Smashed gold stocks beckon contrarian investors. And there’s plenty of M&A fever in the mix … think Gold Road-De Grey, Red 5-Genesis-St Barbara-Bellevue-Northern Star etc.

Sharp share-price rises by lithium stocks were rare highlights in a down week dominated by investor concern about how high interest rates might have to rise before central banks are confident that they have tamed inflation.

TNG has appointed Pilbara Minerals founder Neil Biddle as its non-executive chairman as it prepares to transition towards development of its Mount Peake critical minerals project (reports Stockhead).

BlackEarth has big plans to become a major graphite supplier to the lithium battery industry, with a scoping study underway to build a plant to convert the graphite from its Maniry project in Madagascar to battery anode material (reports Stockhead).

Decades after the giants pulled out of Okiep copper mining hub, Orion Minerals has put a restart on the fast track with the Industrial Development Corporation South Africa pledging to stump up almost half of the initial capital required (reports MiningNews).

Catalyst Metals’ four-rig diamond core drilling program within its Henty gold mine in Tasmania has delivered bonanza grades from multiple locations as the miner gets ready to deliver a new resource estimate (reports MiningNews).

Newly minted gold producer Red 5 has expanded both its mineral resource and ore reserve at the King of the Hills mine near Leonora (reports The West Australian).

South Australia uranium developer Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) continues to make strong progress on its planned reopening of the Honeymoon mine, with well field drilling now underway (reports Small Caps).

Bill Beament’s Develop Global has delivered a sizeable boost to total and indicated resources at its emerging Sulphur Springs base metal play, 112km southeast of Port Hedland in Western Australia’s Pilbara region (reports MiningNews).

Proxy adviser ISS has weighed into a stoush at aspiring mine developer TNG, backing the incumbent board over a group of dissident shareholders (reports The West Australian).

The Ken Brinsden-chaired Patriot has just unveiled its best drill hit yet, sending its shares on another run. And the results it is generating at its Corvette project in Canada’s James Bay highlight the potential for minnow Cygnus, which is preparing to drill its Pontax project in the Bay. Meanwhile, Essential is set to show how smaller lithium deposits can drive large valuations.

Interest rates are not alone in reaching for the sky. The mighty U.S. dollar is also rocketing up and when it comes to commodity prices the combination of higher rates and a higher dollar can be lethal, as seen in the sliding gold price.

Sandfire Resources boss Karl Simich believes the company’s Motheo copper development is just the start of a long life for the company in Botswana (reports MiningNews).

Mining the options to become Australia’s cleanest operator, Bellevue Gold is weighing up the power of solar, wind, batteries — and even gravity (reports AAP).

The new board at Kairos Minerals, under chair Klaus Eckhof and geologist Dr Peter Turner as managing director, has delivered a significant boost to resources at the company’s flagship Mt York gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region (reports MiningNews).

Sunstone has uncovered proof about the scale of its Brama-Alba porphyry discovery in Ecuador after intersecting a thick 202m intersection grading 0.88g/t gold equivalent (reports Stockhead).

Marketing, not discovery, can be the biggest test for a small company trying to enter a bulk commodities business, which is why iron ore hopeful CZR Resources (ASX: CZR) could have just got a leg up (reports Tim Treadgold on Small Caps).

Investors have confirmed their strong support and enthusiasm for Alicanto Minerals’ growing Sala zinc and silver project in Sweden, helping the company raise $3 million to fund further exploration at the project (reports Stockhead).

Electric vehicles appear unstoppable. Carmakers are outpledging themselves in terms of production goals. Industry analysts are struggling to keep up (reports The Economist).

And it’s not just lithium that’s hot. With mineral sands prices booming due to a supply crunch, Strandline is set to make a blockbuster start to production at any moment. So is Iluka looking over the fence?