M&A & Capital Markets: Smartkem inked a definitive all-stock merger deal with Ferrox Critical Minerals, valuing Ferrox at about $125M and aiming to build a vertically integrated critical minerals-to-electronics pathway. Project Pipeline (Gold): Dalaroo Metals extended the gold-in-soil corridor at its Bondoukou project to ~7 km and is now preparing a 10,000m reverse-circulation drilling push after raising A$2.5M. Project Pipeline (Gold Development): Riversgold advanced its Northern Zone Gold Project with a granted 21-year mining lease (M25/389) and continued mine permitting and studies. Project Update (Gold): Horizon Gold reported broad, high-grade intersections at Gum Creek, including strong Kingfisher results, supporting potential resource growth near its planned processing plant. Project Update (Gold Processing): Kavango Resources moved Hillside in Zimbabwe into live processing with a 50 tpd plant, reporting early commissioning performance and targeting first gold. Offtake (Manganese): Element25’s Butcherbird unit signed a binding long-term manganese concentrate offtake with OM Materials, capped near 1.1Mtpa. Mining Safety (Coal): A methane explosion at Pakistan’s Sorange coalfield killed at least 34 miners, with rescue operations and investigations underway. Policy & Trade: India’s Piyush Goyal urged India and Uzbekistan to double bilateral trade to $3B in three years, highlighting mining and rare earths investment opportunities. Tech & Supply Chain: Fortescue is reportedly exploring up to 2GW AI data centre development in Pilbara, leveraging its renewable power buildout. Crypto Mining Economics: American Bitcoin posted a $57.2M Q2 net loss while mining revenue rose to $67M, with its BTC treasury increasing to 8,002. Market Watch (Semiconductors): Nvidia RTX 50 pricing in South Korea is reportedly rising up to 30% as memory costs and supply shortages bite, with potential knock-on effects for AI and mining compute costs.