• The Albanese gov’t has pledged another $400m towards the construction of Australia’s first domestic rare earths refinery, allocating cash to Iluka (AFR)

• Australia needs to cut permitting times or risk being left behind in the transition boom, BHP says (Australian)

• Mali has issued an arrest warrant for Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow, escalating a dispute with the Canadian mining company (Reuters)

• Freeport’s ongoing Indonesian copper headache continues as the company juggles a fire-damaged smelter and concentrate export ban (MiningNews)

• Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has cleared the approval path to expand three major coal mines, rejecting environmentalist appeals (Australian)

• Lithium remains the main game, Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott says (West)

• Czech lithium plant to grow green shoots on land that once housed a coal power plant (MiningNews)

• Vale’s base metals subsidiary will let go of dozens of managers to simplify its corporate structure and improve performance (Bloomberg)

• A BHP exec has said the miner is not fixated on copper growth organically or through acquisitions (Reuters)

• Shares of coal miner Adaro Andalan jumped 20% on their first day, in a show of demand for Indonesia’s largest IPO in 1.5 years (Bloomberg)

• Rio Tinto wants to avoid creating tension between Australia and China in finding a way forward to launch buybacks (Australian)

• China may maintain a rapid pace of nuclear reactor approvals & is on track to become the global leader in nuclear power generation by 2030 (Bloomberg)

• The critical minerals sector gets a $21m boost, split across 5 projects, as Albanese eyes WA (CB)

• Gold has scope to push higher next year as the Fed cuts rates and central banks add bullion to reserves, according to Macquarie (Bloomberg)

• Aurum have extended the deadline for their takeover offer of Mako Gold till 31 January 2025, currently hold a ~69% stake (AUE)

Welcome to the last flurry of capital raisings before the Christmas break!

Our experience tells us typically, if companies haven’t gone into trading halt by at least mid next week to complete a deal, any raising ambitions might have to wait till next year…

• Titan Minerals received firm commitments to raise $20m via a placement (TTM)

• Minbos signed a term sheet for US$12m in funding for the Cabinda phosphate project with Banco BAI, with a 7-year term paying 7.5% (MNB)

• Aurum raised $10m to meet costs associated with its Mako Gold acquisition including various workstreams at Mako’s Napie gold project (AUE)

• James Bay Minerals raised $6m to fund accelerated drilling & development activities at its Independence Gold project (JBY)

• Trigg Minerals raised $5m via a placement (TMG)

• Castile Resources received firm commitments for $4.1m via a placement (CST)

• Kingston, Brightstar, VRX Silica, Silver Mines (to name a few) are each in trading halt pending a capital raising (KSN, BTR, VRX, SVL)

• It’s interesting to see how the feedstock case for Iluka’s Eneabba refinery has evolved vs when FID was announced in 2022

• Now we see Scenario B where Northern Minerals feedstock displaces Wimmera. We can’t help but suspect Wimmera’s processing solution is yet to be fully “unlocked” by Iluka. The last we heard, the DFS will be running into 2026 for the project…

• But it’s the 3^rd party additional feed sources we continue to think about. We reckon this Eneabba refinery is the logical destination for concentrate from Yangibana, eventually. And we also think that will be a decision for Wyloo to make in due course…

• Palliser Capital’s presentation on why Rio should fold the dual-listed structure

• S&P Global reported funds raised by junior & mid-cap co.’s reached the highest level since Mar ‘22, while exploration activity improvement continues (S&P)

• UK announced a new critical minerals strategy to be published in 2025 (MiningNews)

• Former poddie guest Anthony Kavanagh of Chester AM writes about investing in a world of options and asymmetry (Livewire)

• Fascinating musings from a Money Miner, proposing a fundamental shift in the geological exploration model in the face of declining discovery rates (LinkedIn)

• First Quantum chief Tristan Pascall says it is “still a growth company” while reflecting on the challenges & opportunities facing the company (MiningNews)

• Black Tuesday block fiasco for Citi (AFR) One for the finance folks, an utter debacle

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