Hertha Metals has broken ground on its $100 million Hertha Chalyx plant in Conroe, Texas, designed to produce about 10,000 tonnes per year of combined steel-grade and magnet-grade high-purity iron using domestic ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range and Texas natural gas. The facility, adjacent to the Pi100 pilot plant where 99.95% purity was achieved in August, will scale Hertha’s FLEXHERS process, which couples electric arc furnace technology with natural gas or hydrogen. First magnet-grade output is targeted for early 2028, feeding US NdFeB magnet makers that currently rely on China for an estimated 94% of high-purity iron.

Horizon Gold has reported its strongest intercept yet at the Snook prospect within the Gum Creek project in Western Australia, with reverse-circulation drilling returning 44m at 5.08g/t gold from 145m, including 11m at 16.30g/t from 174m. The thick, high-grade zone at moderate depth points to a larger open pit shell and supports evaluation of underground mining scenarios beneath any eventual pit floor. For mine planners and geotechs, the result justifies updated pit optimisations, geotechnical domain modelling and closer-spaced drilling to refine continuity and rock mass conditions.

Larvotto Resources has reported high-grade gold–antimony–tungsten intercepts from four lodes at the Metz Mining Centre within its Hillgrove project in New South Wales, including a newly identified lode named Echidna. Key results include 20.5m at 9.4g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) from 342.5m at Blacklode, with a higher-grade core of 6.2m at 27.2g/t AuEq from the same depth. The grades and depths point to underground mining potential and support further resource definition drilling targeting multi-commodity sulphide mineralisation.