Lunch Wrap: Greatland and Sandfire keep ASX humming as rare earths go off the boil

• ASX rides Wall Street high
• Fed-cut fever is back on
• Miners mixed as gold drifts and rare earths cool off

The ASX rallied about 0.6% by lunchtime in the east, following Wall Street’s new record highs on Friday.

US traders were celebrating a tame US inflation print, the kind of number that keeps alive the narrative of the Fed’s two more rate-cuts in 2025.

If last week’s mood was “don’t fight the Fed”, today’s theme is “don’t question the rally”.

On the ASX, it was the tech and banking sectors leading the charge.

Gold names were split after spot prices dipped slightly to US$4,087 an ounce.

Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM) fell almost 3%, but Evolution Energy Minerals (ASX:EV1) found buyers, up around 7%.

Rare earth stocks, meanwhile, fell on profit-taking after last week’s sharp rally. Stocks such as Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM) plunged as much as 11% this morning.

The sector is cooling as traders cash in gains from the US-Australia rare earths deal that sent prices soaring just days ago.

Quick mining quarterlies wrap

Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS)

Ramelius had a rough quarter, with gold output slipping 25% to 55,013 ounces and costs climbing to $1,836 an ounce.

Free cash flow was still solid at $129 million, but management’s tone was on the defensive, insisting grades are just “normalising”, not falling.

Investors will be watching Tuesday’s five-year outlook closely to see if the Never Never deposit lives up to the name.

Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU)

Perseus pumped out just under 100,000 ounces at a tidy AISC of US$1,463, pulling in a fat US$161 million cash margin.

The company’s cash and bullion hoard has now swelled to US$837 million, with another US$134 million in listed securities.

Guidance is unchanged, and with new boss Craig Jones seems to be taking over smoothly from Jeff Quartermaine.

Pantoro (ASX:PNR)

Pantoro had one of those quarters miners would rather forget.

Production dropped to 19,551 ounces and costs blew out to a painful $3,139 an ounce. The company blamed “unforeseen operational challenges”.

However, Pantoro is sticking to its full-year guidance and says things are back on track.

Greatland Resources (ASX:GGP)

Greatland is firing on all cylinders.

The miner pumped out 80,890 ounces of gold and 3,366 tonnes of copper at an AISC of US$2,155, pulling in US$284 million in operating cash and finishing the quarter debt-free with US$750 million in the bank.

Telfer’s recovery rates were the best since 2010, and the Havieron feasibility study is still on schedule for December.

Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR)

Sandfire’s quarter was quietly impressive.

Copper output hit 35.5 kilotonnes (up 5% on plan) thanks to solid performances at both MATSA and Motheo.

Costs were better than expected: US$85 a tonne at MATSA and US$42 at Motheo, and net debt is now down to just $62 million.

ASX LEADERS

Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:

Eden Innovations (ASX:EDE) has scored another run of OptiBlend orders out of the US, with data-centre demand heating up fast. Over the past two weeks it’s received orders for nine OptiBlend kits worth about US$487k, roughly 80 % of what it sold in the entire FY25 year.

That includes a fresh US$155k order for three kits headed to a new data-centre installation, plus a smaller order for a US court. When combined with existing US$304k of pending orders, Eden’s total backlog now sits at US$791k, already 30 % ahead of last year’s total sales.

Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has appointed Coraline Blaud as Executive Director as it ramps up exploration across its US, Chilean and WA assets. Blaud, who’s spent the past three years in senior roles at Lodestar and previously at Kingwest Resources, brings more than a decade of exploration and corporate experience.

ASX LAGGARDS

Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:

Nuix (ASX:NXL) tanked 15% after announcing that chief executive Jonathan Rubinsztein will step down at the end of the month.

He’s been in the top job for just under three years, brought in to clean up after the company’s disastrous 2021 IPO and a string of governance scandals. His exit comes right as Nuix tries to convince the market it’s finally turned a corner.

IN CASED YOU MISSED IT

EBR Systems (ASX:EBR) has welcomed two studies outlining potential new clinical applications for its WiSE cardiac system.

Cannindah Resources (ASX:CAE) has added a near-surface exploration target for Monument prospect in the Southern Porphyry zone of its Mt Cannindah asset.

Ausgold (ASX:AUC) kicks off an extensive, multi-rig drill campaign to grow the multi-million ounce gold resource at its Katanning project.

LAST ORDERS

Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) has put drill bit to ground at the Warrior gold project in Nevada, testing depth extensions of mineral structures at the Lou and Hillside prospects.

SNX is following up on previous results of up to 2.44m at 7.76g/t gold within 17m at 1.57g/t gold and 10.87m at 3.76g/t gold within 20.73m at 2.13g/t gold.

Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ) has hit visible gold in quartz veining at the Boa Vista gold project in Brazil in a diamond drilling program. The presence of visible gold is highly encouraging, but true grades will need to wait for laboratory analysis.

In the meantime, AUZ is drawing up plans for a twinned or step-back hole designed to test the footwall contact directly beneath the current drill hole while continuing with the rest of the drilling program.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Sierra Nevada Gold and Australian Mines are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article. 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.