The Australian small-cap market opened modestly higher on Tuesday as record copper prices and stronger iron ore provided support for resources stocks.
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries was up 4 points, or 0.12%, at 3,475.20.
The index opened at its previous close of 3,471.20, which was also its early low, before advancing to a session high of 3,475.20.
Company news included high-grade gold-antimony results from Krakatoa Resources, resource-growth drilling by Titan Minerals, progress at Aruma Resources’ Tillex copper-silver program, a US aviation contract for archTIS and an extension of Prescient Therapeutics’ share purchase plan.
Krakatoa intersects high-grade gold and antimony
Krakatoa Resources Ltd (ASX:KTA) has received its first assay results from the 2026 drilling program at the Zopkhito Antimony-Gold Project in Georgia.
All four initial surface diamond holes intersected high-grade gold and antimony mineralisation within Vein 6, confirming continuity with mineralisation identified through the 2025 program and historical exploration.
Results included 1.8 metres at 11.09 g/t gold and 3.56% antimony from drill hole DDZOP26001.
Individual samples returned peak grades of 17.1 g/t gold and 15.3% antimony, while the first 10 samples from underground coring also produced strong results.
Surface diamond drilling and underground coring are continuing. The 2026 exploration program is designed to support conversion of Zopkhito’s foreign resource estimate into a JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource estimate.
Titan extends Dynasty gold-silver system
Titan Minerals Ltd (ASX:TTM, OTC:TTTNF) has extended gold-silver mineralisation at the Brecha-Comanche target through resource expansion and infill drilling at the Dynasty Project.
Extensional hole CVDD25-158 returned 16 metres at 2.8 g/t gold and 9.1 g/t silver from 433.9 metres.
The result represents a 30-metre lateral extension to a zone discovered in 2025, where drilling returned 31.4 metres at 2.3 g/t gold and 7.1 g/t silver from 375.7 metres.
Infill hole CVDD26-205 intersected several broad zones, including 19.7 metres at 2.6 g/t gold and 14 g/t silver from 253.3 metres and 22.1 metres at 2.5 g/t gold and 5.9 g/t silver from 324.6 metres.
Another hole returned 12.5 metres at 2.8 g/t gold and 28.4 g/t silver from 337.2 metres.
Titan is continuing to drill several resource-growth targets at the Cerro Verde prospect. The results are expected to contribute to an updated Dynasty mineral resource estimate targeted for early 2027.
Aruma advances Tillex drilling
Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX:AAJ) has completed six diamond holes for 1,046 metres under its planned 3,600-metre Phase 2 drilling program at the Tillex Copper-Silver Project in Ontario’s Timmins mining district.
All completed holes intersected the targeted geological sequence, including argillite, porphyry, volcanic tuff and dacite-andesite units.
Geological logging also identified alteration and structural features consistent with Aruma’s developing Tillex mineralisation model.
Drilling is testing south-western strike and depth extensions beyond the existing high-grade copper-silver pod. The campaign has progressed about 100 metres south-west along strike from the pod’s southern boundary.
Aruma has submitted 292 samples for laboratory analysis, with initial results expected within two weeks. Drilling remains scheduled for completion in October despite challenging ground conditions in some early holes.
The company is also reviewing and resampling historical drill core that was not previously assayed to investigate potential mineralisation west of the Tillex deposit.
archTIS secures US aviation contract
archTIS Ltd (ASX:AR9, OTCQB:ARHLF) has secured a three-year contract worth approximately A$445,000 with a US-based private aviation services company.
The customer will deploy archTIS’ Spirion Sensitive Data Platform to discover, classify and protect sensitive information across its North American operations.
The aviation operator manages substantial volumes of personally identifiable, customer and operational information and selected the platform following an extensive assessment of its data environment.
The contract expands archTIS’ presence beyond its established government, defence and national-security markets and into the regulated private aviation sector.
Prescient extends A$7 million share purchase plan
Prescient Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:PTX) has extended the closing date for its share purchase plan by one week to 5 pm AEST on September 15.
The clinical-stage oncology company is targeting proceeds of up to A$7 million through the offer, which was announced on August 25 and had been scheduled to close on September 8.
Funds raised will support the development of targeted cancer therapy PTX-100 beyond the Dose Optimisation Committee meeting expected in December 2026.
The committee is expected to provide guidance on the continuation and further development of the clinical study.