By Bart Bogacz.

Culpeo Minerals (ASX:CPO)

Culpeo bucked the trend on an otherwise red ASX trading day, jumping one-third higher after lining up access to its Vista Montana prospect, which forms part of its broader Lana Corina copper project in Chile.

The milestone clears the way for the company’s maiden diamond drilling at the prospect, which is designed to test multiple high-priority copper-gold targets.

The four-hole program will entail 2000m of drilling and is expected to kick off early next month.

Vista Montana sits just 1km northeast of the company’s Lana Corina copper-gold-silver-molybdenum discovery, which returned 454m at 0.96% CuEq from 90m.

Culpeo believes Vista Montana is part of the same north-northeast trending mineralised corridor as Lana Corina.

The upcoming drilling represents the first subsurface testing of Vista Montana.

It will test targets defined through geological mapping, ground magnetic interpretation, soil geochemistry and surface rock chip sampling, which identified copper and gold-bearing quartz veins and breccias, alongside phyllic alteration.

The program could potentially be extended depending on geological observations and initial results.

Drilling will follow the company’s ongoing campaign at El Quillay South within the Fortuna copper-gold project, with the rig scheduled to move to Vista Montana once the current 200m hole is complete.

An IP survey at Lana Corina is also due to begin shortly, providing additional data to refine existing targets and identify new prospective areas.

49 Metals (ASX:49:M)

Investors sat up and took notice after 49 Metals revealed the thickest ever intersections at its Gold Mountain project in Nevada.

The result of 170.7m grading 0.9g/t gold from 121.9m in hole DRC#22 highlights the potential scale of Gold Mountain, a finding that’s supported further by all 22 holes in the program returning gold and/or silver mineralisation.

Hole DRC#19 extended the high-grade feeder corridor with an intersection of 3m at 20g/t Au from 189m within 67.1m at 1.7g/t from 169.2m.

Meanwhile holes DRC#21 and DRC#18 confirmed shallow mineralisation with intercepts of 13.7m at 2.9g/t Au from 12.2m and 29m at 1.3g/ from 18.3m respectively.

The results indicate a broad mineralised system containing multiple higher-grade structures is present, providing a solid geological framework for follow up drilling before the end of 2026.

They also increase confidence in the potential for Gold Mountain to host a significant gold system.

Chief executive officer Phil Carter said that with only 22 holes completed in the maiden drilling program, there was considerable scope to grow the Adit Zone.

Further drill targeting is underway with a view to firing up the rig again by the end of the year.

The company is well funded for its exploration push with a cash balance of $6.8 million at the end of June.

Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR)

Brightstar kept the dancefloor bouncing at its Sandstone gold project in WA.

A pair of broad intercepts at the Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit strengthened the case for a potential underground mining operation.

One hole returned 225.7m at 3.11g/t gold from 284m.

This intercept included a richer 19m section grading 24.3g/t Au from 306m with a 1m interval at 449g/t Au from 322m.

The second hole returned 194m at 2.10g/t Au from 286m, including 13m at 4.35g/t and 6m at 5.54g/t.

These results stem from an infill drilling campaign within areas identified as potential underground mining zones.

It was designed to increase geological confidence and support the conversion of inferred resources into the indicated category.

The Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit hosts a resource totalling 14.6Mt at 1.6g/t Au for 731,000oz of contained gold and forms part of the broader 2.9Moz Sandstone gold project.

Recent drilling has also revealed the gold-hosting tonalite structure at Two Mile Hill-Shillington widens substantially at depth, increasing from up to 80m wide at 200m depth to more than 300m wide at 700m below surface.

Drilling at Sandstone remains ongoing.

Brightstar plans to release an updated MRE and PFS  for the project in November.

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN)

Power continued to build momentum at its Morro do Ferro rare earths project in Brazil, with the third hole of its maiden drilling campaign returning another broad, high-grade mineralised zone.

The hole delivered 108.55m at 4.15% total rare earths oxide from surface. It included 29.25m at 9.01% TREO, with 1.32% magnet rare earths oxide.

Another section in the hole pierced 6.45m at 9.34% TREO, including 2.87% MREO, 0.5% yttrium oxide and 0.1% dysprosium oxide.

Power said the results reinforced the thick and continuous nature of the Morro do Ferro mineralisation and its potentially attractive rare earths basket, led by neodymium and praseodymium alongside elevated dysprosium and terbium.

The hole included the highest MREO sample recorded at Morro do Ferro so far, with a 1.45m hit at 4.40% MREO.

A high-grade gallium interval was also recorded, returning 2m at 124.5 parts per million Ga from 62m.

Limited deeper assays received so far suggest that mineralisation could continue beyond depths previously tested at the project.

Results from the lower section of the hole remain pending.

The company has completed 11 holes in its ongoing drill program.

Two rigs continue to pump out the metres as part of the 25 hole campaign.

Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR)

(Up on no news)

Rumble moved higher despite not reporting any news for investors to sink their teeth into.

Gains appear to be linked to Monday’s announcement regarding the proposed development of its Western Queen gold project near Cue in WA.

The company moved closer to a potential restart of mining after locking in a groundwater extraction licence, marking a key step in dewatering the Western Queen South open pit.

Western Queen has a history of high-grade production, churning out 215,000oz of gold across the Central and South mines at an average grade of 7.6g/t Au.

Pumps and pipework for the dewatering have already been ordered for the work with Rumble now finalising an agreement with a contractor.

A mine development and closure proposal for Western Queen remains the only major outstanding approval before underground pre-development work can begin.

The company is also advancing discussions with potential underground mining contractors, with several having already submitted expressions of interest for the project.

A recent resource update lifted Western Queen’s inventory to 5.13Mt at 2.6g/t Au for 433,600oz of contained gold.

A scoping study update is underway, incorporating the larger resource, a revised mining schedule, the group’s toll milling agreement and refreshed cost estimates.

Results are expected in late September, which could lead to a BFS and decision to mine later this year.

The project also hosts tungsten potential, with a maiden resource of 13,200t of contained WO3.

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