Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU, TSX:PRU, OTC:PMNXF) has delivered a solid first half result, posting US$185.5 million in profit after tax and doubling its interim dividend, while simultaneously strengthening the long-term outlook of its Tanzanian growth project with a major ore reserve upgrade.
The mid-tier gold producer reported revenue of US$608.5 million for the six months to December 31, 2025, up 5% on the prior corresponding period. Profit after tax came in at US$185.5 million, supported by strong gold prices and continued operational delivery across its producing assets.
Asara Resources Ltd (ASX:AS1, OTC:GMRMF) has extended high-grade gold mineralisation at its Massan deposit within the company’s flagship Kada Gold Project in Guinea, returning 54 metres at 2.3 g/t gold from 42 metres in a step-out hole targeting a northeast-trending structural corridor.
The standout intercept from drillhole MSRC26-013 forms part of the company’s Phase 2 Inferred Extension programme and confirms the continuation of the NE–SW trending D2 structure where it intersects the primary north–south D1 trend — an area that has seen limited effective drill testing to date.
Intelligent Monitoring Group Ltd (ASX:IMB) says it is tracking to an underlying EBITDA of $19.2 million for the six months to December 31, 2025, up 9.2%, after what it described as a busy half that included a weaker first quarter in New Zealand and continued momentum in Australia.
The company said the Australian business delivered 8.3% underlying growth (before acquisition effects), while the group’s forward pipeline of installation work rose 36.0% from Q1 to $49.8 million in Q2.
88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTCQB:EEENF, FRA:POQ) has been flagged by Cavendish as sitting on a roughly 500mmboe opportunity at its South Prudhoe acreage on Alaska’s North Slope, after the broker highlighted new estimates that confirm significant potential across multiple prospects and reservoir intervals.
Cavendish’s note leans heavily on location and analogues: South Prudhoe lies immediately south of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields, and the broker argues the combination of deep conventional reservoirs and shallower plays creates a stacked-pay set-up with tie-back potential to existing infrastructure.
88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTCQB:EEENF, FRA:POQ) shares traded up on Thursday, rising 11% to 1.23p, after it revealing it had increased the potential scale of its South Prudhoe position in Alaska, publishing an internal unrisked Prospective Resource estimate of 506.6 million barrels (2U gross) of oil and natural gas liquids across multiple stacked reservoirs.
The company said the consolidated leasehold covers around 52,269 acres on the North Slope, immediately south of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River units, and now includes maiden resource estimates for the Ivishak and Kuparuk formations alongside updated Brookian targets. On a net entitlement basis (after the 16.67% royalty), 88 Energy put the 2U total at 422.2MMbbls, with the summary table showing the largest volumes attributed to Brookian/Schrader Bluff prospects in the South-East Hub, including Donoho and Tressler, as well as Cooper Canyon.
Rio Tinto Ltd (LSE:RIO, ASX:RIO, OTC:RTNTF) shares fell 4% in early trading after the miner reported flat underlying earnings of $10.9 billion for 2025, with the decline also exacerbated by a broader sell-off across the mining sector that pulled the FTSE 100 lower.
Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American joined Rio in the sick bay.
Rio Tinto Ltd (LSE:RIO, ASX:RIO, OTC:RTNTF) reported flat underlying earnings of $10.9 billion for 2025 as stronger copper and aluminium performance offset weaker iron ore prices.
Net cash generated from operating activities increased 8% to $16.8 billion, while consolidated sales revenue rose 7% to $57.6 billion.
Sharon AI’s secondary listing on the ASX is in store after its $US731 million ($1 billion) Nasdaq debut, as investors continue to chase exposure to companies linked to data centres and digital infrastructure.
The Australian artificial intelligence infrastructure group began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SHAZ, positioning itself among a wave of AI-focused listings in the US. The company provides equipment that enables customers to run high-performance chips from Nvidia and AMD used in AI processing.
As copper trades near multi-year highs and major miners scramble to secure long-life supply across the Andes, Solis Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:SLMN, ASX:SLM, OTCQB:SLMFF, FRA:08WA) is preparing to test two porphyry copper systems in Peru in what shapes as a defining first half of 2026.
Arika Resources Ltd (ASX:ARI) is positioning itself as a high-growth gold explorer in one of Western Australia’s most richly endowed gold provinces, with accelerating drilling across its Yundamindra and Kookynie projects underpinning the potential for a market re-rating.
Venari Minerals NL (ASX:VMS, OTC:ASMTD) has significantly expanded the exploration horizon at its 100%-owned Red Mountain Lithium Project in Nevada, outlining a revised JORC 2012-compliant Exploration Target of between 2,020Mt and 2,690Mt grading 1,000–1,300ppm lithium.
The updated target equates to between 10.7Mt and 18.6Mt of contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), positioning Red Mountain among the more substantial sedimentary lithium systems emerging in the United States.
Australia’s labour market remained resilient in January, with more than 17,000 jobs created and the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1%, reinforcing expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will stay focused on inflation risks.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed employment rose by 18,000 people in January, slightly below economists’ forecasts of a 20,000 gain. The jobless rate was unchanged for a second consecutive month, defying expectations of a modest rise to 4.2%.
Percheron Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:PER, OTC:PERCF) has laid out an ambitious — and carefully staged — roadmap for its lead immuno-oncology asset, HMBD-002, as it moves from phase I completion into what management hopes will be a value-defining phase II program in 2026.
In an updated corporate presentation, delivered at the Emergence 2026 Investment Conference, the company positions HMBD-002 as a potential next-generation immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting VISTA — a relatively underexplored checkpoint that has proven difficult for others to drug.
ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) has confirmed its ASX SMIDcaps Conference will be held on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, bringing together a broad group of small and mid-cap company leaders to present their strategies and investment propositions to investors.
The conference — hosted in partnership with Bell Financial Group — will showcase a diverse range of ASX-listed small and mid-cap companies, providing executives with the opportunity to outline their growth strategies and engage directly with investors.