BHP Xplor's Second Accelerator; Golden Minerals Mines In Mexico; Ramaco Hires Director; Universal Stainless's Price Boost

Top Stories for Jan. 23, 2024:

1. BHP Xplor announced a second accelerator program to assist early-stage mineral exploration companies necessary to support the broader energy transition.

The program includes six companies pulled from over 500 applicants that will receive a grant of up to $500,000 and access to a network of internal and external industry experts to support their development across technical, business and operational facets.

The six companies chosen are:

1. Longreach Mineral: A private company innovating in mineral exploration using petroleum expertise and AI for new tier 1 deposits.
2. East Star Resources EST: A U.K.-based company exploring copper and metals in Kazakhstan.
3. Pallas Resources: A private firm focusing on large-scale copper, gold, nickel sulfide and lithium in Kazakhstan.
4. Hamelin Gold Limited HMG: An Australian mineral exploration firm targeting the West Tanami Gold Project in Western Australia.
5. Cobre Limited CBE: An Australian-listed company specializing in copper and base metals exploration in Botswana.
6. Equivest Minerals: A private company utilizing technology and machine learning for locating major metal deposits.

2. Golden Minerals Company AUMN announced that it began silver-gold mining operations at its Velardeña Properties in Mexico.

The company started mining six stopes and will steadily increase production to roughly 150 tons per day in March and approximately 325 tons per day in Q2.

The news follows an announcement in November that the Velardeña Properties began producing gold-rich pyrite flotation concentrates from material that had been stockpiled at the end of 2015.

3. Ramaco Resources, Inc. METC announced that it hired Dr. Alex Moyes as director of Critical Minerals and Planning to oversee its rare earth element operations and manage the geological and chemical assessment at Ramaco's Brook Mine in Wyoming.

Last year, the company said the mine could contain the largest unconventional deposit of rare earth elements discovered in the United States, and initial findings determined that it contains high concentrations of heavy and medium magnetic rare earth elements.

Chairman and CEO Randall Atkins: "The Brook Mine will potentially be the first magnetic rare earth element mine opened in the United States in decades, and therefore presents an exciting but formidable opportunity.… Alex Moyes is a brilliant geologist, manager and engineer. We're proud he will be joining us to work alongside the Department of Energy's national laboratories to ensure the development path forward is built on a solid scientific, geological and techno-economic foundation."

4. Keybanc analyst Philip Gibbs maintained an Overweight rating on Universal Stainless USAP and raised his price target from $19 to $21.

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