One piece of keenly awaited news will be OZ Minerals' first copper concentrate production from the A$980 million Carrapateena operation in South Australia.

The milestone had been expected in November, but was delayed due to incorrect parts.

Also among the mid-caps, St Barbara has flagged the release of capital expenditure guidance for its new Atlantic operations in Canada.

The definitive feasibility study for Base Resources' Toliara mineral sands project in Madagascar should be released this month.

A DFS for Boss Resources' Honeymoon uranium project in SA is complete and due any day now.

Big River Gold has also flagged the release of a DFS for its Borborema project in Brazil.

A number of companies have also reported plans to release updated resources before year-end.

Genesis Minerals is due to release an updated resource for its Ulysses gold deposit near Leonora, while Focus Minerals will update its Karridale resource, also in Western Australia's Goldfields.

Bryah Resources is planning to release a maiden resource for the Tumblegum South gold-copper project near Meekatharra.

Aeon Metals will update the resource for its Walford Creek copper-cobalt project, while Andromeda Metals is set to report an upgraded Poochera halloysite resource.

Offshore, Metals Australia has flagged the release of a resource for its Lac Rainy graphite project in Canada.

After a slow year for initial public offerings, there could be a last minute rush.

Ardea Resources spin-off Godolphin Resources is expected to list just before Christmas after closing the IPO early last month.

Macarthur Minerals is raising money to dual list.

Ian Murray-chaired Virgo Resources, Metal Hawk and Tesoro Resources are all aiming for 2019 listings.

MMG will delist from the ASX.

On the exploration front, the market is keenly waiting news on Legend Mining's rumoured Fraser Range discovery.

Assays from the first eight holes of drilling by Newcrest Mining at Encounter Resources' Afghan prospect in the Tanami are due this month.

In the not-so-good news category, troubled nickel developer Axiom Mining has requested a suspension until December 10 as it tries to obtain funding.

Troy Resources will remain suspended while it awaits government approvals and obtains funding to restart its Karouni mine in Guyana.

Aside from the usual Christmas parties, there's several other events this month.

The Resources Rising Stars Summer Series will travel to Sydney and Brisbane this week, while the New World Metals Conference will be held in Perth next week.

Gold Road Resources and Gold Fields will formally open the Gruyere gold mine tomorrow.

AMEC will hold its annual awards dinner in Perth on Thursday.

Alumina CEO Mike Ferraro will speak at the Melbourne Mining Club on Thursday, while Roy Woodall will be the WA Mining Club's speaker for St Barbara's Day on Friday.

Among the offshore listed/based companies, Newmont Goldcorp will tonight report guidance for 2020, while Glencore will hold an investor briefing in London this week.

Kirkland Lake Gold reconfirmed last week that it expected to release some new Fosterville drilling results this month and is due to make a formal decision on the restart of its Northern Territory operations.

SolGold has an Alpala resource update due ahead of a prefeasibility study scheduled for release in early 2020.

Finally, Andrew Mackenzie will finish up as CEO of BHP on December 31.