Latest news with #South32
West Australian
a day ago
- Business
- West Australian
Noronex, South32 JV gears up to drill for Namibian copper
Noronex Limited and its joint venture partner South32 are gearing up to kick off a 7000-metre drilling program in search of copper at their joint Humpback-Damara project in the southwestern African country of Namibia. A contract has been signed for an extensive drilling campaign, which the joint venture partners expect to begin next month and complete early next year. The program is part of an agreed $3 million exploration campaign to be conducted at the JV's Namibian projects this financial year. The program is targeting new, large-scale copper discoveries in the Kalahari Copper Belt. It will test the mineralised contact on major domal structures across several prospects, where anomalous mineralisation was encountered in previous limited drilling programs. South32, through a subsidiary company, is bankrolling the drilling at Humpback-Damara under an existing earn-in and joint venture agreement. The agreement requires the globally diversified mining and metals company to spend $3 million per year for five years, with a minimum $15 million spend earning the company a 60 per cent interest in the Namibian project, which Noronex manages. Management says its exploration program is gathering momentum. Noronex's upcoming drilling program will target the Humpback project, the company recently completed drilling at its Fiesta project and it is planning a diamond drilling campaign at its new Oosterwald prospect. Three diamond drill holes have been completed at Fiesta, in the west of the Humpback ground, with assay results pending. The Fiesta project is on the western closure of a domal structure at the prospective NPF-D'Kar contact. Anomalous copper intercepts at the site appear to have many of the hallmarks found in large deposits in Botswana, more than 400 kilometres east, including at Chinese miner MMG's long-life Khoemacau copper-silver mine, which contains 370 million tonnes at a stellar copper-equivalent grade of 1.7 per cent. The copper mineralisation is hosted as disseminated chalcocite, chalcopyrite and bornite in a sequence of shales and siltstones of D'Kar sediments. The diamond rig has now moved to the prospective Oosterwald target, part of Humpback-Damara, at the company's recently granted ground. Drilling will target a potentially buried domal position of the D'Kar and Ngwako Pan formation contact. Management believes an uneroded dome provides scope for a large deposit in a fully preserved structural setting. A planned hole will test an anomalous Heli-electromagnetic (EM) target from a historical Heli-EM airborne survey completed by ASX-listed Sandfire Resources in 2022, flown to better understand the depth of cover and effectiveness of airborne EM surveys across the ground. Noronex will also probe with the drill-bit at its Powerline project, where it has designed a reverse circulation program to test large antiformal features outlined by a previous aeromagnetic survey. Key target areas are where the NPF-D'Kar contact is predicted in the anticlinal hinge zone, similar to the placement of operating copper mines in Botswana, which are found in hinge zones. Previous limited drilling returned anomalous intercepts at the NPF-D'Kar contact. Previous exploration by several firms defined regional targets, identified as T1 to T16. Plans for a program of detailed magnetic grids and profiles will begin shortly to help drill targeting. Noronex lodged two new applications with Botswana's mines department earlier this year through a fully owned subsidiary company to increase its holdings in the country by almost 1500 square kilometres, adjacent to the Humpback-Damara project on the Namibian side of the border. The two new Botswana tenements were catapulted into the strategic alliance under the same financial terms as its Namibian projects, enabling South32 to bump up the JV ante and contribute a further $1 million per year for five years. The additional contribution will lift South32's annual funding obligation to the strategic alliance to $4 million per annum, or a minimum $20 million over five years, to earn a 60 per cent stake in the agreed projects and tenement area. Noronex will receive the annual $4 million payment in $1 million instalments paid at the beginning of each quarter to cover the expected management, drilling and exploration costs incurred under its watch, providing a reliable cash flow boost for the junior explorer. The vast new Botswana ground sits in the northern section of the Kalahari Copper Belt and brings Noronex's total landholdings within the belt to nearly 10,000 square kilometres. Noronex also holds a 95 per cent interest in the Witvlei project in Namibia, containing a 10-million-tonne resource at 1.3 per cent copper. The company also recently kick-started a six-week radioactive spectrometry survey across 17.9 square kilometres of its Etango North uranium project in Namibia. The survey is designed to hunt for high-grade hard rock uranium, known as alaskite, in one of the world's most fertile uranium neighbourhoods. Noronex's ground is just 3km north of Bannerman Energy's giant 225-million-pound Etango deposit and immediately south of major operations, such as the Rossing and Husab mines. Both Noronex and South32 appear to believe Namibia is the land of opportunity and it will be interesting to see what develops from the many exploration programs on-the-go in the mineral-rich African nation. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Australian markets end sharply lower
Australian markets fell sharply after reaching a record high in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.02 percent to 8,668.20, suffering its biggest fall since April amid broad-based selling. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.89 percent lower at 8,926.90. South32 shares surged 4.5 percent after the diversified miner exceeded its full-year production by Capital Market - Live News
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Closing Bell: Hangover sets in as ASX slides from record highs; resources offer bright spot
ASX slides from record high, down 1.02pc Energy and materials only sectors to lift South32 outperforms production guidance ASX suffers Liberation Day-sized fall Today was the largest single-day plunge on the ASX since markets went haywire over Liberation Day tariffs back in April, falling 1.02% by the end of trade. As is so often the case, the market giveth gains and the market taketh them straight back. The profit taking hit banks the worst, with the top seven falling between 3.61% and 1.42% each. Energy pushed back to lift 1.19% and materials added 0.32%, with much of that strength coming from resources stocks in particular. Taking a look at our outliers for the day, Block Inc (ASX:XYZ) surged 11% in trade after announcing an imminent listing to Wall Street's S&P 500, replacing Hess as the energy company is acquired by Chevron. It was a bit of a mixed bag for gold stocks, which slid on average. Pantoro Gold (ASX:PNR) jumped 11% and Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR) 8%, but Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) shed 10% and Gorilla Gold Mines (ASX:GG8) 4%. South32 exceeds expectations South32 (ASX:S32) is one of the best performing resource stocks on the ASX today, up 4.5% to $3.02 a share after knocking it out of the park in its quarterly production report. The company's manganese mine produced 1.1Mt despite disruptions to operations from Tropical Cyclone Megan last year, handily beating analyst estimates of 850,000 wmt. 'We delivered another strong quarter of operating performance, exceeding the group's FY25 production guidance, driven by annual production growth of 20% in copper and 6% in aluminium,' South32 chief executive officer Graham Kerr said. 'Australia Manganese successfully resumed export shipments during the quarter, marking a significant recovery from the impacts caused by Tropical Cyclone Megan.' Production at South32's aluminium assets also improved, particularly at the Mozal smelter in Mozambique where production lifted 13% year-on-year following a period of civil unrest. S32 returned US$350m to shareholders in the 2025 financial year in the form of dividends and an on-market share buy-back. ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS Today's best performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap AIV Activex Limited 0.021 200% 15073955 $1,508,518 BHM Broken Hill Mines Ltd 0.46 119% 7719357 $22,594,508 IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.0035 75% 8384701 $3,412,600 TR2 Tali Resources Ltd 0.585 58% 1415855 $13,876,850 CR9 Corellares 0.003 50% 1370559 $2,014,540 MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.0015 50% 555399 $1,874,666 PGD Peregrine Gold 0.27 46% 3221520 $15,696,832 AUH Austchina Holdings 0.002 33% 250000 $4,538,075 BLZ Blaze Minerals Ltd 0.004 33% 28073114 $5,335,392 CRB Carbine Resources 0.004 33% 737606 $3,000,489 CT1 Constellation Tech 0.002 33% 33333 $2,212,101 SKK Stakk Limited 0.006 33% 5045394 $9,337,859 SPQ Superior Resources 0.006 33% 7941284 $10,669,422 ANO Advance Zinctek Ltd 1.1 33% 49880 $51,996,269 IG6 International Graphite 0.068 26% 416371 $10,452,150 AOK Australian Oil. 0.0025 25% 21000 $2,075,566 PRX Prodigy Gold NL 0.0025 25% 500000 $6,350,111 QXR Qx Resources Limited 0.005 25% 470493 $5,241,315 HAL Halo Technologies 0.031 24% 153570 $3,215,910 RIE Riedel Resources Ltd 0.037 23% 115000 $2,084,354 NYR Nyrada Inc. 0.345 23% 1284051 $59,056,770 OEC Orbital Corp Limited 0.1475 23% 1376584 $19,773,566 JAL Jameson Resources 0.07 23% 100000 $40,419,003 PVW PVW Res Ltd 0.017 21% 2639479 $2,784,667 CRS Caprice Resources 0.058 21% 36534244 $32,016,302 In the news… ActivEX (ASX:AIV) has drummed up a 310,000-ounce gold resource at the Mt Hogan historical gold mine, the first JORC estimate for the mine, which sits within the Gilberton JV gold project with Gilberton Gold Pty Ltd. Management is also keen to investigate two other historical gold mining centres at the Josephine and Comstock prospects. Broken Hill Mines (ASX:BHM) is humming along on its first official day on the ASX, making some big gains while simultaneously kicking off a 4000m drilling program at the Pinnacles Mine with another 3000m of results awaiting assay at the lab. BHM is looking to expand the Pinnacles resource, which currently sits at 6Mt at 10.9% zinc equivalent. The company owns the operating Rasp mine, located around the site of the Broken Hill discovery on which the world's biggest miner BHP was founded. BHM isn't the only hot newly listed stock. Tali Resources (ASX:TR2) is also climbing after ringing the bell today, having raised $7.5m in its IPO. TR2 isn't wasting any time getting the drill rig to work either – the company will drill test four prospects at the West Arunta project in the coming weeks. Mark Creasy-backed Peregrine Gold (ASX:PGD) has unearthed a large-scale channel iron deposit at the Newman gold project, over a continuous strike of 6.4km. Initial results have averaged about 57% iron, peaking at 61%. It's the first time iron has been identified in the area. Blaze Minerals (ASX:BLZ) is poised to begin drilling at the Loulombo base metals project in the Republic of Congo, after finalising the project's acquisition from Congo Shining SARL. BLZ is particularly interested in the Mimpala target, a 1.5km by 500m zone with artisanal workings over 800m of that strike. ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS Today's worst performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap HLX Helix Resources 0.001 -50% 589143 $6,728,387 GGE Grand Gulf Energy 0.002 -33% 2873646 $8,461,275 CCO The Calmer Co Int 0.003 -25% 1105000 $12,045,413 SHP South Harz Potash 0.003 -25% 800000 $5,132,248 CRR Critical Resources 0.004 -20% 453898 $13,850,427 MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.004 -20% 191616 $9,917,991 PIL Peppermint Inv Ltd 0.002 -20% 3050857 $5,752,724 RGL Riversgold 0.004 -20% 5452678 $8,418,563 ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.004 -20% 561454 $27,111,136 VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.004 -20% 4637281 $23,424,247 REE Rarex Limited 0.022 -19% 6840356 $24,844,429 RDG Res Dev Group Ltd 0.009 -18% 1574238 $32,459,439 NHE Nobleheliumlimited 0.033 -18% 3177284 $23,981,000 CKA Cokal Ltd 0.029 -17% 1683328 $37,763,214 AON Apollo Minerals Ltd 0.005 -17% 2141200 $5,570,741 AUK Aumake Limited 0.0025 -17% 2055000 $9,070,076 MSG Mcs Services Limited 0.005 -17% 122300 $1,188,598 PRM Prominence Energy 0.0025 -17% 208662 $1,459,411 SLZ Sultan Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 28000 $1,388,819 AJX Alexium Int Group 0.006 -14% 87872 $11,105,001 HHR Hartshead Resources 0.006 -14% 783825 $19,660,775 NAE New Age Exploration 0.003 -14% 5125000 $9,470,690 RKB Rokeby Resources Ltd 0.012 -14% 1492694 $22,888,056 SPX Spenda Limited 0.006 -14% 2788069 $32,306,508 TMS Tennant Minerals Ltd 0.006 -14% 256748 $7,461,233 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Loyal Metals (ASX:LLM) has joined forces with highly regarded Terra Search geologist Dr Simon Beams to unlock the potential of its Highway Reward copper-gold mine in north Queensland. Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) is accelerating exploration at the 1.24Moz gold RPM deposit, part of its larger 9.9Moz Estelle gold and critical minerals project in Alaska. Drilling at Caprice Resources' (ASX:CRS) Island gold project in WA's Murchison region has returned its best intercept to date at the Vadrian's deposit of 11m grading 17.3g/t from 170m. Broken Hill Mines (ASX:BHM) has debuted on the ASX after a rebrand and consolidation, hitting the ground running with drilling programs at Pinnacles West, targeting silver, lead and zinc. Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) is acquiring Aurumin (ASX:AUN) to create a large-scale, multi-million ounce greater Sandstone project in WA. Stream sediment sampling on Peregrine Gold's (ASX:PGD) E52/3850 tenement has revealed a large-scale Channel Iron Deposit discovery just 2km from BHP's Western Ridge asset, close to the town of Newman. RareX (ASX:REE) has raised $2 million through a placement at 2.2c per share to fund exploration across its Mt Mansbridge, Cummins Range and Mrima Hill critical minerals projects. Trading Halts At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Broken Hill Mines and Peregrine Gold are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
Business Recorder
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Australian shares dip in broad-based selling; South32 shines
Australian shares slipped in broad-based selling on Monday, with banks and miners leading the decline, while South32 rose after the diversified miner reported fourth-quarter manganese output ahead of analysts' estimates. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.6% to 8,700.80 by 0023 GMT. The benchmark rose 2.1% last week in its strongest weekly performance since April. Globally, investors were hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline. In Sydney, miners fell 0.4% on Monday after gaining 1.7% last week. Shares of mining major BHP were down 0.2%. Outperforming the mining sub-index, South32 rose more than 2% after the world's largest producer of manganese clocked an output of 1.1 million wet metric tons of manganese for the quarter ended June 30. The result beat a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 850,000 wmt, as per Barrenjoey. Financials dropped 0.8% after rising 1.6% last week, with the 'Big Four' banks down between 0.6% and 1.1%. Gold stocks declined more than 1%. Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals lost 0.5% and 1.5%, respectively. Energy stocks fell 0.3%. Woodside Energy was down 0.3%, while Santos edged 0.1% lower. Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to $69.33 a barrel after settling 0.35% lower on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 2 cents at $67.36 a barrel, following a 0.30% decline in the previous session. Information technology stocks dropped 0.3%. WiseTech Global declined 0.2%, while Xero's Australian shares shed 0.7%. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.2% to 12,905.69. Data showed the country's annual consumer inflation accelerated in the second quarter but came in below economists' forecasts. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which in May forecast annual inflation for the quarter at 2.6%, held interest rates steady at this month's policy meeting partly due to near-term price risks.
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Stock and production gains for South32 as cyclone, civil unrest damage contained
Shares in South32 rose after the multi-commodity miner posted production gains despite setbacks at its cyclone-damaged manganese and civil unrest-afflicted Mozambique aluminium operations. Record rainfall and blustering winds from tropical cyclone Megan tore through S32's Groote Elyandt mine and wharf in the Northern Territory in March last year and halted operations. S32 clarified on Monday that the operation had performed better than expected for the 2025 financial year after restarting last quarter, delivering 1.1 million wet metric tonnes, and would be back at full pelt for the next 12 months. 'Export shipments recommenced in the quarter as planned, following completion of the wharf construction in May 2025. Shipping rates are expected to reach full capacity in the September 2025 quarter.' Insurance payments received by S32 and joint venture partner Anglo American for the clean-up stood at $US350m ($537.8m). Despite operational recoveries the mine is expected to book an underlying earnings before interest depreciation tax and amortisation loss of up to $US120m ($184.4m) for the year due to the weather setbacks. Meanwhile the miner's Mozal aluminium operations in Mozambique have slowly been returning to steady production after civil turmoil engulfed the country following the outcome of its election in October last year. The group's aluminium production was up 6 per cent during the final quarter of 2025, and alumina production landed within guidance. The smelter operated 'near nameplate capacity' in the June quarter. However, energy supply issues mean the miner hasn't been able to pin down definite output figures for the coming year. 'Given the uncertainty of operating beyond March 2026, FY26 production guidance remains under review.' Years of talks with the southern African nation's government to power the smelter beyond that date have so far failed to yield a deal for the project, which last financial year turned over more than $800 million. S32 has already disclosed there is likely to be an impairment stemming from the uncertainty. Closer to WA S32 has started mining new bauxite areas at its Worsley mine after securing environmental approvals at the end of 2024. Operating costs are expected to fall in line with projected guidance. S32 shares were up 4.84 per cent by 12.25pm at $3.03.
