Doug Bright

Chimeric Therapeutics says it is a step closer to unlocking treatment hope for patients suffering from the world’s deadliest form of brain cancer after dosing its first patient as part of a phase-1B trial. The new trial comes on the back of positive survival results in the previous phase of testing as the company continues to tackle the devastating glioblastoma condition.

Askari Metals’ is poised for follow-up work at its Springdale project in New South Wales after a second reconnaissance rock-sampling program turned up gold grades up to 56.7 grams per tonne, with the top 20 samples averaging 12.34g/t. The company says the program turned up granite-hosted and structurally-controlled gold mineralisation related to local intrusives, faulting and shearing.

K2fly has grown its annual recurring revenue (ARR) for a 13th straight quarter, revealing a 6 per cent jump up to $7.9 million in the company’s latest financial disclosure … and it says there is still room to expand. Management says ARR was up 22 per cent on last year’s corresponding quarter, while comparative revenue increased by 29 per cent.

The US Food and Drug Administration has provided crucial investigational new drug clearance for Australian clinical-stage cell therapy company Chimeric Therapeutics to begin trials using its “CHM 2101" gastrointestinal cancer therapy. The company plans to start testing the drug in multiple medical centres next year for patients with advanced colorectal cancer, gastric cancer and neuroendocrine tumours.

Australian explorer Gold Mountain has picked up lithium in soil samples over a 2.5km long zone at its new Salitre project in Brazil that it says could extend out to 8km in length. The anomalous zone also shows caesium, tantalum and tin and remains open to the north and south. Two nearby anomalies also require more sampling to resolve.

DiscovEx says that its joint venture partner Carnaby Resources has completed its maiden interim mineral resource for its Greater Duchess iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) project of 21.8 million tonnes just 70km southeast of Mt. Isa in Queensland. The Greater Duchess Project includes the “Southern Hub” tenements in the Mt. Isa Region of Queensland where DiscovEx holds a 17.5 per cent free-carried interest in 12 exploration permits for minerals.

Gold explorer Strickland Metals says it will begin 440m of diamond drilling this weekend homing in on its new Marwari gold target defined last month in maiden aircore drilling at the company’s Horse Well prospect in WA’s Yandal belt. Previous drilling at the prospect yielded a discovery hole which included an 8m interval running at an eye-catching 17.7grams per tonne gold which could indicate a new high-grade gold trend at Horse Well.

Australian-based reproductive biotechnology company, Memphasys says it has received a research and development tax refund of about $1.3 million from the Australian Tax Office. The refund has been used to repay an R&D loan to Radium Capital of $849,000 plus interest of $46,621 and its net refund of $419,466 will be reinvested and used as working capital.

Lycaon Resources has begun downhole electromagnetic surveys on two 800m deep diamond drillholes at its Bow River project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. The company is seeking to identify downhole and off-hole conductors potentially related to nickel-copper sulphide intercepts in both holes up to 45m wide which were also confirmed by pXRF. The results will inform the design of future deep drilling of the nickeliferous intrusion.

WA gold explorer, KalGold has nailed a string of solid gold hits at its Pinjin project near Kalgoorlie including multiple intersections running between 10m and 15m wide grading upwards of 5 grams per tonne gold. The company says recent reverse circulation drilling has yielded exceptional open-ended results from 3 prospects 140km northeast of Kalgoorlie extending its Kirgella North, Kirgella Gift and Providence target area to about 1150m of mineralised strike.

Titanium Sands has taken another step towards securing a mining licence for its heavy mineral sands project on Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island after lodging a formal submission with the area’s Central Environment Authority. The company says the CEA and environmental impact assessment consultants recently joined its Sri Lankan staff members on the island for a site visit as it continues to push its mining case.

Altech Batteries has unveiled the new design for its 60KWh Cerenergy sodium chloride solid-state battery pack and now has two prototypes under construction by its project partner, the Fraunhofer Institute in the German city of Dresden. The pack has been upgraded to improve structural integrity, cell retention and connectivity, heat loss and insulation and the ability to endure all temperature extremes.

Globe Metals & Mining has achieved metals extraction of more than 99 per cent on concentrates from its Kanyika niobium project in Malawi following a savvy decision to switch to vapour-chlorination technology. The company says the results validate its decision to move from high-cost, toxic, acid-based extraction and also highlight many other cost, processing, infrastructure, environmental, handling and ESG benefits.

Buxton Resources says a new geophysics method has helped to define and prioritise shallow potential open-pit graphite targets at its flagship Graphite Bull project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The company says its recent adoption of the Loupe electromagnetics geophysical survey method has led to multiple near-surface new targets being prioritised near its existing inferred resource.

Prospective ground secured by Buxton Resources in WA’s West Kimberley in 2015 is now looming as a company game-changer – for more reasons than one as it continues to foster a relationship with mining giant IGO. New nickel-copper sulphides potential revealed today from the joint venture’s Quick Shears project could be just the tip of the iceberg for a burgeoning partnership that also includes international exploration.

An "unsolicited" lithium review at Estrella Resources’ Carr Boyd nickel project near Kalgoorlie has spun out new and historical pegmatite potential – but the extent and lithium content is not yet known. The company says the approaches from a “leading global mining group” to evaluate the possibilities for LCT-type pegmatites at Carr Boyd has only reconfirmed its belief in what it believes the project may hold.

Terrain Minerals has set its sights on two priority polymetallic targets – which evoke the style of the giant nearby Golden Grove deposit – that have been defined from MMI geochemistry at its Smokebush project north of Perth in Western Australia. The company’s geochemical sampling yielded a 1100m-long polymetallic anomaly in the north of the grid and a new 900m-long polymetallic anomaly at the grid’s southern extent.

After some unforeseen hiccups, Conico is now charging towards completion of a scoping study, which it says will now include new project optimisations aimed at enhancing economics at its Mt Thirsty project. While high workflow levels for key consultants slowed the study process, it expects it to be finished next month, with an updated mineral resource also on the way.

Pancreatic cancer patients have been delivered fresh hope following the United States Food and Drug Administration’s decision to clear the way for Radiopharm Theranostics to run clinical trials to address an area of “unmet need”. The imaging trials are designed to detect lesions in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the first patient is expected to receive dosage by the end of this month.

A geochemical sampling program by Venus Metals at the westernmost licences within its Mangaroon North project in Western Australia’s emerging Gascoyne region has turned up two base metal anomalies that have been earmarked for further assessment. The company says it took about 1100 soil samples and 39 rock‐chip samples from across two of its tenements during the survey.

A geophysical survey at DiscovEx Resources’ Sylvania project near Newman in Western Australia has identified potential south-east extensions to two lodes within the previously defined 2.8-million-tonne Prairie Downs zinc-lead-silver resource. The survey was designed to test for potential sulphide mineralisation related to the Prairie Downs fault and also defined a target area centred about 10km north-west along strike of the resource at the Husky prospect.

Estrella Resources has earned pre-qualification in the Timor-Leste Government’s inaugural minerals tender process, opening up a potential pathway for the company to acquire tenure in a region known to host more than 200 mineral occurrences including gold, copper, manganese, silver and chromite. The process appears set to end the region’s dearth of exploration due to a succession of long-standing geopolitical factors.

Brightstar Resources says an independent $60.9 million valuation of its gold plant and infrastructure in WA’s far northern Goldfields represents significant development advantages ahead of a mining restart at its Menzies and Laverton gold projects. Management says the estimation outlines expenditure the company will not have to pay and the time it will save during the building process because it already has the existing infrastructure.

The Human Research Ethics Committee has given Radiopharm Theranostics its stamp of approval to begin first-in-human phase-one dose escalation trials in Australia on patients living with non-small cell lung cancer. The company says the vital approval will allow it to pursue greater hope for patients dealing with a devastating condition that currently has a “poor prognosis” in terms of life expectancy.

Strickland Metals is galloping along at its Horse Well prospect in the Warburton mineral field, near Wiluna in Western Australia, with more solid gold hits from drilling. Management has today revealed new intercepts of 4m at 1.7g/t gold from 2m in near-surface laterite and an impressive 58m at 1.7g/t gold from 17m, including 10m at 4.2g/t gold, largely in the weathered oxide zone.

ChemX Materials has confirmed the significant 4N (99.99 per cent) purity results from its 100 per cent-owned high-purity alumina “micro-plant” in Perth’s southern suburbs in Western Australia. The results were determined across an impressive spectrum of 66 elements and represent a key milestone for the company – achieved within just a year of commissioning its HPA facility ¬– on its pathway to 5N purity.

ABx Group has unearthed rare earths grades it believes are “unrivalled” for clay-hosted mineralisation in Australia at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound prospect in Tasmania, with an eye-watering result of 17,333 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO). The results came from a program 2km west of a hole that yielded the company’s previous best assay result with a top value of 4444ppm TREO.

Estrella Resources is evaluating its Carr Boyd project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region for lithium-pegmatite potential associated with a granitic or monzonitic body that intrudes the northern flanks of the mafic-ultramafic nickel host. New interpretations and a recent nickel discovery have highlighted areas of nickel potential and also indicate possible pegmatite-hosted lithium and related mineralisation within the project.

ABx Group has strengthened its grip on a significant area of Tasmanian rare earths potential with the granting of two new exploration licences covering 483 square kilometres for an initial five-year term, extending its recent Portrush discovery. The company also has an application in train to secure intervening ground between its established Deep Leads and Wind Break prospects.

Askari Metals’ soil sampling at its Callawa project near Marble Bar in Western Australia's Pilbara region has yielded significant nickel-copper-cobalt mineralisation, with a top value of 1808ppm nickel. It also threw up a a strong nickel-chromium correlation to a high of 2349ppm chromium, a high magnesium- chromium content and a typical nickel-copper ratio – all indicating a strong potential for peridotite-dunite-associated nickel mineralisation.

Independent testing by Novonix Battery Technology Solutions has found Lithium Australia’s lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) cathode material to be of high quality – either matching or exceeding competitor products across the key parameters of capacity, stability and high temperature performance. Tests suggest the company’s product is an attractive alternative in the existing LFP supply chain, which is heavily concentrated in China.

The Australian Patent Office has granted Neometals’ recycling subsidiary Primobius timely protection for the key hydrometallurgical separation “hub” of its lithium-ion battery (LiB) recycling process – the downstream component of its mechanical battery disassembly “spoke” plant. The company recently revealed it had received an order from Mercedes-Benz for a 10-tonne per day lithium-ion battery shredding plant for its new recycling operation in Germany.