Latest Processing Plants News

Element 25 has started early site works at its Butcherbird Expansion Project in Western Australia, preparing the ground for a planned 1.1Mtpa manganese operation. The milestone shifts the project from planning towards physical construction, although the main construction package is yet to be awarded.

Everest Metals has started a 6,000-metre drilling campaign at Revere while commissioning a Scoping Study targeted for March quarter 2027. A separate $150,000 cash and share transaction would lift EMC’s stated joint venture interest to 56% and halve a royalty burden over selected tenements.

Brightstar Resources will pay A$350,000 for five Panther Metals exploration licences beside its Laverton processing plant, securing ground needed for haul roads, water infrastructure and future tailings capacity. A separate, non-binding deal could also bring Panther’s Burtville East ore through the plant under a 50:50 net proceeds arrangement.

Panther Metals has secured $350,000 in cash from the sale of its Mikado Gold Project to Brightstar Resources, while opening a potential processing route for Burtville East. The proposed 50:50 arrangement remains non-binding and depends on further evaluation and definitive agreements.

EV Resources has completed its A$1.52 million rights issue as crushing and screening gets underway at the Tecomatlán antimony plant in Mexico. The company now has Vinatas ore and a 200-tonne Chinantla stockpile available for a production-capable proof-of-concept campaign, although first concentrate and binding offtake agreements remain ahead.

Western Gold Resources is pursuing multiple processing alternatives for Gold Duke after Wiluna Mining deferred third-party tolling, while revising the project’s study around a larger resource. The company is also considering corporate opportunities, but no processing agreement, transaction or expanded mine plan has been secured.

TechGen Metals has outlined a funded exploration campaign spanning gold, copper and silver targets, with about A$3 million in pro forma cash and several assays due through late 2026. The strongest potential catalyst is John Bull, where step-out drilling could support a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate if results are positive.

Catalyst Metals has increased the Trident underground Ore Reserve by 32% to 524,000 ounces, supporting a planned mine life of more than 10 years. The result strengthens the company’s ambition to build a 2Moz Reserve base across the Plutonic Belt, although further growth depends on drilling and mine execution.

Native Mineral Resources has produced 340.9 ounces of doré in its latest Blackjack smelt, while more than 815,000 tonnes of material has been moved across two active pits. The latest bars still require assay and refinery results before their gold contribution is known.

Lion Selection Group (ASX:LSX) increased its investment portfolio by 19% to A$108.2 million in FY2026, even as net profit fell 77% to A$8.9 million after an exceptional prior year. The resources investor enters the new year with A$36 million in cash and term deposits, but remains exposed to volatile junior mining valuations and unresolved litigation.

Ora Banda Mining has begun underground development at Waihi in Western Australia, where drilling has returned intersections of up to 1.6 metres at 65.9 g/t gold. The mine is scheduled to deliver first underground ore in mid-2027, ahead of the company’s planned 3.0 Mtpa Davyhurst processing plant.

Tungsten Mining has secured the primary approvals needed to take its Watershed tungsten project in Far North Queensland through to mining and production, while early site works are already under way. The project remains pre-FID, with financing and the October DFS still critical to the H1 2027 production target.