Sunday Edition: 11th January

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd and its associated entities may hold direct or indirect interests in securities referred to in this publication and may receive fees or other forms of consideration from entities mentioned. These interests and arrangements may create a potential conflict of interest in the preparation of this material.

The information contained in this communication is provided for general information purposes only and may relate to speculative investments. It does not constitute financial product advice, and has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any investment decision. Any forward-looking statements are uncertain and not a guaranteed outcome.

Yesterday we covered some of the Investment ideas we are thinking about as 2026 starts to kick into gear.

What other new “macro investment themes” could attract attention and capital for the next few years?

Find out in our Saturday note - click here to read.

Below is a summary of everything else we published last week plus links to the full articles (and one email we sent in the week between Christmas and New Years).

Quick Takes: ILA, LKY, SGQ, TTM, KAU, LSR

Deep Dives: BKB, CAY

ILA received “no adverse feedback or additional data requests” from the US FDA - however the FDA needs a little more time.

ILA is currently waiting for a final round of feedback from the FDA to fast-track its Marburg virus cure via the "Animal Rule", which would allow it to skip years of human trials and go for FDA approvals a lot faster.

Everyone should be back at work next week in the US after the New Year break, so we shouldn't have to wait long for some material news here.

During the week ILA was also granted a patent for its Galidesivir drug in Marburg and other filoviridae viruses (which includes ebola) out to October 2031.

LKY released high grade silver in rock chips from its project in California, USA.

Silver grades up to 409g/t across a ~3km trend where LKY has mapped an old mining shaft... clearly the old timers saw enough to do some small scale mining around those results.

It’s very early days on the silver front for LKY, but worthwhile seeing if the company can rank a few drill targets to go after.

Next, for LKY we are watching closely for news on rare earths and antimony drilling (which should be any day now).

SGQ released two sets of assay results from its rare earths & niobium project in Brazil.

First, SGQ announced 100m+ rare earth intercepts with grades as high as 8.16% TREO in some intervals.

Then later in the week, SGQ hit 81.5m of 1.27% niobium from surface, ~400m to the northwest of the existing resource.

SGQ’s project has very much been labelled a rare earths asset by the market (rightly - it is the biggest hard rock rare earths asset in South America...)

BUT we think the niobium resource shouldn't be discounted here, especially considering it sits next door to the mine that produces ~80% of the world’s niobium.

Now we wait to see the resource upgrade coming this quarter (and a heap more drill results).

ALSO... a very special mention to SGQ for getting its quarterly out to market only 9 days after the quarter ended.

SGQ is the first to release a quarterly in our Portfolio.

A massive effort considering the end of year break and most people being on holidays. Nice one to John and the team at SGQ.

$52M cash in the bank in case you were wondering...

(source)

TTM announced drill results from its 3.1M ounce gold, 22M ounce silver project in Ecuador (JORC estimates).

What caught our attention was the change in commentary about a potential corporate transaction with Lingbao.

TTM is now hinting at a potential transaction that involves the whole company...

... not a transaction for just one of its four projects (like previous announcements had been hinting towards).

(source - 26th November 2025)

This week’s announcement said:

“The companies continue to advance discussions for a potential corporate transaction that could see Lingbao as the owner of Titan’s gold and copper projects in Ecuador.”

(source - 7th January 2026)

The exclusivity period with major shareholder Lingbao (who acquired a 9.9% stake in TTM in October 2025) should be ending next week so we might not be far off some major corporate news here...

KAU released its December quarterly production and cash balance numbers.

It’s usually a good sign when results are released ahead of time.

While it wasn't the full quarterly report - that is due by the end of the month - this week we got all the key metrics for gold producer KAU.

One thing that jumped out to us instantly was the $13.7M cash KAU added to its bank account. KAU held in total $43.1M in cash.

Looks like the full quarterly report should be a very good read when it comes out later this month.

Next quarter it expects to have completely paid down its outstanding gold loan, and thus be fully exposed to the gold price.

Oh and KAU officially became the first silver producer in our Portfolio (6,526 ounces of silver this quarter which at today’s spot prices would be ~A$750k - not bad for a by-product).

See here Argonaut analyst Patrick Streater’s updated coverage on KAU following the December quarterly. He has arrived at a A$0.74 price target, underpinned by Henty cash flows.

(A word of caution - analyst price targets are no guarantees to eventuate, they are based on a number of assumptions)

LSR completed the acquisition of its heavy rare earths project in Arizona, USA.

Now we wait to see the results from the rock chip sampling program LSR ran at the end of last year. Assays are due before the end of this month.

Canyon Resources (ASX:CAY)

CAY is bringing into production the highest grade undeveloped bauxite projects on the planet.

CAY’s first bauxite shipment is planned for late June 2026 - and according to a recent CEO interview the company will be generating cash in Q3.

A surface miner has just arrived in-country and will start operating next month.

(source)

Delivery of rail locomotives and wagons is happening this quarter.

(source)

Ore haulage is set to begin next quarter.

(source)

Bauxite is the rock that is essential for the production of aluminium - which is a critical ingredient to transport, power grids, modern clean‐energy technologies and... Military and defence.

A few months ago, the world’s biggest bauxite exporter, Guinea (~73% of global bauxite exports) put in export restrictions AND revoked licenses for some of the country's biggest mines. (source) (source).

Good thing CAY is only a month away from mining, and five months away from shipping out its first batch of bauxite in Cameroon...

CAY’s CEO also flagged a move downstream into alumina refining in a recent interview (and again in this week’s announcement), to capture even more of the value chain.

(more on what he said on the downstream plan in our note)

Read more: CAY starting mining operations in a few weeks...

Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB)

In case you missed it - we wrote about BKB just before the New Year when silver gapped up to US$83.70 per ounce.

(Source)

AND Elon posted about silver on X...

(Source)

BKB owns 100% of a high grade advanced stage silver project in Texas, USA.

This project has an estimated $150M+ in processing and site infrastructure (which last operated as a silver mine in 2012-2013).

(Source)

Drilling on the project started a few weeks ago - which BKB CEO Dennis Lindgren discussed in detail in a recent interview here.

He was also pretty quick to point out BKB’s project as the “highest grade silver project” on the ASX:

(Check out the full interview here - source)

BKB was our 2025 Small Cap Pick Of The Year - find out why in the link below.

Read more: BKB: High grade silver in the USA with a previously producing silver processing plant to be restarted.

Kaiser Reef (ASX: KAU) - 2QFY26 PRODUCTION IN LINE - Argonaut

FT - Analysts expect gold's historic rally to continue through 2026, with some forecasting peaks as high as $5,400 as central bank buying and "currency debasement" fears persist.

Bloomberg - Economists have issued a stark warning: the U.S. is drifting toward "fiscal dominance." A rare economic condition when a government's debt becomes so massive that the central bank is forced to abandon inflation-fighting to keep interest rates low, simply so the government can afford its interest payments.

FT - In 2026, as gold prices surge past $4,300, nations from Madagascar to Ecuador are launching aggressive domestic buying programs to reclaim billions lost to sophisticated smuggling syndicates.

Bloomberg - In 2026, China's retail "aunties" are driving silver prices past $80, ditching gold for the "white metal" as domestic premiums hit historic highs.

FT - Trump’s proposed $1.5TN "dream military" budget targets a 50% spending hike fueled by tariffs. See why he’s banning defense buybacks and targeting Greenland next.

AFR - China’s sixty-year quest for rare-earth dominance has created a global chokehold. See how a Cultural Revolution breakthrough became a powerful "bazooka" in today's high-stakes trade war.

Reuters - G7 finance ministers are meeting to break China's rare-earth stranglehold. See the "price floor" strategy designed to protect Western mines and secure the high-tech supply chain.

Bloomberg - China’s latest rare-earth threat targets Japan’s high-tech heart. Tokyo’s decade of preparation may still not be enough to survive Beijing's newest administrative friction.

Reuters - The US is spending $2.7BN to break Russia’s nuclear fuel monopoly. Three companies have been tasked with fueling America’s high-tech reactors and securing energy independence.

AFR - The lithium "roller-coaster" is back in 2026. Surging battery storage demand and $2,850 price upgrades have short sellers fleeing with ASX miners showing signs of a new bull market.

X (@Ric_RTP) - The US invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Maduro have ignited a global firestorm. Is this high-stakes move focused around the "petrodollar" system to secure American financial dominance?

Bloomberg - Trump’s "Don-roe Doctrine" revitalizes the 1823 Monroe Doctrine with a 2026 twist: seizing Venezuela to crush "foreign adversaries" and reclaim "stolen" oil for America’s energy future.

(This one is a podcast with Greg Grandin, author of America, América and a professor of history at Yale University)

Viking Mines (ASX: VKA) MD Julian Woodcock on Nevada Tungsten Strategy and Next Steps

Matt Sloustcher from MP Materials and Gracelin Baskaran, PhD outline how, in 3 years, the U.S. can bring significant permanent magnet capacity online—a critical step toward reducing reliance on China and strengthening supply chains. (LinkedIn)

Michael Oliver Demonstrates Why Silver Could MORE Than Double In 2026 & Gold’s Fresh Breakout

AVM - MD Adam McKinnon posted about his first year at AVM

ONE - Oneview posted a 2025 update

SGQ - St George Mining with CEO John Prineas was featured in local Brazilian media on Dec 26, here is a copy of the article in English.

A word of caution...

While we aim to highlight developments in the small cap space, investing in early-stage and small cap companies - like those we cover - is inherently risky.

These companies often face funding challenges, regulatory hurdles, and market volatility. Announcements may reflect aspirations more than guaranteed outcomes.

Things can, and often do, change.

Just because a company has signed a deal, released drill results, or appointed a new director doesn’t mean success is assured.

Always assume delays, cost overruns, or results that don’t pan out.

We’re here to share insights, not offer personal financial advice - so please do your own research and speak with a licensed adviser before acting on anything mentioned.

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Bye for now.