Top 5 Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Taruga Minerals Climbs on Acquisition of Gold-Copper Projects

Market and commodities price round-up

The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) opened at 8,647.70 on Monday (December 15) and closing at 8,588.20 on Thursday (December 18), marking a 0.69 percent decrease over the period.

Both gold and silver prices rose this week. The gold price increased 0.6 percent over the week from US$4,299.80 on Monday to US$4,325.72 by the close of the Australian trading day Thursday. In Australian dollars, the yellow metal jumped 1.29 percent, moving from AU$6,462.57 to AU$6,545.65.

The silver price saw significant gains, again breaking its all-time highs during the week. It climbed 9.19 percent in US dollars, rising from US$60.72 to US$66.30. In Australian dollars, silver saw a slightly larger 9.93 percent increase, starting the week at AU$91.26 and closing at AU$100.32.

Top ASX mining stocks this week

How did ASX mining stocks perform against this backdrop?

Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Australian mining stocks below as the Investing News Network breaks down their operations and why these companies are up this week.

Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. AEST on Thursday using TradingView's stock screener and reflects price movements between Monday and Thursday. Only companies trading on the ASX with market capitalisations greater than AU$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.

1. Taruga Minerals (ASX:TAR)

Weekly gain: 70 percent
Market cap: AU$12.13 million
Share price: AU$0.017

Perth-based Taruga Minerals is an exploration company with projects in Papua New Guinea, South Australia and Western Australia.

It is currently focusing on the development of the East Normanby gold project and the Kol Mountain copper-gold project, which are located in Papua New Guinea and span 491 square kilometres and 123 square kilometres respectively.

Taruga entered a 12 month option to acquire 100 percent of both East Normanby and Kol Mountain on Monday.

“We are delighted to have secured this transformational opportunity in PNG for Taruga shareholders, with high impact work to be undertaken over the coming months,” Chairman Paul Cronin said.

Following this, on Thursday the company shared rock chip assay results from the Gwamogwamo prospect at East Normanby.

Results include one sample grading 12.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 0.25 percent copper, and another grading 4.8 percent copper.

“(Gwamogwamo) has a large strike of outcropping gold-copper mineralisation that has been validated by trenching and drilling,” Director David Chapman stated. “(It) is one of our targeted drilling prospects for the 2026 exploration campaign.”

Shares of Taruga rose to a close of AU$0.022 on Monday, its highest this week, following the acquisition announcement.

2. Alicanto Minerals (ASX:AQI)

Weekly gain: 54.39 percent
Market cap: AU$60.34 million
Share price: AU$0.088

Alicanto Minerals is an Australian gold explorer with headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.

It holds a precious and base metals portfolio in Sweden and is currently pursuing an exploration program at its newly acquired flagship Mount Henry gold project.

Alicanto announced a trading halt on Tuesday (December 16), pending an announcement.

The next day, the company announced it entered an agreement to acquire Mount Henry for AU$15 million cash and approximately 357.1 million shares from Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX,OTC Pink:WGXRF). Upon the acquisition's completion, Westgold will hold a 19.9 percent interest in Alicanto.

In the same release, Alicanto also announced a capital raising of AU$28 million.

Mount Henry hosts a combined measured, indicated and inferred resource of 915,000 ounces of gold from 24.5 million tonnes of ore grading 1.2 g/t gold.

A 50,000 metre drilling program at Mount Henry is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2026 funded by the placement.

Following the acquisition announcement on Wednesday, the company’s shares closed at this week’s peak of AU$0.099.

3. Liberty Metals (ASX:LIB)

Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$15.31 million
Share price: AU$0.003

Liberty Metals is a Subiaco-based company that is currently focused on advancing rutile, titanium and rare earths projects in Brazil and Australia.

The company is also planning the Lovelock antimony and REE processing hub, located in Nevada in the United States.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it has formally exercised its option to acquire a 100 percent stake in its Brazilian project portfolio.

The portfolio includes three main assets, namely the Paraíba hard rock rutile and monazite sands project, the Rio Grande heavy mineral sands project and the Alcobaça heavy minerals sands and monazite project.

Following the finalisation of the acquisition, Liberty said its next steps will include project-level planning and commencing exploration programs across the portfolio.

Shares of the company climbed to a peak of AU$0.003 on Thursday.

4. Voltaic Strategic Resources (ASX:VSR)

Weekly gain: 41.94 percent
Market cap: AU$19.86 million
Share price: AU$0.044

Voltaic Strategic Resources is a greenfield battery and precious metals explorer in Western Australia, with a range of projects including the Meekatharra gold and base metals project, the Ti Tree lithium project and the Paddys Well critical metals project.

On December 12, Voltaic reported soil sampling results from work at its Paddys Well project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. According to the release, results confirmed its Soren rare earth and gallium target hosts a rare earth surface anomaly over a 1.2 kilometre long strike.

While no project updates were shared this week, the company announced on Wednesday that there will be a general shareholders meeting on January 19.

Shares of the company closed at AU$0.041 following the announcement, then rose to a close of AU$0.044 on Thursday.

5. Mount Burgess Mining (ASX:MTB)

Weekly gain: 36.36 percent
Market cap: AU$10.36 million
Share price: AU$0.015

Mount Burgess Mining is an Australian explorer with projects in Australia and Botswana. The company closed its acquisition of the Viking and Blair North gold projects, located in Western Australia, from Metal Hawk (ASX:MHK) and Falcon Metals (ASX:FAL,OTC Pink:FALFF) in October.

It is also advancing its flagship Kihabe-Nxuu polymetallic project in Botswana, which contains a resource of zinc, lead, silver and several critical metals.

On Tuesday, Mount Burgess provided an update on its Western Australian gold portfolio, including the completion of a maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Viking project. The company is expecting assay results from a 10 hole program in mid-January.

Meanwhile, programme of works approval has been granted for exploration drilling at the Blair North located 20 kilometres southeast of Kalgoorlie. RC drilling is set to commence in the first quarter of 2026.

Additionally, the company is planning to change its name to Talonx Resources and its ticker to TXR, which should come into effect in early-to-mid January.

“We are very pleased with the successful completion of drilling at Viking, and we look forward sharing the results of this program early next year under our new name, Talonx Resources,” Executive Chairman Steve Lennon said.

Shares of Mount Burgess stayed at an average of AU$0.011 the whole week, then jumped to AU$0.015 on Thursday.