Morning Briefing: OceanaGold Moves to Acquire Ausgold

Good morning and welcome back to the Mining Stock Daily morning briefing.

It's Monday, August 17th, and we are starting the week on the front foot.

Silver is the outperformer out of the gate — up 1.67% to $65.74 an ounce. Gold is grinding higher, up half a percent to $4,399. Copper is adding 1.19% to $6.68 a pound, and there is a significant story behind that..

Copper's London market is showing acute tightness this morning, with the LME August-over-September spread blowing out to $370 per tonne. That is the widest one-month spread since the 2021 short squeeze. LME stockpiles fell for a 42nd consecutive session to 204,975 tonnes with nearly half already earmarked for removal from warehouses. Supply anxiety is compounded by the situation in Indonesia, where PT Smelting's Gresik plant has been offline since August 8 following a furnace incident, though the company says it is accelerating the restart of its adjacent Manyar smelter to offset the outage by the end of this month. 

NexGen Energy has broken ground on its C$2.2 billion Rook I uranium project in Saskatchewan, a mine designed to produce up to 30 million pounds of uranium per year at full capacity, which would exceed the licensed output of Cameco's McArthur River-Key Lake complex. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved the environmental assessment in March 2026 and granted a construction licence.

We will get to the news from the miners and explorers in a moment, but first a mention of today’s sponsor:

This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by…Integra Gold.

Integra is a growing precious metals producer in the Great Basin of the Western United States. Integra is focused on demonstrating profitability and operational excellence at its principal operating asset, the Florida Canyon Mine, located in Nevada. In addition, Integra is committed to advancing its flagship development-stage heap leach projects: the past producing DeLamar Project located in southwestern Idaho, and the Nevada North Project located in western Nevada. Learn more about the business and their high industry standards over at integraresources.com

Here’s what you need to know today. 

OceanaGold Corporation has agreed to acquire Ausgold Limited through an Australian court-approved scheme valuing Ausgold’s equity at roughly A$776 million (US$549 million). The acquisition targets Ausgold’s Katanning Gold Project 275 kilometres southeast of Perth in Western Australia, where the December 2025 feasibility study outlined a 3.6-million-tonne-per-year CIL plant, A$355 million in pre-production capital, over 100,000 ounces of gold per year over a 10-plus-year mine life, and first gold targeted for 2029. The scheme meeting set for late November. OceanaGold trades on the TSX and the New York Stock Exchange, both under the symbol OGC. NEWS RELEASE

Mining Americas is out with Q2 2026 results from the Pan Mine in White Pine County, Nevada, reporting revenue of $32.6 million, adjusted net income of $6.5 million ($0.06 per share), and adjusted EBITDA of $9.3 million on 8,217 ounces of gold produced and 8,329 sold at an average realized price of $3,920 per ounce, at cash costs of $1,831 per ounce and AISC of $2,054 per ounce. The company reported it holds $43.5 million in cash. The company ramped the heap leach operation to over 70,000 tonnes per day by June — up from about 51,800 tonnes per day at the start of the quarter — and is targeting approximately 100,000 tonnes per day in the second half of 2026 against full-year guidance of 32,000 to 38,000 ounces; Mining Americas trades on the TSX as MAI and on the OTCQX as MAIFF. NEWS RELEASE

DPM Metals has declared commercial production at its Vareš silver-gold mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ahead of schedule, after achieving 72% of design throughput capacity and recovery over a 30-consecutive-day benchmark period, well above the required 60% threshold. DPM is targeting a full production run-rate of 850,000 tonnes per year at Vareš by year-end 2026 and now expects production at the higher end of its 105,000 to 130,000 gold equivalent ounce guidance range for the operation; DPM Metals trades on the TSX and the Australian Securities Exchange as DPM, and on the OTC as DPMLF. NEWS RELEASE

Equinox Gold has received a positive Record of Decision from the US Bureau of Land Management for its South Railroad gold project on Nevada’s Carlin Trend, completing the federal NEPA permitting process; the company has already begun early works construction, submitted state permits and water rights applications, and advanced detailed engineering to 55.2% complete. The 2026 feasibility study outlined average annual gold production of 130,000 ounces in the first five years and over 100,000 ounces per year over a 10-year mine life at initial capital of $395 million. Mining equipment is scheduled to arrive by year-end, initial mining in spring 2027, and first gold targeted for 2028; Equinox Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American, both under the symbol EQX.

Revival Gold has released interim results from its ongoing Mercur column leach testing program in Utah, covering 18 columns loaded at crush sizes from 6.3 to 37.5 millimetres across 11 composites from the Main and South Mercur zones. The work showed recovered oxide material averaging 81% gold extraction and 16% silver extraction to date, while refractory material is averaging 43% gold and 31% silver. The testing is supporting a preliminary feasibility study for Mercur targeted for completion by end of Q1 2027; Revival Gold trades on the TSX Venture Exchange as RVG and on the OTCQX as RVLGF. NEWS RELEASE

Bunker Hill Mining has fired the first production stope blast at the Bunker Hill Mine in Kellogg, Idaho, using transverse longhole stoping with paste backfill made from mill tailings and cement. Its a milestone that advances the 1,800-tonne-per-day zinc, lead, and silver operation toward commercial production by year-end 2026. The company has now gone four consecutive years without a lost-time incident and one full year without a recordable safety incident; Bunker Hill Mining trades on the TSX as BNKR and on the OTCQB as BHLL. NEWS RELEASE

Alaska Silver has closed a C$7.6 million private placement. Proceeds will expand the company’s 2026 drill program at the Illinois Creek Project in Alaska from 6,000 to approximately 9,000 metres, targeting the Waterpump Creek silver-zinc-lead zone and the Silver Sage target; Alaska Silver trades on the TSX Venture Exchange as WAM and on the OTCQX as WAMFF. NEWS RELEASE

The Mining Stock Daily morning briefing is produced by Clear Commodity Network. It is distributed throughout the world through your podcast network of choice, and at Clear Commodity Network.

That's it for today everyone. Have a great day. Stay safe.