James Pearson

Strickland Metals has homed in on a powerful near-surface anomaly as part of a survey being run at the Obradov Potok prospect within its Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia. The preliminary induced-polarisation survey has unearthed a target that starts 100m below the surface and extends along a 400m strike length, suggesting a potentially significant new mineral deposit is taking shape.

With Mineral Resources turning a chapter and pulling the plug on its Yilgarn iron ore hub in Western Australia, the race for potential suitors vying for a look in at Esperance’s newly-released rail and port capacity is hotting up. And the star-studded list of runners and riders positioning at the starting blocks makes for some very interesting reading.

Radiopharm Theranostics has been given the nod of approval by the United States Food and Drug Authority to use its brain cancer-fighting technology in late-stage trials, with a first patient expected to be dosed later this year. The company’s “F18-Pivalate” agent is designed to seek out and define a fatty acid that is overexpressed in brain tumours, but not in normal cells.

In a significant move poised to bolster the immediate direction of its multi-mineral pursuits, White Cliff Minerals has secured well-known mining mogul John Hancock as a strategic advisor to its board. The company has engaged the son of Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart as it gears up for a substantial expansion of its project portfolio during the next year.

A surface rock chip sample revealing 137.7 grams per tonne gold and 10.6 per cent copper at Latitude 66's Peräpohja Schist Belt Project (PSB) project in northern Finland has provided management with a tantalising new glimpse into what treasures may lie beneath. The company says its latest results have affirmed multiple ice flow gold-copper mineralisation trends extending up to 2km.

Buxton Resources’ mission to deliver battery anode concentrate material from its Graphite Bull project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region has gained momentum after recent drilling hit multiple new zones of high-grade graphite. The company says substantial graphitic core zones are visible in the first hole from the new campaign as its confidence builds in relation to its chances of delivering significant resource growth.

Legend Mining has reignited its search for nickel and copper at the Octagonal prospect within Western Australia’s rugged Fraser Range, launching a new electromagnetic survey following a four-month bad weather delay. The company has confirmed the program at its Rockford project is now firmly back on track and will explore a strong conductive zone on the eastern flank of the prospect.

Latitude 66 has unveiled 20 new gold-copper targets at its Peräpohja Schist Belt (PSB) project in Finland as it ramps up efforts to prove the potential for a lookalike to its nearby flagship operation in the Scandinavian nation. Management says geophysical surveys, geological mapping and rock sampling at PSB suggests similarly significant mineralisation to its Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) play.

Buxton Resources has kicked off Aboriginal heritage surveys at its 100 per cent-owned greenfield Centurion prospect in Central Australia as it seeks clearance to fuel its aim to discover a significant iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit at the site. The critical surveys are being carried out by members of the Parna Ngururrpa and Ngurra Kayanta traditional owner groups that hold the cultural authority over the land.

Altech Batteries says cells for its “Cerenergy” sodium chloride battery prototypes have shown “higher-than-expected” energy capacities during a testing program at several Fraunhofer IKTS facilities in Germany. The company has today confirmed it has completed the fabrication, assembly and initialisation of all 240 cells for the first prototype at its pilot plant and expects to mount the finished modules into a full “BatteryPack” next week.

With its phase one ponds at 60 per cent capacity, Galan Lithium says its stocks at the Hombre Muerto West project in Argentina have grown to 2800 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent. With the project’s construction stage reaching 40 per cent completion, the company has also today confirmed that is has moved closer to selecting potential offtake and funding partners for the operation.

Ora Banda Mining has supercharged its gold production ambitions, setting a new target of 150,000 ounces in FY26 following the board’s final investment decision to push on and develop its new Sand King underground mine in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. The pivotal move cements Sand King as the company’s second underground operation at its Davyhurst gold project that lies 120km north-west of Kalgoorlie.

Radiopharm Theranostics has kicked off the first phase of clinical trials testing its “RAD 204” treatment aimed at beating the most common type of lung cancer – non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) – after dosing its first patient in New South Wales. The first in-human trial at the Wollongong Hospital has been designed to assess the safety and tolerability of the company’s innovative radiopharmaceutical therapy.

In a bold bid to unveil Namibia’s onshore resource treasures, 88 Energy has launched a major 2D seismic acquisition program for its petroleum exploration licence 93 (“PEL 93”) within the Owambo Basin's uncharted Damara system. The ambitious initiative that covers 18,500 square kilometres of largely-unexplored territory, represents a pivotal milestone for both the company and the region, with an eye to unlocking new oil discoveries.

Meeka Metals has secured mine dewatering and clearing permits to step closer to first gold at its Murchison project in Western Australia’s Mid West region, with the company now expecting mining permits early in September. Management has drawn down on $1.34 million of a $2.2 million secured bridging loan facility to purchase the camp and associated infrastructure at the operation.

Latitude 66 has immediately hit its stride after a recent reverse takeover of DiscovEx Resources and re-listing on the ASX, revealing impressive new gold assay results up to 22.4m at 2.4g/t from extensional diamond drilling at its Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) project in Finland. The company is building on the existing indicated resource of 650,000 ounces of gold and 8000 tonnes of cobalt.

Aguia Resources has endured a forgettable few years, but with new management and a new plan in place for its South American projects, a road to riches may well lie just ahead. The company is aiming to deliver strong early cashflow from its high-grade Santa Barbara gold mine in Columbia to provide the cash needed to fire up its organic phosphate operations in Southern Brazil.

Strickland Metals has upped the ante at its Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia by adding a fourth diamond rig to target substantial copper-gold porphyry mineralisation at the site, with initial assays due next month. The new drilling activities come hot on the heels of Strickland confirming yesterday that it had completed its full acquisition of the project.

Aguia Resources is on the cusp of securing a processing facility close to its Tres Estrades phosphate project in Brazil that should see it avoid paying through the nose for a brand new one and lead to an earlier production ramp up by mid-2025. The identification of existing processing plants within an economic trucking distance of Aguia's orebodies presents a unique opportunity to cut costs and accelerate production timelines.

King River Resources is set to unleash the drill bit in a new campaign designed to home in on high-grade gold targets at its Tennant Creek project in the Northern Territory following detailed interpretations of geophysical studies. The 1600m reverse-circulation drilling program will test newly-identified gold targets at the company’s promising Kurundi operation at Tennant Creek.

Estrella Resources has inked a milestone joint venture and royalty deed with Murak Rai Timor (MRT), the State-run mining arm of the Timor-Leste Government, to explore for manganese, copper and gold in that country. Estrella will hold 70 per cent of the newly-formed venture that includes three exploration licenses covering a landholding of 121.5 square metres, with MRT holding 30 per cent.

ChemX Materials has taken a crucial step towards high-purity alumina production after cranking up the early-stage commissioning of a leach circuit at its innovative “HiPurA” pilot plant in Western Australia. The leach circuit is a critical initial part of ChemX’s purification process in its aim to produce 99.99 per cent, or “four nines”, purity HPA from its planned 24-tonne per annum plant.

Novo Resources and its respective joint venture partners De Grey Mining and industry veteran Mark Creasy are firing up the rigs with multiple gold and base metal drilling programs in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The partnerships will be plunging a combined 32,000m of drilling into the respective Becher and Nunyerry North targets in a bid to make another compelling Pilbara discovery.

Geological mapping and grab sampling by Estrella Resources has stretched its manganese strike out to 47km in Timor-Leste, with some priority samples already crushed and sent back to Perth for expert lab analysis. The company is now weighing up its business case for the potential first-ever manganese exports from the Southeast Asian country formerly known as East Timor.

ASX-listed K2fly’s cloud-based software solution that audits mineral inventories has attracted as new customer, with Canadian company Lundin Mining committing to a new three-year, $661,000 agreement. The deal – which has an annual recurring revenue value of $180,000 – will provide Lundin with a total mineral resource governance solution to be delivered at the corporate level, covering all of the company’s material reporting sites.