Sunday Edition: 22nd February

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.

Below you can find everything we wrote about last week, plus some interesting stuff we came across on our travels.

Yesterday’s Saturday note: click here to read.

Quick Takes: EMD, SGQ, AVM, AW1, PNN, LKY, RML, TG1, KAU, VKA

Deep Dives: BKB, VKA

EMD extended its existing partnership with Medibank for its new clinic in Victoria.

EMD is a first-mover and specialist operator in the small (but very fast growing) psychedelic mental health care market.

Medibank will be covering members' costs for treatment in EMD’s new Victorian clinic (set to open next quarter). Hopefully, having a payer onboard BEFORE the clinic is open will mean EMD can fill up capacity at the clinic a lot quicker.

SGQ continues to hit more mineralisation well outside of its existing resource.

SGQ acquired land suitable for processing infrastructure next to its project in Brazil.

Drilling out a world class discovery is one thing - but at the end of the day, companies need to ultimately plan for mining operations and where to set up processing infrastructure.

SGQ now has that sorted, picking up a parcel of land ~2km from its project, sitting on flat lying ground - similar to the setup its neighbours CBMM have for its project that supplies 80% of the world’s niobium.

AVM sold one of its non-core assets for a total consideration of C$5.25M in cash and ongoing royalties.

Most of the payments are tied to future milestones, but selling this asset should reduce costs, strengthening AVM's balance sheet. AVM had $10.9M cash (as of Dec 31), all of which can go to the company’s gold and silver assets.

AW1 is now weeks away from drilling its giant indium deposit in Utah.

Pre-drillwork is underway and drilling is expected to start in the coming weeks.

AW1’s deposit already hosts the largest indium resource in the USA despite only ~35% of the project having been assayed for the metal in prior drilling.

This round of drilling will also be testing for gallium, copper, gold and silver...

AW1 also appointed a US advisor to lead government engagement for its project in Utah.

PNN hit more rare earths and niobium from shallow drilling at its project in Brazil.

Now we wait to see what comes from the deeper drilling PNN started ~3 weeks ago AND the maiden JORC resource that's expected this quarter.

LKY put out metallurgical testing results from its Desert Antimony Mine in California, USA.

LKY has now produced antimony metal with >99% purity, “nearing defence specification” thresholds.

Next, LKY will look to produce Antimony Trioxide and Antimony Trisulphide for customer qualification - could this be a precursor to offtake agreements with US based end users in the defence and industrial sectors?

RML (OTC: RLMLF) delivered more assay results from its gold discovery in Idaho, USA.

RML hit more gold mineralisation at its new discovery and for the first time had tungsten mineralisation in the assays.

Now we wait for RML to kick off its much bigger 2026 drill program.

TG1 started drilling at its copper-gold-silver project in WA.

TG1 will be following up targets that were previously drilled by Newcrest (1991) and Sandfire (2007) whose holes seem to have just missed the main geophysical targets on the project.

Hopefully, the modern geophysics will mean TG1 drills into mineralisation that the two previous groups missed.

KAU provided an update on its company strategy.

KAU is now targeting ~35,000oz of gold production by late FY2027 - at today's gold prices that's over $250M in gold per annum.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, KAU is working toward processing old high grade waste dumps from its processing plant and redeveloping the old Union Hill mine (in H2 FY2027).

VKA completed due diligence for the Linka tungsten project in Nevada, USA.

VKA is advancing a "fast-to-market" strategy - digitising historical data and investigating toll treatment for existing surface stockpiles (grading ~0.8%).

Initial drilling, focusing on grade control near old workings focused on a near term production suitability and testing ~1.6km of strike length, is targeted for Q2.

Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB | OTC: BKBMF)

We made BKB our 2025 Small Cap Pick Of The Year after it acquired an advanced-stage, high-grade, 17.6Moz silver project in Texas, USA.

The project has ~$150M+ of silver mining and processing infrastructure that was last producing silver in 2012-2013 before going into care and maintenance because silver prices fell to ~US$18 per ounce.

Silver is now over 4x higher at ~US$85/oz, and BKB has already engaged engineering firm Ausenco to deliver a “rapid restart” of this silver mine.

(we think the silver price is still going to run to new highs this year after some recent much needed consolidation at its historically record levels)

(but also - we might be wrong and past performance is not an indicator of future performance)

Earlier this week BKB confirmed that all major mine permits are active and in good standing, and the company is on track to restart its silver mine.

So now it’s over to BKB to get this silver mine in Texas restarted as fast as possible.

The 2012-2013 mining infrastructure was put into care and maintenance when silver prices fell to US$18 per ounce.

But the project was able to operate when silver was in the US$20s per ounce.

Now with silver at ~US$85 per ounce, we are Invested in BKB to see the company restart its silver processing plant, start mining and selling silver ASAP while the silver price trades at “new normal” highs.

The big benefit this time around is that BKB won't have to build from scratch any processing/mine infrastructure. That includes underground workings, production shafts, a processing plant and even a power substation.

(Source)

Read more: BKB: The next silver producer in the USA?

Viking Mines (ASX:VKA)

A few weeks ago the US government 12x’d its commitment to building a domestic stockpile of critical minerals.

The US Department of War will be managing this stockpile.

One of the US Department of War’s top critical and strategic mineral priorities is tungsten. (source)

Tungsten is a critical military mineral used mainly in armor-piercing munitions, and is currently trading at all time highs.

The USA has zero domestic supply of tungsten.

~80% of global tungsten supply is controlled by China who imposed export restrictions on the material last year. (Source)

We added VKA to our Portfolio late last year because we think tungsten could have an “antimony/rare earths” moment in the market in 2026.

VKA is set to drill test its tungsten asset next quarter.

Other big reasons for our Investment in VKA were because its asset sits in Nevada (~200km away from where the US plans to place its national critical minerals stockpile) AND because the project has produced tungsten in the past.

VKA’s asset produced tungsten in the mid 1950s at ~360 tonnes per day. (source)

In total, VKA’s projects combined have historic production of ~123,000t at 0.54% tungsten oxide grades.

We think that with modern exploration, VKA can put together a mine redevelopment plan for its most advanced project (Linka) - similar to what our other Investment Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) has done with its historic antimony mine in California.

At the same time there is no guarantee that VKA will be able to do this. The past performance of LKY would not be relied on as an indication of performance for VKA.

The image below from today’s announcement shows tungsten intercepts below old workings - that is a very good start - and eerily similar to what LKY was announcing a few months ago:

(source)

VKA is capped at ~$25M, and is backed by the same team that was involved with LKY during its 2025 run.

Inside a six month period last year, LKY ran from 1.8c to hit a high of 69c, and is now sitting at around 17c (having raised $17M at 24c per share in late 2025):

(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

We continue to Invest in LKY, and Invested in VKA as we hope it can grow into an ‘LKY 2.0’.

Noting at the same time though that the past performance of LKY is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance of VKA. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance.

Read more: Tungsten running. VKA drilling next quarter after digitisation of historical data

X (@DeItaone) - someone is extremely bullish gold buying US$20,000 Gold Call options.

Call options are contracts that give someone the opportunity to lock in a purchase price at some future date - with the investment only paying off if the price is well above that level.

I.e., this person's investment would pay off if gold rallies beyond US$20,000/oz.

We hope this person is right... (but also slightly nervous about that big a move).

We are NOT recommending call options like this - it's just an observation of an investment someone is making - see a personal financial advisor to learn more about these risky financial instruments, and always consider your own financial circumstances and risk profile before investing in anything.

Here is a Bloomberg article covering the trades - Gold traders are building large "lottery ticket" options bets targeting US$15,000-$20,000 by December, shrugging off January’s record 11% daily price crash and current US$5,000 consolidation.

The Deep Dive - Wheaton Precious Metals paid US$4.3 billion to a subsidiary of BHP which doubled its silver stream at Peru’s Antamina mine now having 67.5% ownership of the silver, effectively adding 66M ounces to its share.

Elements - When demand outweighs supply for long enough, the market usually reacts.

Money of Mine (podcast) -

Craig Tindale warns that the West’s "stateless capitalism" has surrendered industrial sovereignty to China.

By prioritising cheap prices over local refining and manufacturing, Western nations are facing a "vassal state" future (limited sovereignty).

Craig lays out a pretty compelling case for why the west needs to implement state backed strategies quickly to secure critical mineral supply chains and defence independence.

The Strategic Metals Awakening (Craig Tindale)

AVM - Advance Metals Accelerates Growth to Become Mexico’s Next Major Silver Developer

KAU - GOLD PRODUCER, EXPLORER & DEVELOPER (RIU Explorers Conference – February 2026)

AW1 - FEBRUARY 2026

Kaiser Reef Limited (ASX: KAU) | Interview with Resource Media | February 2026

Pursuit Minerals 2025 In Review | 2026 Outlook

This post from EMD’s Chief Scientific Officer came on the back of positive results released by NASDAQ listed Compass Pathways recently who are also in the psilocybin space.

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.