Top Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Great Dirt Leads with Rise of Over 155 Percent

Market and commodities price round-up

The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) opened at 8,808.7 on Monday (February 9) and closed at 9,043.5 on Thursday (February 12), reflecting a 2.67 percent increase over the period.

Gold and silver prices saw a rising slope this week.

The yellow metal showed a 2.22 percent increase from US$4,965.03 per ounce on Monday to US$5,075.34 by Thursday in US dollars, and a 0.79 percent increase in Australian dollars, moving from AU$7,072.45 to AU$7,128.44.

Silver posted larger increases, rising 8.25 percent in US dollars.The metal went from US$77.72 per ounce on Monday to US$84.13 on Thursday. In Australian dollars, the metal saw a 6.73 percent rise from AU$110.71 to AU$118.16.

Top ASX mining stocks this week

How did ASX mining stocks perform against this backdrop?

Take a look at this week’s 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 4:10 p.m. ADST 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. Great Dirt Resources (ASX:GR8)

Weekly gain: 155.32 percent
Market cap: AU$21.33 million
Share price: AU$0.60

Great Dirt Resources is an explorer focused on battery-grade manganese and lithium assets.

Its core assets are the Doherty and Basin manganese projects in New South Wales; it also has the Nullagine manganese project within the East Pilbara area and a Pilbara lithium project.

The company announced a trading halt on Monday pending the release of an announcement.

Trading commenced as planned on Wednesday (February 11), when Great Dirt shared that it has received firm commitments to raise approximately AU$1.45 million via the placement of 9,333,333 shares.

The company will use the proceeds to advance its existing portfolio, and to identify and assess new complimentary project opportunities; it will also use the money for working capital purposes.

Shares of Great Dirt went from an AU$0.57 close on Wednesday to AU$0.60 on Thursday.

2. EMC Gold (ASX:EM3)

Weekly gain: 55.56 percent
Market cap: AU$41.54 million
Share price: AU$0.115

EMC Gold is an exploration company focused on its 100 percent owned Salave project. It was formerly known as Black Dragon Gold, but changed its name effective December 2025.

Salave is one of Europe’s largest undeveloped gold deposits, hosting a JORC-compliant total resource of 17.1 million tonnes at a grade of 2.85 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for a total of 1.56 million ounces of contained gold.

The company announced a trading halt on Tuesday (February 10) pending the release of an announcement.

Then, in response to an ASX price query, EMC Gold said it was not aware of any information that had not been announced to the market that could explain the recent change in trading. Anticipation about the announcement may be driving investor interest, but the company has not yet set a target date for release.

3. Red Sky Energy (ASX:ROG)

Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$10.84 million
Share price: AU$0.002

Red Sky Energy is an oil and gas explorer and developer.

Its flagship asset is the wholly owned Killanoola oil project in the Otway Basin, South Australia, which covers 17.5 square kilometres and has recorded flow test rates of 300 barrels per day. The company also holds a 20 percent working interest in the Innamincka Dome project, also located in South Australia, through a subsidiary.

In its latest quarterly report, published on January 27, the company shared that Yarrow 3 at Innamincka had generated AU$2.18 million in gross production receipts year-to-date, with 82 percent from gas sales and the remainder from liquefied petroleum gas and condensate. At Killanoola, Red Sky has completed drilling safely to total depth at the Killanoola-2 area, with hydrocarbons confirmed in the Upper Sawpit sandstone.

Red Sky has not shared any updates since then.

Shares of the company have traded between AU$0.002 and AU$0.003 over the past month.

4. New Age Exploration (ASX:NAE)

Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$16.82 million
Share price: AU$0.003

New Age Exploration is a gold- and lithium-focused exploration and development company. Its flagship asset is the Wagyu gold project, located in the Central Pilbara region of Western Australia. The project lies within the Mallina Basin, just 5 kilometres west of Northern Star Resources' (ASX:NST,OTCPL:NESRF) 11.2 million ounce Hemi gold deposit.

On Monday, the company announced a trading halt pending the release of an announcement.

Trading commenced as planned on Wednesday, with New Age Exploration publishing the first round of assay results from reverse-circulation drilling at Wagyu. According to the company, significant results from the program so far include 18 metres at 1.47 percent g/t from 48 metres, and 8 metres at 1.5 g/t from 76 metres.

“Grades reported to date fall within the range typical of bulk intrusive systems such as Hemi, which are characterised by broad moderate-grade mineralisation rather than narrow high-grade veins,” said Executive Director Joshua Wellisch.

Results from the second half of the drill program are expected in the coming weeks.

Shares of New Age Exploration closed at a weekly peak of AU$0.003 on Thursday.

5. Pivotal Metals (ASX:PVT)

Weekly gain: 47.06 percent
Market cap: AU$30.15 million
Share price: AU$0.022

Pivotal Metals is an explorer and developer with copper, nickel and platinum-group metals projects.

The company’s all-Canadian portfolio includes its flagship Horden Lake project and a set of assets in the Belleterre-Angliers greenstone belt: Midrim, Lorraine and Laforce. Horden Lake is the most advanced among all of its projects, dominated by high-grade copper and also containing nickel and platinum-group metals.

Pivotal shared its latest update on Horden Lake on February 2, highlighting a high-grade product stream that achieved a 2.1 times increase in copper and copper equivalent grades by rejecting 68 percent of the mass at 69 percent copper recovery. Company shares peaked for the week at AU$0.022 on Thursday.