The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index [XSO] rose 2.90 points or 0.08% to close at 3,621.80, gaining 0.29% over the past five days.
It's a slowish start for news flow, but you can read about the following and more throughout the day.
AuKing Mining advances financing milestone
AuKing Mining Ltd (ASX:AKN) confirmed that Nebari Natural Resources Credit Fund II, LP has cleared due diligence requirements under its proposed A$8 million senior secured credit facility. The milestone accelerates progress towards large-scale exploration and development at the Cloncurry Gold Project in north-west Queensland and supports the company’s pathway to first gold production.
St George confirms rare earths scale in Brazil
St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) reported further high-grade rare earth and niobium assays from drilling at its 100%-owned Araxá Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The results highlight significant scale and continuity of mineralisation and point to strong potential for a resource upgrade to the project’s JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate, currently modelled to 100 metres from surface with less than 10% of the tenure tested.
Astral Resources delivers high-grade intercepts
Astral Resources NL (ASX:AAR) released results from a 21-hole, 3,702-metre in-fill drilling program at the Iris Deposit, part of the Mandilla Gold Project, 70 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Notable intercepts include 4 metres at 21.9 g/t gold, 2 metres at 12.8 g/t gold and 5 metres at 5.73 g/t gold, alongside broader zones such as 21 metres at 1.59 g/t gold, 23 metres at 1.00 g/t gold and 15 metres at 1.22 g/t gold. Results will inform the next mineral resource update at Mandilla.