Top 5 Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Kaili Resources Shares Surge on Drilling Update

Market and commodities price round-up

The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) had a record-breaking week, passing the 9,000 mark for the first time on Thursday (August 21). The index ended Friday (August 22) below that level at 8,973.8.

Gold demonstrated a 0.2 percent decrease in US dollars, going from US$3,336.30 per ounce on Monday (August 18) to US$3,329.49 by the close of Australian trading on Friday. The metal saw a significant increase in Australian dollars, going up 1.18 percent, from AU$5,126.49 to AU$5,187.26, over the same period of time.

Silver largely remained flat in US dollars, starting the week at US$38.03 per ounce and closing at US$38.01. In Australian dollars, the metal went from AU$58.43 to AU$59.22, a 1.35 percent increase.

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. Kaili Resources (ASX:KLR)

Weekly gain: 427.78 percent
Market cap: AU$159.19 million
Share price: AU$0.19

Kaili Resources is an explorer with an all-Australian asset portfolio.

It is currently focused on the advancement of its Limestone Coast rare earths projects in South Australia, alongside the pursuit of its gold, rare earths and base metal assets in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

On August 15, Kaili received drilling approval for three tenements at its Limestone Coast projects, namely Lameroo, Karte and Coodalya. After opening the week at AU$0.036, the junior explorer turned heads with an 8,700 percent increase in its share price during trading on Monday, peaking at AU$3.15 around 3:30 p.m. AEST.

Trading was halted shortly after, by which time shares had pulled back to AU$1.08.

That day, the company addressed the spike in response to an ASX price query, saying that its only recent update is the approved drilling for Limestone. “(This) may have drawn investors’ interest to KLR in view of current market high interest in critical minerals,” Kaili states in its response to the ASX. A report by Livewire Markets notes that the ASX “declined to comment beyond what it has already publicly detailed” in its Monday query to Kaili.

Kaili recommenced trading on Thursday following a response to further inquiries from the ASX. While its share price pulled back over the period, it still ended the day up significantly from the start of the week.

2. iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM)

Weekly gain: 117.24 percent
Market cap: AU$12.3 million
Share price: AU$0.063

Founded in 2021, iTech Minerals' two main assets are the Eyre Peninsula graphite project in South Australia and the Reynolds Range copper-gold-lithium project in the Northern Territory.

On Tuesday (August 19), iTech identified antimony zones at Reynolds Range. The company reported two separate zones of up to 300 metres, with rock chip results including 30.6 percent antimony and 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

The day before the announcement, iTech shares saw a spike in trading volume, prompting an ASX price query. The company responded on Tuesday morning, saying its only pending announcement was the Reynolds Range news.

On Friday, the company shared new geophysics targets at Reynolds Range, with a dipol-dipol induced-polarisation survey discovering a significant chargeability anomaly, and a rock chip sample at a separate zone returning grades of 15.4 percent g/t gold and 3.3 percent copper.

Shares of iTech peaked on Tuesday and Wednesday (August 20) with a close of AU$0.072.

3. TMK Energy (ASX:TMK)

Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$30.67 million
Share price: AU$0.003

TMK Energy is a gas exploration company with a focus on Mongolia.

Its flagship project is the Gurvantes XXXV project, an approximately 8,400 square kilometre coal seam gas exploration initiative in Mongolia’s South Gobi Basin. Six active coal mines are within its boundaries.

On Thursday, TMK announced that the pilot production well at Gurvantes has been completed and is currently undergoing final commissioning activities. Once it enters production, which the company said would happen in the coming days, it will bring the total number of online pilot production wells at the site to seven.

“With the help of additional production data acquired from LF-04, LF-05 and LF-06 since early 2025, we are gaining a better understanding of the reservoir and placing a renewed emphasis on the overall reservoir management plan with the objective of maximising both water and gas production in the near term and ultimately proving commerciality of the resource," CEO Dougal Ferguson commented in the company's press release.

Now that drilling operations have concluded, TMK outlined its next steps, including a search for project partners to co-fund the next development stage of Gurvantes XXXV. After closing at AU$0.002, shares of the company climbed mid-week, peaking at an AU$0.003 close on Wednesday and Thursday.

4. Latrobe Magnesium (ASX:LMG)

Weekly gain: 47.06 percent
Market cap: AU$71.13 million
Share price: AU$0.025

Latrobe Magnesium is a magnesium company known for developing what it claims is the world’s first-of-its-kind magnesium extraction production process combining hydrometallurgical and thermal reduction.

Its flagship asset is a portfolio of projects in Latrobe Valley, Victoria. This includes a Stage 1 demonstration magnesium plant, which is expected to start production later this year.

“In the Latrobe Valley, magnesium metal will be extracted from fly ash produced by brown coal power plants,” the company states on its website. “This low emission process produces other valuable by-products such as supplementary cementitious material (SCM), silica and iron oxide using almost 100 percent of the fly ash resource.”

On Monday, Latrobe said that the Environmental Protection Authority had updated and reissued its pilot project licence, with an extension granted until February 2027. This step will allow it to begin hydrometallurgical operations again, with the first magnesium oxide output coming after it achieves steady state operations.

Shares of the company rose following the Monday announcement, climbing from a Monday close of AU$0.021 to an AU$0.027 close on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

5. Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX:SRL)

Weekly gain: 44.53 percent
Market cap: AU$201.36 million
Share price: AU$1.915

Sunrise Energy Metals is a developer focused on the Sunrise battery materials project in New South Wales.

Sunrise hosts a nickel-cobalt-scandium deposit, which the company states is among the largest of its kind globally. The project includes the Syerston scandium project, planned as a smaller, standalone scandium extraction operation.

The Sunrise deposit’s scandium resource estimate currently stands at 60.3 million tonnes at 390 parts per million (ppm) scandium for 23,500 tonnes of contained scandium.

On July 28, the company released high-grade scandium assays from a drill campaign at Syerston, with results such as 11 meters at 635 ppm scandium from surface, including 6 meters at 788 ppm scandium from 4 meters.

On Thursday, Sunrise said shareholder Sam Riggall, director of philanthropic trust the JTM Foundation, had sold 180,000 shares on market to fund grants to Australian charities. The sale was split across Wednesday and Thursday.

”Mr. Riggall remains a committed long-term shareholder in the company and retains a direct and indirect ownership interest in over 2.5 million shares in (Sunrise Energy),” the Thursday announcement states.

After spiking Wednesday, shares of Sunrise moved even higher on Thursday and closed at AU$1.92.