Top 5 Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Nova Minerals Rides on Growing Antimony Interest

Market and commodities price round-up

The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) opened at 8,789.3 on Monday (November 10) and closed at 8,753.4 on Thursday (November 13), reflecting a 0.41 percent decrease over the period.

Gold and silver prices continued to shine this week. In US dollars, the gold price increased 3.1 percent, from US$4,092.51 per ounce on Monday to US$4,219.47 by the close of Australian trading on Thursday.

In Australian dollars, gold climbed 4.17 percent, from AU$6,159.82 to AU$6,416.87.

The silver price posted even more significant gains during the period.

Silver climbed 11.83 percent in US dollars, starting the week at US$48.35 per ounce and closing at US$54.07. In Australian dollars, the metal increased 10.45 percent, rising from AU$74.45 to AU$82.23.

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. Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA)

Weekly gain: 68.6 percent
Market cap: AU$519.68 million
Share price: AU$1.45

Nova Minerals is an Australian explorer and developer currently focused on the development of the Estelle gold district in Alaska, US. Its flagship project is the Estelle gold-antimony project, which holds a global JORC-compliant measured, indicated and inferred resource of 9.9 million ounces of gold.

Nova is currently focused on fast tracking antimony production from Estelle in the 2026/2027 fiscal year, and in early October it received US$43.4 million in funding from the US to produce military-grade antimony trisulphide.

Estelle was among the projects that formed part of the brief for an October meeting between Australian Prime Minister Albanese and US President Donald Trump on rare earths, during which the countries penned an agreement.

While no project updates were shared by Nova this week, it did publish its annual general meeting presentation and letter to shareholders on Monday. The presentation shows Estelle is fast tracking production to develop the first fully integrated US antimony supply chain in decades, potentially driving investor interest.

“With the U.S. Department of War’s endorsement, which provides some validation to the strategic importance of Nova Minerals’ antimony assets, we continue to advance our dual-commodity strategy,” said Chair Richard Beazley.

After opening the week at AU$1.0475, shares of the company rose to AU$1.265 by Wednesday (November 12) and then peaked at AU$1.45 on Thursday.

2. Lake Resources (ASX:LKE)

Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$100.45 million
Share price: AU$0.051

Lake Resources is an Argentina-focused lithium developer currently working towards kickstarting production at its flagship Kachi lithium brine project. Kachi is located in Catamarca Province within the Lithium Triangle in Argentina and has an estimated resource of 11.1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent. The project has an estimated life of mine of 25 years and will produce battery-grade lithium carbonate using direct lithium extraction.

Phase 1 of Kachi is planned with a plant capacity of 25,000 tonnes per annum. A possible Phase 2 would add a second 25,000 tonne per year plant, doubling the capacity.

Lake Resources shared its presentation at the Noosa Mining Investor Conference on Tuesday (November 11), highlighting areas of focus, including obtaining approval for its environmental impact assessment and working toward a final investment decision. Shares of the company spiked to a close of AU$0.051 on Thursday.

3. Corazon Mining (ASX:CZN)

Weekly gain: 46.67 percent
Market cap: AU$10.04 million
Share price: AU$0.22

West Perth-based Corazon Mining is an explorer focused on its Two Pools and Feather Cap gold projects, both located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Historical drilling at the Two Pools gold project delivered high-grade intercepts, with one returning 12 metres at 8.89 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including 3 metres at 34.25 g/t gold, and another returning 18 metres at 3.89 g/t gold, including 4 metres at 15.96 g/t gold.

The company also holds the Lynn Lake nickel-cobalt-copper project in Manitoba, Canada, and the Mount Gilmore copper-cobalt-gold project in New South Wales, Australia.

On Tuesday, Corazon said that it had lodged a strategic tenement application to further expand Two Pools with the addition of 50 square kilometres of land contiguous with the northern edge of the project.

“The combination of high-grade historical hits, the proximity to known deposits at Marymia and Plutonic demonstrate a clear potential for a high-impact exploration pathway for Corazon,” Managing Director Simon Coyle said.

Corazon is now developing an exploration plan with a maiden drill program to advance the new project area.

Shares of the company started to climb this week after the announcement, rising from an AU$0.145 close on Monday to AU$0.22 by Thursday.

4. Havilah Resources (ASX:HAV)

Weekly gain: 45.45 percent
Market cap: AU$94.6 million
Share price: AU$0.40

Havilah Resources is a copper-gold exploration and development company based in South Australia. Its flagship assets are the Kalkaroo copper-gold and Mutooroo copper-cobalt projects, both also located in South Australia.

Kalkaroo boasts a 100 million tonne open pit JORC Ore Reserves containing 474,000 tonnes of copper and 1.4 million ounces of gold, while Mutooroo holds a combined measured, indicated and inferred resource of 13.1 million tonnes containing 195,000 tonnes of copper, 20,200 tonnes of cobalt and 82,100 ounces of gold.

Havilah reported on Thursday that it executed a binding term sheet with copper mining company Sandfire Resources (AU:SFR) to advance Kalkaroo through a two phase earn-in agreement.

During Phase 1, Sandfire is set to pay the company an upfront consideration of AU$105 million under the deal, allowing it to secure the right to earn an 80 percent stake in the project.

Other details of the partnership include Sandfire funding a new prefeasibility study, a minimum 20,000 metre drill program and AU$30 million in regional exploration.

Within the first 24 months or after the study is completed, Sandfire can pay an additional AU$105 million to acquire the 80 percent interest. Both AU$105 million payments will be made through a combination of cash and shares.

"The funding under the exploration strategic alliance will allow us to accelerate regional exploration in South Australia with the objective of transforming the highly prospective Curnamona Province into Australia's next major copper province, centred on the Kalkaroo project development,” Havilah Technical Director Chris Giles said.

Shares of the company rose from a Wednesday close of AU$0.27 to AU$0.40 on Thursday.

5. Winsome Resources (ASX:WR1)

Weekly gain: 45 percent
Market cap: AU$60.99 million
Share price: AU$0.29

Winsome Resources is a lithium explorer and developer with lithium and cesium assets in Québec, Canada.

Winsome’s flagship project is its fully owned Adina hard-rock lithium project, located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of the province. Adina currently has a JORC measured and indicated mineral resource of 78 million tonnes at 1.15 percent lithium oxide. The company is also evaluating its Sirmac-Clapier cesium-lithium project as a potential source of high-grade cesium, a critical metal.

Additionally, Winsome holds a 16.1 percent stake in Power Metals (TSXV:PWM,OTCQB:PWRMF) and offtake rights for 100 percent of the lithium, cesium and tantalum from the company’s Case Lake project in Ontario.

Most recently, Winsome entered into an option agreement with Bull Run Capital on November 5.

Under the agreement, Winsome holds an exclusive 12 month option to acquire 100 percent of the Madina claim block, comprising 38 claims. The company will pay C$125,000 cash to secure the option, and if it decides to execute the agreement following due diligence and exploration, it will pay a further C$325,000 through cash and shares.

No further updates were made this week, but Winsome’s shares climbed to AU$0.29 on Thursday.