Resources Top 5: Gold diversification puts light at the end of tunnel for Uvre
Xanadu Mines has soared after fielding an off-market takeover offer from Bastion Mining
Brightstar has upgraded gold resources at key deposits in the Laverton and Menzies hub
Your standout resources stocks for Monday, May 19, 2025
Uvre (ASX:UVA)
With a shift in focus to gold at a time of strong prices, uranium and lithium explorer Uvre has been a strong mover, rising as much as 22.35% to 11.5c.
This comes after the company signed a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Minerals Exploration and its wholly-owned subsidiary Otagold, which holds a portfolio of five exploration and prospecting permits in New Zealand.
The acquisition is subject to completion of several conditions, including due diligence on MEL and Otagold and the permits held by Otagold.
It is also contingent on Uvre (ASX:UVA) raising at least $4m in a single tranche share placement at 8c per share, managed by Bell Potter Securities.
UVA has secured firm commitments for its equity raise following a strongly supported bookbuild, with incoming directors Norman Seckold and Peter Nightingale – both major shareholders of MEL – committing $500,000 and $100,000 respectively, pending shareholder approval.
As full consideration, Uvre will issue 75m fully paid ordinary shares at 8c per share, valuing the transaction at $6m.
Seckold was previously chairman of New Zealand gold developer Santana Minerals (ASX:SMI) and is currently chairman of Alpha HPA (ASX:A4N), Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC), Fulcrum Lithium (ASX:FUL) and Sky Metals (ASX:SKY).
Otagold controls a strategic landholding with 100% ownership of five permits and applications covering 332km2 of highly prospective ground.
Its flagship asset is the Waitekauri gold project, roughly 8km west of OceanaGold Corp's 10Moz Waihi gold mine on New Zealand's North Island.
UVA executive chairman Brett Mitchell said this transaction was an exceptional opportunity for Uvre on several levels.
'Norm and Peter will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in the resources business, along with a track record of creating substantial shareholder value through resource asset exploration and project development,' he said.
'The Otagold projects led by Waitekauri have compelling gold exploration upside in a tier-one jurisdiction, as shown by the extensive mineralisation and drilling targets already identified.
'The combination of Norman's well-known record in building successful mining projects combined with the talented Uvre team, the immense exploration upside at these projects and the strong financial position which will follow the placement will leave Uvre very well-placed to create significant value."
UVA will be targeting bonanza style gold-silver low sulphidation veins with the objective to identify a multi-million-ounce resource.
An eight-hole drill program has been designed with landowner compensation agreement completed and significant potential identified at depth and along strike.
UVA shares settled at 10c, up 6.4%, but well above the 8c issue price of the raising and deal.
Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM)
ASX and TSX listed Mongolian copper-gold explorer Xanadu Mines has soared 55% to 7.9c on volume of more than 74m after fielding an off-market takeover offer from Bastion Mining Pte Ltd.
A Bid Implementation Agreement has been entered by the parties and this comes after the offer was recommended unanimously by an XAM Takeover Board Committee.
Bastion represents a consortium of Boroo Pte Ltd, a private Singapore-incorporated entity which invests in major gold projects internationally, and Xanadu director Ganbayar Lkhagvasuren.
The offer price of A$0.08 cash per share represents a 57% premium to Xanadu's closing price of 5.1c on May 16, 2025, and 62% to its 10-day volume weighted average price of 4.9c up to and including May 16.
This offer implies a total equity value for Xanadu of A$160m, excluding the proposed share issue to Bastion.
Bastion will subscribe for 286,829,633 shares in Xanadu at A$0.06 per share, representing an initial investment of A$17.2 million to fund the company's share of joint venture cash calls, working capital and associated corporate costs during the offer period.
Boroo's key assets include Lagunas Norte, a producing gold mine in Peru and a portfolio of development-stage projects in South America.
Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM) has a suite of Mongolian exploration plays with the most advanced being the global-scale Kharmagtai copper-gold project held with 50-50 JV partner Zijin Mining Group.
The Takeover Board Committee, together with XAM's legal and financial advisers, recommend that shareholders accept the offer in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to the Independent Expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the offer is fair and reasonable.
'The proposed acquisition of Xanadu by Bastion is aligned with the company's strategy of generating returns for shareholders and also providing a liquidity event,' Xanadu executive chairman and managing director Colin Moorhead said.
'Bastion's offer provides Xanadu shareholders with an attractive premium, which recognises the company's inherent value and considerable achievements in progressing the Kharmagtai copper-gold project,' he said.
'Together with my partners at Boroo, I am pleased to be making this supported offer to Xanadu shareholders,' said Ganbayar Lkhagvasuren, on behalf of Bastion.
'The Bastion offer provides Xanadu shareholders with the certainty of cash at a significant premium to Xanadu's share price, against a market backdrop of considerable uncertainty. 'Bastion is ideally positioned to advance Kharmagtai to the next stage of development with the benefit of Boroo's experience in acquiring, financing and developing mining operations in Mongolia.'
CAAF Ltd, Xanadu's largest independent shareholder which holds a relevant interest in the company of 11.85%, has stated its intention to accept the offer.
Bastion has agreed that once it acquires a relevant interest in at least 50.1% of the shares in Xanadu it will declare the offer unconditional.
Upgraded resources at key deposits within the Laverton and Menzies hubs of Brightstar Resources in WA's Goldfields have seen shares push 7.98% higher to 74.5c.
They later settled up 2.2%.
The resource estimates come ahead of a definitive feasibility study and are set to underpin future mining operations.
The most noteworthy upgrades are a 34% increase in total measured and indicated resources at the Lord Byron deposit to 251,000oz at 1.5g/t gold along with a 25% increase in resource grade at the Lady Shenton system to 273,000oz at 1.5/t gold.
Cork Tree Well has also seen total indicated ounces increase 6% to 292,000oz at 1.4g/t gold while total resources at Fish deposit have increased 22% to 49,000oz at 4g/t gold.
Resource grade at the Second Fortune underground mine increased 23% to 40,000oz at 13.4g/t gold while the Link Zone deposit has seen total resources upgraded 38% to 29,000oz at 1g/t gold.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) managing director Alex Rovira said the 2024 drilling was aimed at preparing the deposits for near-term development and dependable, deliverable mining operations.
'The infill drilling, both RC and DD, has provided increased confidence across the deposits and reduced geological risks for future mining, which will be crucial as Brightstar looks to progress the deposits toward production,' he said.
'This update features Brightstar's first resource estimates for several of the recently acquired deposits across the portfolio.
'It is therefore particularly encouraging to see these results, which include increases in head-grade and measured & Iindicated classification, considering the utilisation of Brightstar's robust in-house mining-focused estimation parameters.'
The company already has more than 1Moz of gold in high confidence measured and indicated resources with +300,000oz in producing or near-term deposits such as Second Fortune, Fish and Lord Byron at Laverton as well as Lady Shenton and Link Zone at Menzies.
A steady mover has been Resource Mining Corporation with an exploration and development update for the Mpanda copper-gold project being the catalyst for another 22% increase to 2.8c.
After a positive update from the Tanzanian project on May 13, shares have climbed from 0.6c and this prompted a price and volume query from the ASX.
Previous results from the project have returned impressive gold and copper grades from rock samples up to 36.7g/t gold and 11.89g/t copper from Kabungu and 13.58% copper and 3.24g/t gold from Stalike.
Analysis of copper-gold auger and soil samples is progressing focused on Stalike and Kabungu prospects.
Multiple small-scale mines form a northwest-southeast trend which combined with soil geochemistry and rock and drilling results, extends more than 40km.
Ten prospects make up the Mpanda Project and the company believes results to date provide an indicator of the presence of an extensive mineralised system.
There have been 16 rock chip samples from small-scale mines gathered within RMC's tenements with five samples exceeding 11g/t gold and two exceeding 10% copper from the Kabungu prospect.
As well as ongoing exploration, RMC is assessing near-term production opportunities at Stalike and Kabungu by utilising nearby existing third-party processing infrastructure.
'Renewed investor interest in RMC in the past week has been very encouraging following our recent update of ongoing exploration activities,' executive chairman Asimwe Kabunga said.
'These works are ongoing and will help form the basis for a more structured and targeted low-cost drill program that we can execute in the near-term once we complete the current sampling program.
'As well as our exploration activities, given the extensive small-scale workings located across our Stalike and Kabungu projects where local miners have exploited the near-surface material, RMC is uniquely positioned to accelerate development of its own mineral production operations without extensive capex.'
Raiden Resources (ASX:RDN)
Investors have shown their approval of initial assay results from ongoing 2025 Phase 2 diamond drilling program on the Vuzel Gold Project of Raiden Resources in south-eastern Bulgaria, with shares 75% higher at 0.7c.
All eight Phase 2 holes at Vuzel hit near-surface gold and significant intersections include:
24.8m at 1.96g/t gold from 0m, including 13.3m at 3.40g/t from 0m;
56m at 1.09g/t Au from 0m, including 8m at 1.50g/t from 7m and 8.3m at 4.94g/t from 47.7m; and
47.5m at 0.53g/t Au from 2.5m.
Results indicate that Vuzel may host an extensive, near-surface mineralised gold system with a high-grade component.
'I am pleased to report that all assay results received to date from the second phase of the Vuzel drilling campaign have confirmed significant gold mineralisation, extending over a meaningful strike length and width,' managing director Dusko Ljubojevic said.
'These results build on the strong foundation of our maiden drilling program, which also intersected gold mineralisation in every hole.
'Importantly, this phase has delivered high-grade intercepts and has significantly improved our understanding of the controlling structures that acted as conduits for fluid emplacement.
'This growing geological insight is expected to enable more precise targeting of high-grade zones in future drilling.
'We believe that recent transactions in the region support management's view that discoveries in the district hold the potential for significant value generation for shareholders.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
16 minutes ago
- The Age
Firehouse pub sale to raze the roof as long-time owner sounds siren for last drinks
Motel Molly, at 2 Shepherd Street, is a boutique, near-beachfront accommodation hotel featuring 16 rooms. The previous owners, the Knox Group, opened the doors in the past few months of 2022 after a comprehensive refurbishment. In Sydney's eastern suburbs, the 42-room, six-storey boutique accommodation asset, UME Potts Point at 39A Elizabeth Bay Road, has been sold to Carpe Diem Partners, which recently bought the sister boutique site, UME Potts Point, for about $7.98 million. The private fund is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Simon Wheatley and will add to its growing portfolio, which has a focus on developing more assets in the burgeoning co-living property sector. The combined Mollymook and Potts Point sales were worth about $20 million. HTL Property's Andrew Jolliffe and Andrew Jackson advised on the sales, while Ray White Commercial also worked on the Potts Point deal. Ampol HQ Fuel refiner and retailer Ampol is raising cash through the sale of headquarters in the heart of Sydney's south with a price tag of about $100 million. The 9475-square-metre site at 29 Bourke Street, Alexandria, covers four levels with a six-year lease to the group. There is an architecturally designed atrium, advanced end-of-trip facilities and a six-star NABERS Energy rating. The Colliers team of Michael Crombie, Adam Woodward, James Mitchell and Gillian Kaplan are advising on the sale. Ampol is also selling a portfolio of 13 development sites around the country. Included is a mix of metropolitan and regional locations, spanning five states with sites ranging from 1265 sq m to 3073 sq m. Included are properties Tumbarumba, NSW, and Portland, Victoria. They are undeveloped and come with flexible zoning in many locations. The ASX-listed group told investors on Wednesday that its first-half earnings before interest and taxes were expected to total $400 million, compared with $502.1 million reported last year. It said tighter refining margins and a 6.1 per cent fall in first-half sales volumes during the period were partly offset by stronger sales in its convenience retail operations. The portfolio is being sold by Cushman & Wakefield's Queensland-based Daniel Cullinane. Area 53 deal Known as Area 53, the 6.5-hectare site dedicated to life science and innovations in Sydney's north has been bought by joint-venture partners Wentworth Capital and BlackRock for $200 million. The property at 5-11 and 14 Julius Avenue, North Ryde, was the former home to CSIRO for nearly 60 years and other government tenants and is located within the Macquarie Park Innovation district, which is home to medical/pharma businesses including AstraZeneca and Cochlear. It comprises 12,000 square meters of purpose-built laboratory space alongside 40,000 square meters of surplus developable land. There is a 95 per cent occupancy of which government tenants account for 70 per cent of rental income.
Sydney Morning Herald
16 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
ASX set to slide, Wall Street mixed; Tesla falls, Alphabet surges
Wall Street is hanging near its records on Thursday, though the calm surface of the US stock market is hiding some roiling moves underneath. Alphabet is rising, and Tesla is tumbling following a jumble of profit reports from big US companies. The S&P 500 was 0.3 per cent higher in afternoon trading, coming off its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones was down 174 points, or 0.4 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4 per cent higher. The Australian sharemarket is set to retreat, with futures at pointing to a fall of 33 points, or 0.4 per cent, at the open. The ASX lost 0.8 per cent on Thursday. Alphabet climbed 1.9 per cent after the company behind Google and YouTube delivered a fatter profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It's leaning more into artificial-intelligence technology and said it's increasing its budget to spend on AI chips and other investments this year by $US10 billion ($15.2 bilion) to $US85 billion. That helped push up other stocks in the AI industry, including a 1.1 per cent rise for Nvidia. The chip company was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 because it's the largest on Wall Street in terms of value. But an 8.8 per cent drop for Tesla kept the market in check. Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company reported results for the spring that were roughly in line with or above analysts' expectations, and Musk is trying to highlight Tesla's moves into AI and robotaxis. Loading The focus, though, remains on how Musk's foray into politics is turning off potential customers, and he said several rough quarters may be ahead as 'we're in this weird transition period where we'll lose a lot of incentives in the US' Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation. The record-setting gains have been so strong that criticism is rising about how expensive stock prices have become. That in turn puts pressure on companies to deliver solid growth in profits in order to justify their gains. Chipotle Mexican Grill also helped weigh on the market despite delivering a profit for the spring that topped analysts' expectations. The restaurant chain's growth in revenue came up short of expectations, and its stock fell 13.8 per cent.
Sydney Morning Herald
16 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Firehouse pub sale to raze the roof as long-time owner sounds siren for last drinks
Motel Molly, at 2 Shepherd Street, is a boutique, near-beachfront accommodation hotel featuring 16 rooms. The previous owners, the Knox Group, opened the doors in the past few months of 2022 after a comprehensive refurbishment. In Sydney's eastern suburbs, the 42-room, six-storey boutique accommodation asset, UME Potts Point at 39A Elizabeth Bay Road, has been sold to Carpe Diem Partners, which recently bought the sister boutique site, UME Potts Point, for about $7.98 million. The private fund is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Simon Wheatley and will add to its growing portfolio, which has a focus on developing more assets in the burgeoning co-living property sector. The combined Mollymook and Potts Point sales were worth about $20 million. HTL Property's Andrew Jolliffe and Andrew Jackson advised on the sales, while Ray White Commercial also worked on the Potts Point deal. Ampol HQ Fuel refiner and retailer Ampol is raising cash through the sale of headquarters in the heart of Sydney's south with a price tag of about $100 million. The 9475-square-metre site at 29 Bourke Street, Alexandria, covers four levels with a six-year lease to the group. There is an architecturally designed atrium, advanced end-of-trip facilities and a six-star NABERS Energy rating. The Colliers team of Michael Crombie, Adam Woodward, James Mitchell and Gillian Kaplan are advising on the sale. Ampol is also selling a portfolio of 13 development sites around the country. Included is a mix of metropolitan and regional locations, spanning five states with sites ranging from 1265 sq m to 3073 sq m. Included are properties Tumbarumba, NSW, and Portland, Victoria. They are undeveloped and come with flexible zoning in many locations. The ASX-listed group told investors on Wednesday that its first-half earnings before interest and taxes were expected to total $400 million, compared with $502.1 million reported last year. It said tighter refining margins and a 6.1 per cent fall in first-half sales volumes during the period were partly offset by stronger sales in its convenience retail operations. The portfolio is being sold by Cushman & Wakefield's Queensland-based Daniel Cullinane. Area 53 deal Known as Area 53, the 6.5-hectare site dedicated to life science and innovations in Sydney's north has been bought by joint-venture partners Wentworth Capital and BlackRock for $200 million. The property at 5-11 and 14 Julius Avenue, North Ryde, was the former home to CSIRO for nearly 60 years and other government tenants and is located within the Macquarie Park Innovation district, which is home to medical/pharma businesses including AstraZeneca and Cochlear. It comprises 12,000 square meters of purpose-built laboratory space alongside 40,000 square meters of surplus developable land. There is a 95 per cent occupancy of which government tenants account for 70 per cent of rental income.
