Diggers & Dealers 2025 recap: Day 1 of WA annual mining forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder wraps up

Ken Brinsden and Patriot Battery Metals are the first presenters today looking for lithium. It’s a reminder that the mineral is still pretty squarely out of vogue.

Weak prices and the industry’s supply problems are well-documented, but Mr Brinsden believes there’s plenty of opportunity in battery energy storage systems.

His company’s Shaakichiuwaanaan project in Quebec is “as good as Greenbushes”, he tells the audience.

The massive hard rock lithium mine in the South West is widely regarded as one of the top battery metals mines on the planet.

Kalgorlie native and mining veteran Raleigh Finlayson has skipped Genesis Minerals’ presentation this year.

Instead the company’s chief operation officer Matthew Nixon is running the show, and there’s no media questions afterwards.

Genesis showed it was not quite done with M&A by recently locking away the acquisition of Focus Minerals.

The stock is up nearly 430 per ent since Mr Finlayson took over and wants to become a 325,000 ounce producer by the end of the decade.

Unpredecented gold prices mean there’s plenty of cash swimming around at Diggers this year. But with Ramelius Resources and Spartan Resources tied up and Northern Star Resources snapping up De Grey Mining, it begs the question as to whether there’s any real blockbusters left.

“There is a school of thought that you shouldn’t do deals with the top of the gold price,” Ramelius Resources chief Mark Zeptner told media on Monday.

“I probably believe you do them when you can, as long as you’re applying reasonable gold prices in your assumptions... Otherwise, you might be waiting a long time for the gold price (to) lower.

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The chief of Boss Energy has shied away from media scrutiny while his incoming counterpart Paladin Energy braved a press pack following a bruising month for both uranium majors.

Read the full story here:

There’s blokes aplenty balancing full plates of food during the lunchtime rush.

Scores of people descend on rows and rows of sliver buffet trays to load up on carbs for the rest of the afternoon. One thing about Diggers & Dealers is you’ll certainly walk away well fed.

Word is the company supplying the food has had to drive in about 100 staff from Perth to deliver the mass catering effort. It takes them about six hours by bus...compared with an hour-long flight.

And there’ll be even more flying in on Wednesday to make sure they’re in Kalgoorlie on time for the annual gala dinner held in the marquee on the final night of the conference.

Gold was steady today after gaining the most in two months on Friday, as traders weighed the implications of soft jobs data for the US economy and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.

Bullion traded near $US3,360 an ounce, after rising 2.2 per cent in the previous session while equities dipped. The precious metal’s jump was driven by two main factors: a dramatic slowdown in US hiring report that fuelled rate-cut bets, and President Donald Trump’s roll-out of some of the steepest trade tariffs since the 1930s.

Gold has climbed more than a quarter this year as Trump’s tumultuous policymaking and geopolitical tensions elsewhere in the world boosts haven demand. Investors and analysts see more gains ahead with continued central bank buying and potential rate cuts.

Bullion was 0.3 per cent lower at $US3,354.29 an ounce as of 8:34 a.m. Singapore time.

Bloomberg.

It’s pretty standard protocol for companies presenting on the main stage to humour pesky journos and let them ask a couple of questions afterwards.

Not for exiting Boss Energy managing director Ducan Craib, who we’re told “won’t be avaiable to interview”.

More to come on that shortly.

What a difference a bit of M&A makes.

After some sparring over firepower last August, the CEOs of WA’s most-talked about goldies are now brothers in arms and sharing a stage at Diggers.

Mark Zeptner and Simon Lawson tied the knot on their $2.5 billion cash and share deal to merge Ramelius Resources and Spartan Resources last month.

By merging, the two companies say they will become the “leading mid-tier gold producer” on the back of ambitions to be producing half a million ounces of gold a year out of the Murchison region in WA by 2030.

It’s been a rather rough month for uranium miner Boss Energy.

Its stock is down more than 58 per cent for the month. An update from the company setting out a poor operational outlook, that came just days after its managing director resigned, triggered the share price plunge.

Read the full story here.

The marquee set-up at the Goldfields Arts Centre is lively and bustling.

Industry types can be seen wending their way through a maze of delegate booths, exchanging business cards, shooting glances and nods of acknowledgement through the crowd.

Plenty of analysts from the east coast have made the trek.

Well-known Perth brokers, lobby groups CEOs, and politicians have also been spotted making their way through the main tent.