Eric Nuttall, partner and senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners, shares his outlook for oil and natural gas in 2026, emphasizing that he remains bullish on both.

However, he’s looking at different timelines — he sees natural gas as a more immediate story, while oil is likely to pick up in the second half of the year.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Bayan Mining and Minerals Ltd (ASX: BMM; ‘BMM’ or ‘the Company’) is pleased to report significant high-grade rare earth element (REE) results from follow- up surface geochemical sampling at its 100% owned Desert Star Project, located in San Bernardino County, California, USA.

Highlights

• Substantial Increase in Surface REE Grades: Follow-up surface sampling returned materially higher total rare earth oxide (TREO) grades than the reported in Phase 1 reconnaissance program. The stand out results up to:

• Multi-Media Confirmation of Mineralisation: Elevated TREO across both surface and heavy mineral concentrate samples confirm a robust primary REE source with effective secondary dispersion into local drainage systems.
• Favourable Geological Controls: Sampling targeted structurally controlled, oxidised pegmatitic and gneissic lithologies with carbonate veining, brecciation and Fe-oxide alteration, consistent with REE-hosting systems recognised within the Mountain Pass district.
• High Priority Targets Defined: Integrated desktop and geophysical studies have already delineated four coherent high-priority REE targets, supported by geophysics and geochemical signatures consistent with carbonatite-hosted systems.
• Approved Plan of Operation: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved the Plan of Operations (PoO) for the Desert Star Project, providing regulatory clearance to advance field activities and progress toward drilling.
• Strong Phase 1 Results Provide Foundation: Initial reconnaissance sampling returned outstanding results, including: 7,841 ppm TREO (Sample ID 19415), 4,097 ppm TREO (Sample 19378), 3,443 ppm TREO (Sample 19411), 3,443 ppm TREO (Sample 19413), 2,986 ppm TREO (Sample 19366) and 2,828 ppm TREO (Sample 19355) at the Desert Star Project (see ASX Announcement dated 1 September 2025).
• Strategic Location of Desert Star Projects:Bayan’s Desert Star Project is strategically located just 4.5 km northeast of MP Materials’ Mountain Pass REEMine¹ one of the largestand highest-grade rare earth operations globally. Desert Star North Projectlies only 3 km north of the Dateline Resources’ Colosseum Gold Mine₂.Both properties are located within the same regional corridor and sharestructural and geological characteristics with the globally significantMountain Pass REE Mine.

The Phase 2 surface sampling program was designed to infill and extend anomalous areas identified during the Phase 1 initial reconnaissance campaign and to test priority structural corridors defined from earlier surface sampling and geophysical datasets. The results demonstrate a clear increase in grade tenor relative to Phase 1 and further validated Desert Star as a prospective REE zones system located within one of the world’s premier rare earth district.

A total of 73 rock chip samples and 56 heavy mineral concentrate samples were collected during the phase 2 program. Assay results demonstrate a clear increase in grade tenor relative to Phase 1 results, with values returning up to 66,816 ppm TREO (6.6%) from rock chip samples and up to 91,101 ppm TREO (9.1%) from heavy mineral concentrate samples.

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Experienced and novice investors alike may want to consider pharmaceutical exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as a way to gain exposure to the top pharma companies and the pharma market as a whole.

Like all ETFs, pharmaceutical ETFs are a good option for those who want to trade a set of assets in the pharmaceutical industry instead of focusing solely on individual pharmaceutical stocks.

The main advantage of a pharmaceutical ETF is the fact that it can provide exposure to an overarching sector, but still trades like a stock. Pharma ETFs also offer lower volatility than pharma stocks as, even if a few stocks dip or gain significantly, the overall fund will often be moderated by other holdings.

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no investment interest in any of the companies mentioned in this article.

European Lithium Ltd (ASX: EUR, FRA: PF8, OTC: EULIF) (“European Lithium” or the “Company”) advises that it has completed a sale of 5 million ordinary shares in Critical Metals Corp. (NASDAQ: CRML). BMO Capital Markets Corp. helped facilitate the transaction by acting in a market maker capacity pursuant to the affiliate provisions of Rule 144.

The transaction will generate net proceeds of approximately A$124 million to EUR, therefore increasing the Company’s cash reserves to A$322m.

Following the transaction EUR will still hold 48,036,338 ordinary shares in CRML. Based on the closing share price of CRML (being US$17.17 per share as of 20 January 2026), the Company’s current investment is valued at US$824,783,923 (A$1,228,928,046) noting that this valuation is subject to fluctuation in the daily share price movement of CRML.

Tony Sage, Executive Chairman of European Lithium, commented “This transaction again proves our investment in the Tanbreez project has been a huge success and hopefully the EUR share price should finally reflect its true asset value. The sale will also provide EUR with additional financial flexibility while maintaining a significant exposure to CRML. The proceeds will further strengthen our balance sheet and positions the Company to continue advancing its core projects, look for new opportunities or return capital to shareholders.”

About European Lithium

European Lithium Limited is an exploration and development stage mining company focused on lithium assets in Austria, Ukraine, and Ireland. It also has significant holdings in CUFE Ltd ( copper/ gold / bismuth) in the Northern Territory, MOAB (uranium in Tanzania), Cyclone Metals Ltd ( Iron Bear Project in Canada) and a direct 7.5% stake in the Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland.

For more information, please visit https://europeanlithium.com.

About Critical Metals Corp.

Critical Metals Corp (Nasdaq: CRML) is a leading mining development company focused on critical metals and minerals, and producing strategic products essential to electrification and next-generation technologies for Europe and its Western world partners. Its flagship Project, Tanbreez, is one of the world’s largest, rare- earth deposits and is located in Southern Greenland. The deposit is expected to have access to key transportation outlets as the area features year-round direct shipping access via deep water fjords that lead directly to the North Atlantic Ocean.

Another key asset is the Wolfsberg Lithium Project located in Carinthia, 270 km south of Vienna, Austria. The Wolfsberg Lithium Project is the first fully permitted mine in Europe and is strategically located with access to established road and rail infrastructure and is expected to be the next major producer of key lithium products to support the European market. Wolfsberg is well positioned with offtake and downstream partners to become a unique and valuable asset in an expanding geostrategic critical metals portfolio. With this strategic asset portfolio, Critical Metals Corp is positioned to become a reliable and sustainable supplier of critical minerals essential for defense applications, the clean energy transition, and next-generation technologies in the western world.

For more information, please visit https://criticalmetalscorp.com/.

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Canadian oil and gas stocks have faced a rollercoaster ride over the past few years.

However, analysts remain optimistic about the global oil sector. The top oil and gas stocks on the TSX and TSXV have been posting gains despite volatile market conditions, and many companies offer strong payouts for dividend investors.

Canadian energy stocks that pay dividends — a portion of corporate profits shared on a specific timeline — are attractive to those who prefer a long-term approach to wealth creation. Dividend investing allows for a steady flow of income and the opportunity to increase equity holdings.

Investors should look for stocks with high dividend yields, which is based on annual dividend income per share divided by price per share. For example, if a dividend stock has a share price of C$10.00 and pays a C$0.25 dividend every quarter, it has a dividend yield of 10 percent. Of course, as share prices fluctuate, so too will dividend yields, so investors should perform due diligence when choosing which company to invest in.

The ability to offer a dividend payment points to the financial health of a company, making it a point of pride for companies in the oil and gas industry.

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

American Lithium Minerals (OTCID:AMLM) announced it has taken a 19 percent stake in privately held Cunningham Mining, giving it exposure to precious metals in BC’s Golden Triangle.

The acquisition gives the explorer an indirect interest in Cunningham’s Nugget Trap placer claims, a 573.7 acre property registered with the BC Mineral Title registry and located within the Skeena Mining Division.

The transaction adds a permitted gold project to American Lithium’s growing property portfolio as it seeks to diversify across gold, lithium, rare earths and other critical minerals.

According to the company, Nugget Trap is authorized for a pay mining program of up to 30,000 cubic yards per year under permits issued by the BC’s Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals.

A recent independent assay based on a 25 pit test program reported average grades of more than 25.54 grams of gold per cubic meter, along with recoverable silver. The company attributes the mineralization to large gold and copper systems located upstream, including the Mitchell, Sulphurets, Kerr and Snowfield deposits.

Located in Northwestern BC, the Golden Triangle has drawn renewed industry attention amid higher gold prices and expanding infrastructure. The area is home to Seabridge Gold’s (TSX:SEA,NYSE:SA) KSM project, which the company says is one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposits by reserves. An updated preliminary feasibility study for KSM outlines proven and probable reserves of 47.3 million ounces of gold and 7.3 billion pounds of copper.

The Nugget Trap interest helps to geographically diversify American Lithium’s asset base, which also includes silver, copper-gold, rare earths and polymetallic projects in Chile, Québec, Yukon and Nevada.

Among those is the Sarcobatus lithium property in Central Nevada, covering roughly 1,780 acres of mining claims.

Alongside the Cunningham deal, the company announced the appointment of Ryan Cunningham as president and CEO of its wholly owned subsidiary, American Mineral Resources.

American Lithium said it continues to pursue financing and additional acquisitions to advance its exploration assets.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Astral Resources NL (ASX: AAR) (Astral or the Company) is pleased to report assay results received from a 17-hole reverse circulation (RC) drill program for 2,954 metres completed at the Kamperman Deposit, part of its 100%-owned Feysville Gold Project (Feysville), located ~14km south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia (Figure 1).

HIGHLIGHTS

Feysville Project

• Assay results received for 17 RC holes (2,954m) drilled recently at Kamperman, part of the 100%-owned Feysville Gold Project in WA. The program tested a variety of targets designed both to increase the Mineral Resource and improve understanding of the deposit, with a specific focus on high-grade zones. Best results include:
  • 14m at 6.79g/t Au from 192m including 2m at 23.8g/t Au from 193m (FRC463)
  • 13m at 6.60g/t Au from 44m including 1m at 57.6g/t Au from 46m and 1m at 10.9g/t Au from 48m, 4m at 2.06g/t Au from 62m and 4m at 3.81g/t Au from 88m (FRC457)
  • 21m at 3.11g/t Au from 115m including 1m at 13.4g/t Au from 132m (FRC460)
  • 15m at 3.70g/t Au from 123m including 1m at 16.4g/t Au from 124m and 1m at 21.1g/t Au from 135m, 6m at 2.79g/t Au from 158m, 23m at 2.57g/t Au from 180m including 3m at 13.7g/t Au from 197m and 3m at 2.57g/t Au from 208m (FRC452)
  • 14m at 2.66g/t Au from 179m (FRC461)
  • 27m at 0.78g/t Au from 21m and 25m at 1.68g/t Au from 50m including 1m at 11.7g/t Au from 59m and 1m at 10.5g/t Au from 62m (FRC453)
  • 6m at 4.10g/t Au from 210m including 1m at 13.4g/t Au from 212m (FRC454)
• The drill program has confirmed the presence of north-west striking high-grade gold mineralisation that is not currently included in the Kamperman Mineral Resource model, as well as confirming depth extensions to the southern lode and additional high-grade mineralisation in the footwall of the southern lode.

• A 4-hole (1,641m) DD program has been completed on the eastern flank of the Theia deposit, part of the 100%-owned Mandilla Gold Project. The drill program was designed to test for a potential steeply dipping sub-parallel mineralised structure to the east of Theia. Best results include:
  • 4.15m at 33.2g/t Au from 164.3m including 0.5m at 269.6g/t Au from 165m, 12.13m at 1.29g/t Au from 173.87m including 0.3m at 23.4g/t Au from 173.87m and 1.79m at 6.21g/t Au from 253.47m including 0.58m at 17.6g/t Au from 253.82m (AMRCD140)
  • 0.3m at 30.7g/t Au from 336.26m (AMRCD139)
• Quartz, pyrite and visible gold¹ were intersected in each of the four holes, confirming the potential for Theia to host additional mineralised structures.
• A 3-hole (775.6-m) DD program was also completed at Theia. The program was designed to target a previously intersected “230 Shear” structure. Drilling successfully intersected this distinct, narrow high-grade shear zone with best results including:
  • 1.57m at 22.8g/t Au from 168.59m including 0.6m at 59.2g/t Au from 169.56m, 7.12m at 1.42g/t Au from 175.08m including 0.3m at 25.9g/t Au from 175.51m, 8.73m at 0.95g/t Au from 222.44m and 4.90m at 1.28g/t Au from 259m including 0.3m at 13.7g/t Au from 262.07m (AMRCD137)
  • 2.27m at 4.94g/t Au from 161m including 0.47m at 22.8g/t Au from 161.93m and 5.33m at 1.08g/t Au from 202.85m (AMRCD138)

Astral Resources’ Managing Director Marc Ducler said: “The assay results from the recent RC program at Feysville have demonstrated the excellent potential for both the overall gold grade and the deposit size at Kamperman to increase.

“The program was highly successful in achieving its aims to extend interpreted high-grade gold zones beyond the existing Mineral Resource.

“The centrally located drill-hole, FRC457, returned an outstanding intercept of 13m at 6.60g/t Au, representing a very successful extension to a north-west striking high-grade ore shoot which appears to be projecting beyond the current deposit limits.

“Drill-hole FRC463 also returned a spectacular high-grade intercept. Drilled south and well beyond the current Resource testing for a south-plunging ore zone at depth, drilling successfully intersected 14m at 6.79g/t Au from 192m, to confirm one of our deepest zones of high-grade gold mineralisation so far and providing us with a hint of the greater potential still remaining at Kamperman.

“Over the Christmas period, Astral received notice from the DMPE of the grant of our Mining Licence application over areas of Feysville. This marks an important step as we progress towards submission of the Mining Proposal and execution of a JV agreement with Mineral Mining Services for the development of the Think Big Gold Mine. This would establish an early revenue opportunity for Astral against the backdrop of record gold prices to assist with securing overall development funding for the Mandilla Gold Project.

“Meanwhile at the cornerstone Theia deposit at Mandilla, we received assay results from two diamond drill programs, with further outstanding high-grade intercepts recorded.

“The first, a 3-hole program targeting the “230 Shear”, returned results such as 1.57m at 22.7g/t Au and 2.27m at 4.94g/t Au in separate holes, confirming the presence of this discrete, narrow, high-grade shear zone which strikes through the main Theia deposit.

“Importantly the shear, intersected in all three holes, remains mineralised at depth, with the potential to delineate additional sub-parallel repeats both within and extensional to Theia.

“A second 4-hole diamond drill program tested a potential steeply dipping sub-parallel structure to the east of Theia. As an initial positive sign visible gold was logged in all four holes, with a best result including a very high-grade intersection of 4.15m at 33.2g/t Au from 164.3m in hole AMDRCD137.

“Following our successful capital raise completed in December, Astral has funds on hand to maintain an aggressive exploration focus and complete the Mandilla DFS targeting a Final Investment Decision – all while maintaining a significant component of the equity requirement for development of the Mandilla Gold Project.

“Astral has ramped up exploration activities for 2026 with three drill rigs (2 RC and 1 DD rig) currently operating on site.”

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Jindalee Lithium Limited (Jindalee, or the Company; ASX: JLL, OTCQX: JNDAF) is pleased to report assay results from the drilling program at the McDermitt Lithium Project completed late 2025.

• All holes returned strong lithium and magnesium intercepts from shallow depths, including:
  • R92: 36.5m @ 1951 ppm Li & 5.23% Mg from 24.5m
  • R93: 15.5m @ 1456 ppm Li & 5.45% Mg from 3.6m
  • R94: 66.0m @ 1599 ppm Li & 4.12% Mg from 0.4m
  • R95: 110.6m @ 1519 ppm Li & 4.80% Mg from 23.0m
  • R96: 20.1m @ 1514 ppm Li & 5.29% Mg from 0.4m
• Three holes twinning earlier RC holes confirmed good correlation with RC results
• High-quality core samples retained for metallurgical testwork (lithium and magnesium)

Background

On 3 December 2025 Jindalee announced the completion of a large diameter core drilling program at the Company’s 100% owned McDermitt Lithium Project1 (McDermitt, Project), one of the largest lithium deposits in the United States (US) and of global significance2 (Figure 1).

The program comprised five PQ3 (8.5cm diameter) core holes designed to obtain samples for metallurgical testwork to further optimise lithium recoveries, as well as unlock value from the significant magnesium endowment at McDermitt, via the value optimisation program announced late October 20253. The drilling also provided valuable geological and geotechnical data on the deposit, with three of the holes collared to twin reverse circulation (RC) holes drilled in 2021 and 20224.

Discussion

All five holes returned strong lithium and magnesium intercepts from shallow depths as summarised above and in Annexure A. Three holes (R94, R95 and R96) were collared to twin RC holes drilled previously by Jindalee (MDRC-24, MDRC-21 and MDRC-22 respectively), with assays from the recent core holes showing good correlation with the RC results (refer Table 1). Jindalee will now undertake detailed geostatistical analysis to further evaluate the relationship between the results from RC and core drilling to help determine the optimal drilling methods for future programs.

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