The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index gained 18.10 points, or 0.54%, on Wednesday to close at 3,342.70.
Despite the positive session, the small-cap benchmark remained 35.70 points, or 1.06%, lower over the past five trading days.
Ariana Resources PLC (AIM:AAU, ASX:AA2, FRA:4A6) told investors that the Tavşan gold mine in Türkiye has completed its ramp-up and is now loading ore onto its heap-leach pads at the required rate of at least 4,000 tonnes per day.
The operation is placing around 60,000 tonnes of ore on the pads each month, with approximately 350,000 tonnes currently being heap-leached. The recovery circuit is performing to specification, with gold recovery maintained at the expected level of around 70%.
Cavendish has reiterated its buy rating and 19.8p target price on 88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTCQB:EEENF, FRA:POQ), implying significant untapped upside from the current 1.02p share price.
The AIM-listed oil and gas explorer's South Prudhoe acreage on Alaska's North Slope now holds 768.9 million barrels of gross prospective resources, of which 640.7 million barrels are net to the company.
88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTCQB:EEENF, FRA:POQ), in Wednesday's release of its Quarterly Activities report, noted that it had moved its Augusta-1 exploration well closer to a targeted first-quarter 2027 spud after securing Nordic Rig-3 and an Arctic-rated camp, alongside a 35% increase in South Prudhoe prospective resources.
Gross unrisked 2U prospective resources at the Alaska project rose to 768.9 million barrels of oil, of which 640.7 million barrels are net to 88 Energy. Augusta-1 is designed to test up to 133.7 million barrels gross across the Ivishak, Kuparuk and Upper Schrader Bluff reservoirs.
Dusk Group Ltd (ASX:DSK) shares fell more than 9% to 68.5 cents after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched Federal Court proceedings over alleged breaches of mandatory button battery safety standards.
The regulator alleges Dusk subsidiary Dusk Australasia supplied 66,453 non-compliant products across 29 product lines between May 17, 2023, and December 12, 2024.
Sequoia Financial Group Ltd (ASX:SEQ) has announced the immediate resignation of chief executive Garry Crole as subsidiary InterPrac Financial Planning faces Federal Court action linked to the collapse of two investment funds that cost 12,000 investors $1 billion.
Head of corporate finance Alex Fabbri has been appointed interim chief executive, while non-executive director David Hentschke will serve as interim chairman. Sequoia has begun searching for a permanent replacement.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) is strengthening its lithium ambitions with a $1.45 billion expansion of the Mt Holland operation in Western Australia, aiming to double spodumene concentrate production despite weak prices.
The project, jointly owned with SQM (NYSE:SQM) through Covalent Lithium, will lift production from 380,000 tonnes to 760,000 tonnes. Construction of a second concentrator and ore-sorting facility is expected to begin in the second half of 2027, with first production targeted for 2030.
Every Federal Budget produces its fair share of headlines. Most focus on the winners and losers, political point scoring or the immediate cost-of-living measures. Investors, however, should be looking beyond the headlines writes director of Tax Communications at H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) Australia, Mark Chapman.
This year's Budget contains some of the most significant investment tax reforms Australia has seen in decades. While many of the measures will not take effect immediately, they have the potential to reshape investment decisions for years to come.
Codeifai Ltd (ASX:CDE) has secured firm commitments to raise $770,000 through a share placement, providing fresh funding to advance its artificial intelligence platform, pursue new industry applications and strengthen working capital.
The company will issue 110 million shares at $0.007 each to sophisticated and professional investors, with participants receiving one free-attaching option for every share subscribed.
MoneyMe Ltd (ASX:MME) has surpassed a $2 billion loan book and returned to normalised profitability in the second half of FY26, supported by record originations, improving credit performance and lower funding costs.
The AI-powered digital lender ended June with a gross loan book of $2.08 billion, up 34% year on year, after FY26 originations increased 34% to a record $1.23 billion.
Vitura Health Ltd (ASX:VIT) has appointed two senior executives and reshaped its leadership team as the digital health company moves to improve operational efficiency, strengthen execution and place patients closer to the centre of decision-making.
James Frayne will join Vitura as chief financial officer on October 1, 2026, while Trudy Adams has been appointed executive general manager of strategy and technology and is expected to start on August 18.
Pilbara Gold Ltd (ASX:PGL) has intersected broad gold mineralisation below the current pit shell at its 2.1-million-ounce Mt York Gold Project in Western Australia, strengthening the potential for further resource growth and a deeper open-pit development.
The first results from the company’s 2026 drilling campaign extended mineralisation at both Main Hill and Gossan Hill, where the gold system remains open at depth.
Artificial intelligence is now producing music faster than audiences can listen to it, with fully AI-generated tracks accounting for more than half of all new music delivered to streaming platform Deezer on peak days.
Deezer received an average of almost 90,000 completely AI-generated songs each day during June 2026, up from around 75,000 a day and 44% of uploads in April.
BOA Resources Ltd (ASX:BOA) has signed drilling contracts and secured approvals for its maiden program at the Neds Creek Copper Project in Western Australia, with a 7,500-metre reverse circulation campaign expected to begin in early August 2026.
Heritage surveys have been completed and Programme of Works approvals received for the planned 53-hole program, clearing the principal requirements ahead of mobilisation.
Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX:AAJ) has kicked off the second phase of diamond drilling at its Tillex Copper-Silver Project in Ontario, targeting extensions to the wide, high-grade mineralisation identified in its initial campaign.
The approximately 3,600-metre program will test the southwest strike and depth potential of the Tillex deposit, including a strong electromagnetic conductor interpreted to extend beyond the limits of current drilling.
Novo Resources Corp (TSX:NVO, OTCQX:NSRPF, ASX:NVO, FRA:1NOR) has confirmed a significant hydrothermal alteration system at its Wyloo Polymetallic Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara, following maiden reverse circulation drilling that returned high-grade silver and antimony mineralisation from surface.
The 16-hole, 2,615-metre program at the Wyloo SE prospect delivered a standout intercept of 9 metres at 92 g/t silver and 1,280 ppm antimony from surface, including 1 metre at 460 g/t silver and 1,425 ppm antimony from 2 metres.