By Barry FitzGerald| Outlook is good news for Kingsland and its NT graphite find, which has hallmarks of becoming a world-class orebody. Plus, Rio is sure to be looking at strong DFS numbers on CZR’s neighbouring Pilbara iron ore project.

Pioneer Lithium (ASX: PLN) has made a positive beginning to its maiden exploration program identifying new outcropping pegmatites at Root Lake in northern Ontario, one of its three battery metals projects in Canada (reports Small Caps).

Develop has reported a 40% increase in the high-grade copper-zinc resource at its Woodlawn project in New South Wales (reports MiningNews).

By Barry FitzGerald | Plus, Stavely flags its Kimberley nickel prospect next to IGO’s hot hit, S2 about to drill alongside the rich Fosterville gold mine and CZR poised to release DFS on a high-margin iron ore project.

By Tim Treadgold | Markets suffered a bad case of financial flashbacks this week as the reality of interest rates staying higher for longer rocked investor confidence, leaving unanswered a tricky question: is it time to go bargain-hunting?

Canadian explorer Pioneer Lithium has begun mapping and sampling work at Root Lake, directly between Green Technology Metals’ Root Bay, Morrison/McCombe, and La Grande lithium deposits in Ontario (reports Stockhead).  

James Bay Minerals (ASX: JBY) has discovered over 20 new pegmatite dykes as part of a maiden exploration campaign at the Aero prospect within its La Grande project in Canada (reports Small Caps).

Influential proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services says it supports Develop Global’s takeover of lithium junior Essential Metals ahead of a shareholder vote this month (reports The West Australian).

By Barry FitzGerald | Newly listed explorers James Bay Minerals and Pioneer Lithium lead the charge at the junior end. Plus, some light finally at the end of the tunnel for the struggling rare earths sector, which is good news for juniors like Codrus.

By Tim Treadgold   Andrew Forrest returned to centre-stage this week with a starring performance that rescued the share price of his Fortescue mining group, but it wasn’t the only big event as annual results poured in and prices moved higher, with a few notable exceptions.

While still busy with field work at its Mavis Lake lithium project in Canada, Critical Resources (ASX: CRR) is now looking further ahead by appointing experts in mine development (reports Small Caps).

Tim Goyder, Chalice Mining’s largest shareholder, says a slump in the critical minerals explorer’s share price is an overreaction by a market that wants “a bed of roses” and needs to “get real” about long-term value (reports The Australian Financial Review).

Green metals from Chalice Mining’s flagship Gonneville deposit at its Julimar discovery could inject around $18 billion into the WA economy over almost two decades (reports The West Australian).

Recent sell-off just makes rare earth stocks like Lynas and RareX better value. Plus, growing CZR looks to capitalise on strong iron ore price and key funding package sets up Orion to become significant copper-zinc producer. 

Fresh off a promising definitive feasibility study for its Maniry graphite project in Madagascar, Evion Group now says a further scoping study provides ‘compelling’ support for a downstream battery anode plant in Europe (reports MiningNews).

Yawning gaps in asset-value estimates have emerged as a key measure of the uncertainty gripping global markets as central banks tighten the interest-rate screws.

By the law of things what goes up must come down, but we seem to be waiting a long time for that to happen when it comes to lithium prices after Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) smashed another record with its latest spodumene auction (reports Stockhead).

The already attractive economics of RareX’s Cummins Range project could be improved further after drilling outlined an emerging, extensive phosphate and rare earths system.

The ATMs of the mining sector look set to continue spitting out cash for at least another three years. This bumper outlook is flowing through to juniors like Kairos, as shown by the big jump in its share price his week. Plus, Rex earns a big tick from Goldmans in its copper report and the word is FMG may have a copper find in South Australia.

The calm after the storm is one way of describing Thursday’s stock market recovery after Wednesday’s rout.