IGO, co-owner of the world’s best hard-rock lithium mine at Greenbushes mine in the south of WA, was on one side of the divide with a net loss of $955 million for the June 30 year and a share price which slipped 20c lower to $5.07, a long way from the $16.12 of two years ago.

Core Lithium was on the other side, successfully raising $50 million through a share issue priced at 10.5c, rejoining the market after a brief suspension to trade at 12c, delivering a handy paper profit to investors prepared to back a restart of Core’s Finniss mine in the Northern Territory.

UBS, a leading investment bank, can take much of the credit for the latest lithium revival after lifting its price forecast for the battery metal by up to 32% over the next 12-months with spodumene rising to around US$1350/t.

The burst of optimism at UBS is noteworthy because it was as recently as May that the same bank was forecasting a continuation of the lithium winter, downgrading most local producers, including sector leader Pilbara Minerals to sell when the stock was trading at $1.32.

Pilibara today, after reporting a full year loss of $196 million, is riding high on lithium recovery talk with a share-price rise this week of 9c to $2.29, taking its rise since late May to 97c (73%).

Other lithium-exposed stocks have joined the rally. Liontown added 1c this week to 88c, taking its rise since May to 32c (57%) while Mineral Resources, which is also an iron ore miner with troubled management, rose by 50c to $35.38, taking its increase over the past month to $6.48 (21%).

Rare earths and uranium stocks also attracted investor support this week as did gold which continued to perform its role as a proxy for the broader economy and a hedge against bad government of the sort being witnessed in the U.S. where a brawl has erupted over control of the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

Efforts by the U.S. President Donald Trump to sack a director of the bank, Lisa Cook, coupled with persistent demands that the chairman, Jerome Powell, quit to allow a Trump appointee to take charge raised concern about an outbreak of inflation next year if policy settings are relaxed too far.

Gold loves a crisis, rising this week by US$64 an ounce to US$3386/oz, flushing out fresh forecasts of a move up to US$3500/oz by the end of the year.

Ora Banda Mining was one of the week’s best performers with a rise of 14c (19%) to 87c after reporting encouraging results from drilling at its Round Dam project in WA with best hits of 8 metres at 20.6 grams of gold per tonnes, including 3m at 41.7g/t.

Other gold moves and news included:

  • Perseus Mining, up 22c at $3.85 after reporting a record annual profit of $651 million, up 16%, from revenue of $1.93 billion. A final dividend of 5c a share takes the annual payout to 7.5c, up 50% and a perfect example of how goldmining has moved into the profit harvest phase.
  • Ramelius Resources, up 15c at $3.07 after reporting a net profit of $474 million and a final dividend of 5c.
  • Antipa Minerals, up 4c at 61c after reporting high grade gold intersections from drilling at its Minyari project in WA, including 33m at 15.8g/t from a depth of 96m, including a 3m core assaying 150g/t.
  • Greatland Gold slipped 13c lower to $5.42 despite reporting a net profit of $337.3 million from its first year operating the Telfer mine in WA. The stock has been on a roller coaster (mainly down) since listing in Australia in June at $7.30.
  • Emerald Resources. Up 21c at $3.92 after reporting a net profit for the June 30 year of $151 million, up 25% on the $124 million earned in the previous year.
  • Bayan Mining, up 11c (70%) to 26c thanks to growing interest in its gold and critical metals project in California, and
  • West African Resources, up 31c to $3.04 after reporting a profit of $215 million in the half year to June 30.

Rare earth sector leader Lynas was up 21c at $14.73 before a trading suspension to clear the way for a surprise $750 million capital raising to fund expansion.

Ark Mines, a relative newcomer, was the other rare earth newsmaker, rising by 14c (75%) to 33c after attracting a $4.5 million investment from the Queensland Government’s critical metals fund for work on its Sandy Mitchell project near Cairns.

Vital Metals joined the rare earth capital raising rush, securing $6.8 million for work on its Tardiff project in Canada, and Power Minerals rose by 2c to 8.2c after reporting high grade assays from drilling at its Santa Anna project in Brazil.

Uranium moved up smartly on limited news apart from a comment by New York commodity research firm Goehring and Rozencwajg that the nuclear fuel might be “setting the stage for an old-fashioned short squeeze”.

G&R said hedge funds had gone short in uranium earlier this year only to discover that “the nuclear power story is no longer about possibility, it’s about arrival”.

Uranium moves and news included:

  • Basin Energy, up 2c (80%) at 4.5c after securing a large tenement position in the north-west of Queensland, adjacent to the Valhalla project of Paladin Energy which rose by 81c this week to $7.29.
  • Deep Yellow added 29c to $1.73, and
  • Boss was up 18c at $1.83.

Copper traded in a narrow band all week, ending at around US$4.42 a pound but with confidence growing that a higher price is inevitable as future demand outstrips supply.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast a copper price of US$13,500 a tonne (US$6.10/lb) by 2028, driven in part by demand from the boom in building artificial intelligence (AI) data centres.

Sandfire was the copper newsmaker of the week, reporting a sharp rise in earnings to US$89.9 million compared with a loss of US$19 million in the previous year. Production was up 12% at 152,400 tonnes. On the market, Sandfire rose by 34c to $12.53.

Other copper moves included 29Metals, up 6.5c at 33c. American West, up 0.3c (10%) at 3.4c, and Aurelia Metals, up 3c (20%) at 21c.

Fortescue slipped 46c lower to $19.36 after reporting a 41% profit fall to US$3.37 billion for the June 30 year, and a steep fall in the annual dividend to $1.10 a share.

Morgans said what less courageous brokers avoid, pointing out that the company’s pursuit of green energy “remains a drain” on earnings, consuming an estimated US$900 million during the year.

“It is increasingly difficult to reconcile value-accretive core mining with capital-heavy global energy projects,” Morgans said while retaining a neutral investment view of the stock, which it expects to fall to $16.60.

That forecast for Fortescue is not the gloomiest. Macquarie Bank has a price target of $15.50 and a sell recommendation.

Other news and market moves of interest included:

  • Specialist mineral drilling contractor Perenti rose by 26c to $2.33 after reporting a strong net profit of $136.9 million, earning a buy tip from Macquarie which has a price target of $2.65 on the stock.
  • Almonty, a tungsten producer, fell by 18c to $6.32 despite a strong increase in the price of steel hardening metal which rose by US$1000 a tonne to US$29,064/t.
  • Manganese explorer Black Canyon rose by 3.5c to 46c after reporting encouraging drill results from its Wandanya project in WA, including 7m at 40.1% manganese.
  • Iron ore miner Fenix slipped 1c lower to 32c but asked for a trading suspension ahead of a material acquisition, and
  • Locksley Resources rose by 1.5c to 30c after announcing a partnership with Rice University of Texas to maximise the potential of its U.S. antimony project.