Glencore's first-half results set the tone for a session dominated by supply-chain stress and exploration progress across the mining sector. While the diversified giant posted a blowout set of earnings on the back of energy-market disruption, Ferrexpo was forced to halt Ukrainian production over Black Sea shipping risk, and a trio of junior explorers, ECR Minerals, Orosur Mining and Strategic Minerals, advanced drilling programmes that moved their shares higher.
Glencore's marketing arm powers 86% earnings surge
Glencore (LSE:GLEN), the diversified miner and commodities trader, reported group adjusted EBITDA up 86% to $10.1 billion in the first half, as higher commodity prices combined with a marketing business that thrived on the disruption sweeping global energy markets. Net income attributable to equity holders climbed by more than $5 billion to $4.4 billion, boosted by disposal gains, deferred tax recognition and impairment movements on top of the underlying operational improvement. Shares rose 3.959% to 572.4p as the market digested the scale of the beat.
The standout was Marketing, where Adjusted EBIT jumped 142% to $3.3 billion, a near-record first-half performance chief executive Gary Nagle credited to the resilience of the group's logistics and risk-management operations. The Industrial segment contributed Adjusted EBITDA of $6.5 billion, up 72%, even as higher diesel, sulphur and sulphuric acid costs, worsened by supply-chain strain, ate into stronger pricing. Net debt fell $1.0 billion to $10.2 billion, broadly in line with the group's roughly $10 billion ordinary-course cap, after $4.0 billion of net capital expenditure. Glencore topped up shareholder returns with an 8.5 cents per share special distribution worth roughly $1 billion and a new $500 million buyback running to February 2027, taking 2026 total returns to roughly $3.5 billion.
"Towards security of supply and access to physical commodities," said Gary Nagle, chief executive of Glencore.
The results reinforce Glencore's positioning as the trading house best equipped to profit from geopolitical dislocation rather than merely survive it, a distinction the market has rewarded with the share price gain. Beyond the numbers, the confirmation of a planned secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, targeting October admission and access to Australia's A$4.4 trillion pension pool, signals an ambition to broaden the shareholder base at a moment of maximum earnings visibility. Combined with an Alumbrera copper restart now running ahead of schedule, first production pulled forward to the second half of 2027, the update strengthens the case that Glencore's diversification across trading and industrial assets gives it a structural edge through commodity-market turmoil.
ECR Minerals nears gold output at Maddens project
Ecr Minerals (AIM:ECR), the AIM-listed Australian gold exploration and development company, said underground development at its Maddens Underground Mine has begun generating ore, now stockpiled on the run-of-mine pad ahead of processing. Shares rose 10.811% to 0.205p on the update. ECR holds a 50% interest in the Maddens Gold Project, part of the historic Maddens Flat Group of Mines in North Queensland, which the company has flagged as one of its highest-priority production opportunities.
Development has intersected an additional mineralised quartz vein containing visible gold, distinct from the main Maddens Reef, while the next phase of decline development, the downward tunnel that will access the ore body, is due to start shortly. A Knelson gravity concentrator is expected on site within weeks to improve gold recovery ahead of processing, and at the Brothers Mining Lease, personnel and equipment redeployed from ECR's Raglan operation in July are being mobilised for trial alluvial mining following encouraging prospecting results. "Underground development is generating ore for future processing, preparations for the next phase of decline development are well advanced and upgrades to the processing plant continue," said Nick Tulloch, chairman of ECR Minerals.
The shift from exploration commentary to physical ore generation marks a tangible inflection point for a company that has spent years building toward production. With a concentrator arriving imminently and a second mining lease being activated in parallel, ECR is moving from single-asset dependency toward a broader operational base, reducing the execution risk that has weighed on the stock.
Ferrexpo halts Ukraine production over Black Sea logistics crisis
Ferrexpo (LSE:FXPO) said it has temporarily suspended production at its mining and pelletising operations in Ukraine, citing severe disruption to its Black Sea export logistics. Shares fell 6.84% to 28.58p as the London-listed iron ore pellet producer confirmed the move is designed to preserve working capital, with production only resuming once additional funding is secured.
The suspension follows a vessel incident affecting a shipment of Ferrexpo's DR-grade pellets, first disclosed on 28 July. The vessel's owner has since located and removed the craft from the war-risk area, and it is now being towed to a Black Sea port for technical inspection and cargo evaluation. Ferrexpo said it can still supply European customers from existing inventory stockpiles despite the halt, but without additional funding it expects net accessible cash resources to last only until mid-September, a forecast that hinges on iron ore prices, operating costs including energy, and how the vessel situation is resolved.
The mid-September cash runway turns this into a live funding question rather than a temporary operational pause. Investors now face a binary outcome tied to factors largely outside the company's control, the resolution of the vessel inspection and the availability of fresh capital, with the share price fall reflecting the market pricing in genuine liquidity risk rather than a routine logistics hiccup.
Orosur drilling extends Pepas West gold zone
Orosur Mining (AIM:OMI), the TSXV and AIM-listed gold explorer focused on the Anzá Project in Colombia, released results from six drill holes confirming an extensive, flat-lying body of near-surface mineralisation at its Pepas West prospect. Shares edged up 2.37% to 14.843p. The best intercept, PEP103, returned 10.2 metres at 5.77 grams per tonne gold from surface, while PEP104 delivered 19.8 metres at 1.77 grams per tonne gold, at a target sitting roughly 100 metres west of the main Pepas deposit, for which Orosur published a maiden resource estimate on 10 February.
The company said the drilling reveals a more complex geological picture than first thought, with high-grade surficial mineralisation appearing to be a mix of in situ and heavily weathered material potentially remobilised downslope from Pepas. Grades run between 1 and 5 grams per tonne gold across a flat-lying zone roughly 10 metres thick, often concealed beneath a thin layer of barren transported soil. "The geological nature of Pepas West is complex as a result of mixing of totally weathered and transported material. However, the grade is there which in the end is all that matters," said Brad George, chief executive of Orosur Mining.
The free-digging, oxide nature of the mineralisation matters commercially as much as geologically, material of this kind is typically cheaper to process than hard-rock ore, an important consideration as Pepas advances into feasibility and permitting. Additional near-surface ounces at low strip cost strengthen the economics of the broader Anzá project at a stage where capital efficiency will shape the eventual development decision.
Strategic Minerals expands Redmoor drilling to 22,500 million
Strategic Minerals (SML) has expanded its drilling programme at the Redmoor tin-tungsten-copper project to 22,500 metres, with shares slipping 1.62% to 3.64p despite the scale-up. Executive Director Mark Burnett said the expanded programme "reflects the opportunity at Redmoor" and the company's intent to advance the project through feasibility studies "as expeditiously as possible".
The enlarged drill campaign signals growing confidence in the resource base underpinning Redmoor, positioning the project to move more decisively toward a feasibility decision. For a company whose valuation has long hinged on unlocking Redmoor's potential, committing to a larger, faster drilling effort raises the stakes on near-term results translating into a credible development pathway.
New Frontier identifies copper-nickel target at Harts Range
New Frontier Minerals (NFM), trading at 0.375p, said independent modelling has identified a new copper-nickel exploration target at its Harts Range project, situated near a district-scale system previously identified by BHP Xplor-backed research.
The proximity to a system already validated by a major-backed exploration programme lends external credibility to the target without New Frontier having to establish the geological thesis from scratch. For an early-stage explorer, anchoring a new target to a recognised district-scale system is a low-cost way to sharpen investor focus ahead of any follow-up drilling.
