James Pearson

Aurum Resources has hit some of its best exploration numbers yet, jagging an impressive 17.31m hit grading 5.9g/t gold including 6m at 16.07g/t gold from diamond drilling at its Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire. The new hit has increased the depth of mineralisation by a further 100m below the previously deepest hit of 11.46m grading 6.67g/t gold from 162m.

Altech Batteries has received interest from debt funders for its cutting-edge proposed sodium chloride battery project that it plans to build using a mix of debt, equity, government grants and offtake agreements. The company is planning to produce its “Cerenergy GridPack” batteries courtesy of a 120MWh manufacturing facility in Germany. Remarkably, the active ingredient in the batteries is plain table salt.

Aguia Resources will shortly kick its uber high-grade Santa Barbara gold project into production. The Columbian project was worked by previous operators years ago and is now only weeks away from a restart. Previous bulk samples from Santa-Barbara went through the pilot plant at an impressive 20 grams per tonne gold and some veins are grading an ounce to the tonne gold.

A project-scale geophysical survey at White Cliff Minerals' Rae project in Nunavut, northern Canada, has lit up a massive vein hosted conductive anomaly stretching 14km long by 2.2km wide. A second conductor was also picked up next to an existing prospect, pushing the total extent of that target to 10.5km by 23km.

Xanadu Mines has unearthed four new copper targets from geological mapping, rock-chips and geophysics fieldwork at its Sant Tolgoi copper project in Western Mongolia with assays of up to 2.1 per cent copper. The new key drill targets stretch across a four kilometre east-west shear on a western extension of the controlling Khangai Fault system with all tests pointing to mineralised intrusions.

Javelin Minerals has wasted no time working up multiple drill-ready targets at its newly acquired Eureka gold project near Kalgoorlie. The project was purchased in October for $3 million in cash and shares and comes with an historic open pit and a 112,000-ounce gold resource grading 1.42 grams a tonne, valuing the deal at less than $30 per discovery ounce.

Radiopharm Theranostics revealed the results of a clinical study of its cutting-edge imaging agent, 68Ga-RAD 301 on 44 pancreatic cancer patients – using its the biggest cohort yet – which delivered strong results. Importantly, the visual response was excellent with a high tumour-to-background ratio and no adverse events were recorded, which, according to the company, suggests RAD301 is a suitable and safe diagnostic agent for imaging αvβ6-protein expression in pancreatic cancer.

Empire Energy Group is a step closer to launching a nine-hole drill program at its Carpentaria pilot project in the Northern Territory, having secured key environmental approvals and a production licence for up to 12 wells. The Ensign #965 rig is onsite and ready to start drilling the Carpentaria-5H well imminently, with Halliburton contracted for hydraulic fracture stimulation.

Larvotto Resources has gained membership of a consortium that provides a gateway to seek funding from and supply products to organizations associated with the US Defence Department. Larvotto says its Hillgrove project in NSW is capable of supplying 7 per cent of the world's antimony needs, a highly sort after metal that is used in the manufacturing of ammunition.

In a masterclass of timing, Octava Minerals will start a 3000m drill program next week at its Yallalong antimony project, 220km from Geraldton, WA, just as the metal price hits an all-time high of $30,000/t. The campaign will initially target the Discovery and Central zones which have already secured heritage clearance, while the company also completes a geophysical survey.

In a well-timed deal, US-listed Uranium American Resources is set to snap up three U.S. uranium projects with existing resources for US$8.5m in cash and scrip, providing a potentially quick pathway to production. With demand for uranium as a clean energy source increasing and the price trading around US$85 a pound, Uranium American's pivot looks to be well timed.

Strickland Metals has nailed a third new gold and base metals discovery in four years after unearthing a new discovery from wildcat drilling at its Kotlovi prospect, just 350m west of the Medanovac deposit at the company's Rogozna project in Serbia. The best number of the new batch of wildcat drilling results is 40m at 2.6 g/t gold from 558m.

Great Southern Mining and Gold Fields Ltd have found a huge, 2km-wide induced polarisation target, potentially a big porphyry gold-copper system, lurking at their Edinburgh Park project in Queensland. The buried structural geological feature is coincident with a grab bag of other exciting geological indicators including positive soil samples, rock chips going over 10 g/t gold and sulphides outcropping at surface.

Surefire Resources has kicked off a new, two-phase drill campaign, starting at its Yidby gold prospect in WA's mid-west region, followed by a maiden drill program at the company's nearby Phat Boy copper project. The 2500m, 12-hole reverse circulation program will test nine newly identified targets recently revealed after a review old geophysical data, along with structural interpretations from available diamond-core and drill-chip relogging.

Aguia Resources will lease, rather than build, a 100,000tpa phosphate processing plant in Southern Brazil, fast-tracking expected production to mid-2025 and sidestepping a multi-million-dollar capex bill. With an up-front cost of A$1.3 million, the 10-year lease will incur a A$43,000 monthly rental, equating to just A$5.13 a tonne.

Triangle Energy Global has locked in Silver City Drilling's Rig 24 for a March spud of its Becos-1 wildcat well in West Australia's Perth Basin targeting up to 21 million barrels of oil. The well will reach its main targets, at a depth of between 700- 800m with a chance to hit an additional reservoir on its way to an eventual depth of 1140m.

Strickland Metals has launched phase two metallurgical testing to test metal recoveries before locking down processing flowsheets from its Shanac deposit, part of the company's Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia, after bulk samples arrived at ALS Laboratory in Perth. The 400kg sample, made up of core from Shanac is now under the supervision of Macromet, a specialist mineral processing consultant.

Octava Minerals is preparing to kick off a gravity and seismic program ahead of a drilling campaign at its Yallalong project 220km northeast of Geraldton in Western Australia in the hunt for antimony. Following earlier mapping and rock-chip sampling, the company will conduct detailed geophysical surveys aimed at identifying shear zones and rock boundaries, key indicators for unearthing mineralised fluid pathways.

88 Energy has wrapped up a successful 2D seismic program across its petroleum exploration licence in Namibia's Owambo Basin with initial analysis picking up significant subsurface structures. The company will soon begin crunching the processed data in collaboration with joint venture partner Monitor Exploration and look to produce an independent prospective resource estimate by April next year.

It feels like Groundhog Day after Strickland Metals served up yet another massive drill hit from its Serbian copper-gold Medenovac prospect within the company's Rogozna project. The latest drill campaign has thrown up a significant 223m intersection grading 1.7g/t gold equivalent from 179m including 43m at 4.6 g/t gold equivalent from 357m. The mineralisation now strikes for 150m.

Meeka Metals' Murchison gold project, 50km north of Meekatharra, is ahead of schedule with its 136-man camp and haul road nearing completion, targeting a mid-2025 first gold pour. And with 88 of the 136 accommodation rooms now fully commissioned, Meeka has importantly, created the opportunity to save some valuable time by ensuring space for the expanding workforce on-site.

Led by a refreshed management team including the return of prodigal son and founder, managing director Jeromy Young, video technology innovator Atomos has posted a remarkable 72.5 per cent year on year improvement in gross profit margin. The company has also confirmed a six per cent lift in sales growth over the previous corresponding period driven by strong uptake of its revamped Ninja and Shinobi II core products.

An airborne survey flown by White Cliff Minerals has uncovered multiple big copper targets at its Hulk prospect, part of the company's Rae copper project in Canada's Nunavut Territory. The three conductors align with a recent rock chip assay picked up as part of a maiden survey, which came in at 1.65 per cent copper.

Aguia Resources has finally won a longstanding court battle, clearing the path to first production in 2025 at its Três Estradas phosphate project in southern Brazil. A lawsuit filed in 2021 by the Federal Public Prosecutors Office with the support of local ranchers sought to block a processing license that had been granted to the Aguia in 2019, following environmental approval.

Image Resources has locked in a US$20 million offtake pre-payment from Shantou Natfort Zirconium and Titanium Co, its key Chinese heavy minerals concentrate partner. The deal will provide funding to support the construction of the company's 100%-owned Atlas mineral sands project, 170 kilometres north of Perth. Drawdown should occur in two tranches of US$10 million each in November and January.

Buxton Resources has nailed a record 124m drill hit at 16.6 per cent total graphitic carbon at its Graphite Bull project, 300km east of Carnarvon, WA. The hole, drilled as part of a 29-hole reverse circulation program, intersected the monster hit at a depth of just 44m and has extended the strike of Graphite Bull by an extra 240m outside the existing resource.

Strickland Metals has punched out more good hits at its Horse Well gold project near Wiluna in Western Australia. The latest assays have increased the strike length by 260m to more than 1.6km at the Marwari prospect while at the Bronco prospect, two new high-grade zones have been unearthed.

Larvotto Resources has kicked off a major diamond drilling program at its 100 per cent-owned Hillgrove gold-antimony project in New South Wales in a bid to expand the known mineral resource. The company is looking to target “near mine” areas and is hoping to follow up on a stella prior drill hit of 31m grading a whopping 65 g/t gold.

ASX-listed Radiopharm Theranostics has partnered with US-based BAMF Health for a phase 2b trial in the US to test its “F18-RAD 101 radiotracer”. The innovative treatment targets the fatty acid synthetase, which is a protein over-expressed in brain tumours but absent in healthy cells. It uses a molecule combined with the F18 isotope to enhance tumour detection and treatment precision.

A magnetic survey by Carnaby Resources has found a major conductor at the San Quentin prospect beneath outcrops of up to 6.7 per cent copper at its Greater Duchess JV with Latitude 66 in Queensland. The prospect is near the 4.2 million tonne Nil Desperandum deposit and and boast some 800m of outcropping copper mineralisation that is yet to be drilled.

Red Metal Ltd says its giant 4.8 billion-tonne rare earths deposit at its Sybella project near Mt Isa in QLD is a globally significant discovery. In revealing its maiden inferred mineral resource estimate, the company also pointed to a shallow section of the deposit at surface that is weathered granite and therefore potentially amenable to low-cost heap-leach processing.

Image Resources has targeted a mid-2025 start to heavy mineral concentrate production at its Atlas project, 170km north of Perth, after securing essential water licences to accelerate construction. The milestone has now offered a clear timeline for renewed cash flows - expected to be $62m pre-tax over two years - almost two years after shutting down the successful Boonanarring project, located 100km south of Atlas.