Perseus's Nyanzaga build is advanced. The pre-production bill still matters.
The construction estimate is unchanged, but accelerated mining raises total forecast pre-production spending. September cash also predates October's dividend.
Au · The Precious Desk · (beyond the basket)
Au · PreciousThe Long Game Au · PreciousHard Truths Au · PreciousField Notes Au · PreciousThe Long Game Au · PreciousHard Truths 
ASX:TM1Au · PreciousThe Long GameASX:TM1Au · PreciousThe Long Game Au · Precious Au · Precious Au · Precious Au · PreciousThe Water Cooler ASX:TM1Au · PreciousHard Truths Au · PreciousThe Long Game Au · PreciousThe Long Game Au · PreciousThe Water Cooler Au · PreciousField Notes Au · PreciousThe Long Game Au · PreciousThe Water Cooler Au · Precious
Precious
Gold is the fear gauge. Silver and the PGMs are half-industrial tells.
Bulls vs. Bears — PreciousThe state of the argument, from recent news flow
The Bull Case
- Central-bank buying and de-dollarisation provide structural gold demand.
- Gold thrives when real rates fall and fiscal deficits balloon.
- Silver has a genuine industrial leg via solar and electronics.
- PGM supply is concentrated in a few risky jurisdictions (South Africa, Russia).
- Precious miners offer leverage to the metal when sentiment turns.
The Bear Case
- Gold pays no yield — it suffers when real rates rise.
- A risk-on, strong-dollar regime saps safe-haven demand.
- PGM demand faces a structural threat from battery-electric vehicles displacing catalysts.
- Above-ground gold and silver stocks are vast — it's sentiment, not scarcity.
- Recycling adds meaningful secondary supply when prices are high.
46NeutralHeat Index · 0–100
Model demonstration: news, volume and equity inputs are illustrative.
Prices (US$)
| Gold US$/oz · Fetched futures · 2026-10-29 | 4,041 | -12.7% 6M | +1.5% 1Y | 61 | |
| Silver US$/oz · Fetched futures · 2026-10-29 | 52.77 | -28.2% 6M | +12.0% 1Y | 55 | |
| Platinum US$/oz · Fetched futures · 2026-10-29 | 1,501 | -24.1% 6M | -4.8% 1Y | 44 | |
| Palladium US$/oz · Fetched futures · 2026-10-29 | 995 | -34.8% 6M | -29.1% 1Y | 26 |
Gold — trailing price
Fetched futures · 2026-10-29The desk — term structure & inventories
What the spot price won't tell you: the shape of the futures curve (who's paying up for metal now) and where warehouse stock is heading. Figures are indicative until a live LME/CME feed is wired.
Gold
Illustrative example — not current exchange quotes. This curve does not update automatically.
Contango+3.4% / yr1-yr roll -3.2%
Deferreds trade over spot — comfortable supply and positive carry. A long rolling the front bleeds the spread.
Sample data for explaining term structure.
Precious metals aren't in the basket either, but they set the mood music for the whole sector. Gold tells you how scared and how liquid the money is; silver rides solar as much as safe-haven demand; and the platinum-group metals straddle autocatalysts, hydrogen and pure speculation. When gold runs, risk appetite for junior miners usually drains away — which matters to everything else we cover.
Latest takes
Northern Star has connected the mill. Now it has to earn the return
KCGM's tie-in is complete, but commissioning, growth spending and hedge deliveries still shape Northern Star's cash generation. The September report sets a measurable test.
Westgold's Beta Hunt progress depends on keeping the air moving
September's 2Mtpa annualised mining rate is encouraging. The interim ventilation solution and Westgold's dated treasury figures explain both the opportunity and the remaining work.
DRDGOLD is generating cash from old tailings
DRDGOLD's September-quarter update provides a concrete gold cash-return case outside conventional new-mine development. Yield, processing costs and infrastructure spending still determine the economics.
Evolution’s A$466 million mine cash figure needs the rest of the accounts
Evolution’s September report shows substantial mine cash generation. Group expenses, working capital, tax and a dividend paid after quarter-end explain why the headline is only a starting point.
ASX:TM1Terra’s Southwest update gives the shallow-mining case more substance
Terra has released the Southwest assays and price-query response promised during its halt. The near-surface results are encouraging, with a publication qualification that investors should retain.
ASX:TM1Terra Metals’ trading halt: reasons for patience at Southwest
Terra requested a halt for an ASX price-query response and exploration results. Southwest’s published drilling, access and funding give investors a constructive case to assess.
Barton Gold: what the starter-pit drilling could change
Barton has completed Tunkillia’s upgrade drilling. Its next study needs to show whether richer early feed improves the economics, and how development will be funded.
Brightstar’s gold has grown. Its financing needs a closer look.
Sandstone now holds 3.6 million resource ounces. Brightstar’s escrow cash and 12.5% bond explain why delivery matters as much as discovery.
MGX’s cash and investments: what remains after liabilities and development costs?
MGX has substantial cash and investments. A dated balance-sheet comparison tests the discount, the gold exposure and the capital still needed.
Gold at $4,336: A Fed That Might HIKE, a Jobs Print Falling Apart, and 289 Tonnes of Central-Bank Buying
Gold has slipped from last week's three-month high to about $4,336/oz as traders whipsaw between a softening US labour market and a Fed chair signalling he may raise rates to fight sticky, war-fed inflation before the September 16 decision.
ASX:TM1Terra Metals is 38% under the $85m raise. The gold comparison is the wrong yardstick.
TM1 last printed A$0.23, 38% under the February placement and 51% off the 52-week high. The till still holds most of an $85m raise, five rigs are turning at Southwest, and the register is a short list of resource houses. That is overhang. It is not a gold-stock bargain.
Barton Gold Tops $1 as Record Bullion Meets 170g/t at Challenger — the Tape Finally Matches the Story
Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) has ridden record bullion — gold near US$4,600/oz and the ASX Gold Index's best session of the year — back toward its 52-week high, while its own Challenger and Tunkillia drilling keeps delivering grade to justify the re-rate.
Brightstar Resources Runs From 35c to 54c in Three Weeks — Then Backs It Up With 225.7m at 3.11g/t at Sandstone
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) has more than doubled off its August low, and this week's record intercepts at the Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit — including 19m at 24.3g/t gold — gave the run something to point to besides a hot gold tape.
One to Watch: Right Resources (ASX:RRE) Is Drilling for a Gold System — and Tripped Over 4.3% Tungsten on the Way
Right Resources (ASX:RRE), a ~$10m-market-cap explorer at Tumbarumba, NSW, is chasing a Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System with CODES-backed geology — and found a coherent, open-ended tungsten anomaly next door in a market where China controls 85% of supply.
Gold's near US$4,200 and Evolution just went net cash — the gold miner as cash machine
With gold near record highs around US$4,200/oz, Evolution Mining swung to net cash and kept paying dividends, while peers Northern Star and Newmont return cash through buybacks.
Barton Gold banks $25.9m at $0.85 — Canaccord and MST clear an oversubscribed book to fund the Challenger restart
Barton Gold completed an oversubscribed A$25.9m institutional placement at A$0.85 per share, led by Canaccord Genuity and MST Financial, to fund a Challenger DFS, Tunkillia studies and Tolmer drilling in South Australia's Gawler Craton.
Gold's M&A wave: Royal Gold's $3.7B roll-up, Agnico's Finland grab, Newmont's truce-less trough
With gold off its January peak but still above $4,300/oz, the majors are spending record free cash flow on deals — royalty roll-ups, regional consolidation and reserve replacement — rather than the drill bit.
Gold doesn't pay you a cent, and central banks can't buy it fast enough. Sit with that.
A yieldless rock is near record highs while real assets are supposedly out of fashion. Gold isn't telling you about gold. It's telling you what the smart, nervous money thinks about everything else.
Precious operations on the map
| Operation | Country | Owner | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tunkillia / Tarcoola | Australia | Barton Gold | Development |
| Sandstone | Australia | Brightstar Resources | Development |
| Pilot Project | Australia | Right Resources | Exploration |
| Carlin Trend / Nevada | United States | Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick/Newmont JV) | Producing |
| Kalgoorlie Super Pit | Australia | Northern Star Resources | Producing |
| Mogalakwena | South Africa | Anglo American Platinum | Producing |