Welcome to the Investing News Network’s weekly round-up of the top-performing mining stocks on the ASX.
West Perth-based Cauldron Energy took the lead as three uranium stocks landed in this week’s top five performing shares amidst a backdrop of negotiations between the US and Iran on non-proliferation deals to bar uranium enrichment. The uranium companies were joined by two gold-focused stocks.
Read on to discover this week’s top gaining Australian mining stocks on the ASX and what drove their share prices.
Market and commodities price round-up
The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) opened at 8,900.70 on Monday (June 15) and closed at 8,911.10 on Thursday (June 18), reflecting a 0.11 percent increase over the period.
Gold and silver prices were positive this week as of the close of Australian markets Thursday. The gold price showed a 2.43 percent increase from US$4,219.16 on Monday to US$4,321.52 by Thursday in US dollars, while prices rose 2.28 percent in Australian dollars, moving from AU$5,987.55 to AU$6,141.27.
Silver prices saw slightly smaller gains. In US dollars, silver increased 1.76 percent from US$67.99 on Monday to US$69.19 on Thursday. In Australian dollars, the metal recorded a 1.9 percent increase, moving from AU$96.49 to AU$98.32.
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 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. Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU)
Weekly gain: 106.9 percent
Market cap: AU$183.33 million
Share price: AU$0.120
West Perth-based Cauldron Energy is an Australian resource exploration and development company primarily focused on advancing its uranium assets.
Its flagship asset is its 100 percent owned Yanrey uranium project, located approximately 100 kilometres south of Onslow in Western Australia. The project spans roughly 1,500 square kilometres, including 21 granted exploration tenements.
Yanrey hosts three deposits with a total of 55.6 million pounds of uranium oxide equivalent in indicated and inferred resources, with its Bennet Well uranium deposit containing 30.9 million pounds alone.
On Thursday, Cauldron shared results from its high-resolution passive seismic survey conducted north east of the Bennet Well deposit, specifically targeting the Manyingee North prospect area.
The results “demonstrate the existence of a large and well-defined palaeochannel” that connects Manyingee North with Paladin Energy’s Manyingee deposit and extends north from Cauldon’s prospect for about 6 kilometres, according to CEO Jonathan Fisher.
“This could not have been a better result for Cauldron and we are eager to get started drilling this palaeochannel when our 2026 drilling program commences later this month,” he said.
Shares of Cauldron closed at AU$0.058 last week then jumped to this week’s peak of AU$0.120 Thursday following the survey update.
2. King River Resources (ASX:KRR)
Weekly gain: 60 percent
Market cap: AU$48.63 million
Share price: AU$0.040
King River Resources is a Perth-based company with gold projects in Australia. It recently focused its operational attention on the Murchison province of Western Australia following its strategic acquisition of the historic Mindoolah gold project in March.
Mindoolah covers approximately 100 square kilometres and hosts past-production, with surface and shallow underground workings that averaged grades of 19.02 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
On Wednesday, the company announced it commissioned a drone-borne aeromagnetic survey across the central Mindoolah mining centre, engaging geophysical contractor Magtech Surveys to complete the survey.
“By utilising tight 25 metre spacing at low altitudes, this modern UAV program allows us to effectively map concealed structures and resolve the intricate, cross-cutting intersections that we believe could control the high-grade gold mineralisation,” Managing Director Graham Gadsby said.
“(W)e look forward to rapidly delivering processed data to refine our next phase of priority drill targets.”
King River said that field acquisition is scheduled on June 25 and the process is expected to take approximately five days, with processed magnetic data and preliminary interpretation to follow thereafter.
After closing last week and opening this week at AU$0.025, shares of King River went up to AU$0.040 on Thursday.
3. Atomic Eagle (ASX:AEU)
Weekly gain: 58.82 percent
Market cap: AU$188.03 million
Share price: AU$0.540
Another West-Perth based company in this week’s list is Atomic Eagle, which is focused on the exploration and development of uranium assets in Africa.
The company’s core focus is its 100 percent owned, district-scale Muntanga uranium project in Zambia, which spans four mining licences and two exploration licences across an area of 1,100 square kilometres.
On Tuesday (June 16), the company shared that its 2026 resource extension drilling program at the Chisebuka deposit at Muntanga successfully extended the boundaries of known mineralisation.
Highlighted results include 5.4 metres at 422 parts per million uranium oxide from 47 metres and 12.8 metres at 237 parts per million uranium oxide from 40.9 metres.
Next steps include a reverse circulation drill program at the deposit’s higher grade zones, and maiden drilling at the Muntanga North target.
News this week also involved the Madaouela uranium project in Niger, which was formerly owned by GoviEx before the government withdrew its mining permit. GoviEx, now a subsidiary of Atomic Eagle, is in negotiations to find a resolution.
On Wednesday, the company responded to a media statement from Niger’s Ministry of Mines in Niger reporting the minister met with a delegation from GoviEx on Monday.
Atomic confirmed that its chairman and CEO visited Niger between June 7 and June 15 for “technical and legal discussions with the Ministry of Mines aimed at drafting a new mining convention to frame the resumption of Madaouela.”
“The negotiations remain non-binding and incomplete until any agreements are executed,” the company wrote. “As such, there is no certainty that a transaction will be concluded, nor is there certainty on the terms of the transaction if it were to be concluded.”
Shares of Atomic Eagle closed last week at AU$0.345, climbing this week to AU$0.355 on Monday before it reached a week’s high of AU$0.540 on Thursday following both announcements.
4. DevEx Resources (ASX:DEV)
Weekly gain: 56.10 percent
Market cap: AU$181.07 million
Share price: AU$0.320
DevEx Resources holds exploration-stage uranium assets in the Northern Territory’s McArthur Basin, including its flagship Nabarlek project and the Murphy West project.
Nabarlek hosts the historic Nabarlek uranium mine, which the company says is Australia’s highest-grade uranium mine, with past production of 24 million pounds at 1.84 percent uranium oxide. The company expanded the project through acquisitions from Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) last year.
While DevEx did not make any headlines this week, its last update on Nabarlek was a corporate presentation shared in May.
The presentation outlined the company’s roadmap for 2026, which includes drilling at multiple target areas at Nabarlek, progressing permits for its 2026 drilling campaign at Murphy West and advancing emerging targets through mapping, sampling and geophysics.
Shares of DevEx closed last week at AU$0.205 close, before rising exponentially this week to finish Thursday at a peak of AU$0.320.
5. Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR)
Weekly gain: 47.83 percent
Market cap: AU$708.23 million
Share price: AU$0.170
Dateline Resources is a mineral exploration and development company focused on gold and strategic critical mineral assets in the United States with headquarters in Sydney.
The company’s flagship asset is the historic Colosseum gold project, located in the Walker Lane Trend of San Bernardino County, California. Colosseum hosts an updated JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate of 44.5 million tonnes at 0.76 g/t gold for 1.08 million ounces of contained gold.
Dateline released a bankable feasibility study for Colosseum in May.
It also created the Music Valley heavy rare earth project in the Music Valley area of California’s Riverside County, first acquiring 57 claims over 1,140 acres in February, then staked 969 claims over 19,380 acres in March.
The rights to 252 of these claims are currently the subject of a legal battle in the Federal Court of Australia with US1 Critical Minerals (ASX:USC), previously named Gladiator Resources.
The hearings were completed Tuesday, Dateline reported. “The presiding judge, Justice Beach, has reserved his decision on the matter, without providing any timetable for when that judgement will be delivered,” the company wrote in the update.
Dateline shared on Wednesday that magnetic and radiometric processing had been completed at the Music Valley project focused on areas outside of the contested claims.
“Music Valley has always had the ingredients of a significant heavy rare earth district. What these surveys have done is show us where those ingredients come together,” Managing Director Stephen Baghdadi commented.
“Rather than searching across a large land package, we are now focusing on a small number of highly prospective target areas. Tony Mariano Jr and Russell Mason are currently ground-truthing these prospects, and that work will guide the next phase of sampling and drill targeting.”
Shares of the company closed at AU$0.115 last week and reached a peak close of AU$0.170 on Thursday.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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