Latest news with #LachlanFoldBelt
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Explorers Podcast: LinQ Minerals targets tier-1 gold-copper in the Lachlan Fold Belt
Stockhead's 'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald is back in the studio for another instalment of The Explorers Podcast. In this edition, Barry chats with LinQ Minerals (ASX:LNQ) executive chairman Clive Donner about the company's flagship Gilmore Gold-Copper Project in NSW's prolific Lachlan Fold Belt after making its recent entrance onto the ASX. Donner outlines LinQ's vast 60km mineralised belt, an already eye-opening established 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper resource, and plans for a 16,000 metre drill program focused on near-surface opportunities and the deeper porphyry targets characteristic of a region largely under sway of the majors. Backed by a technically experienced team and favourable market conditions, LinQ is positioning itself as a serious new copper-gold contender, so tune in to hear how the company plans to make its mark in a valley of the giants. Listen to this episode to learn more. This podcast was developed in collaboration with LinQ Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
News.com.au
13-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
The treasure the big boys left behind in NSW's Lachlan Fold Belt
Alkane's Boda find put the Lachlan Fold Belt back on the map in 2019. Today, with better geological models and modern exploration, smart capital is flowing into the region The Macquarie Arc, east of the Lachlan Fold Belt, is Australia's leading porphyry belt and home to major mines It is also home to a new generation of ASX juniors including Magmatic Resources and Waratah Minerals, with many others close by looking for the next major gold-copper discovery Rising copper prices, gold's stellar run and some of the world's most promising geology have created the perfect storm for investors willing to bet on Aussie juniors, proving that sometimes the best opportunities are the ones hiding in your own backyard. Alkane Resources' (ASX:ALK) Boda discovery put NSW's Lachlan Fold Belt on the map a few years ago before the region seemingly slipped back into the shadows. But smart money is returning to the fold, with new technology and geological understanding triggering a fresh wave of companies keen on chasing the region's staggering gold and copper bounty. More than 110Moz of gold discoveries have been made in the area to-date in and around the Central Lachlan and Cobar mineralised districts. To the east of the Lachlan Fold Belt is the Macquarie Arc, which has been described as Australia's foremost porphyry belt, home to powerhouse mines like Evolution Mining's (ASX:EVN) Northparkes and Cowal mines, and Newmont Corporation's (ASX:NEM) Cadia-Ridgeway (the second largest gold mine in Australia after its Boddington operation in WA's South West). The western reaches of the Lachlan Fold Belt host the Cobar Superbasin, where MAC Copper (ASX:MAC) acquired Australia's highest-grade copper mine, the CSA mine, for US$1.1 billion from Glencore and is now selling it for a similar price to South Africa's Harmony Gold. Consolidation and M&A Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) acquired its Lachlan Belt portfolio in 2014 from Gold Fields at a time of peak consolidation in the area, when major mining companies were realigning their portfolios in a weak gold price environment. Notable transactions included Rio Tinto's 2013 sale of its 80% stake in the Northparkes copper-gold mine (Sumitomo owned and continue to own 20%) to China Molybdenum for US$820m and Barrick Gold's 2015 divestment of the Cowal gold mine to Evolution Mining for US$550m. Cowal's resource base stood at 3.4Moz when Evolution acquired it. Today that figure has nearly tripled to 9Moz. By 2023, Newmont had acquired Newcrest Mining in a US$16.8 billion deal, drawn largely by the world-class Cadia Valley mine, which contains 17Moz of gold and 3.6Mt of copper in ore reserves. Later that year, Evolution Mining purchased China Molybdenum's 80% interest in the Northparkes copper-gold mine for US$475m. In an interview with Stockhead, MAG managing director David Richardson said Gold Fields had been actively exploring the region in search of tier-1 discoveries, assembling a portfolio of projects that shared key geological features with major nearby mines. As most major players began stepping back from greenfields exploration to concentrate on near-mine development, Barrick offloaded several gold assets in Western Australia to Gold Fields, an opportunity that ultimately enabled Magmatic to secure their Lachlan Fold Belt projects. 'We believed there would be a gold and copper recovery, and if you wanted to find a tier-1 gold-copper project, the East Lachlan offered the greatest potential,' Richardson said. 'Importantly, the Cadia, Northparkes and Cowal mines are all on the region's two volcanic belts, and Gold Fields' portfolio was on these volcanic belts and in close proximity to these mines. 'Gold Fields had spent ~A$14m on exploration including detailed geophysics, geochemical and target generation drilling so we were able to acquire advanced exploration projects with a list of ranked targets,' he added. Peaks and troughs While Magmatic were lucky enough to inherit Gold Fields' exploration office in Orange, Richardson said having a portfolio of tier-1 projects (comprising the Wellington North, Parkes, Myall and Moorefield assets) comes with its challenges as a junior explorer. 'The last 10 years has been difficult for junior explorers to raise money and gain shareholder traction, plus porphyry copper-gold deposits are known for their large size and low grade, making them harder to develop,' he said. 'We knew we had to focus on the two smaller projects, while advancing our larger projects to a stage they would be attractive to majors.' At IPO in May 2017, the company ventured its Parkes project with JOGMEC, the Japanese governments resources agency, which Richardson said largely kept it going during the lean years of 2017-2020. 'As a small company we were nimble and able to pivot our focus on our Wellington North project post Alkane's Boda discovery, and our exploration there has developed multiple exciting prospects,' he added. The company decided to demerge its subsidiary Australian Gold and Copper (ASX:AGC), which contained the Moorefield asset, and acquired two complementary projects before listing AGC on the ASX. It then undertook a major drilling campaign at the Myall project and defined a resource of 293,000t of copper, 237,000oz of gold and 2.8Moz of silver, equating to 354,000t of copper metal equivalent. 'We believed we needed a partner to further develop Myall, so in March 2024 after an expression of interest process we successfully attracted Fortescue subsidiary FMG Resources and agreed a farm-in/joint venture agreement,' Richardson said. 'In the past 12 months we have put over $2m into the ground advancing the project with Magmatic as operator. 'Our approach has been to try and advance all of our projects at the same time, recognising which projects we go alone on and which projects need a partner. 'At all times being nimble enough to put focus on a project given exploration success or other opportunities such as the recovery in the copper price.' That conviction has certainly paid off, with historically strong gold, silver and copper prices all boding well for Myall's future development. Other ASX explorers in the hood Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM) is another explorer in the area, focusing its exploration work along the margins of a major intrusive complex which hadn't been focused on at the Spur project, despite it being an important setting of major deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Spur sits within 5km of Newmont's Cadia Valley gold and copper operations and, according to Waratah, is a perfect example of both epithermal and porphyry styles of mineralisation. 'Often in districts around the Macquarie Arc you'll see one or the other dominating, here we see evidence for both, and the hypothesis is that there is a connection genetically and spatially between the two styles of mineralisation,' Waratah MD Peter Duerden previously told Stockhead. A three-rig drilling campaign, backed by an $8.4m capital raise in May, is currently underway focusing on the Spur gold corridor where epithermal gold mineralisation has been mapped 1km along strike. Additional drilling will also continue to investigate the Breccia West prospect, where the nature of mineralisation host rock and assay intercepts show strong similarities to the nearby Ridgeway deposit. Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) has started drilling at the Glenlogan JV project with S2 Resources (ASX:S2R) in its search for Cadia-style porphyry mineralisation. Glenlogan is less than 55km from the Newmont's Cadia (~50Moz gold, 10Mt copper) and was last explored by Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) in 1996. S2 is now drilling a 600-800m diamond hole to test several coincident geophysical anomalies identified in recent surveys consistent with porphyry style mineralisation. Assays will likely take a further three to four weeks after the completion of the hole. And Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB) owns about 1580km2 of granted exploration licences in the region, making it one of the most significant landholders in the belt. At its Prince of Wales project, the company has uncovered a large +2.5km-long gold in soil anomaly at the Back Station Creek prospect. Averaging more than six parts per billion gold with a peak value of 112ppb, the most recent rock chips from the project have outlined large-scale epithermal or porphyry gold and copper targets that have never been drilled. An ~800m by 300m gold-in-soil anomaly above 6ppb with peak gold grades of 349ppb has also been picked up at Sybil, meaning Koonenberry has now defined two separate trends within the landholding. With a cash balance of $10.35m, the company is focused on refining drill targets across multiple projects, including the Junee and Fairholme JVs where the world's biggest gold miner – Newmont – is spending millions on exploration. And the latest mover in the State's Macquarie Arc is 2025 IPO LinQ Minerals (ASX:LNQ), which raised $10m to out towards drilling at the 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper Gilmore project, home to Gidjinbung, a major epithermal gold deposit near Temora last mined in 1996 when gold prices were ~$460/oz and undrilled since 2001. LinQ appointed drill contractor Drillit to conduct the first stage of drilling focused initially on Gidginbung and the Dam porphyry deposits (combined 1.2Moz gold, 120,000t copper).
News.com.au
24-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
IPO Watch: Missing LinQ in Macquarie Arc's gold chain to float on ASX
LinQ Minerals will be the first new gold float on the ASX in 2025 It has raised $10m in an IPO to bring the 3.7Moz gold, 1.2Mt copper Gilmore project in NSW to public life Flagship Gidginbung mine last operated in 1996, when gold was trading 10x lower than today The curse has finally lifted after a year nearly devoid of public floats, with what will astonishingly be the first original gold IPO on the ASX coming to market as soon as Friday. New South Wales gold and copper explorer LinQ Minerals is poised to make a run for the ASX boards after finalising a $10 million raising, pulling in $16.3m in applications for an offer that pulled around a dozen international and domestic institutions onto its register. The selling point is a project – Gilmore – hosting the fifth largest porphyry gold and copper resource in the famed Macquarie Arc of the Lachlan Fold Belt, its 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper resource eclipsed only – on public disclosures – by the world class Cadia, Cowal and Northparkes gold and copper mines, and the Boda gold-copper porphyry deposit. All four are owned by major or established gold miners – $102 billion capped Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM), $16bn Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) and $450m Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK). By contrast LinQ will list with an enterprise value of just $25m and realistic hopes of reviving deposits untouched since 1996. Exec chair Clive Donner said Gilmore was a "real sleeper that nobody's even aware of". "We're in a district with large majors who are operating, suddenly coming to the market with a 60km belt of which 40km are on strike of 20 plus targets, plus six JORC deposits," he told Stockhead. "We're not necessarily a small explorer. Most of the explorers in the Macquarie Arc have basically got no resources and they're valued anywhere between $25 and $100 million." Prized possession Gilmore boasts a resource, tabled last year by LinQ from historic data, of 516Mt at 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper. That includes a 469Mt sulphide porphyry copper and gold mineral resource estimate running at 0.2g/t Au and 0.2% Cu for 2.57Moz gold and 1.15Mt copper, 35Mt in sulphide resources at 0.8g/t Au and 0.1% Cu for 840,000oz and 20,000t and 12Mt in oxides at 0.7g/t Au and 0.1% Cu for 250,000oz and 10,000t. The immediate value generator is the Gidginbung and Dam deposits, referred to by LinQ as the Southern Startup. That collection of resources contains 55Mt or ore for 1.2Moz of gold and 120,000t of copper with 60% in the indicated category. It is also where a 16,000m two phase drill drive post-listing will focus first, starting next month. LinQ will be aiming to extend and infill the previously mined open put at Gidginbung, the richest gold deposit on the tenement package with 21Mt at 1g/t Au and 0.1% copper. The Dam, an adjacent porphyry, includes 34Mt running at a high copper equivalent grade of 0.7% Cu (0.44g/t Au, 0.32% Cu and 30ppm molybdenum. Gidginbung was, notably, mined between 1987 and 1996 before shutting at a time when gold prices were sitting around $460/oz, less than a tenth of their current boomtime levels of more than $5000/oz. It was rescued from the bowels of copper mid-tier Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) in 2023, failing to garner a mention from the vendor as it pivoted strategy from Australia to focus on Spain and Botswana. But since then gold prices have roughly doubled and copper prices are trading 50% higher, with US futures homing in on US$5/lb on Tuesday. Donner says Gidginbung could get significantly larger still with drilling on the horizon. "We're going to be doing some drilling south and north of Gidginbung looking for lateral extensions and we're going be drilling underneath the pit, which is down to about 80-90m and is full of water," Donner said. "We're going to be drilling underneath that pit to chase the extensions. " We've published long sections of Gidginbung which demonstrate the orebody is right underneath the pit and around the pit it comes to surface. "So the strip ratios are likely to be attractive and 1g/t today in this gold environment is enormously likely to be economic with a respectable strip ratio." Make the grade While deposits of that profile may have marginal 30 years ago, they're money-spinners today. Numerous copper mines in South America are now being developed in the 0.3% CuEq grade range as historic deposits deplete and demand keeps rising. In the gold sphere, companies like Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) and Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) have made a business out of engineering strong cashflows from resources previously thought too low grade to work. "You just have to look at Capricorn, a $4 billion company with global grades of 0.8g/t gold. Strip ratios are between I think 3.5 to 5.5 or thereabouts on their two projects, and they make very good money out of that, so do others," Donner pointed out. Outside Gidginbung and The Dam, resources can be found on LinQ's ground at Mandamah (41Mt at 0.5% CuEq – 0.29% Cu, 0.25g/t Au and 35ppm Mo), Estoril (33Mt at 0.37% CuEq – 0.18% Cu, 0.25g/t Au and 8ppm Mo), Culingerai (43Mt at 0.42% CuEq – 0.25% Cu, 0.22g/t Au and 23ppm Mo) and Yiddah (279Mt at 0.34% CuEq – 0.25% Cu, 0.12g/t Au and 35ppm Mo). There are a further two advanced porphyry prospects at Monza and Donnington, with 12 drill tested prospects including epithermal opportunities at Field, Mag H1 and Kangaroo Hill. Tasked with proving the potential of the once Newcrest and CRA (Rio Tinto) owned project is senior geo Scott Munro, who lives just two hours away in Mudgee and still holds mementos from his time working the project as a young fieldy. Consulting geo Ivan Jerkovic previously managed the project over a 10 year period when it was held within Straits Resources, while technical advisor John Holiday was the first site manager of Cadia when Newcrest made the discovery of what is now a top two Aussie gold and copper mine. That familiarity extends to LinQ's board. Non-exec director Dr Evan Kirby, a metallurgist by trade, was Bechtel's study manager during the plant commissioning process at Cadia, while legendary former GR Engineering Services (ASX:GNG) boss Geoff Jones is also a non-exec director. "We've got execution capability in the team, and we've got geological capability and a history of working on the project. So I think the team is a good addition to the investment package that we're bringing to the market," Donner said.
News.com.au
16-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Resources Top 5: Magmatic adds western gold arm to Aussie portfolio
Magmatic will pay $50,000 cash and 36 million shares for the Weebo gold project The commercial potential of the Ema rare earths project in Brazil has been enhanced by test results Investors have welcomed two positive recent announcements from Trigg Minerals Your standout resources stocks for Monday, June 16, 2025. Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) With gold trending toward the record high of US$3500/oz set in April, having reached $3452 in the past 24 hours aided by escalating tensions in the Middle East, any positive moves by ASX-listed gold players are welcomed by investors. One to benefit is Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) which has identified an inexpensive entry-point to stake its claim in one of WA's hottest gold regions with the acquisition of the Weebo gold project. This adds a west coast arm to the company's Australian operations and complements its potential Tier-1 gold and copper prospects in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales. The deal will see Magmatic pay $50,000 cash and 36 million shares, valued at around $1.47m, with a further 14m shares contingent on milestones for 136km2 of ground at Weebo. This project covers a 50km north-south strike wedged between five of WA's largest gold mines, including Bellevue Gold's (ASX:BGL) namesake operation, Vault Minerals' (ASX:VAU) Darlot, Northern Star's (ASX:NST) Thunderbox and Bronzewing, and Gold Fields' Agnew-Lawlers. That's more than 15Moz of gold resources or historic production surrounding a vast underexplored tract of WA's Northern Goldfields. 'The company is extremely pleased to add to its portfolio of projects with this exciting new gold property superbly located in the heart of WA's Yilgarn Goldfields,' MD David Richardson said. 'The prospectivity of this area is highlighted by the proximity to five large gold mines and we believe the project area is underexplored, offering a great opportunity for new discoveries. 'We have already put a local exploration team in place and expect to commence exploration drilling in the coming quarter.' With heritage clearances in place, drilling is being planned to begin next quarter and there are already significant results to follow up, having been drilled by fellow ASX explorer Midas Minerals (ASX:MM1) when it had an option over the ground in 2021 and 2022. They include the Ockerburry and Scone Stone prospects, the former a mineralised structure defined by drilling over at least 5km. At Scone Stone, drilling outlined an 800m-long northeast trend of potential intrusive origin, wedged between an ultramafic unit to the west and mafic unit to the east. Mineralisation like that has been closely watched in WA since De Grey Mining's discovery of the Hemi gold deposit in the Pilbara in 2020. First-pass drilling is also 'warranted' for the Otto prospect, where lower grade gold has been found in limited wide-spaced drilling around an aero-magnetic target 5.5km north of Northern Star's Otto Bore mine. Over in NSW, Magmatic has strong strategic backing, with Andrew Forrest's Fortescue its major shareholder and farm-in partner on the Myall project in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Work in the East Lachlan Fold Belt is continuing as MAG adds another string to its bow at Weebo. 'Our four projects give shareholders exposure to both the gold and copper markets, with two potential Tier 1 gold-copper projects and now, two near-surface gold projects in the heart of two of Australia's most well endowed mining regions,' Richardson added. Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) The commercial potential of the Ema rare earths project in Brazil has been further enhanced by testing with Brazilian Critical Minerals recording the tracer reagent magnesium sulphate in multiple extraction holes. This work forms part of an in-situ recovery trial and shows the potential value of using the chemical, a much more environmentally friendly alternative to ammonium sulphate, for leaching rare earths. The tests showed that magnesium sulphate had migrated from the injection holes to the extraction holes in the field trial locations. Encouragingly, pH levels were also reduced significantly to at or below pH 4.0 in the extraction solution with the addition of low concentration magnesium sulphate. Not only is the solution at the pH level required to leach REEs into solution via in-situ recovery, solution flows through the clay zones also continue to exceed laboratory estimates with injection and extraction wells showing a steady rise in solution levels over time indicating the basement rock is largely impermeable. Solutions containing REEs have now been extracted from the monitoring holes and are enroute to the laboratory for certified analysis. The testing success reported on June 13 has seen shares climb 40% to 1.4c before closing 20% higher at 1.2c. 'Over the past 10 days, we've successfully applied the same testing protocols to the Ema mineralisation that delivered exceptional laboratory results throughout 2024 and early 2025,' managing director Andrew Reid said. 'Encouragingly, the pilot field trial has confirmed that permeability rates are not only consistent with lab data but, in many cases, even better. 'In recent days, we've also achieved a significant technical milestone — lowering the in-situ pH to levels that demonstrate clear migration of magnesium sulphate through the clay layers to the extraction wells. 'This is a critical step, as it indicates rare earth elements are now at a stage where they can be effectively ionically leached into solution.' He added that the WSP Brazil controlled and supervised independent field trial had further validated the company's confidence in the simplicity and effectiveness of the ISR process. Ema hosts one of the world's largest ionic clay rare earth deposits with a resource of 943Mt at 716 parts per million total rare earth oxides. It includes a starter zone of 341Mt with high-value magnet rare earths, used to make permanent magnets for advanced technology like electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and particle accelerators. Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG) (Up on no news) A number of ASX-listed companies are seeking to take advantage of positive sentiment toward critical minerals in the US, including Trigg Minerals, which has reached 8.5c, an increase of 14.9% on the previous close. Investors welcomed two positive announcements from the company last week centred on the Antimony Canyon project in the US. Firstly, the company confirmed multiple zones of massive stibnite mineralisation at the Utah project with initial field mapping pointing to several zones of massive stibnite mineralisation at the Emma and Mammoth deposits. The results highlight the project's potential as one of the highest grade and significant antimony projects in the US and bode well for Trigg as it pursues its strategy to become a key domestic supplier of critical minerals. Antimony is considered a critical mineral by the US government due to its military and industrial applications. It's used in missiles, flame retardants, renewable energy, defence and other high-tech industries. Later in the week, Antimony metallurgist David Fourie joined the Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG) team as a technical advisor for its net zero antimony strategy, centred on Antimony Canyon. Fourie played a central role in the design and ESG elements of the first 'clean plant' antimony smelter built by SPMP to European environmental standards in Oman. SPMP is the largest antimony roaster outside of China, set to produce 20,000 tonnes of antimony products a year once the smelter reaches full capacity. Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) Another increasing its focus on the US in line with that country's push to establish a domestic critical minerals supply chain, Resolute Minerals hit a new 12-month high of 5c, climbing 43% on the previous close on volume of more than 131m. The latest move to reach a massive investor base in the US sees the company's intended listing on the OTCQB Markets nearing completion. Resolution expects to increase its visibility, liquidity and accessibility for North American investors and hopes to stoke the interest of an investor base similar to NASDAQ-listed Perpetua Resources. Perpetua's ~A$2 billion Stibnite antimony-gold project with a resource of 4.8Moz gold and 148Mlb antimony shares its western boundary with RML's newly acquired Horse Heaven antimony-gold-tungsten project in Valley County, Idaho. Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) also expects the dual listing will provide a stronger US presence for potential US Department of Defense funding as antimony is classified as a critical mineral, potential fast-tracking of Horse Heaven and a stepping stone to a potential NASDAQ listing. 'Listing on the OTCQB Market is a strategic move that aligns with our vision of becoming a globally recognised developer of what we believe will become a major antimony, gold and tungsten deposit in the United States,' executive director Aharon Zaetz said. Kairos Minerals (ASX:KAI) (Up on no news) Simon Lill-led Kairos Minerals holds the 1.4Moz Mt York gold deposit, the largest undeveloped, free-milling gold project in the Tier-1 Pilbara region of WA with mineralisation defined over 3km within a large, single optimal pit shell. The company's experienced technical team is confident that the gold deposit, hosted in banded iron formation (BIF), will grow significantly now that Kairos has access to an additional 1,500m of well-mineralised strike extension of the Main Trend geology from neighbours Pilbara Minerals. The company reached a two-year high of 3.2c, an increase of 23.1%. Its had no formal news since May 23 BUT did get a write-up from our mining maestro Barry FitzGerald over the weekend. Check out his Garimpeiro column here. The Mt York resource base of 43.08Mt at 1.0 g/t gold includes a higher-grade component of 14.6Mt at 1.6 g/t for 751,000oz. Plans to make Mt York a super-pit project are underway. The discovery of spodumene-bearing pegmatites at Mt York coupled with a lithium-caesium-rubidium soil anomaly at the Roe Hills project near Manna lithium deposit in the Goldfields, offer further potential significant value drivers. Roe Hills, which is around 120km east of Kalgoorlie, holds rare earth element potential after exploration confirmed a discovery called Black Cat. There is also gold potential undercover at this discovery.
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Resources Top 5: Latest Trump bump sees Locksley jump on rare earths pump
Locksley surges as it plans drilling near America's only rare earths mine Gallium juniors surge after Rio produces first batch of semiconductor metal in New York R&D Catalyst picks up gold offcuts from Sandfire's DeGrussa operations Your standout resources stocks for Thursday, May 8, 2025. Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) Listed four years ago with the aim of giving a dedicated home to nickel miner Mincor Resources' unloved Tottenham copper project in NSW's Lachlan Fold Belt, Locksley's performance since its 2021 float has echoed the regression of its namesake Premier League football team. Until today that is, as a bullish announcement on its Mojave project in California sent the junior's shares flying in what has to be a good omen for Ange Postecoglou's Spurs and their Europa League. Unlike the overlooked Tottenham, Mojave is about as well located as a critical minerals project could be in 2025, sitting just 1.4km from Mountain Pass, the only operating rare earths mine in the United States. Since Donald Trump's March 20 executive order calling for the US to boost domestic minerals production and Chinese export controls on the heavy rare earths in which it dominates supply, there's been fresh steam for explorers previously weighed down by weak NdPr prices. Locksley has already found rock chips grading up to 46% antimony and 1022g/t silver from the Desert antimony mine, part of the Mojave land package and has now formally submitted a drilling permit to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management. It's bullish that the permitting process could be fast-tracked following the EO, with the BLM confirming it will undertake any initial enviro assessment requirements that may have otherwise held up approvals for a 12 month period. It comes after the BLM confirmed ASX-listed Dateline Resources' (ASX:DTR) right to mine the Colosseum gold mine in Cali, around 10km from Mountain Pass, where it is planning to also begin rare earths exploration – gaining a shoutout from the President on his patented social media service Truth Social. Rock chip assays at Locksley's El Campo prospect have already come in at 12.1% total rare earth oxides and 3.19% neodymium-praseodymium. Locksley shares were up 74% at 2.30pm AEST, up 2c to a level not seen since late 2023. (Up on no news) Gallium, a crucial ingredient in semiconductors, is drawing plenty of eyeballs on the ASX these days, with the niche critical mineral closing in on two years under export controls from major refiner China. Those controls were tightened in December when the Chinese government banned their export to the United States, something exporters were already avoiding. That's shone a light on any proponent outside the Middle Kingdom, who could, down the line, fill a gaping hole as a western supplier of the commodity, which has a global market of around 600t and is largely extracted from alumina refining. DY6 has caught the eye with its Tundulu project in Malawi, an emerging southern African jurisdiction where it's hit intercepts like 74m at 93.26g/t gallium oxide and 1.56% total rare earth oxides, 53m at 72.79g/t Ga2O3, 1.02% TREO, and 30m at 94.63g/t Ga2O3, 4.03% TREO. Tundulu has gallium from surface, co-located with rare earths (another critical mineral closely linked to the US-China trade war) and phosphate. The big move for DY6 was mirrored across other gallium exposed ASX explorers. Also in that list was MTM Critical Metals (ASX:MTM), which wants to produce gallium in the United States from high-grade scrap using its 'revolutionary' flash joule heating processing technology. And there's RareX (ASX:REE), which found Australia's highest grade gallium results in re-assayed drill core from its Cummins Range rare earths and phosphate deposit in WA's Kimberley, which bears striking resemblance in style to DY6's Tundulu. It's also working with Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) to secure a site in Kenya similar to Cummins Range which could become a major non-Chinese rare earths producer and supplier to ILU's Eneabba refinery in WA. Why are all these gallium stocks in focus today? The secret sauce could be Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), which last night announced it produced its first gallium in an R&D lab owned by New York-based Indium Corporation. Indium, intriguingly, is the same partner MTM has in its bid to pilot its flash joule heating technology to produce gallium from recycled material for the US market. If a pilot is successful, Rio plans to move to a 3.5tpa demo plant at its Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Quebec and then eventually to a 40tpa commercial operation. With a global market of around 600tpa, Rio predicts it could boast a market share of 5-10% – making it a key non-Chinese supplier. It's the second niche metal where Rio has raised its flag after scandium. That investment led to a M&A deal with junior Platina Resources for a small deposit in New South Wales. More open than competitor BHP (ASX:BHP) to playing in the weird world of critical and specialty metals, could Rio's plunge into gallium put some small explorers on its radar? Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL) A sojourn to the larger cap end of the market, where Catalyst Metals is leading a big move up for gold stocks after paying Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) $32.5m to acquire its Old Highway gold project. It continues a garage sale for Sandfire, now a Spanish and Botswana focused copper mid-tier, of the assets around its brightly burning but short-lived DeGrussa mine and the broader Doolgunna province. Boab Metals (ASX:BML) last week announced the acquisition of plant infrastructure from Doolgunna, which it plans to retool to process lead, silver and zinc at its Sorby Hills project in WA's north. Old Highway is a more obvious bolt-on acquisition for the ~$1.4bn capped owner of the Plutonic gold mine, Catalyst. Boasting a resource of 206,000oz at 3g/t, including a higher grade portion of 140,000oz at 4.6g/t, Old Highway sits just 40km southwest of the Plutonic plant, and could deliver four years of feed at an average rate of 35,000ozpa and all-in sustaining costs of $1558/oz at $5000/oz gold prices. There are additional benefits. CYL is also chasing access to Sandfire's sealed aerodrome at DeGrussa, which lies 35km from Plutonic and could save CYL the $15m it would cost to seal its own airstrip. "Catalyst consolidated the Plutonic Belt bringing together many new ore sources," CYL MD James Champion de Crespigny added. "The purchase of Old Highway brings another new ore source into the portfolio. Collectively, these ore sources, all of which are on mining leases, give Catalyst the opportunity to fill the processing plant in the near term." Plutonic produced 18,265oz at AISC of $2587/oz in the March quarter, with a lot of work to do to expand the project, fill its mill and fulfil CYL's eventual dream of becoming a 200,000ozpa WA gold producer.
