Mining news across the market skewed heavily toward funding and resource upgrades, with the standout development a UK Government intervention to restart Britain's largest tungsten mine. Elsewhere, South32 delivered a substantial reserve upgrade at its flagship copper asset, while a cluster of small-cap explorers advanced gold and copper projects from Nevada to Ontario.
UK Government backs Tungsten West with £71m Hemerdon investment
Tungsten West (AIM:TUN) has agreed terms with the National Wealth Fund, a wholly owned UK Government entity, for a proposed investment of up to £71m to complete the funding package needed to restart production at its Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon. The AIM-listed miner is racing to bring Hemerdon back into full production after producing tungsten and tin concentrate last month, with final completion testing underway ahead of a targeted production start within the third quarter. Shares jumped 17.169% to 50.5p on the news.
The package splits into a £36.0m equity investment through 100m new shares priced at 36p each, a 7.5% discount to the 20-day volume-weighted average price, handing the NWF approximately 7.42% of the enlarged share capital. That sits alongside a debt facility of up to £25m plus a non-committed £10m accordion. Proceeds will fund the restart and repay the short-term loan facility announced on 21 May, while the government has also secured a window to negotiate an offtake agreement for up to half of Hemerdon's tungsten output, as set out in the 2025 Feasibility Study. The NWF gains the right to nominate a non-executive director and board observer rights until that appointment is made, under a relationship agreement running for as long as it holds at least 50m shares.
"Hemerdon is a world-class, low-cost and long-life tungsten and tin resource in the UK," said Jeff Court, chief executive of Tungsten West.
The deal removes what had been the single biggest overhang on the investment case: whether Tungsten West could actually finance Hemerdon through to production. With equity, debt and an accordion facility now in place, the funding gap that forced May's short-term loan is closed, and the government's negotiating rights over half of future tungsten output signal a strategic vote of confidence rather than a purely financial one. The restart is expected to create 350 direct jobs in the South West, and with full commissioning targeted for Q1 2027, the mine's credibility as a genuine Western tungsten supply source has materially strengthened.
South32 lifts Sierra Gorda ore reserve 61%
South32 (LSE:S32), the diversified miner producing copper, aluminium, zinc and other minerals across the Americas, Australia and Southern Africa, has updated its Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates for the Sierra Gorda copper mine, with shares rising 1.818% to 268.8p. The Ore Reserve estimate rose 61% to 1,100m tonnes at an average grade of 0.39% total copper, following an infill drilling programme of roughly 85,000 metres across 200 drillholes completed between 2023 and 2025.
The update extends the mine's reserve life by approximately five years to 2045, with the Mineral Resource estimate now standing at 1,870m tonnes. Chief executive Matt Daley said the revision "highlights the scale, quality and long-life orebody at Sierra Gorda, which we expect will be a significant source of copper for decades to come." The upgrade follows July's approval of a fourth grinding line project at the mine, expected to lift copper production by approximately 30% from 2031, taking throughput capacity from 135,000 to a higher daily rate.
The reserve extension reinforces Sierra Gorda's position as a long-duration cash generator just as South32 commits further capital to expanding throughput there, aligning mine life with the payback horizon on the fourth grinding line. Exploration upside at the nearby Catabela Northeast project, where drilling has already intersected significant copper mineralisation, points to further extensions beyond 2045.
Sunrise Resources targets Carlin-type gold at Nevada's Newark project
Sunrise Resources (AIM:SRES), the AIM-listed exploration company trading at 0.02p, has published a project summary for its 100%-owned Newark Gold Project in Nevada, a Carlin-type gold target the company says has been underexplored despite past drilling success. Newark sits at the junction of the Battle Mountain-Eureka and Alligator Ridge trends, two belts hosting multi-million-ounce deposits including the Carlin Complex, with 31.9m ounces in reserves and resources, and the Cortez Complex, with 36.7m ounces.
Freeport McMoRan drilled sixteen shallow reverse circulation holes at Newark in 1986 and 1987, with the best result, hole NWK-008, cutting 47 metres at 0.14 grammes per tonne gold from 75 metres to the end of the hole at 122 metres, terminating in mineralisation rather than passing through it. Surface sampling has since confirmed anomalous gold alongside arsenic, antimony, thallium and barium, the classic indicator elements of Carlin-type systems, along a silicified structure and favourable anticline.
"Previous drilling was relatively shallow and failed to test the most prospective geological units that host gold in this area," said Patrick Cheetham, executive chairman, who is seeking a joint venture partner to advance deeper drilling. The strategy of packaging historic drill data with a partner search rather than self-funding deeper holes reflects Sunrise's capital constraints, but the unfinished nature of the 1980s drilling, ending in mineralisation rather than through it, gives the pitch genuine technical substance.
Alt Resources secures gold stream deal, drops Tartana JV
Alt Resources (LSE:ALTR), a natural resources investment company trading at 6.5p, has executed two binding option agreements over the Freedom gold mine in North Queensland, Australia, owned by Freedom Metals Pty The options give Alt Resources a route to a gold stream over up to 50% of the project's production, plus a separate option to acquire a 50% equity interest in Freedom itself.
First gold production is targeted for roughly the first quarter of 2027, with the asset covering 23.2 hectares of granted mining lease that has seen minimal modern exploration below 40 metres. Separately, the company confirmed that joint venture discussions with Tartana Resources over its copper sulphate operations have concluded without agreement, following board and management changes at Tartana announced on 17 August that shifted that company's strategic priorities away from the copper sulphate business.
The Freedom stream structure lets Alt Resources gain exposure to near-term gold production without the capital burden of outright development, while the clean exit from the Tartana talks, with no material costs incurred, avoids a drawn-out dispute over an asset whose owner has already moved on strategically.
Galileo finds new porphyry system in Nevada
Galileo Resources (AIM:GLR) shares surged 28.0% to 0.8p after surface analysis revealed a multistage copper porphyry system at the company's Nevada project, strengthening the case for an upcoming drilling campaign.
The discovery adds a fresh target to Galileo's exploration portfolio ahead of planned drilling, giving the company a more clearly defined structural story to test once the rig campaign gets underway.
Emmerson gets Morocco arbitration hearing date for July 2028
Emmerson (AIM:EML), the AIM-listed potash developer, saw shares fall 8.824% to 1.55p after its $1.215bn treaty claim against Morocco was assigned a hearing date nearly two years from now, with the tribunal setting out the remaining procedural calendar.
The extended timeline pushes any resolution of the dispute, and the potential payout tied to it, well beyond the near-term horizon, leaving the stock to trade without a clear near-term catalyst from the arbitration process.
80 Mile's Ferrandina plant secures dual sustainability certification
80 Mile (AIM:80M) shares slipped 0.75% to 0.528p even as its Greenswitch subsidiary's Ferrandina biodiesel facility won both Italian and EU sustainability accreditation ahead of restart.
The dual certification unlocks access to premium-priced certificate schemes once the plant resumes operations, giving the biodiesel business a clearer path to improved margins as it comes back online.
Talon Resources readies maiden drill at Eagle Lake
Talon Resources (AIM:TAR), trading at 1.27p and down 0.39%, has completed site preparation for an expanded 1,375 metre drilling programme at its Eagle Lake gold project in Ontario, with rig mobilisation due within two weeks.
The expanded programme marks the company's first drill test of the target, with results expected to provide the initial read on the project's gold potential once assays return.
