This amounts to an increase of 186.6Mt, with 48% of the mineral resource now converted into a reserve which is estimated to comprise 1,464 ppm (parts per million) lithium and 5,444 ppm boron – or 1.92 Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 7.68 Mt of boric acid equivalent (BAE).

These parameters support Ioneer’s plans to build a large, long-life, low-cost expandable operation, focused on the production of lithium carbonate, boric acid and then battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

The co-product of boric acid is expected to make up 25% of annual revenue from the project in its first 25 years; this is set to keep EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the green at low lithium prices and EBITDA margin of65.7% based on average production over first 25 years.

Costs for the Rhyolite Ridge are some of the lowest among global lithium projects, with an all-in sustaining cash cost of US$5,745 per metric tonne lithium carbonate equivalent. Meanwhile, its after-tax NPV is placed at US$1.367 billion, with an unlevered, after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 14.5% – making for a suite of robust economics.

Managing director Bernard Rowe said the reserve update was testament to the value of the mineralisation there.

“Today’s updated Reserve and Mine Plan reinforces the importance of Rhyolite Ridge’s remarkable mineralogy,” he said.

“Our Ore Reserve estimate of 247 Mt containing a total of 1.92 Mt LCE and 7.68 Mt BAE make it the largest lithium-boron Reserve in the world.”

Ioneer shares have moved higher since the news, and at 13:17 AEST, they were trading at 13 cents – a rise of 8.33% since the market opened.

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The royalty will first be applied to the Standard Lithium–Equinor joint venture, but will also set a critical commercial precedent for all developers with projects in the Smackover Formation, including Pantera.

This royalty is expected to boost the company’s project economics in two ways: Firstly, through the protection of early-stage economics by requiring the royalty be paid only upon the sale of lithium carbonate or equivalent final product, not at the point of extraction; this would also ensure downstream margin retention.

Additionally, a royalty of 2,5% is relatively competitive and materially lower than royalty structures in other lithium brine jurisdictions, which will also improve the project economics for many companies operating in this area.

The setting down of this framework will also remove uncertainty about royalties – a boost when it comes to engagement with investors, who will also be able to see how the framework works for global lithium players.

This is expected to strengthen Pantera’s position in discussions with infrastructure, offtake, and capital market partners.

Executive chairman and CEO Barnaby Egerton-Warburton said this decision would support the company significantly.

“The AOGC’s endorsement of a structured lithium royalty is a gamechanger for Pantera and all serious developers in the Smackover Basin,” he said.

“We now operate in a regime that offers clarity, fiscal stability, and policy support for lithium as a critical mineral.”

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He added: “Combined with the Arkansas State enacting legislation to stimulate the industries growth by offering a temporary severance tax exemption that will mean lithium producers are exempt from the state’s severance tax on saltwater brine from July 1, 2028, through June 30, 2033 — a six-year tax holiday that further enhances the economic potential of Pantera.”

PFE has been trading at 1.4 cents.

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The latter will aim to define targets for a maiden drilling program at Skull Creek, focusing on four strategically significant prospects – County Line, Blue Mountain, Skyline, and Railroad. Sampling these will also help to define the lateral extent of widespread surface uranium anomalies.

Pioneer is bolstered in this work by previous exploration, which has yielded high-grade uranium rock chips up to 1,240 parts per million (ppm) U₃O₈ (triuranium octoxide) confirmed in Sego Sandstone and Carbonaceous Shale.

The project’s prospectivity has also been underscored by radiometric anomalies peaking at 10,100 cps detected in key target lithologies.

Chief executive officer Michael Beven said the company was building on previous assessments of the territory.

“The previous surface exploration, which comprised geological mapping, rock chip sampling and the use of a spectrometer to detect radiometric anomalies, has been successful in identifying widespread uranium mineralisation across the exposed strike length of prospective lithologies, indicating the potential for large-scale uranium mineralisation to be hosted at depth,” he said.

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“The soil sampling program will enable us to potentially determine the lateral boundaries of the anomalism at the County Line, Blue Mountain, Skyline, and Railroad prospects, where known mineralisation exists prior to commencing phase two.

“Phase two will be aimed at sampling on a much broader scale [to detect] mineralised sandstone and shale layers elsewhere that are potentially buried under cover.”

PLN has been trading at 11 cents.

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Since 2012, the company had been leasing the gold mine from the family of Don Jung – a mining engineer and owner of New Pass. With its agreement to buy New Pass, SNX has ended the ending this lease/purchase option agreement, as well as attaching royalty over 12 claims on the site.

The latter – in addition to the mine – will now form part of SNX’s larger New Pass project, with the company taking on not only the mine, but its associated infrastructure, property and stockpiles.

According to the agreement, SNX will be able to kick off its assessment of various mining proposals which would include bulk sampling at existing and accessible deposits.

One key focal point for future gold production options will be the Superior high-grade gold vein, with the company intending to bulk sample the vein from the level 4 adit, where it is exposed and accessible.

SNX executive chairman Peter Moore said the decision to purchase New Pass offered several options for exploitation of this mineralisation.

“Purchasing the key claims covering the historic high grade New Pass Mine is a very positive step for the company, providing SNX the opportunity to assess potential for re-establishing gold production from existing underground workings,” he said.

“Our preliminary work and detailed underground surveys in recent years have indicated that the mine has potential to re-open.

“The company looks forward to expediting its evaluation of New Pass over coming months.”

SNX has been trading at 2 cents.

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The impact of Trump’s announcement – made on Truth Social on Sunday – could be observed in general terms, with Health Care being the worst performing sector on the ASX, down 1.17% on a mixed trading day.

Unsurprisingly, a cluster of companies followed the trend, with Neuren Pharmaceuticals, Telix Pharmaceuticals and Clarity Pharmaceuticals being noted as some of the bourse’s worst-performing stocks early on in the session, dropping 8.05%, 8.04% and 7.20% respectively by 14:25 AEST.

In his social media post, Trump said he wanted to bring prescription drug prices in the United States into line with those in other high-income countries, and promised he would sign an executive order to that effect on Monday.

Although he did not provide much detail about how the pricing would be shifted, the President said his policy would drive towards a ‘most favored nation’ framework, with prices to drop by between 30% and 80%.

“They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!” he said.

“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.”

As it is now, customers in the US pay the highest prices in the world for many prescription drugs.

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The contract – signed by PME’s US-based subsidiary Visage Imaging, Inc – is based on a transactional licensing model, and involves the implementation of Visage 7 Viewer, Visage 7 Workflow and Visage 7 Open Archive, across the UI Health Care system.

Additionally, UI Health Care’s migration from its legacy PACS archive to the Visage Open Archive will also be completed by Visage, with Visage 7 also providing enterprise distribution of images integrated to UI Health Care’s electronic health record (EHR).

The go-live of the new system is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2025, and work on this will begin immediately, based on Visage’s cloud-based implementation process.

Pro Medicus CEO DR Sam Hupert said the rollout of Visage 7 would be a boost to the UI Health Care’s system, which includes 3 patient campuses and nearly 20,000 staff members – with more than 1,200 staff physicians and dentists, nearly 800 resident and fellow physicians, and over 5,300 nursing staff.

“University of Iowa Health Care is a highly respected healthcare institution that takes great pride in the comprehensive care they deliver to all Iowans,” he said.

“They join a long list of Visage 7 clients to opt for a fully cloud-based solution, which, as a result of our CloudPACS strategy, is becoming the standard in the North American healthcare IT market.”

Pro Medicus shares have risen since the news, and at 10:58 AEST, they were trading at $247.40 – a rise of 4.4.31% since the market opened.

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Pine Ridge – which is an in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium project located in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin – has now grown by around 85%, with 937 claims successfully staked across a territory of approximately 7,045 hectares (ha), or 17,408 acres.

These additional claims are comprised of previously unclaimed Federal mineral parcels, and bring the total area of the project to 15,130 ha (37,387 acres).

Managing director Andrew Ferrier said the expansion provided GUE with a strategic opportunity to make use of the region’s strong geological profile.

“Historical exploration, together with our own modelling of redox fronts, confirms the significant exploration upside,” he said.

“This additional staking is a critical step in unlocking the full value of Pine Ridge and accelerating our broader growth ambitions within the Powder River Basin.

“We’re also pleased to advance this next phase of work in partnership with Snow Lake Energy, whose commitment reflects the strength of our growing portfolio and shared confidence in the Project’s potential.”

GUE shares have moved up since this news, and at 13:01 AEST, they were trading at 5.9 cents – a rise of 3.51% since the market opened.

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The $17.5 billion asset has an expansion capacity up to 27.6 Mtpa, and is set to position Woodside as a global LNG powerhouse, delivering around 24 Mtpa from its portfolio in the 2030s—representing over 5% of global LNG supply.

The company expects the project to book around $2 billion in revenue at full capacity, contributing $8 billion to coffers over the next decade.

The investment has an internal rate of return above 13% and am expected payback period of seven years.

Stonepeak will invest $5.7 billion toward the project, accelerating funding through 2025 and 2026, while Woodside’s share of total capital expenditure is estimated at $11.8 billion.

Woodside emphasised that its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets remain unchanged following the decision.

CEO Meg O’Neill says Louisiana LNG is a “game-changer” that bolsters Woodside’s portfolio by adding US low-cost gas assets to its Australian base, offering marketing opportunities across the Pacific and Atlantic basins.

The project, the largest single foreign direct investment in Louisiana’s history, is anticipated to support around 15,000 jobs during construction and highlights the project as the first greenfield US LNG project final investment decision since July 2023.

Woodside has been trading at $20.40 at the time of writing.

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The retail move into Singapore was of particular importance, with initial stocks of Nasodine distributed to specific Guardian pharmacies in January.

This increased to 54 pharmacies the following month, including five new openings at Changi airport and a virtual training course for Guardian pharmacies marketing the product.

By the end of March, up to 125 pharmacies in Singapore are now selling Nasodine, supported by a range of marketing and in-store promotions organised through Firebrick’s marketing partner, Innorini Life Sciences.

Firebrick also reported marketing success in the U.S. where online orders grew 44% in the third quarter and were up 135% compared to first-quarter hauls.

Alongside this, Q3 unit sales have reportedly increased 81% compared to Q2 and 203% compared to Q1, with these figures reflecting the increasing underlying adoption of Nasodine in the U.S. A paid influencer marketing program which ran from December to January also helped, as did a “buy one, get one free” program which was offered between January and March 2025.

Expansion into other markets was also a watchword; Firebrick executed a License and Distribution Agreement with Makans covering Fiji and the South Pacific.

The company also continued major preparations for its launch into the Philippines.

The latter included the manufacture in February of Nasodine at Hizon Pharmaceuticals in Manilla, under Firebrick’s supervision.

The resulting product will receive stability testing for six months (expected for completion by August) followed by the completion of a registration dossier.

Once these test results come in, they should enable Firebrick’s licensing partner SV More to file for approval of Nasodine by the Philippines Food and Drug Administration (PFDA), opening the door to a launch in mid-2026.

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Financial news was also positive for the company during the March quarter: It secured a $1.1 million strategic investment from Pharma Nutria N.A., Inc., an entity that forms part of the SV More Group of Companies, including Firebrick’s Philippines licensing partner, SV More Pharma Corporation.

FRE has been trading at 7.9 cents.

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The agreement – signed between the university and Pro Medicus’ U.S. subsidiary Visage Imaging, Inc. – will provide a framework through which the two parties will collaborate on the development and commercialisation of the platform, looking specifically into its artificial intelligence capabilities.

It will also build on a relationship already established with UCSF through an existing agreement related to Pro Medicus’ Visage 7 Viewer product.

Visage Imaging Global CTO Malte Westerhoff said the partnership around Visage AI Accelerator was a very important milestone.

“Our AI Accelerator program was designed to closely align Visage’s engineering and product development capability with clinical research partners such as UCSF who have a depth of clinical knowledge and extensive research expertise,” he said.

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Mr Westerhoff continued: “It provides a unique set of tools for data de-identification, collection, curation, analysis and ‘path-to-production’ in research projects bringing the efficiency and speed of Visage technology to research, resulting in a unified link between the two domains.”

PME shares last traded at $210.32 – a fall of 1.22% since the market opened.

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The fieldwork will concentrate on high-priority targets identified through hyperspectral imagery and desktop geological studies completed by Dahrouge Geological Consulting USA Ltd and Dirt Exploration.

The program getting underway represents “a key step in progressing the project potential for gold and silver mineralisation,” executive director Fadi Diab said.

According to these studies, the project holds several zones containing spectral signatures associated with antimony (stibnite), sulphur, illite, and hydrogen anomalies, indicative of potential silver, antimony, and gold mineralisation.

Mr Diab said: “The integration of advanced satellite imagery, historical data, and field validation is aimed at prioritising targets for potential follow-up work.

“We look forward to sharing updates with shareholders as soon as results are available.”

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Samples collected will be subjected to initial scanning and sorting in the field using a handheld XRFanalyser, with selected samples to then be dispatched to the laboratory for detailed geochemical analysis.

Bayan has been selling at 3.9 cents in early Friday trade.

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Drilling will be an immediate focus for the JV, building on the more than 1,200 holes completed to date at Pine Ridge, which has been found to have over 140 miles of redox fronts.

The goal will be delineation of a significant ISR resource base, keeping in mind the project is located in strong territory – in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, and surrounded by globally significant projects owned by UEC and Cameco.

In the latter case, Cameco’s Smith Ranch uranium mill is only 15 kilometres from the project, and has a capacity of 5.5 million pounds triuranium octoxide per annum.

The acquisition was made from Stakeholder Energy and involved both Global Uranium and Snow Lake Resources, trading as Snow Lake Energy – the latter a U.S.-based uranium and nuclear energy company listed on the NASDAQ.

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The JV’s management is hoping to leverage its significant experience working with uranium, particularly in this region, with Snow Lake CEO Frank Wheatley joining the Global board as a non-executive director.

GUE has been trading at 7.1 cents.

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Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. – then led by Joe Biden – was one of several countries which provided military, humanitarian, and financial aid to Ukraine in addition to military intelligence.

But much of this hangs in the balance in the wake of the Oval Office meeting, in which President Trump – long noted for his closeness to Russian leader Vladimir Putin – accused Zelensky of not quite being sufficiently grateful for U.S. support, and told him he was “gambling with World War Three.”

Vance followed by asking, “Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? No.”

Departing the White House, Zelensky went to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London for a summit there on 2 March to discuss how European nations – alongside Canada – could contribute to Ukraine’s defence during the war.

But questions remain: What this support will look like long term, how these countries might configure themselves around the U.S. if it cuts off support to Ukraine – and how that country might avoid such a consequence.

Making things right with Washington certainly seems to be on Zelensky’s agenda: A few days after his confrontation with Trump and Vance, he used social media platform X to express regret about how things had gone, and underline his commitment to diplomatic engagement around the war.

“Our meeting in Washington… did not go the way it was supposed to be,” he wrote. “It is regrettable it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”

Zelensky added Ukraine was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” stating he’s willing to work under Trump to secure this.

Crucially, he said he was still willing to sign a deal with the United States for the proposed development of Ukrainian critical minerals, which had been on the agenda of his meeting at the White House the previous week.

It is not yet clear whether these overtures would be enough to overturn Trump’s suspension of all aid to Ukraine, nor a more recent announcement that claimed the sharing of military intelligence was also on hold.

The latter was announced by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and followed by comments from CIA Director John Radcliffe on what Zelensky needed to do to reverse the policy.

Radcliffe claimed Trump “had a real question about whether President Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said, ‘Let’s pause, I want to give you a chance to think about that.'”

One of Trump’s major claims amid these tensions is that the United States has taken on an “unfair burden” – compared to European countries in particular – when it comes to providing support to Ukraine.

And if analysis is confined to military spending alone, this is certainly the case.

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a Germany-based research body scrutinising global issues, the U.S. contribution to military aid in the past three years is the equivalent of €64 billion, compared to €62 billion from European donors.

However, the trend is reversed when it comes to financial and humanitarian aid, with European sources allocating €70 billion to the US’ €50 billion. This also means the European contribution is higher overall.

Indeed, in a news report published as recently as February 14, the Kiel Institute argued “European donors have been the main source of aid to Ukraine since 2022, especially when it comes to financial and humanitarian aid.”

Altogether, it estimated Ukraine has received €267 billion of aid in the past three years, amounting to €80 billion a year. Of that, 49% was defined as military aid, 44% was financial support, 7% was humanitarian aid.

The Kiel Institute also suggested Trump’s election would be likely to keep U.S. contributions behind those of Europe after being overtaken by the latter in mid-2023, with European governments under pressure to step up their support initiatives.

Also noted was an increasing trend of collaboration between European nations for the provision of military weaponry, including the U.K.-led International Fund for Ukraine which combines contributions from multiple countries to buy military equipment for Ukraine, with a total allocation of €1.6 billion.

The majority of military aid across all donors had been sourced from existing arsenals, but more recently, weapons came to be sourced direct from industry.

While Trump’s decision to cut off military funding and the provision of intelligence to Ukraine present a significant setback for the eastern European country, it appears several of its other allies are intent on formulating a plan for its defense even beyond a peace deal.

At the March 2 summit – called by Starmer – the leaders of 18 countries, mostly in Europe, developed a four-point plan to reassure Ukraine of their support.

These included a pledge to continue providing military aid to the country, alongside economic pressure on Russia; a call for Ukrainian sovereignty to be recognised in any future peace talks; calls to boost the country’s defence capabilities even after peace was reached, to stave off a possible invasion; and agreement to form a ‘coalition of the willing’ to secure long term peace for Ukraine.

After the summit, which had been called just a week earlier, Starmer underlined the significance of this moment, and the decisions needing to be made, saying: “We are at a crossroads in history.”

While stating in the future, Europe might have to do the heavy lifting when it came to support of Ukraine – something which in the British case could involve “boots on the ground and planes in the air,” he acknowledged any agreement would need support from the U.S. – and has to include Russia.

Additional U.K. support was announced after the summit, comprising a £1.6 billion package of export finance to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles, which would be built in Belfast.

This will add to an already announced loan of £2.2bn loan for more military aid, which has been backed by profits taken from frozen Russian assets.

With French President Emmanuel Macron, Starmer has also been progressing diplomatic efforts to secure peace, with both leaders separately telephoning Zelensky and Trump to finalise a deal in coming weeks.

No matter what happens next though, it will be a busy, and tense, few weeks ahead.

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Samples from the development well – part of the wider Galactica project in Colorado – showed helium concentrates measured at 2.17%; a notable rise from the previously reported non air-corrected average, 1.65%. Alongside this, nitrogen was measured at 36.26% and carbon dioxide at 61.56%.

Sampling work also indicated well head pressure was 10 psig, with this being the highest observed at State 16 to date – underlining encouraging reservoir connectivity.

Managing director and CEO Trent Spry said these recent results added confidence in the wider Galactica project. “While we await gas analysis from the recent Jackson 31 well, this significant increase in helium concentration at State 16 is a very encouraging development,” the Blue Star boss explained.

“The higher helium percentage, combined with the increased well head pressure, reinforces our confidence in the potential of this reservoir.

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“We believe these results bode well for our broader portfolio and validate our ongoingdevelopment strategy.”

Blue Star shares have been trading at 0.8 cents today.

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US military spending is set to undergo a comprehensive review which aims to reallocate funds from programs deemed lower priority – chiefly those connected to climate change and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) – seeking reductions of around 8% from the Pentagon’s annual budget over the next 5 years.

The figure given by Acting Deputy Defence Secretary Robert Salesses was $50 billion – to be reallocated during the 2026 fiscal year – which represents around 6% of the $876.8B defense budget anticipated under Joe Biden’s administration.

But across the next 5 years, the initiative – guided by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth – could involve a funding reallocation of between $250B and $350B, and impact much of the civilian workforce.

The review marks another step in the path that Donald Trump’s administration has been on since its inauguration. In an interview in early February, the President signaled that Musk would be auditing the Pentagon, and would be likely to find ‘fraud and abuse’ at the agency.

In a separate interview with NBC, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz echoed these sentiments, commenting that the Pentagon’s shipbuilding processes in particular were ‘an absolute mess’, and that unnecessary spending was a feature across the board.

More recently, this desire for change has been followed up with the removal of several high-profile military personnel, including Airforce General C. Q Brown – the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – whose appointment was questioned by Hegseth in his 2024 book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

In it, he wondered if race might have been a factor in Brown’s elevation to such a prestigious position, saying “Was it because of his skin colour? Or his skill? We’ll never know, but always doubt – which on its face seems unfair to C.Q. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn’t really much matter.”

Also among those fired last week was Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who – as head of the US Navy – was the first woman to lead a military service

But although the budgetary review is likely to usher in significant change in programming at the Pentagon – marking as it does, the most profound assessment of defence spending since the Budget Control Act (BCA) in 2011 – this is not likely to have a negative impact on the United States’ capabilities, according to Research Fellow at UWA Defence and Security Institute Dr Troy Lee-Brown.

Commenting on Waltz’s suggestion that shipbuilding processes could be under the microscope, Dr Lee-Brown said this area of military spending would not be likely to receive cutbacks.

“I was interested in Hegseth’s response to those comments, that he supported DOGE’s efforts to cut costs at the Pentagon, but not to the detriment of US operational and tactical capabilities,” he said.

“In fact, Hegseth believes defence spending should increase so that will be an area to watch.

“A bill was introduced to Congress recently that set out the need to grow the US naval fleet and raised ways in which allied shipbuilders might contribute to shipbuilding.”

Despite the likely profundity of the incoming military review, and the shift to a new US administration, Dr Lee-Brown said he was confident that the country’s $368 billion AUKUS deal with Australia – in which the latter would buy 3 to 5 off-the-shelf Virginia-class boats in the early 2030s – was on-target.

“Phase One or the SRF-West component of AUKUS Pillar One seems to progressing quite well at the operational level,” he said.

“(Defence Minister Richard) Marles’ initial meeting with incoming Sec Def Hegseth was encouraging with regard to phase 2 or the acquisition of 3-5 USN Virginia submarines.

“The politics will remain tricky and lots of work still to be done.”

Trump and Waltz’s earlier comments came only days after Richard Marles’ visit to Washington, where he and Trump met to discuss AUKUS, with Australia announcing it had paid the first of six $797 million payments.

While Hegseth made assurances that the boats would be delivered on time, there remain concerns about the deal, given the apparent difficulty US shipbuilders are having producing even the 2 subs per year required for US procurement.

Dr Lee-Brown said he did not expect any significant changes as part of President Trump’s overall approach to US defence, but added that “The Trump admin will pressure allies to do and spend more on defence.”

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The company has entered into binding acquisition agreements concerning the Warmbad uranium project in Namibia – which stretches across 271 square kilometres within a globally significant uranium district, the Namaqua Metamorphic Complex – and the Skull Creek uranium project in Colorado.

The latter hosts uranium mineralisation within the Sego Sandstone formation, with the Skull Creek properties holding a strike length of 17 kilometres.

Each project is at different stages in terms of exploration and resource definition work. Warmbad has previously been subject to both reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling holes, for a total of 30,967 metres.

Five drill-ready targets have already been identified, with these comprising hard rock mineralisation with 63% of analysed samples returning grades between 100 – 400 parts per million (ppm) uranium.

At Skull Creek, Pioneer will be focused on the analysis of historical records relating to the resources there.

Executive chairman Robert Martin said taking on these projects was an important step for the company, and said it “represents a defining moment for Pioneer.”

“These strategic acquisitions… propel us into the high-growth uranium sector with two world-class projects in uranium-friendly jurisdictions in the United States and Namibia,” Mr Martin said.

“Both assets have had a plethora of work completed with around 31,000m of drilling at Warmbad with Skull Creek having a reported historical resource that unfortunately requires more detailed work to be able to report under the current JORC code.

“The company intends to methodically work through these data sets and historical records to help define and delineate future work programs.”

Pioneer shares have risen following the news, and at 10:35 AEDT, they were trading at 25.5 cents – a shift 18.6% upwards.

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And looking at the new President’s actions within his first week – particularly concerning policies around renewable energy and building a ‘greener’ economy’ – one could be forgiven for thinking of the paradox of ‘an unstoppable force’ meeting ‘an immovable object.’

That is to say, Trump appears to present an immovable position of disdain towards environmentally friendly policies and clean energy transport – and a desire to emphasize fossil fuels instead.

However, he is faced with the unstoppable force of a global energy transition, underscored in particular by the growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs).

And market-watchers might also ask, what could this mean for ASX-listed companies focused on critical minerals?

In his first week – starting January 20 – Trump signed a swathe of executive orders, including one promising to get rid of what he described as an ‘electric vehicle mandate’ imposed by the Biden administration.

This referred to an executive order signed by Joe Biden in 2021 which was pushing for half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be EVs. While the latter was more about encouraging buyers rather than restricting their access to other cars, Trump has sought to frame the issue as a matter of promoting ‘true consumer choice.’

His own order, ‘Unleashing American Energy,’ also ends Federal funding for vehicle charging stations – subject to completion of a review process – and works to end a federal exemption relating to California which allows the state to phase out the sale of vehicles fuelled by petrol (gas) by 2035.

The first of these has already received pushback from Democrats pointing out Biden’s charger funding was part of a wider bipartisan infrastructure law, together with climate law the Inflation Reduction Act – noting any attempts to remove funds already allocated would be illegal.

To further underscore his antagonism to environmentalism, Trump has also considered a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, with a definite order to new UN ambassador Elise Stefanik to take the country out of any commitment made in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Key to the electric vehicle story is the critical mineral of lithium, which has been locked in a volatile cycle, reaching a high point of 5750,000 Chinese yuan per tonne (CNY/t) in late 2022, before a dramatic fall of 86% over the last two years, as the market responded to the problem of oversupply, mainly from China.

The situation was still dicey coming into the new year; lithium prices had fallen 25% year-on-year throughout 2024.

China has also become the protagonist of an optimistic narrative for the metal as Beijing policymakers push for clean cars to make 20% of vehicles on Chinese roads by 2025.

Consumers there have been offered subsidies to buy EVs, and this was doubled in July 2024, with Chinese buyers flocking to purchase these vehicles: The latter trend was indicated by 31% growth in EV sales, year-on-year, for the first nine months of last year.

Additionally, recent data has shown the output of new energy vehicles within the country soared by 30.5% in December.

So will this demand and production mop up the lithium glut?

On one hand, the outlook for this critical metal appears to be improving – with experts tipping the global supply of lithium carbonate (LCE) to fall from 150,000 tonnes in 2024 to 80,000 in 2025.

Again, this is largely based on Chinese demand right now.

Closer to home, the commodity’s continuing low price has affected local producers and explorers, exemplified by IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO)‘s decision (taken together with joint venture partner Tianqi Lithium) to close operations at its lithium refinery in Kwinana.

While design issues at the plant were part of the story, IGO acknowledged a weak lithium price had also prompted anticipation of a net loss in the first half of the year.

This followed pullbacks from other players in the lithium space, such as NYSE-listed Albemarle: Which in August 2024 announced that expansion efforts at its Kemerton lithium hydroxide conversion site – also in Western Australia – would be rolled back, with the workforce to drop by 40%.

On the other hand, ASX-listed companies such as Chariot Corporation Ltd (ASX:CC9) – which is approaching lithium at the exploration stage, with a large tenement portfolio in Wyoming, Nevada, and Oregon – are holding tight to their assets and waiting out the price headwinds while the EV market and lithium demand rebuilds.

Saxo Head of Commodity Strategy Ole S. Hansen believes that although Trump’s new policies and approaches may stifle the United States’ drive towards electric vehicle ownership, the overall trend remains positive.

“Demand for critical metals towards the energy transformation, and specifically the EV industry, may see a slowdown in demand from the US,” he said.

“But ultimately, I do not believe it will have a material impact on the demand outlook as the energy transition will continue — also in the U.S. — as long the industry can compete with traditional producers.

“The 50% target (of Biden’s) I believe was never realistic and it’s not my belief that miners have based their demand outlook on that assumption.”

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As a result, many miners and explorers decided to let their lithium assets fade into the background, concentrating on other projects while the market remained in a slump.

But analysts are now suggesting a turnaround might be in the works, given growing demand for electric vehicles – particularly in China, where they, and plug-in hybrids, now account for 52.8% of overall sales.

This demand is set to soak up the oversupply of lithium which caused the price fall in the first place, with the latter expected to stabilise in 2025, presenting those working in the sector with decisions to make.

China is the world’s largest auto market, and it is undeniable that a key trend in recent years has been the public’s move into buying electric vehicles.

This has largely been shaped by Beijing policy, with the government calling for half of all vehicles on Chinese roads to be clean cars by 2025.

To bolster this, they have offered consumers subsidies to buy EVs. In July 2024, the subsidies were doubled, and this led to sales of five million EVs by December.

Overall, China saw its domestic sales in this space leap 31% year-on-year in the first 9 months of 2024.

Within this context, experts are predicting a fall in the world’s supply of lithium carbonate (LCE) from 150,000 tonnes in 2024 to 80,000 tonnes this year, as Chinese demand ‘soaks’ this up.

Of course, since November there has been another key factor to watch: The incoming presidency of Donald Trump, and the question of how he’ll approach the question of renewable energy.

On the campaign trail, he suggested tariffs of up to 60% may be applied against goods from China – including EVs – but recently, he scaled this back to 10%.

However, he has also revoked Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order which called for EVs to make up half of all vehicles sold in the United States by the end of 2030 – an order which had been expected to push up demand.

In November, Trump said his transition team would scupper a US$7,500 consumer tax credit for EV purchases – itself part of larger tax reforms rolled out by the former Biden administration.

The overarching question is whether Chinese and other demand will be enough to keep lithium on track in terms of supply and price stabilisation.

At this stage, analysts predict it will be.

In the midst of this is Chariot Corporation Ltd (ASX:CC9) – a company that has the largest lithium landholding in the U.S., and which has, even during the downturn in prices, remained true to the critical mineral.

Managing director Shanthar Pathmanathan said the board’s decision to sit tight and increase its portfolio – which is mainly built around seven hard rock lithium exploration projects in the state of Wyoming, as well as claystone lithium play Resurgent in Nevada and Oregon – would pay off in the end.

“I see a great recovery happening in lithium: The sector’s been through two tough years since 2022,” the Chariot managing director said.

“We have tripled down during this downturn, we have grown our portfolio.”

Mr Pathmanathan said he sees there still being demand in the American domestic market, with the lithium mine sector set to produce lithium batteries for the first time.

This would only bolster the international trend, he says − “We see a resurgence in global EV demand: In China, 50% of cars are electric vehicles, in the U.K., 24% are electric vehicles, so we think we’re at the tipping point of electric vehicle adoption all around the world, we’re very well-placed globally for the lithium industry.”

Looking ahead, Mr Pathmanathan said the incoming government would also be a gamechanger.

“There are great opportunities here,” he said.

“I think short term they’re going to be resistant to electric vehicles. The new government’s mandate is to bring jobs back to the U.S. – manufacturing jobs. I think what they will do is continue with the IRA, continue with the battery plant build-out in the United States and look to take advantage of this.

“In the medium to long term… there will be a shift back to the electric vehicle industry because it’s a new industry the U.S. can dominate as it does in other industries.”

While keeping its portfolio whole and balance sheet in check had served Chariot well during the price slump, the board is now enthusiastic about its upcoming drilling work at both the flagship Black Mountain project and Resurgent.

The former is built around 352 unpatented lode mining claims featuring multiple outcropping pegmatites known to host spodumene, with previous (diamond) drilling demonstrating the presence of high-grade lithium originating near the surface.

Optimism about the project was there from the beginning, with grades of up to 6.68% recorded through rock chip sampling. The first drill hole also showed potential, yielding 15.48 metres at 1.12% lithium oxide (Li2O) from 2.74 metres, including 4.27 metres at 2.46% Li2O from 9.94 metres.

Mr Pathmanathan said this year’s work would build on this, with assays expected to come out by the end of the quarter.

“We’ve done two rounds of drilling now – the last one was completed a few weeks ago, and samples are in the lab right now,” he said.

“Our plans for Black Mountain remain unchanged: Defining a small-scale resource at the top of the mountain, launching a much larger drill program in the North American summer coming up, and thirdly, developing a pilot mine by 2026.”

He said the company also had plans to drill Resurgent during the same season, as well as divesting Horizon. They’re going to “triple down on lithium” too, “like we have over the last few years.”

“We are well-positioned, we’ve grown our portfolio, we’ve kept everything intact, the balance sheet hasn’t taken on too much damage with this lithium downturn, so we’re well-positioned for the upturn coming up,” Mr Pathmanathan promised.

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The two have been collaborating since 2021 on AT&T’s FirstNet project; described as the largest mission-critical push-to-talk project in the world.

CEO David Deacon said the deal reflected Etherstack’s reputation and growth.

“This direct award with AT&T for one of our innovative products in a rapidly evolving public communications product area is testament to Etherstack’s capability in building the best products for the world’s largest telco operators and switch vendors,” he said.

“We look forward to updating our shareholders in the near future with further good news.”

At the same time, Etherstack confirmed a repeat contract for the provision of Etherstack digital radio technology for a mine site in Western Australia.

This contract – valued at A$519,000 (or US$327,000) – was for Radlink Communications, a Western Australia-based systems integrator and a long-term Etherstack customer.

Additionally, it was the eighth Etherstack contract to provide services for a mine site run by the same iron ore producer – the world’s largest.

Etherstack last traded at 31cps after its 12.73% value jump.

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Results from hole RMD002 include 86.9 metres at 1,470 parts per million (ppm) ppm lithium from 18.3 metres, including 32.1 metres of high-grade mineralisation at 2,050ppm Li from 46.2 metres.

The company has highlighted how significant this find is, based on its location: evidence of thick and high-grade lithium in the northernmost drill hole indicates how large the Red Mountain project is, since strong lithium mineralisation has now been found in all drill holes.

The exploration boundaries thus far span a north-south strike extent of over 5 kilometres and surface sample geochemistry indicating further potential to the north, south and west of the current drilled extents.

Additionally, mineralisation remains open down-dip to the east and along strike to the north.

Astute chairman Tony Leibowitz said the company was particularly enthralled with the internal 32.1 metre zone of very high-grade lithium mineralisation averaging 2,050ppm.

“Like all great discoveries, Red Mountain continues to grow and improve the more we drill,” he said.

“The manifest scale and high tenor of mineralisation are testament to Red Mountain being one of the most important recent US lithium discoveries.

“This drill hole is the latest in a succession of thirteen, all of which intersected strong lithium mineralisation, establishing a solid foundation for a maiden mineral resource estimate to be advanced rapidly in 2025.”

Astute shares spiked up on the news, and at 12:45 AEDT, they were trading at 2.9 cents – a rise of 20.83% since the market opened.

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