MinRes Onslow Road Pause Sees Stock Stumble

Capricorn issue stock to close hedges, Rio warns over unification costs

March 19, 2025

The Pre-Start

  • MinRes advised that haulage on its Onslow road has been temporarily paused while it engages with WorkSafe WA on a notice they issued yesterday, following an incident. It reported that haulage is continuing via contractor vehicles using alternative routes & stated FY25 guidance won’t be impacted (MIN) Down 11%

  • Capricorn closed out its remaining 55koz gold hedging with Macquarie & also purchased gold put options at A$4,500/oz, covering 50% of the volume & same maturity as the closed hedge contracts (CMM) Closure, put options & transaction costs totalled $147m funded through ~17.7m CMM shares and $7m cash

  • Greatland Gold shared its inaugural Telfer resource statement, coming in at 154Mt @ 0.64g/t Au and 0.08% Cu for 3.2Moz Au and 117kt Cu (GGP.AIM)

  • Boliden will spend A$120m on a new paste plant a Garpenberg, while the Odda smelter expansion is on track for 2H commissioning (BOL.STO)

  • Patriot’s feasibility study is on track for Sept release, with an updated CV5 block model completed. The scope will resemble the previously published PEA (PMT)

  • AIC Mines shared an updated resource, combining for 28.4Mt @ 2% Cu and 0.4g/t Au, with reserves to be reported in April (A1M)

  • G2 claimed a discovery to the north of Oko, with the standout hit from its exploration work returning 24m @ 2g/t (GTWO.TSX)

  • Awalé intercepted 52m @ 2g/t from 197m from the BBM Zone at Odienné (ARIC.TSXV)

  • Aurum Resources shared assay results from diamond drilling at its Boundiali gold project in Cote d’Ivoire, including 9m at 24.6g/t Au from 221m (AUE)

  • Gorilla Gold is in trading halt pending a drill result-related announcement (GG8)

  • Emu NL terminated its CEO services contract with Douglas Grewar, advising the termination concerned a recent discovery by the company of breaches of the contract (EMU) Yesterday’s EGM also postponed

  • Santos NED Michael Utsler picked up ~$300k stock on-market (STO)

  • Santana Minerals NED Emma Scotney purchased ~$113k stock on-market (SMI)

  • Predictive NED Alberto Lavandeira spent $217k buying shares on market (PDI)

High Grade It

  • A 6th jumbo road train has crashed on MinRes’ iron ore haul network in the Pilbara, raising further questions over the safety and design (AFR)

  • Gold touched a fresh all-time high above $3,000/oz as investors weighed US data that fueled concerns about an economic slowdown (Bloomberg)

  • FMG’s global director of comms Nicole Moody is leaving the company, just shy of a year in the role amid comms consolidation (West)

  • Rio warned its ASX-listed shares could slump 11% if pressed to proceed with unification of its dual-listed structure (AFR)

  • Trump to forge ahead with tariff plans while OECD warns of slowing growth as trade tensions rise (MNN)

  • New Hope’s shares soared almost 9% after CEO Rob Bishop announced a $100m share buyback, & said the slump in coal prices had run its course (AFR)

  • Gupta is “stonewalling” a Whyalla steel probe, as administrators turn their investigation to the deals between him & the collapsed steelmaker (Australian)

  • Minerals Council chair Andrew Michelmore said Australia must put policies in place to survive the economic storm that may follow an escalating trade war (AFR)

  • The Saudi Industry & Mineral Resources Ministry awarded exploration licenses to several local & international firms, including Vedanta & Zijin (Reuters)

  • Peter Dutton vowed to make a decision on Woodside’s contentious $30bn NW Shelf gas plant extension within 30 days of being elected (Australian)

Check out the surface and underground mining specialists at Blue Cap Mining for all your project development & mining services needs!

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

  • Ora Banda’s largest shareholder, Hawkes Point trims stake in $97m block (AFR)

  • Canyon Resources completed is acquisition of a 9.1% stake in Camrail S.A (CAY)

  • EnCore Energy is selling a subsidiary that holds numerous projects including Crownpoint & Hosta Butte to Verdera for 50m shares & a royalty. EnCore plans to distribute 35m of the shares after Verdera lists in Canada (EU.CVE)

  • CZR directors reiterated that shareholders should accept Fenix’s takeover offer, in the absence of a superior proposal (CZR)

  • Astral has an ~84.8% stake in Maximus as part of its off-market takeover offer (AAR)

Rattlin’ the Tin

  • Capricorn’s hedging closure saw it issue 17.7m shares @ $7.90 for $140m (CMM) we don’t think Macquarie will be taking equity risk for very long…

  • Robex closed a US$130m syndicated debt facility with Sprott to fund Kiniero (RBX.CVE)

  • Pantoro announced that Nebari will convert US$2.1m of its convertible loan, resulting in the issuance of 32.8m shares (6.3c conversion price) (PNR)

Word on the Decline

The one line in MinRes’ announcement today that really begs the question is this: “Haulage is continuing via contractor vehicles using alternative routes.”

So at least temporarily, the haul road is off limits to even the smaller third-party trucks… What isn’t included in this announcement?

Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.

In the Weeds

  • BYD unveils EV battery that charges in just 5 minutes (AFR)

  • Niobium’s battle of quantity and quality: new uses and new prospects might make niobium a more attractive metal (MNN)

  • Here’s how our biggest investors are trading the deep market sell-off (AFR)

  • Trump’s erratic policy is harming the reputation of American assets (Economist)

  • International Mining: Indigestion and insights from Strictly Boardroom (MNN)

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Today’s Top Tweet

The preview won’t show it but the last line of this tweet is very clever. “Iluka built its fortune selling sand - now it looks like they’re sinking in it.”

Devil’s in the Detail

🐐 management teams know the value of their paper at all times. The last few months, Capricorn has been very liberal using theirs…

Today’s hedge closure with shares is the chunky one, yes. But there have been three small payments with shares in the last ~month if you’ve been paying attention to their Appendix 2As.

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