Mount Hope Mining and Meeka Metals led HotCopper trends Monday after capital raises and gold acquisitions. The ASX 200 slipped 0.31%.
Mount Hope Mining and Meeka Metals were the top draws on Australia's largest stock forum Monday, as the broader market opened lower.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 28.40 points, or 0.31%, to 9,086.80. JB Hi-Fi and Aurizon Holdings were the worst performers, down 11.57% and 9.62% respectively. The index has lost 1.58% over the last five sessions and sits 2.26% below its 52-week high.
Mount Hope Mining (ASX: MHM) climbed after disclosing firm commitments for a $1.82 million placement to a fund backed by gold discovery specialist Simon Lawson and former Spartan executives Craig Jones and David Coyne. The fund becomes a new major shareholder. Proceeds will accelerate regional exploration of the broader Mt Hope project, which the company says has multi-million-ounce potential.
"Completing this financing as we commence our Phase 3 drilling program significantly strengthens our balance sheet and gives us the flexibility to pursue the broader Mt Hope project more aggressively," CEO Fergus Kiley said.
Meeka Metals (ASX: MEK) drew attention after confirming it completed the acquisition of the Blue Vein, Bushpig and Razorback gold deposits near Mt Holland in Western Australia. The deal adds three known gold deposits, granted mining leases, and a largely under-explored tenement package in the Forrestania greenstone belt.
"Having historically produced 1.2 million ounces of gold, this fertile Archaean greenstone belt is a compelling growth opportunity for us," managing director Tim Davidson said. "The belt has received very little modern exploration for gold over the past 15 years despite significant past production." Meeka plans to drill test roughly 24 km of north-south striking gold-hosting BIF units over the next 12 to 18 months.
Hamelin Gold (ASX: HMG) rose 16.2% to 21 cents after securing firm commitments from sophisticated and institutional investors for an $8 million placement. Gold Fields and Vault Minerals, Hamelin's two largest shareholders, subscribed for about $1.5 million and $600,000 respectively. The company will accelerate exploration across its Day Dawn gold project, the Venus project near Cue, and the West Tanami.
"We greatly appreciate the ongoing support from our existing shareholders and welcome new shareholders at an exciting time for the company," managing director Peter Bewick said.
Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs Research argued that global investment in artificial intelligence is being under-reported. The bank adjusted widely used measures of US hyperscaler capex to produce what it says is a more complete estimate. That projection points to $1.019 trillion in AI-related investment globally by 2026, including $581 billion in the US, according to Joseph Briggs, who co-leads Goldman's global economics team.
Common estimates for AI investment focus on US hyperscaler capex, forecast at roughly $800 billion this year by analyst consensus. Those figures miss AI spending by private companies and firms outside the US, Goldman argued. Not all hyperscaler capex is AI-related, and major US tech companies operate globally, meaning some investment occurs outside the country.
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