Top 5 Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Gwardar Resources Leads with Gain of Over 35 Percent

Market and commodities price round-up

The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) opened at 8,740.7 on Monday (October 12) and closed at 8,720.6 on Thursday (October 15), ending the period down 0.23 percent.

The gold price was down this week as of the close of Australian stock markets on Thursday. It fell 1 percent in US dollars, sinking from US$4,186.54 per ounce on Monday to US$4,145.17 on Thursday. Meanwhile, a 0.57 percent decrease was seen in Australian dollars, with gold moving from AU$5,995.59 to AU$5,961.40.

The silver price ended the period down 7.89 percent in US dollars, going from US$60.80 per ounce to US$56; in Australian dollars, the metal decreased 7.5 percent, from AU$87.05 to AU$80.52.

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 using TradingView's stock screener and reflects price movements between the first trading day of the week 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. Gwardar Resources (ASX:GRS)

Weekly gain: 36.84 percent
Market cap: AU$19.14 million
Share price: AU$0.65

Gwardar Resources is an exploration company advancing gold and copper projects in Western Australia.

The Doolgunna property is located in the Murchison region and consists of four exploration licences covering a land package of 372 square kilometres. The site is prospective for volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) copper and gold mineralisation. Historic drilling at the site encountered grades of 1.36 g/t gold over 15 metres at the Goodins Find target and 1,029 parts per million (ppm) copper over 6 metres at the Halloween West target.

Its other project is Kurnalpi, located in the Eastern Goldfields north of Kalgoorlie. It consists of three exploration licences covering 90 square kilometres and is prospective for orogenic gold, with potential for VHMS base metals and nickel sulphide. Mineralisation was discovered in the surrounding area in the 1960s, but Kurnalpi is largely unexplored.

On July 31, the company commenced trading on the ASX after completing an oversubscribed initial public offering, raising gross proceeds of AU$6 million. The funds will primarily be used for exploration and evaluation of its properties.

Gwardar has not released news since September 16, when Director Alex Rovira purchased 50,000 shares.

2. Blue Star Helium (ASX:BNL)

Weekly gain: 33.33 percent
Market cap: AU$24.61 million
Share price: AU$0.004

Blue Star Helium is a helium explorer and producer advancing its Galactica-Pegasus project in Colorado, US. The project is located in Southeastern Colorado, and sits within the company’s approximately 276,000 acres of land holdings.

Galactica-Pegasus is being developed as a 50/50 joint venture with Helium One Global. The Pinon Canyon processing plant anchors the site and began operations in December 2025, with the first helium sold on July 14.

On August 31, the company extended an offtake agreement through the end of March 2027, covering all helium produced at Pinon Canyon while longer-term offtake talks continue.

Blue Star did not release any news this week. Its latest news came on September 17, when it announced a shareholder meeting for October 20.

3. Mammoth Minerals (ASX:M79)

Weekly gain: 26.67 percent
Market cap: AU$21.24 million
Share price: AU$0.038

Mammoth Minerals is an explorer advancing gold, silver and copper projects across the Americas.

It has recently focused on its Excelsior Springs gold-silver project, located in the Walker Lane trend of Nevada, US. The company acquired the project in June 2025 as part of an earn-in agreement with Athena Gold (CSE:ATHA). Mammoth can earn up to an 80 percent interest in the property over five years. The property hosts the historic Buster gold mine, with 5 kilometres of trend and another 3 kilometres of strike that intersects the Lida Bell and Blue Dick mines.

Mammoth’s most recent project-related news came on August 31, when it reported a new parallel gold zone at the Lunchbox Ridge prospect, more than 700 metres along strike from the Buster mine. The highlighted hole returned 10.67 metres grading 3.76 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including 4.6 metres grading 6.86 g/t gold.

It also reported surface samples from Blue Dick, with one highlight containing grades of 1,190 g/t silver, 4.7 g/t gold and 4.55 percent lead, with other samples testing for zinc, copper and antimony.

Mammoth did not release any news this week.

4. Berkeley Energia (ASX:BKY)

Weekly gain: 26.23 percent
Market cap: AU$370.42 million
Share price: AU$0.77

Berkeley Energia is an exploration and development company with projects in Western Spain.

Its flagship Salamanca uranium project in the province of Salamanca has been stalled since July 2021, when Spain’s energy ministry refused to approve it after a negative report from the country’s Nuclear Safety Council. The refusal was upheld on appeal in February 2023, and Berkeley took the dispute to international arbitration in April 2024, seeking compensation from Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty.

In a June 29 update, the company said the tribunal agreed to hear Spain’s jurisdictional objections first, before moving to the merits of the claim and damages. Berkeley is seeking US$1.25 billion in compensation.

Berkeley’s current focus is its Conchas critical minerals project, which covers 31 square kilometres in the southwest of Salamanca, near the border with Portugal. On July 21, the company released a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate for Conchas, reporting 11.8 million tonnes grading 0.41 percent lithium oxide and 0.21 percent rubidium oxide for contained mineral content of 49,000 tonnes of lithium oxide and 25,200 tonnes of rubidium oxide.

Berkeley said the resource shows that Conchas hosts a significant rubidium deposit, and noted that mineralisation starts at the surface and remains open at depth. It plans infill drilling to upgrade the resource.

The company has not released news on either project in the past week.

Its most recent announcement came on Tuesday (October 13), when it responded to an ASX price query, stating that it was unaware of any information that would explain the recent price rise.

5. Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD)

Weekly gain: 33.33 percent
Market cap: AU$49.15 million
Share price: AU$0.052

Mount Ridley Mines is advancing its Mount Ridley project north of Esperance in Western Australia. The project contains independent clay-hosted deposits of gallium, rare earth elements and scandium.

Mount Ridley covers approximately 3,400 square kilometres, including the Grass Patch complex, and hosts 68 kilometres of strike with clay-hosted mineralisation. The company has previously released resource estimates for the gallium, rare earth element and scandium deposits at the project.

On August 26, the company released an upgraded scandium resource for the project, reporting an inferred resource of 47,357 tonnes of scandium in 946.1 million tonnes of ore grading 50.1 ppm scandium, combined across two blocks. According to the company, Mount Ridley now holds the largest publicly reported, JORC-compliant scandium resource globally.

In addition to work at its property, the company has been advancing its proprietary Selectro leaching process, which in August achieved more than double the average recoveries of the industry standard hydrochloric acid process.

The company achieved heavy rare earth recoveries of 77 to 83 percent, light rare earths recoveries between 70 to 77 percent, scandium recovery of 80 percent, and gallium recoveries averaging 56 percent.

One week later, Mount Ridley lodged a provisional patent application for the Selectro process and had also initiated bulk testwork, including flotation, to further optimise the process.

The most recent news came on Thursday, when Mount Ridley achieved 92 percent recovery of aluminium and 97 percent iron from samples in a third-party test of the process.

“This is a remarkable result for Selectro. Bauxite is a very different material to our Grass Patch feed, and achieving these recoveries on our first test demonstrates the potential for Selectro to be applied well beyond MRD’s existing mineral resources,” said Managing Director Allister Caird.