Latest news with #Diggers
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Runners of the week: Rhythm Biosciences, Roolife, Waratah & Lindian
It was a big week for Australian resources on the exchange. As iron ore pushed above the US$100 (A$150) per tonne mark and gold held near all-time highs, the blue suits and RM Williams boots of corporate resources descended upon Kalgoorlie's annual Diggers and Dealers forum. Despite the seemingly incessant needs of gold CEOs to reach into their pockets to compare free cash flow charts, it was the unlikely rare earths sector that stole the show. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King suggested at Diggers on Tuesday that Australia might follow the United States in setting a price floor for magnet rare earths production Down Under. The announcement was quickly followed by Iluka Resources, which is constructing a government-funded refinery in Geraldton in Western Australia's Mid West, announcing it would fork out $32 million for a slice of critical rare earths supply from one of this week's Runners. The all-seeing, all-knowing market overlords at the ASX were in hot water this week, after the market operator mistakenly mixed up the $10 billion Aussie internet service provider TPG Telecom with US-based TPG Capital Asia. Amid an ongoing investigation into persistent governance and operational issues, the almighty ASX exacerbated its problems by mistakenly claiming, without clarification, that TPG Telecom was acquiring a software developer, when the acquisition was being made by TPG Capital Asia, a private equity firm. TPG telecom stock went into a trading pause, causing mass confusion and volume losses, before the ASX came out and said 'nothing to see here', 'carry on as you were'. All trades from the morning's open were cancelled, while TPG lost $400 million off its intraday market valuation. The massive operator gaffe follows pressure by Australia's watchdog ASIC, investigating misleading clearing advice by the ASX, which could lead to the operator losing its monopoly status in Australia, just as encroaching US sharks' circle. Perhaps surprisingly, this week's Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week wasn't taken out by a resources company on Diggers week. Rather, a biotech hopeful continued a string of biotech and AI company dominance of late, with impressive results from its cancer screening technology.
The Age
3 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Runners of the week: Rhythm Biosciences, Roolife, Waratah & Lindian
It was a big week for Australian resources on the exchange. As iron ore pushed above the US$100 (A$150) per tonne mark and gold held near all-time highs, the blue suits and RM Williams boots of corporate resources descended upon Kalgoorlie's annual Diggers and Dealers forum. Despite the seemingly incessant needs of gold CEOs to reach into their pockets to compare free cash flow charts, it was the unlikely rare earths sector that stole the show. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King suggested at Diggers on Tuesday that Australia might follow the United States in setting a price floor for magnet rare earths production Down Under. The announcement was quickly followed by Iluka Resources, which is constructing a government-funded refinery in Geraldton in Western Australia's Mid West, announcing it would fork out $32 million for a slice of critical rare earths supply from one of this week's Runners. The all-seeing, all-knowing market overlords at the ASX were in hot water this week, after the market operator mistakenly mixed up the $10 billion Aussie internet service provider TPG Telecom with US-based TPG Capital Asia. Amid an ongoing investigation into persistent governance and operational issues, the almighty ASX exacerbated its problems by mistakenly claiming, without clarification, that TPG Telecom was acquiring a software developer, when the acquisition was being made by TPG Capital Asia, a private equity firm. TPG telecom stock went into a trading pause, causing mass confusion and volume losses, before the ASX came out and said 'nothing to see here', 'carry on as you were'. All trades from the morning's open were cancelled, while TPG lost $400 million off its intraday market valuation. The massive operator gaffe follows pressure by Australia's watchdog ASIC, investigating misleading clearing advice by the ASX, which could lead to the operator losing its monopoly status in Australia, just as encroaching US sharks' circle. Perhaps surprisingly, this week's Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week wasn't taken out by a resources company on Diggers week. Rather, a biotech hopeful continued a string of biotech and AI company dominance of late, with impressive results from its cancer screening technology.
West Australian
3 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Runners of the week: Rhythm Biosciences, Roolife, Waratah & Lindian
It was a big week for Australian resources on the exchange. As iron ore pushed above the US$100 (A$150) per tonne mark and gold held near all-time highs, the blue suits and RM Williams boots of corporate resources descended upon Kalgoorlie's annual Diggers and Dealers forum. Despite the seemingly incessant needs of gold CEOs to reach into their pockets to compare free cash flow charts, it was the unlikely rare earths sector that stole the show. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King suggested at Diggers on Tuesday that Australia might follow the United States in setting a price floor for magnet rare earths production Down Under. The announcement was quickly followed by Iluka Resources, which is constructing a government-funded refinery in Geraldton in Western Australia's Mid West, announcing it would fork out $32 million for a slice of critical rare earths supply from one of this week's Runners. The all-seeing, all-knowing market overlords at the ASX were in hot water this week, after the market operator mistakenly mixed up the $10 billion Aussie internet service provider TPG Telecom with US-based TPG Capital Asia. Amid an ongoing investigation into persistent governance and operational issues, the almighty ASX exacerbated its problems by mistakenly claiming, without clarification, that TPG Telecom was acquiring a software developer, when the acquisition was being made by TPG Capital Asia, a private equity firm. TPG telecom stock went into a trading pause, causing mass confusion and volume losses, before the ASX came out and said 'nothing to see here', 'carry on as you were'. All trades from the morning's open were cancelled, while TPG lost $400 million off its intraday market valuation. The massive operator gaffe follows pressure by Australia's watchdog ASIC, investigating misleading clearing advice by the ASX, which could lead to the operator losing its monopoly status in Australia, just as encroaching US sharks' circle. Perhaps surprisingly, this week's Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week wasn't taken out by a resources company on Diggers week. Rather, a biotech hopeful continued a string of biotech and AI company dominance of late, with impressive results from its cancer screening technology. RHYTHM BIOSCIENCES LIMITED (ASX: RHY) Up 250% (6c – 21c) Bulls N' Bears' Runner of the Week is Rhythm Biosciences, which took a while to get going this week following the release on Monday of the results of a study of the company's simple predictive blood test for colorectal cancer, called ColoSTAT. The company says its study confirmed the test's effectiveness across all cancer stages, a critical step on its commercialisation pathway. The trial of 300 patients' blood samples showed ColoSTAT consistently detected colorectal cancer, from its early to late stages. Rhythm received its first batch of ColoSTAT kits from partner Quansys Biosciences, produced using the final manufacturing process expected in the product's rollout. Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths globally, but is curable if caught early. The company says ColoSTAT's performance meets clinical requirements for a screening test for patients experiencing bowel cancer symptoms, potentially placing it as a serious alternative for people who can't or don't want to use existing screening programs. After failing to fire on Monday, Rhythm's share price rocketed on Wednesday, hitting a peak of 21 cents a share from last week's 6c close, up 250 per cent. Rhythm is now gearing up for final validation of its test kits and a submission to the National Association of Testing Authorities. It has further studies pending. If ColoSTAT clears these hurdles, this biotech minnow could help rewrite the script on cancer screening. After a failure to launch its product in early 2023 - and its share price this week - the company's commercialisation hopes look back on track to address a seriously sizeable cancer screening market. ROOLIFE GROUP LTD (ASX: RLG) Up 225% (0.4c – 1.3c) Snagging silver on the week is e-commerce player RooLife Group Limited, which bounded up the bourse on Wednesday after inking a blockbuster partnership supply agreement with Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management. The deal tasks Roolife with sourcing health, wellness and food and beverage products for Eternal Asia's massive network across more than 320 cities, one million retail outlets and more than 100 Fortune 500 clients in China. Roolife says the deal could lead to potential orders worth up to CNY500 million (A$110 million) a year, although volumes will depend on pricing and Roolife's capacity to fulfill them. It opens a direct pipeline to China's general trade retail market, bypassing tedious traditional brand-building costs. The company, which leverages data-driven platforms to target high-growth markets such as China, South East Asia and India, says it is already receiving product order requests, putting it well on its way to hitting the big leagues. The news lit a fire under Roolife's share price, which skyrocketed 225 per cent on Wednesday to 1.3c from 0.4c last Friday on $2 million in stock traded. With its intelligent e-commerce engine powered by Eternal Asia's demand data, Roolife believes it is poised to lock Australia's producers into one of the world's largest retail economies. If it can secure binding orders and continue to scale supply, this digital services dynamo could be on track for a massive retail breakout. WARATAH MINERALS LIMITED (ASX: WTM) Up 136% (29.5c – 69.5c) Taking the final podium spot this week is the no-longer junior explorer Waratah Minerals, which was the toast of Diggers' first day when the company unveiled a massive discovery at its Spur gold-copper project in the East Lachlan Fold region of New South Wales. An almighty drill hole at Spur confirmed the company's gold corridor potential to host a large-scale, high-grade gold system, just 5 kilometres from Newmont's 50-million-ounce Cadia Valley mine, NSW's answer to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit. Assays from the deep diamond hole returned a mammoth 208.7-metre intersection grading 1.17 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 514m, including 38m at 3.61g/t from 665m. Visible gold vein swarms extend its surface mineralisation to more than 500m below surface. The results extended the Spur corridor strike by more than 500m, to more than 1.5km. Drilling at the company's Consols, Essex, and Thistle zones uncovered high-grade porphyry potential, like the mineralisation at Cadia. After the staggering discovery, Waratah expanded its program by 60 holes to test the system from surface to 450m depth, aiming to connect Spur to its nearby Dalcoath and Essex prospects. The company's share price continued to surge all week, moving up 136 per cent to 69.5c Friday, from 29.5c last week, before taking a little breather to end the week. These porphyries are NSW's golden giants and the new discovery is no small feat. Given the significance of the state's last porphyry discovery by Alkane Resources in 2019, it won't be surprising to be talking about Waratah's discovery again in seven days' time. LINDIAN RESOURCES LTD (ASX: LIN) Up 50% (10c – 15c) Riding the rare earths wave to scoop up this week's final Runners' spot is Lindian Resources, after it sealed a 15-year strategic offtake deal with Aussie major Iluka Resources, which includes $32 million in construction funding. The deal locks 6000 tonnes per year of rare earth monazite concentrate from Lindian's Kangankunde project in Malawi into Australia's latest Eneabba rare earths refinery in Geraldton. Lindian's seismic deal cements Kangankunde as one of the pre-eminent rare earth developments on the planet and comes as Iluka scrambles to lock in a non-Chinese rare earths supply. The project's monster 261-million-tonne resource is grading at 2.19 per cent total rare earth ore, with an ore reserve at a higher 2.9 per cent, and is slated to last 45 years of mining. The partnership looks a masterstroke for both parties. Kangankunde is well on its way to first production, expected by next year, while Iluka's Eneabba refinery is set to become Australia's first fully integrated, government-backed rare earths facility. Commissioning is slated for 2027. The stock shot out of a cannon on Wednesday's announcement, moving up a substantial 50 per cent from last week, to a 15c high on some $5.2 million in paper changing hands. For the first time in a long time, this week has revealed what could be a very concerted effort by the federal government to build a subsidised resources sector. By replicating the US in setting potential floor prices for local rare earths, Australia could finally grow a fully-fledged vertically integrated rare earths supply chain backed by the government. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
New Statesman
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
Why is Jeremy Corbyn courting Daily Telegraph readers?
Photo by Christopher Furlong / Getty Images Jeremy Corbyn knows what he's doing. Writing for the Daily Telegraph(an unusual slot for the left-wing Independent MP for Islington North), Corbyn declared war on his former comrade Angela Rayner over her decision to allow councils to sell off allotments to raise money. Corbyn disagrees: he thinks these precious plots of land should be protected at all costs. Rayner's new policy is a 'nail in the coffin' of community allotments, Corbyn wrote, speaking out to the many, green-fingered readers of the Telegraph's pages. 'Once lost, they never return,' Corbyn warned. There is a personal angle to Corbyn's rage. He is devoted to his allotment in north London and has been tending to it for the past 22 years. ('I like a good marrow,' he told the Islington Tribune in February this year, reinforcing his image as the Gromit of British politics.) He genuinely cares deeply about the protection and upkeep of these spaces for gardeners across the UK. But the overriding drive behind Corbyn's horticultural battle is obviously political. This marks one of the first interventions by the former Labour leader since he announced his decision to co-lead the founding of a new party alongside fellow Independent MP, Zarah Sultana. That he has chosen to criticise the government on allotments, on land, planning and development – in the Telegraph no less – shows how seriously Corbyn is taking the political strategy of his new movement. Obviously, despite its unusual home, Corbyn's op-ed is written in the old radical-left tradition: he refers to the Enclosure Act (the one from the late-18th century) as 'one of the most grotesque abuses of power by Parliament', he mentions the Diggers (a faction during the Civil War) and points out the plight of the 'rural poor'. But he clearly senses that in speaking to Telegraph readers, he will likely find some sympathy among those readers of more Nimby-ish persuasions.(Let us not forget that as leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer often wrote op-eds for the Sun. The Government has clearly been rattled by this. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (to whom this policy belongs) put out a statement clarifying that rules around the sale of assets have not been changed and adding 'We know how important allotments are for communities, and that is why strict criteria is in place to protect them.' But the scale of discourse over what, one assumes, Rayner and MHCLG thought would be an innocuous policy – and their speedy clarification – speaks to a wider sense that the government have been somewhat blindsided by this fresh galvanisation of Corbyn and the imminent arrival of Your Party (name tbc). This sense of fluster was bolstered by Rachel Reeves's appearance at the Edinburgh Festival on Saturday. In conversation with Iain Dale, Reeves aimed her criticism directly at Corbyn. 'The country rejected him twice. The bloke's got a big ego,' she said. It was a personal attack, suggesting that Corbyn's own ambition and profile is a driving force in his renewed rise. 'If he wants to give it a go, be my guest. I think the voters will have the same reaction.' But Reeves and Rayner should proceed with caution. Labour are already at risk of losing more votes to their left than to their right. Corbyn's popularity has obviously helped to court publicity over Your Party, but it is not the sole reason for the interest this new arrival has sparked. Left-leaning voters are furious with the government over Gaza, over their planned reform of the welfare system, and a whole raft of other issues. And this disappointment is pushing them away from Labour. Corbyn is clearly taking this moment seriously. If the government is not careful, come the next election, they will wish they had too. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [Further reading: Inside the factions of the new left] Related
West Australian
6 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King ‘certainly wouldn't' rule out equity investment in rare earth miners
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has suggested Australia could replicate the US government's move to grab a big shareholding in a rare earths company. The US Department of Defense last month struck a landmark deal with the Gina Rinehart-backed MP Materials to acquire a 15 per cent stake in the Las Vegas-headquartered company and buy some of its rare earth element products. Uncle Sam took the extraordinary equity investment step — believed to be the first of its kind since World War II — as part of its push to break China's stranglehold on the supply chain for rare earth elements. These elements are used in the magnets that power electronic products like precision-guided missiles, MRI machines, smartphones and electric vehicles. Speaking at Diggers & Dealers on Tuesday, Minister King said the Albanese Government 'certainly wouldn't' rule out following in the footsteps of the US by investing in an Australian-based producer of rare earths. 'I would say that the government special investment vehicles, a number of them, have been enabled, through changes in legislation, to take equity stakes for a number of years,' she said. 'It's a high bar to get over, (but) you certainly wouldn't rule it out.' Ms King said the Federal Government would only make an investment if there was confidence the amount spent would be repaid in full. 'Because people would quite rightly comment, why should the Australian taxpayer fund minerals processing?' Lynas Rare Earths, Iluka Resources, Australian Strategic Materials and Arafura Rare Earths could be among those vying for the Federal investment. As part of the US and MP partnership, the DOD has agreed to pay a minimum of $US110 per kilogram for MP's neodymium and praseodymium for a decade. The US price floor comes amid strong suggestions China has been purposely depressing the price of NdPr to about half of the $US110/kg floor to put the Western World's producers out of business. Minister King on Tuesday said Australia would also consider setting a rare earths price floor in offtake agreements that could feed into a $1.2 billion critical minerals strategic reserve announced in April. 'Pricing certainty means companies and investors are less exposed to volatile markets and prices, which are opaque and prone to manipulation,' she said. 'Mechanisms for an appropriate price floor are under active consideration. The focus will be on creating national offtake agreements. 'Our critical minerals strategic reserve aims to play a role in providing price certainty for emerging critical minerals projects, which helps to de-risk and crowd-in private sector investment.' The $1.2b strategic reserve is set to be focused on rare earths. Lynas, which had originally been a critic of the stockpile, appears to have softened its stance in recent days and Minister King on Tuesday said the Amanda Lacaze-led company was 'participating' in discussions. One of Australia's key players in the rare earths industry suggested that Australia should follow the US lead on the price floor. 'If you wanted to pick a price that brings in investors, that has upside because it's still below the incentive price, you would say $(US)110 per kilogram (for NdPr) is about right,' Arafura chief executive Darryl Cuzzubbo said at Diggers & Dealers on Tuesday. Mr Cuzzubbo said the 'incentive price' to develop new rare earth projects was a neodymium and praseodymium price of between $130/kg and $160/kg. Perth-based Arafura, which is developing the $1.9b Nolans project in the Northern Territory, said a $US100/kg NdPr has been baked into the business case for Nolans.
