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Culpeo Minerals (ASXL: CPO) rose after saying it had secured access for its maiden Vista Montana drilling campaign.

The company said the initial four-hole, 2,000m diamond drilling program at the Lana Corina project and the Vista Montana prospect is expected to begin within the next two weeks.

NEC Geoff McNamara said the re-establishment of operations at the Lana Corina project allows the company to move directly to maiden diamond drilling at Vista Montana, which has the potential to materially expand the Lana Corina discovery.

“This drilling, coupled with an imminent geophysics survey, will further refine existing targets and potentially identify new targets along the highly prospective structural corridor.”

The move gives traders a clearer near-term catalyst to watch, with drilling and geophysics both feeding into the company’s next set of field results.

CPO was up 33.3% at 1.6¢.

49 Metals (ASX: 49M) was also in positive territory after intersecting a wide zone in drilling at Gold Mountain in Nevada.

Maiden RC drilling at the Gold Mountain project and the subsequent Adit Zone discovery have transformed the company’s understanding of the broader Gold Mountain system.

“These results are an outstanding way to complete our maiden drilling program at Gold Mountain and, importantly, they have materially advanced our understanding of the Adit Zone,” CEO Phil Carter said.

“Hole DRC#22 has delivered 170 metres of continuous gold mineralisation, the thickest interval we’ve seen anywhere on the project, while DRC#19 has returned another broad zone of mineralisation containing a high-grade core of up to 20 grams per tonne gold.”

Broad drill intervals and follow-up targets remain central to how investors are reading the project’s scale potential at this stage.

49M jumped 30.0% to 13.0¢.

Biome Australia’s (ASX: BIO) wholly owned subsidiary Biome Australia Trading has signed a heads-of-agreement with H&S Global for the exclusive distribution of the Activated Probiotics range in China.

The range will be distributed through cross-border e-commerce under a three-year initial term, with launch planned within FY27.

“We have been looking at China for several years and have deliberately waited,” managing director Blair Vega Norfolk said.

“Entering too early with the wrong partner is how brands get damaged in this market. We reviewed proposals from several of the leading distributors in this channel and H&S were in a class of their own. What mattered most was that they share our time horizon, vision and values.”

The agreement also places a timeline on market entry, with the company using cross-border e-commerce rather than a broader rollout at launch.

BIO climbed 21.4% to 34.0¢.

Looking more broadly, the S&P/ASX 200 opened lower, falling 67.30 points, or 0.74%, to 9,060.50 and moving below its 20-day moving average. The weakest performers in the index were Generation Development Group and Centuria Capital Group, down 14.84% and 13.91% respectively. The index has lost 0.26% over the past five days and remains 2.54% below its 52-week high.

Elsewhere, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA (CME) has backed Western Australian Premier Roger Cook’s call for the state to be carved out of the Commonwealth’s proposed domestic gas reservation scheme.

Mr Cook has argued for an exemption on the basis that WA already has a longstanding domestic gas reservation policy that is delivering outcomes exceeding what the Commonwealth is seeking on the east coast.

CME chief executive Aaron Morey said a legislated carve-out was essential to protect WA’s gas market from unintended consequences flowing from reforms designed to address east coast challenges.

“WA is physically disconnected from the east coast gas market and has operated its own domestic gas reservation policy for two decades,” Mr Morey said.

“That policy has helped deliver reliable supply and gas prices that in recent years have been around half those on the east coast. As the Premier rightly highlights, the volume of gas delivered into our State’s domestic market last year exceeded 20 per cent of LNG exports.”

That’s Thursday’s HotCopper Market Trends. I’m Colin Sandell-Hay — see you for close.

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The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.