News

13 February 2026 | Subiaco, WA – Mamba Exploration (ASX: M24) has executed an Exploration & Prospecting Agreement with the Yugunga-Nya Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (RNTBC), establishing clear processes for heritage surveys, Aboriginal Site protection and ongoing cultural engagement across the Meeka East Gold Project area. The agreement provides a cooperative framework covering all 39 tenements within Meeka East, setting out communications protocols, cultural heritage management and site-protection measures to ensure activities are conducted in line with the Aboriginal Heritage Act and the Native Title Act. It was entered into with the authority of the registered tenement holders for the project.

Why it matters: The agreement supports Mamba’s planned exploration linked to its conditional acquisition of a 70% interest in Meeka East, streamlining approvals and survey pathways and enhancing long-term cooperation within the Yugunga-Nya Determination Area.

Management comment: Executive Director Matt Freedman said the agreement “establishes the foundations for a respectful and collaborative working relationship and ensures that future exploration is carried out in a culturally appropriate and responsible manner,” adding that Mamba looks forward to building a long-term partnership with the Yugunga-Nya People as programs progress.

Next steps:
• Meeka East – additional soil sampling along the Mulga Bill trend extension (potential >6km strike) and infill sampling at the northern project area; Bella Prospect sampling over priority areas.
• Ashburton Project – field reconnaissance over ~580km² across E08/2913 and E08/3343, ~190km south of Onslow and ~220km north-east of Carnarvon (WA).

Evolution Mining has delivered a record FY26 half-year result (to 31 December 2025), supported by strong operational performance and metal prices. The company reported A$785 million underlying profit after tax, A$1.6 billion underlying EBITDA and A$608 million Group cash flow, with production of 365koz gold and 36kt copper.

Evolution also declared a fully franked interim dividend of 20 cents per share (record date 4 March 2026, payment 2 April 2026). The balance sheet continued to strengthen, with A$967 million cash, gearing of 6%, and all bank term loans repaid during the half year.

On the growth front, Evolution approved and progressed several key initiatives, including:

• Northparkes: approval of the E22 block cave and Coarse Particle Flotation project

• Ernest Henry: approval of the Bert deposit

• Canada: expanded exploration footprint with Two Times Fred and an option over Clisbako

FY26 group guidance was reaffirmed at 710–780koz gold, 70–80kt copper and AISC of A$1,640–A$1,760/oz.

Comments from management
Management commentary: Evolution said the result reflects strong operational delivery and disciplined capital allocation, while continuing to invest in high-return growth projects to support long-term value and shareholder returns.

9 February 2026 | Kambalda, WA – Lunnon Metals (ASX: LM8) has signed key contracts and commenced site establishment at the Lady Herial gold project on the Foster belt at St Ives, with mining of the first benches imminent. The company confirmed agreements with Hampton Mining & Civil Services (mining) and Goldfields Technical Services (statutory positions, blast design, dig plans, mine geology, surveying and ROM management), following the Board’s Final Investment Decision on 19 January 2026.

Lady Herial will be the first new mine (gold or nickel) on the Foster belt in over 30 years and the first open pit on land at St Ives since 2014. A recent Feasibility Study outlined a plan to mine ~268,000 tonnes @ 1.89g/t Au for ~16,270oz, which, at current Australian-dollar gold prices (around A$7,000/oz), has the potential to generate ~A$45 million in pre-tax cash flow for Lunnon. The company reiterated that all material assumptions underpinning the Feasibility Study remain unchanged.

Managing Director Edmund Ainscough said, “Today’s announcement marks the culmination of months of focused effort to de-risk Lady Herial on the technical, geological and regulatory fronts. It also represents nearly two years of hard but smart work by the exploration team. On behalf of the Board, I wish to thank everyone involved for their commitment and focus in helping the Company to achieve this exciting milestone.”

Lunnon said contractors are mobilised, clearing is underway, and first ore mining is scheduled for later this month, progressing in partnership with major shareholder and ore-purchasing partner St Ives Gold Mining Co. Pty Ltd

Happy New Year from the team at Mining Employment Services.

We’re now back in the office and open from Monday, 5 January 2026, ready to hit the ground running after a strong end to 2025.

With exploration and production activity continuing to ramp up across WA and nationally, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for career progression.

Are you looking to advance your career in 2026?

• Ready to step up into a more senior role

• Looking for better project exposure, site stability or roster

• Wanting to move from contract to permanent, or vice versa

• Open to new opportunities in exploration, geology, mining or technical services

Our team is actively working on new roles starting now, across exploration through to production, with junior, mid-tier and established operators.

📩 Get in touch today or submit your CV to be considered for current and upcoming opportunities in 2026.

Here’s to a safe, successful and rewarding year ahead.

Mining Employment Services will be closed for the Christmas and New Year break from Friday 19 December 2025 to Monday 5 January 2026

We’ll respond to any enquiries as soon as we’re back in the office on Monday 5 January 2026.

What this means for you

• Clients: If you have upcoming mobilisations or urgent role requirements, please get in touch by 12 pm on 19 December so we can prioritise what needs to be locked in.

• Candidates/contractors: If you’ve submitted a CV or are mid-onboarding, we’ll pick things up again from 5 January and work through updates as quickly as possible.

Contact
Please email us, and we’ll respond on our return: mes@miningemployment.com.au

Comments from management

Management commentary: Our team is taking a short break to recharge after a big year supporting WA mining projects. We appreciate everyone’s support and patience over the holiday period and look forward to kicking off 2026 with strong momentum.

18 November 2025 | Melbourne, VIC – Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, has increased its allocation to gold and expanded its use of active equity managers, positioning the A$250bn portfolio for a more volatile backdrop marked by higher-for-longer inflation, geopolitical shocks and shifting supply chains.

Key points
• Higher gold exposure: Gold is being used as a portfolio hedge against macro shocks and policy uncertainty.
• More active management: The fund is adding specialist stock-picking mandates to exploit dispersion across regions, sectors and styles, complementing its existing passive exposures.
• Selective on bonds: Preference remains for shorter-duration and flexible fixed income over traditional long-dated, fixed-rate bonds given inflation and rate risks.
• Diversification by region and factor: The portfolio mix continues to broaden beyond the US, with a focus on developed markets where liquidity and governance support active strategies.

Why it matters
The moves reflect a view that the investment environment is becoming less forgiving for static, index-heavy portfolios. Increased gold and active risk aim to cushion drawdowns while capturing idiosyncratic alpha as correlations break down and winners/losers diverge more sharply.

Comments from management
Management commentary: Future Fund CEO Raphael Arndt has cautioned that the risk of economic shocks is rising, and that the portfolio is being positioned with more resilience (via gold and diversification) and more agility (via active managers) to deal with persistent inflation and policy uncertainty.

What to watch next
• Further detail on manager appointments and regional tilts as the active program scales.
• Any updates to real assets and private markets weightings as the fund balances inflation protection with liquidity.
• Ongoing stance on duration and credit risk within fixed income as inflation data and central-bank guidance evolve.

17 November 2025 | Hillgrove, NSW – Larvotto Resources (ASX: LRV) has reported strong first-pass diamond results from the Freehold prospect, just 1.2km east of the Hillgrove processing plant, confirming broad and high-grade antimony–gold (Sb–Au) across multiple lodes and highlighting tungsten (WO₃) as a potential by-product stream.

Drill highlights (maiden diamond program, best intervals):
• FRE016: 14m @ 4.25g/t AuEq from 89m, including 2.6m @ 19.09g/t AuEq from 99.4m
• FRE017: 3.5m @ 12.46g/t AuEq from 136m
• FRE019: 7.0m @ 5.03g/t AuEq from 122m, including 3.2m @ 8.38g/t AuEq from 124.6m
• Tungsten associated with Sb–Au lodes: SLV004: 0.6m @ 2.23% WO₃ from 76.7m; SLV006: 0.5m @ 3.43% WO₃ from 154.8m

Why it matters
Freehold’s results validate Larvotto’s near-mine targeting of historically mined stibnite–gold lodes and demonstrate continuity along strike and at depth. With tungsten occurring within the same structures—and a tungsten extraction circuit already in place at Hillgrove—the project gains a clear multi-commodity angle at a time when antimony, gold and tungsten prices remain elevated in 2025. Drilling continues at Freehold, with parallel activity across Metz and Swamp Creek.

Project context
Hillgrove is a long-lived Sb–Au district where Freehold was mined from the late 1800s and, more recently, by NEAM (1974–2002) via adits, small open cuts and a 330m-deep shaft (eight levels). Larvotto’s program is testing depth/strike extensions, near-surface up-dip positions, and parallel splays, while also validating recent IP/resistivity targets. Early sections indicate open potential up-dip and along strike.

Managing Director Ron Heeks said: “Larvotto’s first drilling program at the Freehold prospect has confirmed the significant upside potential of this historic mine area. The results demonstrate consistent gold and antimony grades within and beyond the known lodes, and the presence of high-grade tungsten associated with the same structures reinforces the multi-commodity potential of the Hillgrove system. With prices for antimony, gold and tungsten hitting record highs in 2025, we see an opportunity to create a new underground mining centre at Freehold, adjacent to the current processing plant. Drilling in the area continues.”

What’s next
• Ongoing diamond drilling at Freehold, plus step-outs at Metz (Blacklode & Syndicate convergence) and Swamp Creek (new resistivity anomaly)
• Integration of Eleanora–Garibaldi assays into an updated Mineral Resource model
• Additional IP/resistivity surveys over regional targets and historical workings

5 November 2025 | Western Victoria – Stavely Minerals (ASX: SVY) has confirmed a second, parallel zone of gold anomalism at the Fairview South prospect within its 100%-owned Stavely Copper-Gold Project, paving the way for a Phase 3 reverse circulation (RC) drilling program to commence this week.

Final assays from the Phase 1 soil auger program show strong gold and pathfinder support immediately south of discovery hole SFSRC001 and define a new anomalous corridor to the west. These results build on earlier rock-chip sampling south of SFSRC001 that returned several high-grade assays, extending the target area up to ~600 m to the south.

Key technical highlights

• Second gold-anomalous corridor defined: Soil auger results confirm a parallel zone west of the main Fairview South trend, providing an immediate drill target.
• High-grade rock chips south of SFSRC001: including 25.60 g/t Au from gossanous siltstone, 8.79 g/t Au from brecciated quartz–gossan in altered felsic volcanic rocks, and multiple samples between 1.1 g/t and 4.5 g/t Au.
• Strong discovery hole already in place: earlier in the year RC hole SFSRC001 intersected 40 m @ 1.96 g/t Au from surface, including 17 m @ 4.18 g/t Au from 9 m and 1 m @ 49.2 g/t Au from 10 m, confirming Fairview South as a high-quality, near-surface gold target.
• Favourable structural setting: Fairview South sits on the margin of a large magnetic feature over a gravity low – a setting the company regards as highly prospective.
• Parallel work at S41: Alongside Fairview South, reconnaissance RC drilling will also be completed at the nearby S41 breccia-hosted gold target (in areas not currently under crop) to in-fill earlier wide-spaced aircore to ~200 m × 200 m and progress a large, early-stage hydrothermal gold system.

Comments from management

“We’re excited to get back on the ground at Fairview South. The combination of soil auger anomalism, high-grade float and the structural position of the prospect is exactly the kind of setting we like to see,” Executive Chair and Managing Director Chris Cairns said.

“Importantly, the textural and alteration features we’re mapping at surface – banded quartz veins, carbonate dissolution textures and adularia – all point to a favourable, multi-stage mineralising history, consistent with quartz–sulphide–gold and low-sulphidation epithermal systems. This next round of RC drilling will let us test those southern extensions quickly.”

The company said the Phase 3 RC program would focus first on the newly defined parallel corridor south and west of SFSRC001 before stepping out to additional auger-supported targets. Results will be reported as assays are received.

Perth, WA | 3 November 2025 — Petratherm Limited (ASX: PTR) has commenced resource drilling at its Rosewood Titanium Project in South Australia, targeting a maiden JORC (2012) Mineral Resource across a ~40 km² footprint before year-end. The air-core (AC) program totals more than 400 holes (~8,000 m), with assaying to follow.

Highlights

• Maiden Resource in sight: Drill spacing designed to deliver an Indicated Resource at Rosewood East, with a surrounding Inferred Resource across the broader area (from 200 m × 500 m down to 100 m × 200 m).
• Scale & tempo: ~400 AC holes / ~8,000 m; average depth ~20 m (to ~40 m in thicker zones); program scheduled to finish pre-Christmas.
• High-grade, near-surface heavy mineral (HM) sands: Two broad zones over ~22 km² with ≥10 m @ >5% HM, and much of the area ≥10 m @ >8% HM, starting from ~5–7 m depth and lying flat.
• Metallurgical credentials: Valuable Heavy Mineral (VHM) content to ~95%, dominated by high-value titanium minerals; coarse-grained HM amenable to high recoveries using conventional gravity spirals.
• Assays & studies: Samples dispatched weekly to Diamantina Laboratories (Perth); additional characterisation (incl. XRF and related techniques) to support domaining and the resource model.
• Tenure & JV: Rosewood East (EL6855) — 100% PTR; Rosewood West (EL6715) — PTR 70% / Narryer Metals (ASX: NYM) 30%.
• Baseline environmental work: ERIAS Group engaged for flora/fauna studies across the project and a potential ~35 km haul route to rail sidings east of Rosewood, supporting future approvals.

Comments from management

“Several rounds of exploration drilling over the last 12 months have confirmed the Rosewood Titanium Project as a major high-grade HM discovery. We are now undertaking infill drilling to support a maiden JORC (2012) Resource, with the aim of converting a significant portion of the prospect to the Indicated category.”

“In parallel, we are accelerating long-lead baseline environmental work with ERIAS Group so that development studies can progress efficiently. We look forward to providing further updates as drilling and assays come to hand.”
— Peter Reid, Chief Executive Officer

Petratherm expects the infill program to deliver strong dataset coverage for the resource estimate while environmental baseline work proceeds in parallel. Further updates will follow as drilling and assaying progress.

31 October 2025 | Perth, WA — Gold and silver are on track to set fresh record annual averages in 2025 and push higher again in 2026, before momentum eases in 2027, according to the World Bank’s October Commodity Markets Outlook.

Highlights
• Precious metals have surged on safe-haven demand and continued central-bank buying. The World Bank projects gold +42% in 2025 and +5% in 2026 (annual averages), while silver +34% in 2025 and +8% in 2026.
• Broader commodities are expected to soften, with the Bank forecasting -7% in 2025 and -7% in 2026, taking the overall basket to a six-year low as energy prices ease on an expanding oil glut and slower global growth.
• Market commentary around the report suggests new highs for gold and silver in 2026, with the rally likely to fade in 2027 as macro risks moderate and financial conditions stabilise.

What it means for WA miners
• Elevated USD precious-metal prices through 2026 should continue to support margins, hedging strategies and funding windows for development and expansion.
• Explorers can expect improved conditions for equity and JV funding into 2026; capital discipline remains key as input-cost volatility persists.
• Producers may consider using 2026 strength to firm up margins (hedging/offtake) while planning for price normalisation into 2027.
• Key swing factors: geopolitics (which could extend safe-haven flows), the path of real rates, OPEC+ supply policy, and the pace of EV adoption impacting energy markets.

Risks & Watch-items
• Upside: renewed geopolitical shocks, stickier inflation or deeper financial-system stress could prolong the precious-metals bid.
• Downside: faster-than-expected disinflation, a firmer USD, or an accelerated improvement in global growth could cool investment demand for gold and silver into 2027.
“Image: World Bank, Commodity Markets Outlook — October 2025. Licensed CC BY 3.0 IGO.