Resources Top 5: Investors throw $30m at Waratah as it turns up the heat on NSW gold hunt
Potential for gallium by-product at KNG's Leliyn graphite project
Multiple high-priority drilling targets with significant REE potential at Colosseum
Your standout small cap resources stocks for Thursday, August 14, 2025
Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM)
Investors have shown their confidence in Waratah Minerals and validated its aggressive exploration strategy at the Spur gold-copper project in NSW by pouring $30 million into a placement.
Continuing a stellar run on the ASX, the company hit a four-year high of 76.5c, a 24.4% increase on the previous day's close, and has risen from 29.5c at the close on August 1.
And there is more to come, at least according to Blue Ocean Equities analyst Carlos Crowley-Vasquez who increased the broker's price target from $1.20 to $1.50, saying he sees Spur as having a path to a +3Moz resource.
Strong demand was received from existing and new Australian and North American institutional investors for the placement at 57.5c per share, a 7.1% premium to WTM's 5-day VWAP of 53.7c and a 16.1% premium to the 30-day VWAP of 49.5c.
It comprises two tranches, with the first of $11.7m to be followed by a second tranche of $18.3m subject to shareholder approval at an upcoming general meeting.
Bell Potter Securities acted as sole lead manager to the placement, which has strengthened the company's shareholder base.
WTM managing director Peter Duerden said he was delighted with the outcome and the support received.
'The placement provides strong validation of the company's strategy and will enable an acceleration of our exploration activities at the Spur gold-copper project,' he said.
Funds will enable the company to step up extensional and resource drilling at Spur, which is in the heart of the Lachlan Fold Belt in NSW, just a few kilometres west of the Cadia Valley gold and copper operations of Newmont.
Funds will also be used for initial metallurgical testwork and further target definition geochemistry and geophysics.
As well as attracting support from investors, Waratah was also a major talking point at the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie after recent drilling returned a 208.7m intersection grading 1.17g/t gold from 514m at the Consols prospect
Drilling returned multiple zones of visible gold, increasing the company's strike along the Spur golds corridor to more than 1.5km
The result enhanced confidence in the project's potential to host a large-scale, high-grade epithermal gold system with plenty of upside along the rapidly emerging corridor.
The company has three drill rigs on the site southwest of Orange and west of Cadia with a steady stream of exploration results expected in coming weeks and months.
Kingsland Minerals (ASX:KNG)
Critical minerals have been front and centre in the resources sector along with gold and Kingsland Minerals is benefitting from having a significant deposit of graphite, a key metal in the production of batteries.
Now the company has also identified the potential to produce high-value gallium, a critical component in semiconductors, optical-electronic devices, solar panels and several military applications, at its Leliyn graphite project in WA.
Investors also like what they see from Kingsland with shares reaching 19c, a 2025 high and an improvement of 31.1% on the previous close.
Gallium is a soft metal with a melting point near room temperature (30°C) that is classified as a critical mineral in Europe, America and Australia and its market is projected to grow from US$2.45b in 2024 to US$21.53b by 2034.
It isn't mined as a primary ore but is typically produced as a by-product of bauxite and zinc cores.
A testwork breakthrough has identified the potential to produce gallium as a by-product at Leliyn, which hosts Australia's largest graphite deposit.
Mineralogical testing, which has been verified by the CSIRO, has established muscovite mica as the principal host of gallium within the Leliyn graphitic schist, with biotite mica a secondary host.
Kingsland managing director Richard Maddocks said this marked an important development in the company's strategy to unlock value at Leliyn.
'Now we know what mineral hosts the gallium, we can work towards producing a gallium concentrate,' he said.
'It is anticipated that once a gallium concentrate is produced, additional work will assess the viability of extracting gallium and/or gallium compounds from the concentrate.
'It should be noted that gallium production will not be considered in the Leliyn scoping study due for release later in the September quarter,' he added.
Kingsland has completed an exploration target for gallium at Leliyn and plans to publish a maiden gallium JORC-compliant resource later in 2025.
Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD)
(Up on no news)
A big mover was Mount Ridley Mines despite having no news with shares surging 180% to a 2025 high of 0.7c.
The company continues a desktop review of its WA exploration assets, with a particular focus on its namesake rare earths project in the state's south.
This is part of its strategic approach to assess historical data, geological models and economic potential across its portfolio, and will assist in prioritising high-potential areas for future exploration.
The Mount Ridley review aims to optimise the company's landholding while maintaining a strategic focus on the project.
MRD is also reviewing additional target areas within the Weld Range project in WA's Mid-West.
The aim is to define priority locations for a follow-up rock chip sampling program, designed to further assess and refine prospective mineralised zones identified during earlier fieldwork.
At Weld Range MRD holds about 18% of the Weld Range Banded Iron Formation (BIF) with areas of the tenements prospective for iron and gold.
OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6)
Positive testwork results this week have seen OD6 Metals reach a 12-month high of 10.5c, a lift of 54.5% on the previous close, and on volume of more than 31m.
High-quality mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) and mixed rare earth hydroxide (MREH) have been produced from the Splinter Rock REE project in WA with low impurities and high payability potential.
The results were from heap leach liquor in metallurgical testing conducted by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
MREC of ~56% TREO was produced via a simplified and scalable heap leach and impurity removal process flowsheet while MREH of ~59% TREO was also produced utilising the
same process but with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to precipitate the saleable product.
Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR)
Results from a recent 3D magnetotelluric geophysical inversion for the Colosseum gold-REE project of Dateline Resources in California have confirmed multiple high-priority drilling targets with significant rare earth element potential.
As well as outlining these targets, a 3D resistivity model derived from the MT survey highlights a standout geophysical anomaly, which is interpreted to represent a potential carbonatite-hosted REE target at depth.
This has seen Dateline Resources reach a seven-year high of 21c, a 27.3% increase.
'We are very encouraged by the positive magnetotelluric survey results, which validate our previous work and reinforce confidence in our exploration model,' DTR CEO and MD Stephen Baghdadi said.
'The identification of a deep, high-resistivity feature directly beneath fenite outcrops is particularly noteworthy, as it is consistent with a carbonatite-related system.
'With these geophysical insights in hand, we are now preparing for the next phase of exploration, including drill planning for these targets.'
'We remain optimistic that our gold targets, particularly those coincident with low-resistivity zones or favourable structures, will prove similarly encouraging."
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any financial decisions. While Waratah Minerals, and Kingsland Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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