Exploration news dominated the sector today, with drill results and project restarts driving the biggest moves across the mining board. Kazera Global's enlarged fundraise and early-stage Angola discussions led the pack, while explorers in the Northern Territory, Zambia and Congo all reported fresh intercepts or programme milestones that underline the sector's renewed appetite for early-stage risk.
Kazera Global lifts fundraise on Angola partnership talks
Kazera Global (AIM:KZG), the AIM-quoted investment company building production at its Whale Head Minerals and Deep Blue Minerals assets in South Africa's Northern Cape, has increased its fundraising to approximately £722,000, up from the £500,000 announced on 8 September. The shares jumped 23.81% to 1.95p as the market digested both the enlarged raise and news of separate talks with an Angola-based investment group.
The company secured a binding commitment for an additional direct subscription of £221,962.44, covering 11.1m new shares at the previously set issue price of 2.0p, a top-up option flagged in the original fundraising announcement. The enlarged raise will now issue 36.1m new shares in total across the placing, subscription and additional subscription, pending shareholder approval on 21 September. Separately, Kazera disclosed that the Angola-based group views the company as a potential platform for pursuing opportunities in that country's mining sector, with discussions aimed at exploring a broader strategic partnership that could eventually lead to a memorandum of understanding.
Proceeds from the fundraise are earmarked to strengthen Kazera's balance sheet, support its existing South African portfolio and fund value-accretive investments. The Angola talks remain at an early stage, with no binding terms or specific investment opportunities yet identified.
The scale of the market's reaction suggests investors are pricing in more than just a routine cash top-up. A binding subscription commitment removes execution risk from the fundraise itself, but the real re-rating driver is the prospect of Angola exposure, a jurisdiction with substantial untapped mineral potential. That said, the enlarged share count takes total voting shares to 1.14bn post-admission, a material dilution investors will need the Angola opportunity, if it materialises, to justify.
Zanaga starts bulk sampling at Congo iron ore project
Zanaga Iron Ore Company (LSE:ZIOC) has launched a bulk sampling programme at its Zanaga Iron Ore Project in the Republic of Congo, a step the AIM-listed company frames as key to reaching a final investment decision. Shares eased 2.37% to 3.71p even as the update marked the project's first major site activity since 2014. Zanaga is extracting roughly 30,000 tonnes of ore to produce a 100-tonne composite sample of the hematite zone targeted for Stage 1's 12m tonnes per annum operations.
Equipment and personnel mobilisation began in July, funded by proceeds from the company's May equity raise. The sample will undergo pilot-scale metallurgical testing to validate the project's revised direct reduced iron processing flowsheet and to generate concentrate volumes for characterisation with steel mill customers, independent laboratories and offtakers. Excavation is proceeding under environmental and mining permits secured following consultation with Republic of Congo ministries, the Prefecture, project communities and traditional custodians.
"I've been highly encouraged by the progress our project team is making with the bulk sampling programme, which remains on schedule," said Martin Knauth, chief executive of Zanaga. The programme's progress after a decade-long site hiatus signals renewed momentum toward monetising one of West Africa's larger undeveloped iron ore resources, though a final investment decision still hinges on the metallurgical results and offtake interest the sampling is designed to generate.
First Development confirms bedrock gold at Lander West
First Development Resources (AIM:FDR), the Australian-focused exploration company, has confirmed primary gold mineralisation in bedrock at its Lander West target within the Selta Project in the Northern Territory, even as its shares fell 16.67% to 2.25p. The eight-hole, 1,593-metre reverse circulation drilling programme found gold anomalism in six of the eight holes, with the strongest result from hole 26LWR08 returning 7 metres at 0.40 g/t gold from 50 metres downhole, including 2 metres at 0.98 g/t. A separate hole, 26LWR02, intersected 8 metres at 0.32% copper from 47 metres downhole.
The company cross-checked its results against historical drilling from Normandy NFM between 1995 and 1998, validating a 1997 hole at the Red Handed target that returned 16 metres at 0.30 g/t gold from 12 metres, including 2 metres at 1.93 g/t. That hole sits 834 metres from 26LWR08; the two do not demonstrate continuity, but together they support the case for a genuine gold-bearing system. "We are exploring a genuine gold-bearing system, where we should be looking next," said Tristan Pottas, chief executive of First Development Resources.
The share price fall despite a confirmed gold system suggests the market had priced in a more definitive result, or is waiting for follow-up drilling to establish continuity between the two known intercepts. The historical validation nonetheless gives First Development a credible basis to target further holes at Lander West without starting from scratch.
Tertiary Minerals hits best silver-copper intercept yet in Zambia
Tertiary Minerals (LSE:TYM) reported 121 metres grading 78 grammes per tonne silver equivalent from just 4 metres downhole at the Discovery Zone, part of Target A1 at its Mushima North project in Zambia, the best silver-copper intersection recorded on the project to date. Shares rose 7.69% to 0.07p on the news. The AIM-listed explorer holds Mushima North through its 90%-owned subsidiary Copernicus Minerals, with local partner Mwashia Resources holding the remainder, in a region 28km east of the historic Kalengwa copper-silver mine, currently under redevelopment.
The results come from 13 further reverse circulation holes drilled as part of a 39-hole, 3,639-metre Phase 4 programme, all of which intersected near-surface silver-copper-zinc mineralisation. Several holes ended in mineralisation, extending the deposit's known depth, including the top result, which contained a higher-grade section of 10 metres at 165 grammes per tonne silver equivalent from 80 metres downhole. "We are thrilled to report our best silver-copper mineralised intersection to date on the Project, a further 24m longer than the previous Project record," said Richard Belcher, managing director of Tertiary Minerals.
With every hole in the latest batch hitting mineralisation and the deposit's depth extent still growing, Mushima North is shaping up as a genuine bulk-tonnage target rather than a scattered set of anomalies. Further laboratory results due shortly will be the next test of whether the grade and continuity can support the open-pit development case management is now building toward.
URU Metals nears driller pick for Zeb Nickel programme
URU Metals (URU) has moved into final commercial evaluation of diamond drilling contractors ahead of its next campaign at the Zeb Nickel Project in South Africa, with shares gaining 3.8% to 4.1p. The step signals the company is close to locking in the resources needed to advance the project's next phase of subsurface work.
Finalising a driller marks a practical but necessary gate before any campaign can begin, and the timing suggests URU is positioning to start turning ground relatively soon. No drilling dates or budget details have yet been disclosed.
Tungsten West starts processing at Hemerdon mine
Ore is now running through the plant at Tungsten West (TUN)'s Hemerdon mine, marking the start of production ramp-up weeks after a £71m National Wealth Fund investment. Shares edged up 1.03% to 49.0p as the milestone confirmed the project is moving from construction into operational phase.
The processing start follows a sizeable injection of state-backed capital and represents a tangible test of whether Hemerdon, one of the largest tungsten deposits in the western world, can now deliver on its long-delayed production promise.
Forgent expands Phase 2 drilling at Peak Hill gold-copper project
Forgent (FORG) has added 14 holes at its Curley's prospect to chase up a standout Phase 1 gold intersection, lifting its Western Australia drilling programme to roughly 144 holes. Shares traded at 0.008p as the company pressed ahead with the expanded campaign at Peak Hill.
The decision to widen the programme roughly Curley's indicates management sees enough signal in the earlier results to justify additional capital and rig time, with results from the expanded programme expected to shape the next phase of work at the gold-copper project.
