Latest news with #resources
TimesLIVE
31 minutes ago
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
Joburg's motorists brace for a tougher month as fuel prices rise
Motorists across Johannesburg woke up to steeper fuel prices on Wednesday, with the department of mineral and petroleum resources confirming a sharp increase in petrol and diesel costs driven by international oil prices and tensions in the Middle East. Many petrol stations were quieter than usual on Wednesday morning, with most motorists coming in having no idea of the petrol price hike. Some drivers who had heard about the increase on Tuesday had filled up before the increase, while others were caught off guard, with many expressing frustration and concern about how the price rise will affect their already tight monthly budgets. Phumzile Chambers, one of the motorists caught off guard, did not know about the price hike until Wednesday morning, though she said you 'should expect anything in South Africa'. 'I was supposed to put in a full tank, now I'm only putting R700. That's already R100 more than last month. But I refuse to leave my car at home. I'll put R200 a day if I have to, but tell [President Cyril] Ramaphosa we are striking,' Chambers told TimesLIVE. Enos Maake, filling up his car at an Astron Energy garage in Johannesburg, said the fuel hike reflects bigger issues with government. Maake said things will only worsen as the petrol hike filters into food costs. 'We were told GNU would make things better, but it's the same story. 'The poor are going to feel it the most,' Maake said. Maake added people might have to ditch their cars and take taxis as fuel prices are high. 'I spend a lot on petrol because I drive a lot, so this month will be worse, that's why I might get a bicycle [or motorbike]. I'll be tired when I get home, less traffic anyway,' he said. Xoliswa Mabala finds taking a taxi cheaper and has parked her car to save up on money as using her own car is expensive. Image: Kabelo Mokoena Inside a taxi, Xoliswa Mabala said she has parked her car at home to save costs. Mabala said the petrol hike will crush South Africans. 'We will have to park our cars and use taxis now. But then taxi prices will also go up. People relying on R350 grants won't cope.' Taxi drivers in Johannesburg, who fill up their tanks daily, have also balked at the hike. 'It will be as if we are working for nothing,' taxi driver, Sibonise Sithole said. Sithole also did not know about the hike, adding he puts in R500 worth of fuel every day and usually keeps his tank full. Uber driver Ndivhuwo Mulaudzi has the same concern as minibus taxi drivers and other motorists. Mulaudzi told TimesLIVE that the price increase will make his life even harder as he is not making a profit as it is. 'Petrol is up and Uber prices are down. There's no profit. We can't sit at home doing nothing, so we just keep working,' said Mulaudzi. Taheera Hamit luckily filled up her car earlier this week. 'There is nothing you can do to prepare. One day it's R22, the next it's R23. This will affect my budget massively as a car owner. You just have to squeeze it in. No more nice things, no more chocolates, the luxuries are gone,' Hamittold TimesLIVE during her lunch break. I The DMRE announced this week that the fuel price hike was based on global and local market conditions, particularly rising Brent Crude oil prices, which jumped from $63.95 to $69.36 a barrel during the review period. Tensions in the Middle East, especially between Iran and Israel, have increased fears of supply disruptions. The international price of petroleum products followed the same upward trend, pushing the basic price of petrol up by as much as 52c per litre. Though the rand appreciated slightly against the US dollar during the period, this wasn't enough to offset the rise. Effective July 2, the fuel price adjustments are as follows: Petrol 93: up by 55c/litre Petrol 95: up by 52c/litre Diesel 0.05%: up by 82c/litre Diesel 0.005%: up by 84c/litre Illuminating paraffin: up by 67c/litre The maximum retail price of liquefied petroleum gas is down by 57c per kg countrywide, except in the Western Cape, where it increased by R1.90/kg due to import costs through Saldanha Bay. With the cost of living already on the rise, many Joburg residents said they will be forced to make tough decisions this month, whether that means cutting luxuries, changing transport methods, or simply walking to work.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jim Cramer on Rio Tinto: 'I Believe in the Minerals'
Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) is one of the 14 stocks Jim Cramer recently looked at. During the lightning round, a caller asked about the company, and in response, Cramer said, 'Big yield. I believe in the minerals. I think you're fine.' Aerial view of an open pit mine, with workers extracting minerals. Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) explores, mines, and processes a diverse range of resources, including iron ore, aluminum, copper, gold, and minerals like lithium and borates. The company's operations span from extraction to refining and distribution. Moreover, during an episode of Mad Money aired in May, Cramer showed quite a positive sentiment toward the company, as he commented: 'I like Rio Tinto. I like Rio. I like the yield. I like the company. It's a globe-trotting company, so to speak. I like those guys.' For context, over the past year, RIO stock went down more than 11%. While we acknowledge the potential of RIO as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Resources Top 5: Institutional investors attracted to Koonenberry's golden success
A string of broad, high-grade results from the Enmore gold project is putting Koonenberry Gold in the spotlight DY6 has identified further visible natural rutile at the Central Rutile project in Cameroon Lodestar Minerals is boosting its coffers with a two-tranche placement for $2.2 million Your standout small cap resources stocks for Monday, June 30, 2025 Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB) A string of broad, high-grade gold results from the Enmore project in the New England region of northeast NSW is putting Koonenberry Gold in the spotlight and attracting institutional shareholders, including Lowell Resources Fund (ASX:LRT) and Lion Selection Group (ASX:LSX). The latter has increased its ownership of Koonenberry to 9.2% after purchasing an additional 25 million shares from Datt Capital Pty Ltd off-market for 3c per share. This show of confidence by the prominent resources sector investor has seen KNB shares reach 4.1c, a lift of 28.13% on the previous close with 102m shares changing hands. Enmore, near Armidale, has been drill tested historically but Koonenberry is drilling an adjacent target area which has so far shown to be materially better mineralised than the historic results. The new target area is a sheared granite host rock, where Koonenberry has recorded high tenor gold drilling intersections such as 172.9m at 2.07g/t Au from 171m. Drilling results are from a small footprint area to date and demonstrate a thick mineralised and altered zone which contains intervals of high-grade gold. This represents a small portion of a target area that strikes for 2km as defined by new surface geochemistry results. Underpinning its growing investment in KNB, Lion said, was the large and mostly untested search space at Enmore with hallmarks of a potentially large gold system. Lion rarely invests at the pure exploration stage and said this was because of the risks associated with such early-stage ventures. It said exceptions may only be made when the opportunity featured highly capable management and contained multiple opportunities to make discoveries, which strongly underpinned its investment in Koonenberry. 'The Koonenberry board and management have shown deep conviction for a new target underpinned by high quality technical work to acquire Enmore and make the discovery which is now underway,' Lion said. 'In addition to Enmore, Koonenberry has a portfolio of 100%-owned and joint venture projects across NSW that provide ongoing exposure to further discoveries.' The shares purchased from Datt by Lion are subject to a voluntary escrow expiring on 28 November 28, 2025. The Koonenberry board has approved a transfer of the block of shares with the escrow to remain in place. Lion managing director Hedley Widdup said: 'Koonenberry has progressed to become a key holding for Lion, providing exposure to an in-progress discovery that has strong hallmarks of scale and quality. "This latest purchase has been done at a price which is very attractive compared with the upside that we think remains both at Enmore and across Koonenberry's portfolio.' Melbourne's Datt Capital amassed a substantial stake in the company but then called for board and governance changes. The issue was resolved and Koonenberry appointed Datt appointee Tony Gu to the board. However, Gu resigned only three weeks later and Datt sold the bulk of its shares, now exiting its position entirely. Koonenberry was also flung into the spotlight by our columnist Kristie Batten in her Monday column. Check it out here. DY6 Metals (ASX:DY6) Rutile is a much sought after critical mineral being the rarest, highest grade and most valuable source of titanium, which is used in the aerospace, automotive, medical and industrial sectors. One of a number of ASX-listed juniors, including Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) and Peak Minerals (ASX:PUA), seeking to build up and exploit rutile resources in central Africa is DY6 Metals. At the Central Rutile project within the Bounde licence in Cameroon, DY6 has identified further visible natural rutile in alluvial and eluvial sources and shares have reached 3.4c, an increase of 20% on the previous close. Reconnaissance sampling has identified a new area of around 100km2 with large residual natural rutile nuggets ranging in size from 2cm to more than 4cm, heavy minerals and residual rutile mineralisation. The sampling program consisted of some auger drilling and the collection of channel, surface grab and stream sediment samples. Samples have been submitted for laboratory analysis in Cape Town, South Africa, with results expected in the September quarter. The identification of rutile across the entire tenement package is highly encouraging for DY6, as it confirms that this region is an emerging, globally significant rutile province. 'The reconnaissance program has been a great success, having identified visual HM and rutile mineralisation across each licence,' technical consultant Cliff Fitzhenry said. 'What we have uncovered at the Bounde licence is particularly exciting. I have never seen rutile nuggets of this size before.' Exploration will now move to the next phase with a systematic regional soil sampling program seeking to rapidly identify areas of higher-grade residual rutile mineralisation. Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) With a two-tranche placement to bolster its coffers by $2.2 million, Lodestar Minerals more than doubled to 1.3c before closing at 1.1c Funds raised will be used to advance existing exploration programs in Chile, to assess new opportunities and for working capital. The company has appointed Oakley Capital Partners as lead manager and corporate advisor for the two-tranche capital raising. The first tranche will comprise the issue of 79,166,667 shares at 0.6c per share to raise $475,000 before costs in line with the company's available Listing Rule 7.1 and 7.1A capacities. Shares will be issued to sophisticated and professional investor clients of Oakley. The second tranche will be subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting. This will comprise the issue of 345m shares at 0.5c per share to raise $1,725,000 before costs. This will also be made to sophisticated and professional investor clients of Oakley. 'We are delighted to have secured the support of Oakley Capital Partners for this capital raising. The strong level of interest and demand reflects renewed confidence in Lodestar's strategic direction and growth potential,' Lodestar chairman Ross Taylor said. "This successful recapitalisation marks a pivotal moment in the company's evolution and positions us to advance our exploration and development ambitions with renewed strength. 'We welcome Oakley Capital Partners as a key partner and thank them for their belief in the Lodestar team and our vision. 'The successful raising of a significant amount of capital reflects the strong demand and investor confidence in the company's direction and future potential.' Megado Minerals (ASX:MEG) (Up on no news) Reaching a 12-month high of 2.4c, a 41.18% increase on the previous close, was Megado Minerals, which earlier in June completed the acquisition of 80% of Iberian Copper Pty Ltd, which owns 100% of the Iberian copper project in Spain. The Iberian Copper Project in Aragón and Navarra consists of 12 permits (under application) covering 956km2 of historically copper and silver producing strata along about 200km. Megado aims to undertake a maiden drilling campaign in Q4 2025 and to support this, an in-country team is completing extensive geological mapping in preparation for airborne geophysics. The airborne program to be flown in Q3 is expected to confirm high-priority targets for drilling. In addition, the company has signed an agreement with the University of Aragón to support its exploration. The university has substantial intellectual capital invested in the region and has identified multiple opportunities for the company's consideration. 'This is an exciting milestone for the company. We now have a massive opportunity with full control of an entire copper and silver belt hosting multiple historic mines,' Megado chairman Anthony Hall said. 'Importantly, we have also secured a very capable in-country operating team that has a track record of success. We are already starting to see this with early geological mapping and our agreement with the University of Aragón.' Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) Nevada has been a star performer in US resources exploration and extraction for many years and always figures prominently in the Fraser Institute's annual mining investment attractiveness index. One ASX junior taking steps to join Nevada's honour role is Astute Metals which has used a review of historical data and newly-acquired ASTER imagery to identify four high-priority gold-silver targets at its Needles project, prompting an 18.75% increase in shares to 1.9c. Providing the company with confidence of future success at Needles is the project's geological similarities to bulk-tonnage gold operations in Nevada such as the 20Moz+ Round Mountain mine and AngloGold Ashanti's recent 16Moz+ Silicon-Merlin discovery. The underexplored project also hosts numerous historical gold-silver workings from the early 1900s to 1920s and has previously returned rock chip results of up to 33g/t gold and 1115g/t silver. Silicon-Merlin was discovered through exploration drilling beneath the alteration cap of an epithermal deposit, which indicates there's discovery potential in drilling the deeper parts of epithermal systems and a pathway to value creation. Astute Metals will now carry out systematic soil sampling and magnetic surveys, ahead of initial drilling planned for Q3 2025. Work at Needles will be conducted in tandem with the company's drilling program at the nearby Red Mountain lithium project, leveraging cost and management synergies.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Biggest shake up for Whānau Ora since its creation
te ao Maori 14 minutes ago Four new agencies have been put in charge of determining how Whānau Ora resources are districbuted to Maori communities across the country. It's the biggest shake up in the history of Whānau Ora since it was created by the the late Dame Tariana Turia in 2010. One of the new commissioning agencies was launched by Wellington iwi Ngāti Toa at Hongoeka Marae near Porirua this morning. Pokere Paewai reports.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Kristie Batten: Koonenberry Gold sees shades of De Grey success story at Sunnyside
One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. It's still early days for Koonenberry Gold's (ASX:KNB) Sunnyside gold discovery but the company believes there is plenty of value to be created. Koonenberry shares exploded back in April when the company reported a hit of 170m at 1.75g/t gold from 77m, including 18m at 9.95g/t gold, from the first hole at Sunnyside, part of the Enmore project in New South Wales. Since then, the company has followed that up with 172.9m at 2.07g/t gold in the second hole, 102m at 1.10g/t gold in the third hole, 149.5m at 0.94g/t gold in the fourth hole and 150m at 0.71g/t gold in the fifth hole. Last week, Koonenberry reported that the sixth diamond drill hole had returned 107m at 1.14g/t gold from 189m, including 80.5m at 1.45g/t gold, including 35.5m at 1.94g/t gold, including 9.7m at 3.18g/t gold. 'We're hitting plus-100m at plus-1g, which is pretty exceptional and pretty hard to find another company on the ASX that's having those types of drill hits,' Koonenberry managing director Dan Power told a webinar last week. The company has drilled 3000m, with the first seven holes all returning visible gold. The results for holes 7-10 are expected in the next month or so. Power said every hole reported to date had returned impressive grades and widths, with the potential for both bulk tonnage and high-grade gold. 'In the early stages of exploration, you're going to have great holes, and you're going to have holes that aren't so great, and that's normal for exploration and people need to expect that,' he said. 'But it really is about determining the continuity and the size and the scale of mineralisation and obviously, the grade is important.' Power said mineralisation started at surface and extended down to 300m depth. It's still open across 75m of true width and 200m of strike. He added that the deposit had 'a very nice shape for an open pit operation'. 'Sometimes the early discovery stages of projects don't actually look like a massive discovery until you're looking in the rear vision mirror, when everything's a lot easier and a lot clearer,' Power said. The Hemi comparison De Grey Mining discovered the Hemi gold deposit in late 2019, but it wasn't until 2020 when the stock really started to run. That provides some inspiration for juniors like KNB. 'It turned out to be an 11 million ounce deposit,' Power said. He pointed out that the 2.5Moz Diucon deposit returned 72m at 0.8g/t gold and 121m at 1.1g/t gold in early holes, while the 1.5Moz Crow deposit returned 20m at less than 1g/t gold in the first hole. 'When you go back and you compare that with some of the intercepts that we've been reporting to the market, I'm genuinely excited by what we're seeing at Sunnyside,' Power said. 'I'm not saying that we've got another Hemi discovery, but I would take 20% of that. De Grey was bought out for $5 billion and we're a $35 million market cap company, so I think you're seeing really great value with how we're being valued in the market at the moment. 'It's also very interesting that Hemi is a granite-hosted system on the margin of what they call an intrusion, but that's another name for a granite and sediments, so it's a similar geological setting – another shear zone-hosted gold deposit.' Having a crack Shares in Koonenberry surged as high as 9.5c in May but have pulled back to 3.2c. 'Obviously, we've had quite a good run in our share price, followed by a bit of a correction which I think is normal for any company that's at the discovery phase of their life cycle,' Power said. 'We're back at 3-3.5c, which is where we were before we started this journey, before we started releasing all these incredible intercepts, so I think that represents tremendous value.' Melbourne's Datt Capital amassed a substantial stake in the company but then called for board and governance changes. The issue was resolved and Koonenberry appointed Datt appointee Tony Gu to the board. However, Gu resigned only three weeks later and Datt sold the bulk of its shares, with director Anthony McIntosh buying $340,000 worth of the stake. Power said he was unsure as to why Datt sold, but welcomed the ongoing support of Koonenberry's other institutional shareholders, Lowell Resources Fund (ASX:LRT) and Lion Selection Group (ASX:LSX), the latter of which tipped $1 million into the company's $5 million capital raising last month. The raising leaves the company with $10.35 million cash, which will fund the next 10,000m of drilling at Enmore. 'We're planning to really give it a crack,' Power said. 'We're going to do infill and extensional drilling where we want to determine the continuity of mineralisation and then we also want to determine the scale, so we know that it's open along strike, both to the southwest and to the northeast. 'And we also have to figure out if there's a plunge component, which there may well be, which can only be done with more drilling. 'We are targeting a big system here. In my mind, we're targeting a plus 1Moz system at Sunnyside.' The company also has other prospects at Enmore and surface geochemical sampling results released last week extended the potential strike length by 1.6km to 2km. High-grade rock chip results of 17.55g/t gold and 11.85g/t gold were returned from historical workings at the Hand in Hand prospect. 'Hand in Hand is a soil anomaly which looks like it's equal to, if not twice the size of, Sunnyside,' Power said. Newmont funding drilling elsewhere Outside of Enmore, Koonenberry also has two joint ventures with the world's biggest gold miner, Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM). Newmont has acquired 80% of the Junee project, with Koonenberry free carried to commercial production, while Newmont can earn up to 80% of the Fairholme project by spending $5 million on exploration. On Friday, Koonenberry reported results from generative aircore drilling completed by Newmont at both projects. Fairholme returned no notable results, though work will continue. At Junee, the highlight of 94 holes was 33m at 0.11g/t gold from 3m and 2m at 0.11% copper from 33m, expanding the prospective area of the Carters prospect to around 1.6km strike and 300m width. 'I think the takeaway here is that Newmont really like this project,' Power said. 'They see strong potential for porphyry systems. They're chasing Cadia Ridgeway systems, so very, very, very similar rock types, similar alteration, veining, sulphide types. 'Not quite economic, but not too far away from economic in terms of the drill hits that are being intercepted.'
