Consolidation and discovery drove the mining news agenda, with Mkango Resources closing a landmark rare earth recycling acquisition in Germany while a cluster of explorers across Australia, Kazakhstan, Chile and Zambia reported drilling results that moved the needle on early-stage projects. East Star Resources was the standout mover, surging over 30% on news of a second Kazakh copper joint venture, while ACG Metals marked a symbolic milestone by shipping its first copper concentrate from Türkiye.
Mkango completes €8m Remloy rare earths acquisition
Mkango Resources (AIM:MKA), the AIM and TSX-V listed rare earths recycling and mining group, has closed its acquisition of Remloy from Heraeus Amloy Technologies, a deal first flagged on 20 May. The transaction adds a third recycling process to Mkango's European operations, arriving as the shares trade at 36.62p, down 2.35% on the day. Remloy's Bitterfeld plant recycles end-of-life rare earth magnets into neodymium-iron-boron alloy powders, and its addition builds directly on Mkango's existing HyProMag recycling business.
The deal values Remloy at €8m (US$9.3m), split between €5m paid in cash at closing and €3m deferred until 28 August 2028. Remloy comes with a stockpile of roughly 345 tonnes of end-of-life magnets, alloys and raw materials, targeting production capacity of at least 500 tonnes a year. David Bender, formerly co-Head of Heraeus Remloy, takes over as Managing Director of Remloy following completion.
"Remloy is ideally positioned as part of Mkango. Over the past few years, the Remloy team has worked hard to develop the company to this point. We are now entering a crucial phase in which we will make our products available to customers on a larger scale," said the Managing Director of Remloy.
Chief executive William Dawes framed the deal as leaving Mkango "uniquely positioned across the whole rare earth supply chain in Europe and North America", spanning recycling, magnet and alloy manufacturing in the UK, Germany and the US, separation in Poland, and mining in Malawi. That vertical integration matters as Mkango simultaneously pursues a NASDAQ listing for its Songwe Hill and Puławy projects via a proposed combination with Crown PropTech Acquisitions; owning feedstock, processing and end-market capacity across three continents gives the group a rare degree of supply-chain control just as Western governments push to reduce dependence on Chinese rare earth processing.
Tomahawk Metals confirms 44.85 g/t gold sample at Saturn project
Tomahawk Metals (Aquis:TMHK), quoted on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market, reported a primary assay of 38.16 g/t gold from rock-chip sample TRC0011 at its Saturn Gold Project in Western Australia, with a repeat assay coming back even stronger at 44.85 g/t. Six of the 32 primary samples collected returned more than 5 g/t gold, including standout grades of 18.69 g/t, 11.99 g/t and 7.15 g/t, while 27 of the 32 samples exceeded laboratory detection limits, with testing carried out by NATA-accredited Intertek Genalysis.
The results follow Tomahawk's completion of a 100% acquisition of Saturn in June, an exploration licence near the Koolyanobbing iron ore operations where unverified historical records point to production grades roughly 12 g/t gold. Field mapping has since identified quartz veining and historical workings spread across a structural corridor roughly 3.7km wide, with individual veins traced up to 450m along strike and none yet tested by drilling.
"These high-grade surface results provide an encouraging first indication of the potential at Saturn. During the site visit, we observed extensive quartz veining and historical workings across several prospect areas," said Keith Coughlan, Director of Tomahawk. With an untested 3.7km corridor and grades already running well above the project's historical benchmark, the surface work sets up a maiden drilling campaign as the next major catalyst.
West Coast Silver raises A$6m to fast-track Elizabeth Hill drilling
West Coast Silver (ASX:WCE), joint venture partner to Alien Metals (AIM:UFO), has raised A$6m, roughly £3.2m, through a placement to institutional and professional investors. Shares were placed at A$0.095 each, a 13.8% discount to the 15-day volume-weighted average price ahead of the trading halt, with West Coast Silver shares themselves last trading at 0.11p, down 4.35%.
The proceeds will fund further exploration and development drilling, geotechnical and metallurgical testwork, an updated mineral resource estimate and a scoping study, building on recent results that identified both near-surface and deeper mineralisation at Elizabeth Hill. The company plans to bring forward exploration at Elizabeth Hill South and West to widen the search for additional deposits.
"Demand significantly exceeding West Coast Silver's target" reflects strong institutional backing for the project, said Vince Fayad, Non-Executive Chairman of West Coast Silver. For Alien Metals, the raise accelerates the path toward a resource estimate and scoping study without diluting its own balance sheet, effectively letting its joint venture partner carry the near-term funding load at Elizabeth Hill.
East Star signs second copper JV to advance Rulikha
East Star Resources (LSE:EST), the Kazakhstan-focused gold and copper explorer, has signed a binding Heads of Agreement with Nova to form a joint venture that will farm into the Rulikha Copper Project. The stock was the day's biggest mover, up 31.8% to 5.8p, as investors welcomed a structure under which Nova funds resource definition, feasibility studies, permitting, development and commissioning at no further cost to East Star.
Orion Development, an experienced Kazakh mine developer, will operate the project, with the farm-in progressing through five milestones from tenement transfer and drilling to commercial production. East Star's final stake lands at 25% under the default structure, or 35% under an alternative arrangement giving Nova priority claim on distributable cash flow until construction and relocation costs are repaid. This marks East Star's second Kazakh copper joint venture, following the Verkhuba-Xinhai Mining Joint Venture struck on 19 March.
"This transaction enables East Star to maintain exposure to a second, potentially transformational copper development while continuing to focus its own resources on exploration, discovery and value creation," said Alex Walker, Chief Executive. With Orion's team previously having advanced the Karshyga copper deposit from acquisition through to development, the operator's track record underpins the credibility of a deal that lets East Star retain carried exposure to a second Kazakh copper asset without diverting cash from its own exploration programme.
Forgent starts Phase 2 drilling at Peak Hill
Forgent (FORG) has begun a 130-hole, 8,700-metre drilling programme at its Peak Hill gold-copper project in Western Australia, expanding on encouraging results from the first phase. The shares fell 11.1% to 0.008p on the day the programme kicked off.
The expanded drill campaign aims to test the scale of mineralisation identified in earlier work, with the company looking to convert initial encouraging intercepts into a more defined target for future resource work.
Blencowe graphite proves out at Mach 5.5 rocket test
Blencowe Resources (BRES) saw graphite from its Orom-Cross project used in nozzle, fin coating and battery components during a hypersonic flight test in New Mexico that reached Mach 5.5, reinforcing the company's push into defence and aerospace supply chains. The shares rose 7.4% to 8.75p.
The test result adds a high-performance validation to Orom-Cross graphite's credentials beyond its core battery-material market, giving Blencowe a marketing hook into defence-linked demand as it continues to develop the Uganda project toward production.
Great Southern Copper strikes porphyry copper at Especularita
Great Southern Copper (GSCU) reported scout drilling results at its Especularita project in Chile that returned 106 metres at 0.33% copper from surface, confirming a new porphyry-style discovery beneath historical artisanal workings. Shares rose 2.6% to 2.75p on the update.
The intercept, starting at surface, gives the company a fresh target to follow up with additional drilling, adding to its pipeline of Chilean copper assets and strengthening the case that historical small-scale mining in the area sits atop a larger mineralised system.
IMC Exploration signs Karaberd underground mining works contract
IMC Exploration (IMC) has had its Armenian subsidiary sign a contract with specialist consultancy TTH to prepare the Karaberd deposit for underground mining, targeting 50kg of gold output over the next 12 months. Shares edged up 1.6% to 1.575p.
The contract marks a shift from exploration toward production planning at Karaberd, giving IMC a near-term revenue pathway as it works to convert the Armenian asset into an operating mine.
Talisman Metals renews Fougnar licenses, pushes drilling to Q4
Talisman Metals (TLM) has secured a four-year renewal of its Fougnar exploration licenses in Morocco, shares last at 7.0p. The renewal secures the company's ground position for continued exploration work at the project.
A planned drilling campaign at Fougnar has slipped by a quarter into the final three months of the year, pushing back the next major newsflow catalyst for the project.
Tertiary Minerals confirms thick silver-copper zone at Mushima North
Tertiary Minerals (TYM), trading at 0.07p, has received the first certified lab results from its Phase 4 drilling at Target A1 within the Mushima North project in Zambia, confirming near-surface silver-copper-zinc mineralisation.
The results also identified a higher-grade zone within the broader mineralised interval, giving the company a more defined target to prioritise as it continues assessing the exploration target's potential.
Harvest Minerals completes Scanty and TVR rare earth acquisition
Harvest Minerals (HMI), trading at 0.25p, has completed its purchase of Brazilian rare earth explorer Scanty Mineração, paying A$200,000 in cash and issuing 40m new shares as consideration.
The deal builds an eight-project rare earth portfolio alongside Harvest's existing Arapua project, giving the company a broader Brazilian footprint in a commodity category attracting increasing strategic attention.
African Pioneer starts drill planning at Ongombo-Ongeama
African Pioneer (AFP), trading at 2.05p, has begun planning a multi-rig drill programme at its Ongombo and Ongeama copper projects, funded under its financing tie-up with Hong Kong Xinhai Mining Services.
The move toward a multi-rig programme signals an acceleration in the pace of exploration at the Namibian copper assets as the Xinhai partnership provides the capital to advance drilling on multiple fronts simultaneously.
Bradda Head confirms high grades as drilling begins at Whistlejacket lithium project
Bradda Head Lithium (BHL), up 3.2% to 2.27p, has completed a final round of surface sampling at its Whistlejacket project, strengthening priority drill targets as the company's first Phase 3 drilling programme gets underway.
The strengthened targets give Bradda Head a firmer basis for its maiden Phase 3 drill campaign, marking a step-change from surface exploration toward subsurface confirmation of the lithium project's potential.
ACG Metals produces first copper concentrate at Gediktepe
ACG Metals (ACG), trading at 2060.3999p and down 0.46%, has marked its transition into a copper producer after achieving first concentrate output at the Gediktepe mine in Türkiye.
The company is targeting full production by year-end, a milestone that would move ACG from developer to established copper producer within the space of a few months.