Metal prices did the heavy lifting for miners across the board on Wednesday, with copper and gold both hitting fresh highs and flowing straight through to earnings. Central Asia Metals led the way with a trebling of pre-tax profit and a sharply increased dividend, while Hochschild Mining posted its own surge in half-year earnings on the back of the gold rally. Beneath the big-cap results, a cluster of explorers delivered drilling and resource updates spanning Wales, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa, and Cornish Metals moved a step closer to a final investment decision on South Crofty with a substantial financing package.
Central Asia Metals profit trebles as Cygnus deal advances
Central Asia Metals (AIM:CAML), owner of the Kounrad copper operation in Kazakhstan and the Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia, delivered one of the standout results of the reporting season, with shares rising 8.831% to 182.4p. Group revenue for the six months to 30 June climbed 46% to $145.5 million, as copper prices set fresh records on the back of electrification and data-management demand combined with supply disruptions.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 89% to $75.5 million, pushing the margin to 52% from 40% a year earlier, while pre-tax profit more than trebled to $59.3 million from $19.6 million. Adjusted free cash flow jumped 189% to $46.8 million and cash reserves reached $97.2 million, up from $79.7 million at the end of December. The board lifted the interim dividend to 8p per share from 4.5p, equivalent to 40% of adjusted free cash flow, having also completed a $10 million buyback during the period. Production rose across copper, zinc and lead, with Kounrad copper output up 1% to 6,304 tonnes and Sasa's zinc and lead concentrate output up 5% and 6% respectively.
"Copper has set new price records as growing demand, in particular for its conductive properties in electrification and data management, has combined with supply disruptions," said Gavin Ferrar, chief executive.
The results land as Central Asia Metals works toward completing its all-share acquisition of Cygnus Metals and its Chibougamau high-grade copper-gold project in Québec, a deal valuing Cygnus' equity at A$232 million and expected to close in early October alongside a planned TSX listing. With full-year guidance reaffirmed at 12,000 to 13,000 tonnes of copper and cash building rapidly, the company enters the Cygnus integration from a position of financial strength rarely afforded to AIM-listed miners taking on transformational, cross-border deals.
Hochschild profit surges thanks to soaring gold price
Hochschild Mining (LSE:HOC), the London-listed precious metals miner with operations in Peru, Argentina and Brazil, saw its shares rise 6.155% to 664.0p after reporting revenue up 62% to $844.4 million for the six months to 30 June, against $520.0 million a year earlier, as the gold price rally fed directly into the top line.
Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled, up 119% to $491.5 million, while profit before tax jumped to $365.8 million from $109.3 million in the first half of 2025. Basic earnings per share rose to $0.37 from $0.12, and the company swung to a net cash position of $51.1 million from net debt of $20.0 million at the end of 2025. That came despite attributable production falling to 151,830 gold equivalent ounces from 165,176 ounces and all-in sustaining costs climbing to $2,448 per ounce from $1,873, as higher prices more than offset softer output and rising costs. The board responded with an interim dividend of 4.0 cents per share, up sharply from 1.0 cent, worth $20.6 million.
The turnaround plan at the Mara Rosa mine in Brazil, which has weighed on production, is progressing in line with expectations, and the scale of the cash swing gives management room to accelerate that recovery without leaning on the balance sheet. With gold prices still climbing, the gap between rising revenue and falling volumes is set to remain the defining tension in Hochschild's story through the second half.
Arkadian completes access route to key Clogau gold target
Arkadian Strategic Metals (AIM:AKN) has completed access works at its wholly owned Clogau-St David's Gold Mine in north Wales, installing ladders and platforms across a roughly 12-metre vertical section to create a staged route from the Tyn y Cornel Level into the Jack Williams stope. Shares fell 12.0% to 0.011p even as the company advanced toward one of its longest-standing exploration targets.
The stope sits at the westernmost historically mined section of the Main Lode, the quartz-vein structure responsible for most of Clogau's historic gold output. Arkadian first identified the area as a target following 2020 drilling, with follow-up work in 2021 and three-dimensional modelling mapping out the projected Jack Williams Lode and a separate New Branch Lode structure. Rather than pursuing the roughly 48-metre crosscut originally envisaged in 2021, the company opted to use existing workings to reach the target more directly.
"The completion of the new access route to the Jack Williams stope... enables us to turn our attention to a historically important part of the Main Lode," said George Frangeskides, executive chairman. The shortcut through existing workings trims both time and capital from what had been a multi-year plan, positioning Arkadian to test a historically productive zone without the cost of new development, a meaningful de-risking step for a company trading at fractions of a penny.
Mila Resources doubles gold resource at Kathleen Valley
Mila Resources (LSE:MILA) upgraded the JORC mineral resource estimate at its Coffey Gold Deposit, part of the Kathleen Valley project in Australia, to 41,300 ounces of contained gold, with shares rising 3.333% to 1.55p. Mila holds rights to 30% of the project with an option to lift its stake to 80%.
The new Inferred Mineral Resource covers 599,000 tonnes at 2.1 grammes per tonne gold on a 0.5g/t cut-off, roughly double the tonnage and ounces of the November 2020 estimate of 327,000 tonnes at 2.0g/t for 21,000 ounces. The upgrade draws on 44 drill holes totalling 8,914 metres completed since 2019, against just 12 holes underpinning the earlier figure. The deposit also returned grades of 4.6g/t silver and 0.71% zinc at the same cut-off, though these credits remain outside the JORC-reportable resource pending metallurgical testing.
"Doubling the Mineral Resource at the Coffey Gold Deposit is a significant achievement," said Mark Stephenson, director. The near-doubling of ounces from more than triple the drilling density strengthens the case for Coffey as a standalone development target within Kathleen Valley, and gives Mila a firmer basis to negotiate the step-up to an 80% interest.
Andrada strikes 24 metres at 2% lithium at Namibia project
Andrada Mining (AIM:ATM) reported results from its fourth drill batch at the Lithium Ridge project in Namibia, with shares up 3.279% to 6.3p. The batch deepened the high-grade lithium zone previously identified at the project while also confirming tin and tantalum credits running alongside the lithium mineralisation.
The consistency of high-grade intercepts across successive drill batches builds the case for Lithium Ridge as a multi-commodity asset rather than a single-metal play, adding tin and tantalum optionality to a lithium story at a time when battery-metal pricing remains volatile.
Shuka Minerals hits 70% zinc grade in new Kabwe orebody
Shuka Minerals (AIM:SKA) completed its final exploratory drill hole south of the Speaks and Mine Club zones at its Kabwe project, returning a peak grade of 69.6% zinc. Shares rose 3.226% to 3.2p on the update.
The near-70% grade ranks among the highest reported at Kabwe to date, and the successful conclusion of the exploratory programme south of the known zones opens up additional strike length for the project beyond the resource base already established at Speaks and Mine Club.
Cora Gold extends stream-to-debt swap window to October 2027
Cora Gold (AIM:CORA) has pushed back the deadline for replacing half of its $120 million gold stream with senior debt to October 2027, with shares up 2.56% to 10.0p as talks with West African banks continue. The extension buys the company time as Mali advances a key permit renewal in parallel.
Replacing stream financing with cheaper debt would materially improve Cora's economics by reducing the proportion of future gold production committed away at fixed terms, making the outcome of both the bank negotiations and the Malian permit process central to the project's near-term value.
Kendrick starts metallurgical test work on Teufelskuppe project
Kendrick Resources (AIM:KEN) has engaged German consultancy Anzaplan to begin early-stage processing analysis on samples from its Teufelskuppe rare earths project in Namibia, with shares slipping 1.05% to 7.05p.
The metallurgical work marks an early but necessary step in establishing whether Teufelskuppe's rare earth mineralisation can be economically processed, a question that will shape how the project is valued as it moves toward more advanced studies.
Uru Metals defines high-grade zone at Zeb nickel project
Three-dimensional geological modelling has identified a well-developed higher-grade PGE mineralisation domain at Uru Metals (AIM:URU)'s Zeb Nickel Project in South Africa, with shares down 0.89% to 3.915p. The finding sets up the next phase of drilling aimed at building toward a maiden resource.
Identifying a discrete higher-grade domain within the broader nickel-PGE system gives Uru Metals a clearer target to prioritise as it plans follow-up drilling, potentially accelerating the path toward its first resource statement at Zeb.
Jubilee Metals picks buyer for $35 million waste project sale
Jubilee Metals Group (LSE:JLP), trading at 2.5p, has selected a preferred purchaser to acquire its Large Waste Project in Zambia for $35 million, a disposal that would redirect capital toward its core mining and processing operations.
The sale would crystallise value from a non-core asset and strengthen Jubilee's balance sheet at a time when the company is focused on expanding processing capacity, giving management more flexibility to invest in the operations it considers central to its growth strategy.
Cornish Metals secures $210 million bond and bridge financing for South Crofty
Cornish Metals, the Cornwall-focused tin developer, raised an oversubscribed $210 million senior secured bond alongside up to £52 million in bridge facilities as it edges toward a final investment decision on its South Crofty project.
The scale and oversubscription of the bond signal strong investor appetite for the tin story, and the combined package gives Cornish Metals the funding runway to move South Crofty from development planning toward construction without an immediate return to equity markets.
