As the mining and resources industry winds down for the year and the festive season settles in, Mining.com.au is unwrapping a 12-day macro series, exploring the forces shaping the sector.
Much like the classic carol, each day builds on the last. On the fourth day we’re diving into four exploration hotspots that have emerged as prospective for antimony, copper, gold, and lithium.
Each of these chosen commodities have been in the spotlight this year for their individual strengths – frequently appearing on Mining.com.au’s site and in these hotspots.
Antimony angel tops the US
Once the turkey is gone, the ugly sweater comes on, signalling a traditional American Christmas. Stockings are filled, but this year, the US might find more electronics gifted from Santa Claus.
Smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, tablets, TVs – all a necessity in the modern world and all beefed up with antimony.
The critical mineral isn’t just popping up over the US… it’s being scoured, after China has implemented export restrictions, cutting off Western nations such as the US, Canada, and even Australia.
As of currently, China accounts for nearly half of the world’s supply, making up to 90% alongside Russia and Tajikistan, creating detrimental supply risks for underproducing countries, as reported by Mining.com.au.
According to the US Geological Survey Publications Warehouse, the US did not mine any marketable antimony in 2023, with only one company located in Montana producing primary antimony metal and oxide from imported feedstock.
US explorers such as Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) immediately clocked the significant effects impact restrictions would have on the country, streamlining efforts to save electronics, energy storage, manufacturing, and defence sectors, ultimately saving Christmas.
Recently, the company poured its first US made antimony ingot the country has seen in decades from its Mojave Project in California, sourced from the Desert Antimony Mine before being smelted in Colorado.
The last time the Desert Antimony Mine was in operation was in 1937, marking almost 90 years without attention from explorers.
Locksley is on a path towards creating a reliable antimony supply chain, jumping into a number of partnerships that highlight how needed the critical mineral is.
The company is currently working with Rice University, through a sponsored research and development agreement, to accelerate its US Critical Minerals and Energy Resilience Strategy.
The agreement complements Locksley’s non-binding memorandum of understanding with metallurgical processing provider Hazen Research to conduct toll processing of ore from the Desert Antimony Mine.
Meanwhile, in order to incorporate detailed LiDAR and operational data, Locksley is submitting an amended plan of operations to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the extraction of mineralisation.
In parallel with these activities, the company is advancing discussions with the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and other US funding agencies, leveraging a $191 million letter-of-intent (LoI), as reported by Mining.com.au.
Drilling is ongoing at the mine as Locksley seeks a maiden JORC 2012 resource estimate – positioning the company from exploration to execution.
While export restrictions have opened up slightly – making Christmas a lot brighter for technology, the defence sector is still at a loss and prevented from accessing China’s antimony and in need of a local, sustainable supply chain.
That is until explorer Felix Gold (ASX:FXG) revealed its antimony from the Treasure Creek Project in Alaska to meet US military grade specifications.
As reported by Mining.com.au, flotation concentrates exceed US military specification (MIL-A-22131) and the “ultra-low impurity profile” enables semiconductor-grade potential (99.99%+).
The company achieved a grade of 89.2% antimony-bearing minerals in sampling at Treasure Creek.
This is following on from two discoveries of massive crystallised stibnites at the project last month, expanding the known mineralised system from a drilling campaign.
Some of the latest results include 6.1m @ 7.86% antimony from 39.6m; and 7.62m @ 2.55% antimony from 15.24m, including 3.05m @ 6.19% antimony from 15.24m. At the time of Mining.com.au’s publication, Felix had drilled 97 holes with drilling ongoing.
Treasure Creek hosts the historical Scrafford Mine, which is Alaska’s second-largest historical antimony producer with recorded production grades up to 58% antimony.
Copper in South America’s candlelight
As households deck the halls, it may come as no surprise that the main component of Christmas lights are in high demand.
South America has garnered a lot of attention recently for its copper supplies as the globe shifts to prioritise its use of clean electricity.
One explorer seeing the heights of South America’s copper is Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR), which is diving into exploration at its Darwin and Three Saints Projects in Chile.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, Executive Chairman Ross Taylor explains that the company has staked claims in three geographical locations, though Chile stands out for its copper and gold reach.
“For Lodestar, the spotlight on South American copper plays directly into our strategy in Chile, one of the world’s premier copper jurisdictions,” Taylor tells this news service.
“The renewed investment interest reinforces the importance of our Chilean copper-gold portfolio, where we are targeting large-scale systems in belts that host some of the world’s biggest deposits.
“In practical terms, it means accelerating target definition, advancing drill-ready prospects, and positioning ourselves to benefit from strong demand for new copper discoveries now and into the future.”
Earlier this year, Lodestar expanded on its $2.2 million placement to raise an additional $500,000 in a third tranche.
The capital raise was intended to fund upcoming exploration across the company’s Chilean assets.
“2025 was a foundational year for Lodestar in Chile,” Taylor adds.
“Our initial drilling targeting beneath historical small scale mining operations did not produce the results we hoped, however it gave us invaluable structural information which has enhanced our understanding and targeting.”
As reported by Mining.com.au in June, assays from 16 drillholes over 2,026m includes 8m @ 0.56 grams per tonne gold from 96m and 1m @ 0.68g/t gold from 35m, as well as 2m @ 0.48g/t gold and 0.51% copper from 30m.
“We completed extensive geological review work, geophysical interpretations and district-scale targeting across our copper–gold assets and other potential targets, significantly sharpening our understanding of the project footprints,” Taylor tells this news service.
“These efforts have given us a clearer picture of where the highest-potential, intrusive-related, and porphyry-style targets sit.
“It has been the year we positioned ourselves for the next phase of value creation – drilling and discovery.”
Expanding on its Chilean reach, Lodestar entered into a binding heads of agreement with Consultoría y Servicios Mineros to earn a 75% interest in the Nicanor Project in July, though this agreement was withdrawn last month.
Spanning 5,800 hectares in Copiapó, Chile, the Darwin and Three Saints projects hosts a range of gold and copper deposits, including the Candelaria deposit with a resource of 1.2 billion tonnes @ 0.6% copper, 0.13 grams per tonne gold, and 2g/t silver.
“Chile continues to attract international attention as a stable, world-class source of copper,” Taylor adds.
“Heading into 2026, the broader environment appears increasingly favourable for explorers with exposure to new discovery potential, especially those with copper-gold upside.”
Copper has seen a 26.77% increase in value for this year to date, priced at US$5.04 ($7.76) as of 26 November, according to Trading Economics.
According to the Department of Industry Science and Resources’ (DISR) September Quarterly 2025, global copper demand is forecast to grow at an average rate of 2.6% per year from 28 million tonnes in 2025 to 29 million tonnes in 2027.
Global mine production reached 11.2 million tonnes in H1 2025, which shows a 1.4% growth compared to H1 2024, as reported by DISR.
Meanwhile this Christmas, Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) is unwrapping further copper concessions around its Cucho Copper Project in Peru.
The additional landholdings have expanded the explorers footprint by 4,000 hectares in the area.
This expansion comes as Solis plans for 20 drill pads at the Cucho Project, targeting extensions to the known mineralised system by testing high-priority geophysical and geochemical anomalies. Some of these areas have yet to be tested historically.
Solis describes the Cucho Project as a compelling opportunity for its historical datasets and existing drill-defined copper mineralisation from surface.
Gold gifted to New Zealand
Five gold rings may be uncovered in Mining.com.au’s fifth day of Christmas… otherwise, check out New Zealand.
According to New Zealand Petroleum and Mines, gold production totalled 213,000 ounces in 2024, marking a slight decrease from 220,000 ounces in 2023.
OceanaGold’s (TSX:OGC) Macraes and Waihi mines are reported to have contributed 84% of total output for the year.
New Zealand explorers are jumping right into the gold highs of 2025, with Rua Gold (TSX-V:RUA) with its Reefton Project in the South Island of New Zealand.
In September drilling, Rua increased the strike length from 350m to 620m and vertical extent from 160m to 300m within the resource area at Reefton, which remains open in all directions.
Covering 125,000 hectares, the Reefton Project historically produced 2 million ounces of gold from underground operations in orogenic quartz vein systems.
Rua currently has three drill rigs turning across the area that has a historical rate of 965,000 ounces of gold @ 25g/t.
Lithium lights up Québec
The main ingredient that helps light up the Christmas glee on houses is rapidly emerging across North America, specifically in Québec.
Natural Resources Canada reports that with a lithium reserve of 930,000 tonnes, Canada produced 520 tonnes of lithium in 2023.
A previously producing mine, named Québec Lithium, was brought back into production in 2023, after being acquired by Sayona Mining and Piedmont Lithium.
The new owners of the mine intend to build a lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate refinery, while ramping up production to meet global demand.
Q2 Metals (TSX-V:QTWO) is one explorer with two lithium-focused assets in Québec’s Eeyou Itschee James Bay region, Cisco and Mia.
The company is currently working towards completing a preliminary economic assessment at the Cisco Project, which comprises 801 contiguous mineral claims over 41,253 hectares.
Q2 Metals Corporate Development Chris Ackerman describes the James Bay region to have emerged as a lithium hub “with numerous quality projects as well as some major players”.
“Québec, more broadly, is a highly supportive jurisdiction and we are even seeing Becancour emerge as a potential processing and shipping hub for these materials”
“Québec, more broadly, is a highly supportive jurisdiction and we are even seeing Becancour emerge as a potential processing and shipping hub for these materials,” Ackerman says.
“The Canadian federal government has certainly been talking the talk and all these factors combined give the sense that some extraordinary developments may be on the near-term horizon.”
Ackerman describes Cisco as a “strategic asset” given its scale and grade.
“In the current global climate of nations around the world recognising the need to secure critical minerals supply chains, being able to advance it along the development timeline will enable us to demonstrate our ability to be a key contributor on the lithium front,” Ackerman says.
“James Bay really has become globally recognised for its hard rock lithium endowment, with several exceptional spodumene pegmatite deposits.”
“That is a function of the broader geology across the district, but Cisco in particular, is distinguished for its exceptional scale and grade as well as importantly, its proximity to infrastructure.”
Another explorer jumping into Québec’s assets is Brunswick Exploration (TSX-V:BRW), with its Mirage Project and Anatacau Projects.
As reported by Mining.com.au last month, Brunswick intercepted multiple zones of lithium mineralisation from inaugural drilling at Anatacau Main, with hole AN-25-05 returned 1.66% lithium oxide over 47.2m, within a larger package of 120.7m @ 1.31% lithium oxide.
Canada, the US, South America, and New Zealand have all emerged as exploration hotspots for the prospective commodities, which will likely guide explorers into the next year.
As day four of Mining.com.au’s 12 days of Christmas series comes to a close, these four exploration hotspots from 2025 sets the tone for the next year and the next door on our advent calendar.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Solis Mining.com.au
