Doug Bright

Solara Minerals has secured 310 square kilometres of exploration licences in the Bryah Basin near the DeGrussa and Peak Hill mines in one of WA’s proven and prospective copper and gold districts after acquiring licensee OD4 Tom Price for $130,000 cash and 1.25 million shares. High-priority conductors at the key DeGrussa West and Wilgeena projects have not yet been tested.

Larvotto Resources has raised US$105 million (A$161.3M) via a fully subscribed senior secured bond to help restart its Hillgrove antimony-gold project in NSW. The project is backed by strong investor demand and aims for first production in 2026. The bond issue, supported by major Australian and international funds, underscores a robust case for Hillgrove’s role in supplying critical antimony and gold.

Lithium Universe has secured exclusive rights to a patented microwave technology for greener recycling of silver and critical metals from solar photovoltaic panels, after completing its acquisition of licensee New Age Minerals. The acquisition gives Lithium Universe access to Macquarie University’s innovative microwave joule heating technology, which more efficiently recovers silver from discarded photovoltaic panels.

Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits this week examines some recent notable drilling intercepts revealed on the ASX, including Encounter Resources’ high-grade niobium hit at its Joyce project in WA’s West Arunta region. Other interesting drill hits were reported by Nimy Resources, at its Mons gallium project, and Hyterra Limited landed a helium hit at its Nemaha gas field project in the US state of Kansas.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining’s Lighthorse prospect at Pinjin near Kalgoorlie has doubled its strike to 1450m via air core drilling, identifying broad gold anomalism to guide an upcoming major RC drilling campaign. The 99-hole, 4710m program revealed thick, shallow gold intercepts and a second anomaly 800m north, surpassing the company’s Kirgella Gift/Providence footprint. This sets the stage for KalGold’s largest-ever RC drilling effort.

St George Mining has development studies in full swing at its Araxa niobium and rare earth elements project in Brazil’s premier mining state of Minas Gerais, as part of a global push to find new supplies. The company’s inaugural drilling campaign is charging ahead, with 40 auger holes on a 500m grid completed for 512m as part of a reconnaissance program to test areas beyond the current resource envelope.

Lithium Universe Limited has kicked off a pioneering project to extract silver from discarded photovoltaic solar panels, leveraging technology developed by scientists at Macquarie University in Sydney. Global silver demand is set to reach a record 680 million ounces in 2025, driven by a 7% compound annual growth rate in industrial use, photovoltaics and artificial intelligence, triggering an anticipated 117.6-million-ounce market deficit.

Ora Banda Mining has ended its financial year with a record 92,400 ounces of gold produced, a 32% increase over the previous year, marking the company’s second consecutive year of more than 30% organic growth. Production includes 1400 ounces from third-party processing under an ore sale agreement with Norton Gold Fields at Paddington Mill.

In a transformational move, BMG Resources has executed a memorandum of understanding that clears a path to toll treatment of its Abercromby gold ore at Wiluna Mining Corporation’s Matilda plant. The fully operational conventional carbon-in-leach gold ore processing facility is 20km northeast of BMG’s project and the company says the mill is well-suited to process its Abercromby ore.

BMG Resources has kicked off a 30-hole reverse circulation drilling program for a planned 3000 metres at its Bullabulling North gold project near Coolgardie. The program will follow-up high-grade gold results from earlier scout drilling, which include 2m assaying an impressive 18.1g/t gold from 34m, 12m at 2.3g/t gold from 53m and 4m going 10.12g/t gold from 32m. Credit: File

88 Energy has secured a 12-month extension for the company’s onshore Owambo Basin petroleum exploration licence in Namibia that will extend its first renewal exploration period until October 2026. The company has introduced a new stage 1 works program targeting pre-drill de-risking. The program includes an airborne gravity and magnetic survey to run later this year.

In a Red Letter Day, Meeka Metals yesterday poured the first gold from the company’s Murchison gold project on schedule, within 12 months of breaking ground at its new Murchison Goldfield venture. With plant commissioning completed, management reports that production is ramping up smoothly. Meeka plans to process about 80,000 ounces of gold per year.

Aurum Resources has launched a 30,000-metre diamond drilling campaign at its 0.87-million-ounce Napié project, about 110 kilometres southeast of the company’s flagship Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire. The two-rig program aims to expand the current Napié resource, drill other thinly tested targets and deliver an updated mineral resource estimate for the project by the end of the year.

Neometals has delivered a 250,000-tonne mineral resource estimate averaging 1.6g/t gold for mineralisation near historical underground workings at its Ironclad deposit in the company’s Barrambie project near Sandstone. The inaugural inferred estimate of 13,000 ounces gold for Ironclad was completed to confirm historical non-JORC compliant estimates and is based mainly on shallow reverse circulation and rotary air blast holes drilled mostly to less than 75 metres deep.

GreenTech Metals’ recent exploration target model for its Whundo massive sulphide base metals project points to a resource potential from 15 million tonnes to 23Mt, with between 0.9% and 1.4% copper. The model for the company’s project, near Karratha in WA’s Pilbara region, also indicates a zinc resource potential for the same tonnage within a grade range of 0.2% to 0.4% zinc.

St George Mining will start a reverse circulation drilling program within days at its Araxa niobium-rare earths project in Brazil, as the company builds local community and government support to develop Araxa into a globally significant project. The RC program will be followed by a 10,000m, 16-week diamond drilling campaign in July.

Novo Resources has given its high-grade Pilbara gold and gold-antimony prospects a solid nudge, including at Sherlock Crossing, where it defined a 1.5km-long soil antimony anomaly with coincident gold. The better than 15ppm anomaly, which peaked at 48.3ppm antimony, was identified in extended sampling south of Novo’s initial grid around the historic Clarke Mine, with peak gold of 85 parts per billion.

On the cusp of pouring its first gravity gold this month. Meeka Metals has also put together a $60 million share placement to expand its Murchison project operations in WA’s Mid West region. The company intends to combine proceeds from the placement with cash reserves to expand and accelerate its open pit operations by mobilising a third mining fleet and picking up the pace on its underground drilling.

Aurum Resources’ Boundiali gold project in Cote d'Ivoire keeps on keeping on, with its latest results including a 66m run assaying 1.07g/t gold from 33m at its BDT1 deposit on the key gold trend in its BD ground. That intercept includes 21.73m assaying 1.01g/t gold from 39m and 29m going 1.46g/t gold from 69m. The latest holes have some exceptionally long runs showing persistent gold traces.

Middle Island Resources’ review of data from its fully owned Ridgelands project in Queensland has produced a walk-up target area where 1980s exploration revealed enticing rock sample assays to 14.6g/t gold. The old data also reveals soil-gold anomalism above 0.05 parts per million to a peak of 5.66g/t gold, while shallow reverse circulation drilling attained a best intercept of 10m at 1.15g/t gold.

Lindian Resources has topped up its coffers with a double shot of cash totalling just under $1.65 million from the exercise of 10M unlisted options at $0.12 per share for $1.2M and a $448,753 R&D refund. The federal Research and Development Tax Incentive Program refund is for Lindian’s process development and metallurgical testwork conducted to improve beneficiation at its massive Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi.

Meeka Metals has kicked off its much-anticipated plant commissioning, navigating a decisive moment when ore is first fed into the plant, paving the way for first gold from its gravity circuit later this month. Meeka’s commissioning team is onsite at the company’s Murchison project, 50km north of Meekatharra, working with the construction and processing crews to ensure everything is fault-free and at or coming up to specification.

Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits examines some notable drill intercepts revealed on the ASX, including Sunshine Metals’ one-ounce-per-tonne gold hit from 41m, which included 2m at 3.9 ounces per tonne gold. Other interesting drill hits from last week were reported from Variscan Mines’ Udias lead-zinc mine in northern Spain and PVW Resources’ Capao Bonito rare earths project in Brazil.

Meeka Metals continues to expand its shallow high-grade oxide gold zones immediately south of its stage one Turnberry Central open pit at its Murchison gold project, 50km north of Meekatharra. The company’s best intercept of 30m assaying 1.09g/t gold from 29m, including 9m at 2.45g/t gold, follows a 10m run at 5.2g/t gold from 37m, including 2m going 23.23g/t gold reported last month.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining will run high-resolution geophysics across about 9.5 square kilometres enclosing prospective sites at its Pinjin gold project, 140 kilometres north-northeast of Kalgoorlie. The company plans to launch the sub-audio magnetic survey in mid-June to better define sub-surface geological structures and mineralised zones mainly under extensive surface cover.

Encouraged by a surging gold price, GreenTech Metals has identified significant gold associated with the copper in a review of more than 50,000 historical samples from its Whundo copper-zinc project in WA’s West Pilbara. The review of more than 1195 holes has uncovered a best intercept of 1m at 64.7g/t gold from 47m at the south end of a 2km-long mineralised trend. The findings could open the door to near-term production.

Dual-listed Dateline Resources’ share price has gone ballistic in the US, after the company’s latest modelling showed its Colosseum gold project in California is surrounded by a huge felsite-breccia pipe complex. The company will run new geophysical surveys in June to stack up evidence for new drilling targets for gold resource growth and to potentially delineate a rare earths ore body for the project.

Meeka Metals expects to pour its first gold in the coming weeks, having recently passed key plant pre-commissioning milestones at the company’s expanded Murchison gold project. Meeka now has an energised and refurbished processing plant after it commissioned an onsite power station and has expanded its accommodation village so that its open pit and underground mines can work concurrently.

Meeka Metals continues its indomitable run of high-grade, shallow, open-pittable gold numbers from its flagship Murchison gold project near Meekatharra in Western Australia, with 10m at 5.20g/t gold, including 2m at 23.23g/t. That headline hit began at 37m downhole depth in Meeka’s latest resource expansion drilling program, south of its Turnberry Central stage one oxide pit design.

Terrain Minerals’ Larin’s Lane gallium-rare earths project is fast advancing, with studies now underway as part of a WA industry and government-funded research project that ultimately aims to develop a reliable supply of REEs in the state. The Larin’s Lane collaboration will also offer insights into the economics of emerging REE extraction techniques and the potential for strategic mineral by-products, which could benefit WA.

Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits examines some notable drill intercepts recently revealed on the ASX, including White Cliff Minerals’ 58m hit of 3.08% copper and 13.3g/t silver at its Canadian Rae project. Other interesting drill hits were reported from Benz Mining Corporation’s Glenburgh project in Western Australia’s northwest and from Koonenberry Gold’s Enmore gold project in New South Wales.

Aurum Resources has added two new contiguous permit applications to the southern part of the company’s extensive tenement holdings, which make up its 1.6-million-ounce Boundiali gold project in Cote d'Ivoire. The strategic acquisition, covering 316 square kilometres, extends the overall width of Aurum’s current southern targets to about 52km and could help the company further expand its rapidly growing existing mineral resource.