Craig Nolan

Ardea Resources has kicked off definitive feasibility study drilling planned to stretch for 51,745m in 888 holes at the Goongarrie Hub nickel project that it now shares with a giant Japanese consortium in the Western Australian Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie. The aim is to upgrade the project’s massive nickel-cobalt resource to the coveted measured mineral category to boost the confidence in its initial five-year plan.

Buxton Resources is employing a high-tech magnetic survey in a bid to define potential targets for the company’s maiden drill program at its recently-acquired Matrix manganese play in Arizona’s Mohave county. The survey will be flown at 30m flight lines above the 12-square-kilometre ground that sits on the interpreted western extension of Artillery Peak’s 277 million-tonne manganese resource grading at 2.8 per cent.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … InteliCare Holdings. Its shares jumped 144 per cent on the back of a $2 million capital raise to kickstart key commercial agreements for its AI-driven platform aimed at enabling the elderly to stay in their homes for longer. Other ASX movers and shakers were Encounter Resources, Vonex and Actinogen Medical.

Surefire Resources says it has identified a significant opportunity to produce high-grade iron and titanium concentrates from its Unaly Hill magnetite deposit that sits in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company is also engaging with potential stakeholders interested in fast-tracking the development of its flagship Victory Bore project abutting its Unaly Hill ground, about 450km north-east of Perth.

Red Metal’s metallurgical testwork has given a green light to the rare earths at its Sybella play near Mount Isa in Queensland, with bulk mining and a low-cost heap leach process to lead to a potential mining operation. The company says granite-hosted soft ore that appears to be abundant in its ground, offers simple crushing and processing options that provide an economic edge to the project.

The Federal Government has paved the way for Triangle Energy Global to complete the $15 million sale of its Cliff Head oil assets off the WA coastline after approving the site for permanent offshore carbon storage. The approval confirmed today by Resources Minister Madeleine King will allow Pilot Energy to acquire the project, while Triangle will set a stronger focus on its Perth Basin targets.

Ardea Resources’ high-tech mineral processing technique has boosted the nickel-cobalt inventory at its Goongarrie Hub project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and earned it a healthy Federal Government grant of $1.1 million. It comes less than two months after a giant Japanese consortium committed to backing the development of the project described by the Federal Government as “globally significant”.

Middle Island Resources has secured the maximum $300,000 grant from the NT Government, which the company says is an endorsement of the significant targets at its Barkly copper-gold “super-project” in the Top End. The co-funded payment will enable the first-round testing of a spread of iron oxide-copper-gold targets at its Georgina project and one deep diamond-hole at its Bedrock prospect within the Barkly ground.

Lindian Resources has shortlisted two experienced contractors to vie for the prize of designing and constructing a processing plant at the company’s hulking Kangankunde rare earths project in the south-east African nation of Malawi. Management, which is close to completing a stage-one feasibility study for the project, says both firms have a track-record of delivering significant-scale mining and processing operations in several African countries.

The bright lights of a future Saudi Arabia are enticing Australian companies such as Surefire Resources to the Arabian Peninsula – and the company is looking to supply the minerals needed to build the Kingdom’s pipeline of significant projects planned for the coming decades. The super-wealthy country has openly acknowledged it needs help from “experienced mining heads” to help develop its fledgling industry.

ABx Group has confirmed that its “Alcore” technology has delivered its best fluorine recovery result to date, returning 93 per cent in testwork at its Technology Centre on the NSW Central Coast – increasing the company’s confidence in the commercial viability of the process. Management says detailed experimental work and an in-depth knowledge of the relevant process underpinned the impressive result.

Neometals has taken a first-hand look at the extraction of high-value metals palladium and gold from metallurgical testwork at the United State-based Precious Metals Recovery pilot plant as it considers taking an 80 per cent stake in the high-tech operation. A second trial has also now begun in a bid to replicate the success when using the preferred feedstock and re-agents process.

St George Mining is planning to launch a grid-spaced gravity survey next month at its intriguing C1 rare earths prospect at the company’s Destiny project, about 100km south-west of the Western Australian mining town of Kambalda. The company will conduct a grid-spaced 200m-by-200m gravity survey that has been designed to home in on discrete targets within the prominent magnetic and gravity-high core of C1.

Si6 Metals says it has discovered a 3km-by-800m pegmatite corridor at its Padre Paraiso project in the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil, with assays returning anomalous lithium from auger drilling and rock chip samples. The project sits 20km from Sigma Lithium’s renowned Grota do Cirilo operation that produces 270,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate.

Thunderbird Resources has levelled its sole focus on its prospective portfolio of uranium projects in Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin after turning its back on a pair of lithium projects in Ontario. Following a strategic review of its operations, the company is adamant it will get “more bang for its buck” by using its available financial and human resources across fewer projects.

Alma Metals plans to soon begin a core-drilling program to upgrade and expand the copper-molybdenum resource at its flagship Briggs project that sits about 60km from the deep-water port of Gladstone in Queensland. In a vote of confidence for the project, newly-appointed contractor iDrilling will take $240,000 of its fees in Alma shares priced at 1.2c – a 33 per cent premium to the existing price.

Everest Metals Corporation has hit multiple pegmatites during its recently-completed phase one drilling program as it hunts for rubidium to deliver a maiden resource at its Mt Edon critical minerals project in WA’s Mid West. The new intersections from a reverse-circulation campaign have significantly expanded the company’s target area at the project that sits about 5km south-west of the historical gold mining town of Paynes Find.

Incoming Lindian Resources chief executive officer Alwyn Vorster has vowed to bring the company’s massive flagship Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi into construction and operation “as soon as possible”. The experienced rare earths executive, who has a track-record of managing projects through all stages of development, is expected to take up his new post as of this Saturday.

King River Resources has pocketed a timely R&D tax rebate of more than $361,000 as it ramps up spending on a 10,800m reverse-circulation drill program at its prospective Tennant Creek East copper-gold project in the Northern Territory. The program, which kicks off this week, was delayed for several months due to flooding rains, but will now test 13 prospects at the company’s Top End projects.

A joint bid by Neometals and mining giant Mineral Resources, using electricity to turn purified lithium chloride from South American brines into lithium hydroxide, has entered its final stage at a testing facility in Canada. The pilot testwork progam being undertaken with Neometals’ proprietory “ELi” process is aimed at producing a converted material for use in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.

Buxton Resources has revealed plans to drill-test three new target areas unveiled by high-tech ground moving-loop electromagnetic (MLEM) surveys at its Ranger and Oculus prospects in an upcoming campaign at its Narryer project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The company says the surveys provided high-conductance levels up to 10,000 Siemens, indicating the potential for iron-bearing copper-nickel or graphite mineralisation.

The heavens have finally closed over King River Resources’ ground in the Northern Territory and it has declared itself open for drilling business for copper and gold at the many prospects within its Tennant Creek East project. The reverse-circulation drill program, delayed for several months due to flooding rains, is planned for 10,800m at 13 prospects within three of the company’s Top End projects.

Thunderbird Resources has launched a new high-tech survey sampling program as part of the latest uranium exploration campaign at its premier Hidden Bay project in the renowned Athabasca Basin in Canada. Taking advantage of the ideal Canadian summer conditions, the sampling program is understood to be able to detect blind uranium targets from depths of up to several hundred metres.

Si6 Metals has nailed high-grade hits of up to 5475 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from surface, including magnet rare earths up to 36 per cent, at its Caldera joint venture project in the notable mining region of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The company has today reported that its latest seven-hole auger drilling program intersected mineralisation in every hole.

Buxton Resources will try to turn a new project in Mohave County into a manganese oasis after today revealing its acquisition of the Matrix project that sits in the north-western region of Arizona. The 12-square-kilometre operation lies adjacent to the world’s sixth-biggest manganese resource in terms of contained metal and expands the company’s push into the electric vehicle critical minerals space.

Aspiring rare earths developer Red Metal is aiming to stretch its “world-first” Sybella discovery with a new drilling program outside the known mineralisation zone at its project about 20km south-west of Mt Isa in North Queensland. The company is looking to define the potential size of the deposit and its grade, with plans to drill 10,000m using a combination of air-core and percussion drilling.

St George Mining’s latest gravity survey program has unveiled four compelling targets with coincident high gravity and prominent magnetic features at its Destiny project, about 100km south-west of the small Western Australian mining town of Kambalda. The high gravity signatures indicate the potential for similar carbonatite or mafic intrusions found recently to host highly-valuable minerals such as niobium or high-grade rare earths.

Horizon Minerals is on the path to generating its first cash flows from mining its Boorara gold deposit in WA after entering an ore sale agreement with Paddington Gold for the treatment of 1.4 million tonnes of ore at the Paddington mill. The agreement will start in the next quarter and run for 22 months, with the mill sitting about 56km by road from Boorara.

Buxton Resources is poised to launch a drilling campaign to pump up the 2014 mineral resource at its Graphite Bull project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region after securing clearance from a recent Aboriginal heritage survey. The company can now complete infill drilling along a 2.1km potential strike zone where drilling last year confirmed further high-grade graphite mineralisation at the project.

ra Banda Mining has further bolstered its bank balance after pocketing $11.71 million as its lucrative joint venture deal with business goliath Wesfarmers at the Davyhurst project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region nears completion. Ora Banda will now receive a final $4.29 million next week to complete the Davyhurst transaction after all conditions of the deal were satisfied.

Aurumin has secured five new exploration tenements to stretch its near 1 million-ounce Sandstone gold operations that sit about 600km north-east of Perth in Western Australia’s historic East Murchison region. The tenements sit on more than 60 square kilometres of the Youanmi terrane greenstone and consist of various historical workings and old deposits that make up several compelling targets.

Empire Energy Group says it has received binding commitments to raise a hulking $46.8 million from new and existing institutional shareholders, including two United States-based oil and gas heavyweights. The company will be extremely well-funded after the raise and will use its new “cash stash” to drill a 3km-long development well at its Carpentaria pilot project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-basin.