Minerals Ltd managing director Simon Finnis knew the company couldn’t pass on the opportunity presented to it through the Barossa project in South Australia.In December, McLaren struck agreement with Iluka Resources Ltd over Barossa, 90km south-east of the prolific Jacinth-Ambrosia mine on the Eucla Basin. While the McLaren project remains the flagship, Finnis said it was an opportunity “too good to pass up”.“If you want to build a company rather than just a project, you need to look at these things,” he told Paydirt. “We have all seen companies with a single project, often outstanding, but then can’t find anything else to match it. So, when this opportunity was presented to us, we knew we had to look at it.”Although several thousand kilometres from its namesake project near Norseman in WA, Barossa does present McLaren with the opportunity to apply its acquired knowledge given it sits on the eastern edge of the same Eucla Basin.Iluka’s work had shown the project sits in the same geological setting as Jacinth-Ambrosia and other projects on the Eucla, and drilling has returned heavy mineral assemblages average around 16% zircon. Finnis said the potential was obvious.“Iluka had done some very good exploration work, as you would expect,” he said. “When we saw the numbers and the mineral suite, we saw an obvious opportunity for scale. There is already a proven logistics system associated with Jacinth-Ambrosia and we understand the structural setting.”The indicative mineral assemblage dominated by zircon, ilmenite and leucoxene is also appealing.“It is a different mineral suite to McLaren and as a producer, if you can offer stable, longterm supply and have a natural hedge against certain markets, you can benefit,” Finnis said.Marketing discussions are a long way off with McLaren’s immediate priority to confirm and expand on Iluka’s findings.McLaren’s initial review has identified a 54km mineralized shoreline corridor with signs of high zircon levels as well as the presence of rare earthsbearing monazite. “We can’t currently talk numbers because they are not JORC-compliant but we see a very large structure running north-south, comprising an envelope of plus-1% heavy minerals,” Finnis said. “Within that shoreline, Iluka had defined three high-grade portions – Kalahari, Gobi and Mojave – and we believe there is plenty of upside within each and in between them.”Iluka’s drilling had produced hits of 13.5m @ 3.53% from 12m and 18m @ 3.81% from surface at Mohave, 7.5m @ 8.67% from 4.5m and 10.5m @ 6.02% from 16.5m at Kalahari and 5m @ 8.15% from 24m and 5m @ 5.14% from 9m at Gobi.“Some of that low-hanging fruit will get attention first,” Finnis said. “We will validate the historical drilling for JORC purposes and in the fullness of time we will define a resource there, I have no doubt about that.”Rather than a distraction from its work on the other side of the Eucla Basin, Barossa’s assemblage and timeline should work well for McLaren.“There is certainly a logical sequencing to the projects,” Finnis said. “The McLaren project has a 500mt ilmenite resource on it now, and it will get bigger as there’s plenty of opportunity. Barossa is a number of years behind it, this year will be reconnaissance and seeing what we’ve got before we define a resource next year.”The company’s enthusiasm for its namesake project has only increased following the February release of the PFS, even though the market did not respond with similar verve.“The market has been awful, we released the PFS and the share price went down. I was flabbergasted, there are not many $8 million market cap companies with these kinds of assets,” Finnis admitted. “Mineral sands is not like gold, it can be a bit of a slow burn, but you can’t beat the market and we will stick to our knitting because we believe what we have is very exciting.”The PFS demonstrated the 529mt @ 4.5% heavy minerals resource could support a 15.9-year mine life processing 11.8 mtpa for production of 407,000 tpa ilmenite concentrate and 32,100 tpa of non-magnetic concentrate. Pre-production capex was estimated at $179.3 million with annual EBITDA forecast to be $56.5 million. The study found a project NPV of $252.2 million and IRR of 26% with a payback period of 3.7 years.Finnis said the PFS not only validated the project but also outperformed to the upside. “The only surprise for us was the size of the resource increase,” he said. “We had 280mt, put in 35,000m of drilling and ended up with more than 500mt. There was no juggling of the numbers, it was all through drilling. We will now further define the mineable resource and begin the approvals process.“We are targeting FID in the next 12-18 months with the environmental approvals the critical path. We don’t think there is anything showstopping in there.”With financials committed to paper, McLaren can also ramp up financing and marketing, two elements which always go hand-in-hand in the mineral sands sector.“Part of the BFS work will be the offtake marketing and the path to finance,” Finnis said. “We expect plenty of things to happen on that front in the next 12 months.” – Dominic PiperBarossa offers McLaren great varietiesAUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 41
PAGE 42 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTFor a company to pivot to copper after more than 10 years pinning itself to the spiky graphite market is a gutsy move by any measure.However, Lincoln Minerals Ltd hasn’t waited for validation on its bold step to the red metal, which began in early 2024 with re-assaying of historical drill core at its Minbrie project on the Eyre Peninsula. By May 2025, Lincoln had definitive confirmation of robust copper-zinc-lead-silver mineralisation at Minbrie, with a hit of 12m @ 1.4% copper, 12.4% zinc, 2.0% lead, and 13 g/t silver from 139m. The findings were enough to launch a geological review of Minbrie, which uncovered multiple sulphide-rich zones within a 7km stratigraphic package, prompting a systematic assay programme of legacy, unassayed drill core for a quick and costeffective assessment of Minbrie’s broader base metal potential. In January 2026, Lincoln pulled in its Southern Eyre project for review, analysing 41 historic rock chip samples which revealed eyewatering 11.1% and 9.65% copper results along with gold byproducts. It was enough for Lincoln to shift its efforts away from the long-held Kookaburra graphite project and confirm its intention to become a “discovery-focused copper company”, just four months after chief executive Chris Wilcox took over the reins from Jonathon Trewartha. “Positioning ourselves as a discoveryfocused copper company in a marketwhere demand is set to grow faster than supply is exciting,” Wilcox said. “With a clear focus on progressing exploration at Minbrie, we have commenced a search for a complementary copper project. Separately, we are looking to deliver value from the non-copper projects, without being distracted from copper discovery.”For Wilcox, the decision to focus on copper exploration was based not only on the potential of historical drill results at Minbrie but also a mandate to present a simplified offering to the market. “The switch from being a little bit of all of the projects to being very clearly focused on one was that the market likes simplicity, so there was an element of needing to pick a project and a commodity group that is going to be our focus,” Wilcox told Paydirt.“The other part is that industrial and specialty metals can be much more spiky in terms of supply, demand and value of the commodity. Whereas copper is such a big, deep market that a good project can get up regardless of the current price and certainly that’s supported as well by the forecast growth in copper demand. “Even depth of cover is a key thing. You look at Oak Dam West that BHP [Ltd] discovered and is developing. That’s 1,000m under cover whereas Minbrie is 100m under cover – it’s a very different proposition for both the exploration phase and, if we’re lucky enough to get a sizable resource, for potential development in the future.”Lincoln will begin drilling at the Eagle Ridge prospect at Minbrie this quarter, following up historical drilling which returned 29.5m @ 0.8% copper, 7.5% lead, 1.9% zinc, and 9 g/t silver from 131.1m. A minimum of 40 aircore holes will target about 1.7km of untested strike within Minbrie’s 17km of stratigraphy.“I’m extremely excited obviously about that Eagle Ridge target, you don’t get intercepts like that every day, but the whole 17km hasn’t been properly tested before because that area has been largely explored for magnetite in the past,” Wilcox said.After a career as a gold and iron ore geologist, Lincoln represents Wilcox’s first foray as a chief executive of a publicly listed company, but he is no stranger to the corporate side of mining. He witnessed firsthand the importance of a winning formula particularly during a three-year stint at DGO Gold when the company was the largest shareholder of De Grey Mining. “DGO also had shares in NTM Gold and Yandal Resources [Ltd], the company was very much two strategies – one was our own direct exploration and the other was where we liked the ground but we couldn’t get that ground through JV,” he said. “We would invest in that company and used our shareholding to influence how they explored to make a discovery.“Obviously DGO did very well out of De Grey and ended up getting bought out by Gold Road.”As for the graphite and magnetite projects, Lincoln signed two key agreements in December last year including an MoU with Revera Energy Australia Pty Ltd as a JV for a green iron pellet plant and a collaboration agreement with SCN Canada Inc to use graphite from the Kookaburra project in small modular reactors.“We’ve got good resources in both of them – the idea being that we’re looking for ways that we can add value to these projects and create some interest in them that doesn’t distract us from copper,” he said.– Rhonda MalkinLincoln all-inon copper SOUTH AUSTRALIALincoln has completed its transition into copper as a major focus with Eagle Ridge its first drill targetChris Wilcox
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PAGE 44 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTSOUTH AUSTRALIAFederal government endorsement and the resurgent decarbonisation agenda have reignited Magnetite Mines Ltd’s quest to land a strategic funding partner for its 6.6bt Razorback iron ore project.Located about 240km north-east of Adelaide, Razorback was designated Major Project Status (MPS) by the Australian Government in February. It is the only iron ore project in the country to be formally recognised as a potentially significant future contributor to the national economy. A 2023 study estimated $1.15 billion of direct and indirect benefits would flow to South Australia from the the project.MPS designation enables project proponents to seek increased support and facilitation from the Federal Government, including the potential streamlining of complex regulatory processes.Upon being bestowed MPS, Magnetite revealed it previously did not believe Razorback would either qualify or benefit from holding such designation until recent policy changes at a federal level made the project a prime candidate for a new green iron industry.Magnetite managing director Tim Dobson said the significance of the MPS award was not lost on the longstanding iron ore hopeful.“Ostensibly it means that the Government will provide us with bespoke and dedicated resources to assist with the complexity of the approvals environment around such a big project,” he told Paydirt.“We are the only iron ore project on that list and only the fourth in South Australia. Our project is in what could be an entirely new mining province for Australia, similar to the Pilbara, similar to the Hunter Valley, similar to the Bowen Basin. The Government has now recognised they have a part to play in this and we’ll be taking advantage of that recognition.“This is not a new project, it’s been known about for a very long time. It just hasn’t been economic up until now because of the green steel transition.”Alongside obtaining the requisite approvals, Magnetite’s immediate focus is seeking a funding partner to complete a DFS on Razorback. A PFS-level economic assessment was last completed on the project in June 2023, although no estimates for the NPV or IRR were included.The study estimated pre-production capex requirements of $1-1.3 billion for the base-case 5 mtpa operation and $2.3-2.8 billion for the staged expansion to 10 mtpa after five years. Estimated operating costs for the base case fall in the second quartile of global iron ore production but improve to the first quartile under the expansion scenario.“It’s where every producer wants to be to be able to withstand market cycles,” Dobson said.“We’re still yet to complete a DFS but because it’s such a big project, that’s not a cheap undertaking. The other issue with bankable or definitive feasibility studies is they have a shelf life so once you start it, you want to be able to finish it. You don’t want to do half a DFS and then come back a couple of years later and try and finish it once you have more funding.“Our strategy has always been to get the funding that we need to complete the DFS before we start it and that’s part of our ambition with this strategic partnering agenda.”Magnetite previously signed a non-binding heads-of-agreement with JFE Shoji Australia to be potential strategic funding partner for the DFS but those terms lapsed at the end of last year.Dobson said while discussions with other interested parties had slowed in recent times, he remained confident a viable pathway to co-develop Razorback would soon open.“A couple of years ago, we thought it was the year [to secure funding for the DFS] because there was a lot of momentum with the green iron and steel agenda and it was also on the back of the hydrogen production agenda that emerged globally,” he said.“That hydrogen agenda has since backed off and most hydrogen projects have been mothballed. We’ve also seen delays with the green steel transition, but it hasn’t stopped, it’s just slowed down. The urgency for the product that we will produce has shifted out a little bit in time.”Magnetite continues to champion the Green Iron SA consortium which is seeking to establish an export corridor between Razorback and Port Pirie. Other members are engineering firm GHD, port operator Flinders Ports, rail and freight provider Aurizon and the Australian division of Canada Steamship Lines.An engineering study published by the consortium in March confirmed the existing infrastructure and logistics options at Port Pirie would support the proposed export pathway.“This will be a big deal for Port Pirie if it gets legs,” Dobson said.“The Port Pirie council and community have been extremely supportive because it’s very much a one-industry town with a big, 100-year-old lead smelter which, just recently, the Government had to bail out again because it’s a very marginal business.“Having diversity of industry, such as iron ore exports and value-adding into a green iron industry, is being seen very favourably.”While Razorback will remain its flagship asset, Magnetite has started diversifying its focus away from iron ore with exploration for critical minerals and precious metals being undertaken at Ironback Hill and Braemar Creek (rare earths), Manunda North and Manna Hill (gold) and Mutooroo Ridge (copper).“If we weren’t so focused on Razorback, we would probably be going a lot harder at those exploration plays, but we know the value in our stock sits with this massive iron ore resource, which has decades of profitmaking ahead once it’s developed,” Dobson said. – Michael WashbourneMagnetite Mines is on the hunt for funding to complete a DFS on its Razorback iron ore projectRazorback regains its grunt
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 45Upon stepping into the hot seat at Hawsons Iron Ltd almost two years ago, Tom Revy made it clear he would spend a considerable period stripping the company’s namesake project back to its “bare essentials”.The Hawsons magnetite project was at a crossroads when Revy first arrived at the company, initially as chief executive, in May 2024. Despite being adorned with Major Project Status from the Federal Government, it appeared no closer to becoming an operational mine than any other day during the preceding 13 years since the original discovery hole was drilled.Arguably the biggest question mark hanging over the project was whether the proposed wet processing approach remained economically viable, particularly given water continues to be a major constraint for many of its neighbours in the Broken Hill region.Revy dived deep into the company database and unearthed a previous study completed by GHD which all but confirmed water availability was not an issue for the Hawsons project, about 70km south-west of the Broken Hill township.A seasoned metallurgist and process engineer who is no stranger to developing large-scale projects, Revy then decided to investigate whether dry processing would be a more optimal route for the company to consider.“I often say you need to strip development projects back to their bare essentials,” he told Paydirt.“Part of the bare essentials is understanding the geology, how that ties into the mineralogy and how the mineralogy dictates the metallurgy. So, one of the first things I did was to tie those three things together to ensure that what was being considered would in fact be the optimal processing route.“Given water was a fairly large capital component [of the original project design] the question was raised pretty early on when I started, ‘could we not do a large majority of the processing dry?’ – and that took us back to the mineralogy.”Under Revy’s stewardship, the company would scrap the previously planned hydrometallurgical facility, instead favouring a 100% dry primary comminution circuit which would not only reduce water requirements by 60-70% but lower power consumption by an estimated 30%.A PFS released in December cemented dry processing as the company’s preferred operational pathway for the project. Based on the 2.3bt reserve, Hawsons is set to produce 257mt of magnetite concentrate grading 68.6% Fe over 26 years, generating a pre-tax NPV of $1.36 billion and IRR of 10.93%, assuming a $US140/t product price.Total capex for the two-stage construction of the open-cut mine and 100 mtpa processing plant was estimated at $US4.96 billion with payback expected 10.5 years after first production. Other key financial estimates include undiscounted life-of-mine revenue of $55.2 billion, cumulative pre-tax cashflows of $13.1 billion, C1 costs of $US49.34/dmt and a CFR cost of $US89.94/dmt.“It’s been a game-changer moment for us,” Revy said of the latest PFS, which was delivered more than eight years after the original version of the study was published.“What that’s allowed us to do is create a pathway of freeway proportions but what we want to do prior to the commencement of the final feasibility study later this year is reduce that freeway width to a single lane. We’re doing a number of option studies that were identified as part of the PFS and those should be finished in the coming months. “We’ll then start the final feasibility study later this year and it will take us in the order of 15 months to complete.”Almost $4 billion will be spent during Phase 1 construction with the balance of the capex deferred for four years post-production.Revy, who was promoted to the managing director’s seat in November, said the company would soon begin to seek out prospective project financiers and strategic partners in a more formal capacity.“I still believe we’re in that value-adding stage, but we’re not far off that point where we will have de-risked the project to a certain level, which makes us attractive to large players, whether that’s involvement in project finance or whether it’s pre-paid offtake and/or royalty,” he said.“We are constantly asked by market players for material and when we will be in production. There is very high demand and interest in the sort of product we’re talking about producing from Hawsons. We’re getting closer to that point where it would make sense to bring someone in.”While the Hawsons project is geographically located in neighbouring New South Wales, South Australia continues to serve as an important jurisdiction for the company given its product will almost certainly be shipped from one of the key ports in the Festival State.Port Pirie, Whyalla and Port Adelaide remain the leading contenders for the 12 mtpa operation.“We continue to work with Flinders Ports, who really are the port managers in South Australia, in terms of identifying the optimum port for us,” Revy said.“There’s a number of options available to us. Pre-existing rail makes life a little bit easier on that basis. We obviously have to put a spur line and loop from Cockburn, which is within South Australia, through to where we are on site at Hawsons. That’s a 40km-plus rail line and has to accommodate three 1.8km trains per day in terms of material leaving site going to port.“We’ve spoken to a number of groups and they’re all very keen to work with us. They all feel comfortable that our ambition of 10-11 mtpa is infinitely doable.” – Michael WashbourneThe latest Hawsons PFS was based entirely on the 2.3bt iron reserveHawsons adopts dry approach
PAGE 46 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTPacgold joins gold producers clubPacgold Ltd has become South Australia’s newest producer after delivering maiden gold from its White Dam project, 80km east of Broken Hill.Since acquiring the project last October, the company has recommissioned the heap leach operation and now successfully recovered circa 60oz of gold from 14 days of absorption and stripping. Another three strip cycles were planned before the first dore products were scheduled to be smelted and shipped at the end of last month.“The entire team is extremely proud to have achieved our first gold production from the White Dam heap leach pad successfully making the transition from explorer to producer,” Pacgold managing director Matthew Boyes said. “This initial production represents only a small portion of the gold we have leached to date, with the plant now running for a limited time post the completion of major refurbishment of the CIC [carbon-incolumn] columns and the gold room. We are now focused on maximising recovery of the gold already leached in the system and currently recirculating, as we continue to absorb and redistribute the significant water influx from recent heavy rains.”Pacgold will now ramp operations at White Dam to achieve its forecast crushing throughput of 80,000-90,000 tpm. Ore leaching will also continue “unabated” with the majority of plant refurbishment now complete except for construction of a new carbon-in-column tank.North American engineers Newfields are also designing a proposed pad expansion with the work to be finalised by late July, after which Pacgold will tender for the construction and liner installation works.Pacgold expects to deliver full production under its expansion plan in 2027.Maiden drilling beckons for new tin playHeavy Rare Earths Ltd (HRE) is inching closer towards the start of its maiden drilling programme at the South Ridge tin project at Prospect Hill after submitting its environmental application to South Australian regulators last month.The Perth-based company expects to receive a response to its Programme for Environment Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) permitting it to undertake a 2,500m drilling campaign from early month.HRE has already engaged a South Australian-based drilling contractor for the proposed 24-hole RC and five-hole diamond programme at what has been marketed as the largest and most advanced tin project in the State.“We are moving quickly toward our maiden drill campaign,” HRE chair Gabriel Chiappini said.“The updated submission of our PEPR to the Department for Energy and Mining represents a key milestone and we look forward to receiving a response in the coming weeks. “South Australia’s largest and most advanced tin project remains a flagship asset for HRE and we look forward to updating shareholders as we use the drill bit to test and build upon historical data and quickly work toward a maiden tin resource estimate at Prospect Hill.” HRE has also collaboratively closely with the Dieri Aboriginal Corporation, the registered Native Title body corporate representing the Dieri People, to conduct a cultural heritage clearance survey at Prospect Hill. The company indicated the original timing for this clearance as well as its maiden drilling programme were impacted by the weather delays and access to roads earlier this year.Funds flow for Paris silverdevelopmentInvestigator Silver Ltd has raised $55 million to accelerate its flagship Paris project into early works and bring forward the timeline to first silver production.The strategic placement to new and existing institutional investors included participation from the company’s largest shareholder, Jupiter Asset Management, and followed the release of the Paris DFS in early March.Based on a spot price of $US80/oz, the DFS highlighted a pre-tax NPV of $618 million, IRR of 61% and payback within 11 months of first production from the proposed three-phase operation which is forecast to deliver more than 30 moz silver over the estimated 11-year mine life.Development capex was estimated at $260 million.Investigator managing director Lachlan Wallace said the company was delighted to have secured such a quantum of funding within a week of the DFS being released for public consumption.“Since the DFS release, silver has traded above the US$80/oz spot case used in the study, reinforcing the strength of the silver price at a time when international demand continues to strengthen and the lack of near-term silver mines coming online demonstrates the need for high-quality projects like Paris to fill the growing gap in supply,” Wallace said.“Securing this $55 million placement allows us to keep momentum at Paris and along with the completion of the DFS, marks a key step change in focus as Investigator moves straight into execution phase. We will now focus on accelerating early execution activities, strengthen our delivery team, and progress long-lead procurement planning to keep schedule momentum and bring forward first silver production.”Investigator indicated proceeds from the placement will be used to advance to the next level of engineering and design, progress approvals and permitting workstreams, and early contractor engagement, procurement strategy development and tendering of preliminary work packages.Pacgold has started gold production from White DamSOUTH AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 47Renascorreadies to startdemo plantGraphite hopeful Renascor Resources Ltd has completed construction of its downstream demonstration facility in Adelaide.All major process equipment for the company’s purified spherical graphite (PSG) plant was installed and interconnected in mid-March, enabling the facility to transition from pre-commissioning activities to full plant commissioning.The demonstration facility is a key pillar of Renascor’s vertically integrated battery anode material development strategy which incorporates graphite to be mined from its Siviour project near Arno Bay.Once operational, the facility will demonstrate Renascor’s HF-free purification process and position it as a potential alternative supplier to Chinese PSG production.“Achieving construction completion is an important milestone in the development of our integrated battery anode material project. the demonstration facility will enable process validation, customer qualification and further de-risking as we advance toward a final investment decision for our downstream PSG facility,” Renascor managing director David Christensen said.“With construction complete, our focus now shifts to commissioning, operational validation and optimisation as we prepare for commercial-scale production.”The demonstration facility was partially funded by a $5 million grant Renascor received from the Australian Government’s International Partnerships in Critical Minerals Programme in July 2024.Meanwhile, the company has reported encouraging drilling results from Bulloo Creek at its Olary project where cobalt and copper-bearing mineralisation was intersected.Best hits included 16m @ 901 ppm cobalt from 85m (including 1m @ 1,440 ppm cobalt and 1m @ 1,840 ppm copper), 1m @ 3,110 ppm copper from 20m and 1m @ 1,890 ppm copper from 91m.“Renascor continues to advance a pipeline of exploration opportunities across South Australia,” Christensen said.“The Bulloo Creek drilling results, together with our expanding footprint in the Olary district and ongoing work at Marree, Wooltana and Tumby Bay, highlight the breadth of opportunity within our exploration portfolio. These initiatives provide shareholders with additional low-cost exposure to potential discoveries while we remain focused on delivering our battery anode materials project.”Alligator makes huge bite inuraniumrecovery trialAlligator Energy Ltd has reported a promising start to the first well pattern at its Samphire uranium project field recovery trial.Uranium extraction began on March 23 with 39 of planned 70 pore volumes completed by April 10.The company said the results to date demonstrated performance consistent with its models and supported the assumptions previously outlined in its 2023 scoping study.Pregnant lixiviant grades produced from the wellfield peak at more than 200 mg/L uranium and remain above 100 mg/L, based on assays from the on-site laboratory.Uranium recovery has also exceeded 55% from the 39 pore volumes processed to date, indicating consistent leaching performance and ongoing mobilisation of uranium within the wellfield.Results obtained from the on-site laboratory are currently being validated by duplicate assay at a NATA-certified external laboratory, with more detailed results to be released in due course.“We are delighted with these results, which represents a strong validation of the wellfield design and operating assumptions outlined in our scoping study,” Alligator managing director Andrea MarslandSmith said.“Achieving greater than 55% recovery at this stage of the trial, with reagent consumption in line with expectations, demonstrates the effectiveness of the ISR process under field conditions. Importantly, we are seeing consistent solution flow and wellfield performance, which gives us confidence as we progress towards the planned 70 pore volumes and continue to optimise recovery.”Renascor has completed construction of its downstream graphite demonstration plantAlligator has completed 39 of the planned 70 pore volumes for its field recovery trial at the Samphire uranium project
PAGE 48 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTCopper-silver refocus liftsElizabeth Creek economicsCoda Minerals Ltd is at the business end of a PFS on its Elizabeth Creek project after two years of iterations to shift into a copper-silver flowsheet capturing price momentum in both commodities. The PFS is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and will be complemented by an increase in copper and silver recoveries based on a simplified processing flowsheet of copper-silver from the original copper-cobalt-silver concept. Using two whole-ore leach techniques on material from the Emmie Bluff deposit, Coda achieved 92.5% and 95% recoveries from catalysed ammonia leach and ammonium chloride leach test work in mid-2025, prompting a recalculation of the project economics for Elizabeth Creek. Decreases to capex and opex lifted production estimates to 454,000t copper and 20 moz silver with steady state production of about 31,000 tpa copper and 1 mozpa silver. The results triggered an $8.33 million raising in September to fast-track the PFS with $5 million spent on a 6,000-7,000m diamond drilling infill programme.An updated resource will ensue from the results, feeding into a rebuilt mine plan and subsequent reserve.Coda chief executive Chris Stevens said the breakthrough was “possibly the most significant advance in the history of Elizabeth Creek”.“Recovery optimisation has always been the single biggest lever we can pull, and these results show just how much value this work has unlocked,” Stevens said.“The fact that copper and silver alone now deliver stronger economics on a likefor-like basis compared with our previous base case producing all three metals [copper, silver and cobalt] from the outset is very encouraging. This simplifies and streamlines the project using a base case flowsheet based on well-established technology.”On the back of rapidly increasing copper and silver spot prices Coda also reevaluated the economics of Elizabeth Creek which were based on the estimates of the August 2025 scoping study. The copper price assumption was updated to $US10,500/t from $US9,260/t while silver was updated to $US60/oz from $US30/oz for a pre-tax NPV of about $2.25 billion, and an IRR of 56%.Payback was also revised to 2.5 years from first production. With completion of the PFS locked in, Coda is expected to approach the market again to fund the next stage of development.“I do have really good relationships with a range of groups from north-east Asian groups through to North American and British hedge funds,” Stevens told Paydirt. “There’s a lot of different commercial discussions that are ongoing.”While a JV or offtake is not off the cards, Stevens prefaced the option with a requirement for funding.“I don’t like offtake because you are giving away your most valuable thing,” he said. “We’re in a fundamentally strong position that we don’t need to do that at the moment, hopefully we never will and that gives us more options. But I wouldn’t do any kind of JV or offtake without having a serious path to funding – I do think a lot of people get it wrong in the industry.” Following the release of the PFS, Coda will lock in the results of the revised flowsheets through further assessment of the metallurgical test work.– Rhonda Malkin Coda has set an end-of-year deadline for its PFS at Elizabeth Creek projectSOUTH AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MAY 2026 PAGE 49Australian mines in ECT tidy upEnvironmental Clean Technologies Ltd (ECT) has cleared a key IP hurdle in its mission to clean up “forever chemicals” at mine sites in Australia.ECT last month expanded its agreement with Rice University to work on ways to apply a proprietary treatment method known as flash joule heating (FJH) to filtration media, expanding on the existing agreement which was limited to soil contaminated with PFAS (per- and polyflouroalkyl substances).PFAS are a group of chemicals used in the manufacture of food packaging and cookware but also in firefighting foams commonly used at industrial and mine sites. Rules designed to stop environmental contamination from PFAS are becoming stricter across the globe including in Australia, where the import, export, use and manufacture of a broad range of these substances will be banned from July.PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” due to their strong carbon-fluorine bonds, which make them difficult to breakdown. They have been linked to a range of health problems such as infertility, kidney/liver malfunction, thyroid damage and cancer.The expanded IP agreement with Rice allows ECT to target a material widely used to remove PFAS from contaminated water called granular activated carbon (GAC).GAC is a cost-effective way to remove the PFAS from water used in the froth flotation processing method – commonly applied to sulphide ores in the extraction of copper, lead, zinc, nickel, molybdenum and antimony. ECT chief technology officer Justin Sharp told Paydirt several Australian mining companies were eager to explore the application of the technique. Sharp said one of FJH’s key advantages involved weaknesses in the methods used to dispose of GAC once PFAS have been captured.“GAC is typically transported to waste management sites which use incinerators to do thermal desorption,” Sharpe said. “They use heat to remove the PFAS from the GAC while trying retain as much of the GAC as possible so it can be sent back to the water treatment plant to be reused. But, incinerators are getting shutdown worldwide because when they do this thermal desorption, PFAS are released into the air.“With FJH, the PFAS gets destroyed. The low temperature thermal desorption processes don’t actually get rid of the PFAS, they produce hydrofluoric acid [HF] along with destroying the PFAS – HF is one of the worst contaminants possible when it comes into contact with people.“FJH heats the soil or GAC to 1,000ºC and breaks the carbon-fluorine bond. The carbon becomes neutral, inert and non-toxic. The fluorine will combine with calcium or sodium naturally found in soil, forming non-toxic calcium or sodium fluoride salts. This is how fluoride is found in nature – in these salts in the ground.”Most soils contain enough calcium and/or sodium to effectively neutralise the resultant fluoride from FJH processing and Sharpe said the addition of calcium and/or sodium as a final step to the GAC process would not present much of a hurdle, owing to their relatively low cost and high availability.European companies had been surprisingly reluctant to engage with ECT in its hunt for a strategic partner but, Sharp said Australian miners were eager to stay ahead of anticipated regulatory changes.“There are a lot of companies that need this type of solution to that step in the GAC filtration process worldwide so right now we are talking to people from Australia, the US, the Netherlands,” he said. “They have been asking if we have this figured out yet and we have, so it’s now a matter of building the pilot scale project – that is what we are seeking to partner on. “There are two techniques we are looking to move forward with on. The initial publication I worked on at Rice was called direct FJH, which was essentially two electrodes with the GAC material between them. You pass current directly through the GAC between the electrodes to heat it up – the PFAS are thermally disrupted.“The other method we have been eyeballing more closely is basically an ex-situ version of our soil remediation system we are already developing.”Sharp also hinted the company planned to investigate more effective PFAS filtration techniques.“GAC is the most commonly used water treatment media worldwide, it costs something like $US0.12/kg which is good because it acts as a really good adsorbent,” Sharp said. “It has a more difficult time capturing the shorter chain PFAS which slip through easier. There is lot of research going into a filtration media or membrane that could capture those short chain PFAS. “Stay tuned, there are some announcements coming in the near future that could help out with that.” – Michael CameronSUSTAINABILITYRice University agreed to expand research into the flash joule heating method for capturing PFAS chemicals from flotation processing
We Build, We Maintain, We ExcelTough projects, in tough places,delivered by tough peoplewww.myraagroup.comWe prioritise local hiring, skills transfer, and longterm employmentopportunities.Empowering communities through training,mentorship, and realindustry experience.We partner with local suppliers andsubcontractors tomaximise regional [email protected] 50 MAY 2026 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRTSUSTAINABILITYNow established as one of the must-attend functions on the Tanzanian mining calendar, the Pre-IWD ball was established to recognise the role women play in the East African country’s resources sector but according to Pre-IWD founder and Azurite Management & Consultancy executive director Christer Mhingo, it has taken on much greater importance.“It’s not just about celebrating women succeeding today; it’s about creating pathways that enable women who have stood at the margins to step forward as suppliers, leaders, and decision-makers simply because they were given the opportunity,” Mhingo said. The foundation, established by ASXlisted graphite developer EcoGraf Ltd, has implemented capacity-building programmes across Tanzania’s key mining regions, engaging local communities and stakeholders with a focus on empower female participation and leadership.This year’s event – for which Paydirtand Africa Down Under sponsored a group of 10 mining students – included awards for leadership, entrepreneurism, CSR and innovation. Guest of honour at this year’s event was Hon Steven Kiruswa, Tanzania’s Deputy Minister of Minerals.Tanzania’s mining and business community came together to celebrate International Women’s Day in March with the third edition of the Pre-IWD event in Dar es SalaamAzurite Management and EcoGraf’s Pre-IWD event in Dar es Salaam has become a key date on the Tanzanian mining calendar and a catalyst for greater female participation in the sector