The Small Cap Watch: Solis contiunes drilling, Nova Minerals operating around the clock, SportsHero deal and more...
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index (ASX) closed at 3,561.50, down 0.26% or 9.30 points yesterday, although the benchmark remains 2.10% or 73.20 points higher over the past five days.
The index tracks smaller ASX-listed companies outside the S&P/ASX 100 and is often used as a barometer of sentiment towards the Australian small-cap sector.
Against that mixed market backdrop, several small-cap companies provided operational and corporate updates spanning lithium and copper exploration, gold and antimony drilling, digital gaming and Queensland gold exploration.
Solis Minerals advances Mandacaru lithium drilling and prepares Cinto copper campaign
Solis Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:SLMN, ASX:SLM, OTCQB:SLMFF, FRA:08WA) has continued diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Mandacaru Lithium Project in Brazil's Araçuaí Lithium Valley, while preparing to begin drilling at the Cinto Copper Project in Peru.
Three diamond drill holes have now been completed to their planned depths of about 200 metres each, with drilling underway at the fourth location, PDH-08.
The company said mapped pegmatites had been intersected beneath surface during the program, with laboratory assay results from the completed holes still pending.
Mandacaru is in Minas Gerais, within one of Brazil's principal lithium exploration districts.
Solis is also moving towards a new phase of exploration in Peru after executing a drilling contract for the 100%-owned Cinto Copper Project.
Drilling at Cinto is scheduled to begin in August 2026, adding a copper exploration program alongside the company's ongoing Brazilian lithium work.
Nova Minerals runs 3 drill rigs across Estelle
Nova Minerals Corp (ASX:NVA, NYSE-A:NVA, FRA:QM30) has provided an update on its 2026 field season at the Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project in Alaska, where three diamond drill rigs are operating around the clock.
At the Styx prospect, Nova has completed 2 diamond holes from a newly constructed pad targeting the down-dip extent of a 1-metre-thick quartz-stibnite vein.
More than 50 tons of stibnite-rich material has also been transported to camp for processing through the Whiskey Bravo ore sorter. Nova expects the resulting coarse concentrate to provide initial feed material for the Port MacKenzie antimony pilot plant.
At RPM, several drill pads have been established across the ridgeline and eastern valley to test more than 3 kilometres of strike. The company said drilling had intersected several newly identified mineralised intrusives, with assays pending.
Further drilling is underway at RPM Valley for infill and potential resource expansion.
SportsHero signs Razer supply agreement for HeroPlay
SportsHero Ltd (ASX:SHO) has entered into an agreement with gaming technology company Razer to distribute gaming top-up vouchers and e-pins through its HeroPlay platform across Southeast Asia.
The agreement covers more than 1,000 gaming-related digital products and services, including vouchers for titles such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Free Fire and PUBG, as well as Razer Gold and e-pins for platforms including PlayStation Store, Xbox and Roblox.
SportsHero said the agreement represented the first major supply deal supporting the broader HeroPlay gaming and consumer engagement platform it is developing with telecommunications partners across Southeast Asia.
The arrangement broadens HeroPlay's offering beyond its existing mobile casual gaming subscription base, providing exposure to console, PC and mobile gaming customers.
It also gives HeroPlay access to products distributed through Razer Gold, which operates across more than 200 markets.
GBM Resources (ASX:GBZ) extends Twin Hills exploration footprint
GBM Resources (ASX:GBZ) has confirmed the continuation of the prospective Milled Matrix Breccia, or BXM, host horizon at least 700 metres south of the existing 309 Mineral Resource at the Twin Hills Gold Project in Queensland's Drummond Basin.
Recent step-out drilling at the Stella prospect has supported the company's revised geological model and materially expanded the exploration footprint beyond the existing resource area.
GBM said the latest holes were the first deep holes drilled within the Twin Hills tenure outside the mineral resource to downhole depths exceeding 200 metres, with each successfully intersecting the prospective BXM horizon.
Gold mineralisation was confirmed in every hole drilled.
Among the results received to date was 8 metres at 1.31 g/t gold from 126 metres in THDH005, hosted within an interpreted brecciated structural zone.
Assays for about 60% of the metres drilled at Stella remain outstanding, leaving further results pending from the expanded exploration program.
