Matt Birney

A roadside geochemical sampling campaign at White Cliff Minerals’ Hines Hill rare earths project about 200km from Perth in WA has lit up a host of priority target areas over its roughly 570 square kilometre ground position. The campaign was headlined by a specimen running a maximum value of 930 parts per million total rare earth oxides and the company is now eyeing 10 key areas for immediate follow-up.

Surefire Resources has confirmed the presence of rare earths and kaolin at its Perenjori iron ore project following positive results from a reconnaissance rock chip campaign near recently discovered pegmatites. The anomalous rare earths mineralisation occurs close to the eastern boundary of the tenement hosting the Perenjori iron deposit prompting the explorer to apply for an additional exploration licence contiguous with the site to the east.

American West Metals will roll in a third drill rig to ramp up exploration at its Storm project in Canada with ground geophysical surveys also set to kick off in March. A combination of diamond and RC drilling is looking to etch out multiple shallow high-grade copper deposits suitable for low-cost open-pit mining, along with expanding the company’s recent discovery of a potentially large sediment-hosted copper system.

Venus Metals has received encouraging assays from ongoing geochemical surveys at its Youanmi lithium project in WA’s Murchison region including highlighting a new target at the company’s Manindi North prospect. The explorer says it received assays of rock chip samples from sub-cropping pegmatites in the area with results of up to 2.11 per cent lithium oxide.

Lindian Resources’ Kangankunde project in Malawi continues to produce incredible assay results from its maiden drill campaign including a 1m hit at an outstanding 9.49 per cent total rare earth oxides from 19m. The explorer says the latest results include the highest grading hole to date at the operation with a mammoth 186m intercept going 2.97 per cent total rare earth oxides from surface.

ABx is looking to make the most of the warmer weather as it kicks off its latest drilling program ahead of schedule. The campaign will aim to expand the mineralised zone at two of its Tasmanian rare earths discoveries. The 120-hole program at the company’s Deep Leads and Rubble Mound rare earths prospects is set down for three months and the first results could start flowing in just a couple of weeks.

Conico’s 50:50 joint venture with Greenstone Resources at the Mt Thirsty project in WA is proving a successful collaboration with the recent Phase 1 drill campaign returning the sixth best cobalt intercept in Australia for 2022 that included previously unreported scandium. Drilling has revealed three discrete mineralised zones; an upper nickel-cobalt-manganese-scandium horizon, a middle platinum group enriched horizon and a lower nickel horizon.

ASX-listed Javelin Minerals has commenced air-core drilling at its Husky project near Fifield in New South Wales where the company is on the hunt for rare earths in addition to precious and battery metals. The explorer has received the necessary approvals to complete up to 23 drill holes at the site that is considered prospective for gold and platinum group elements.

A string of major contract wins with mining heavyweights Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources, Anglo America and ArcelorMittal Mining UK has seen mining software provider K2fly achieve record highs for the December quarter in its core financial metrics. Sales of $2.8 million for the quarter were up 33 per cent from the same period last year and the company also hit historic highs in the all important “annual recurring revenue” metric.

Venus Metals has highlighted a raft of high-priority rare earth targets at its Mangaroon North project in the Gascoyne region of WA following positive results from a recent reconnaissance field sampling program. The explorer collected 299 soil samples and 84 rock chip samples in addition to re-analysing 66 previous soil samples with results showing up to 2136 parts-per-million total rare earth oxides and 232ppm neodymium oxide.

ASX-listed explorer Godolphin Resources has launched detailed ground magnetic survey works at its wholly owned Cyclops, Yeoval East and Goodrich copper-gold prospects near the Yeoval township in central west NSW. The assets have yet to be tested using modern exploration methods and data from the campaigns will flow into a host of upcoming drill campaigns.

Chimeric Therapeutics says all patients in a third cohort of its phase 1A CHM 1101 cell therapy clinical trial have advanced past the 28-day follow-up period without experiencing dose-limiting toxicities. In December the company completed the planned medicating of its third dose cohort as part of its study evaluating the safety of its CHM 1101 cell therapy to treat glioblastoma.

Buru Energy’s wholly owned, natural hydrogen-focussed subsidiary 2H Resources could soon evaluate a roughly 30,000 square kilometre ground position in South Australia after an independent assessment by RISC Advisory deemed the zone prospective for a best estimate resource of 343 million kilograms of hydrogen. The company says the site is geologically on trend with historical natural hydrogen discoveries within Adelaide’s Geosyncline.

Infinity Lithium’s San José lithium project near the city of Cáceres in Spain has been given a boost after a local court ruling confirmed extraction activity and industrial development is allowed in key project areas. The company says the Contentious Administrative Court of Cáceres has ratified the correct granting of an Investigation Permit Ampliación Valdeflórez to Infinity subsidiary Extremadura New Energies.

ASX-listed Aruma Resources has appointed Glenn Grayson as the company’s new Managing Director where he will be responsible for its ongoing exploration strategy effective from today. Grayson replaces Aruma stalwart Peter Schwann who has led the company since it listed in 2010 and will continue to work in a capacity of a Non-Executive Director.

DiscovEx Resources has closed the book on busy December quarter headlined by an intersection of bedrock and paleochannel gold at its Spartan prospect, part of its larger Edjudina project about 250km north-east of Kalgoorlie in WA. The project sits in the southern slice of the Laverton district and is close to several major gold deposits including AngloGold Ashanti’s 10 million ounce plus Sunrise Dam mine.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has extended the gold mineralisation of its La Mascotte prospect near Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields region of WA at depth following positive results from its latest RC drilling campaign. The fresh assays from the company’s phase 4 drill program at the site will be used to table a maiden resource estimate that is expected to be released this quarter.

Lindian Resources is one step closer to 100 per cent ownership of its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi after completing the second tranche payment of $US7.5 million to former owner Rift Valley Resources. The latest figure is the second of four tranche payments with the third amount due in August this year and the fourth set for August 2026. The first portion of $US2.5 million was paid in August last year. Lindian agreed to pay Rift Valley a total of $US30 million for the project across the four tranches with $US20 million remaining.

Multi-commodity explorer CZR Resources has closed the book on a memorable 2022 after tabling several highlights in its December activities report including a monster 83 per cent increase in the tonnage of its Robe Mesa iron-ore deposit in the Pilbara region of WA. The asset now tips the scale at 45.2 million tonnes and retains its 56 per cent iron grade despite the massive inventory boost.

Chimeric Therapeutics has dosed its first patient in its phase 1B trial that is the first of its kind to test NK cells in combination with chemical compound Vactosertib in patients with advanced colorectal and blood cancers. The trial will be based on the company’s CHM 0201 off-the-shelf cell platform that successfully demonstrated safety and efficacy during clinical trials completed at the Seidman Cancer Centre in Ohio last year.

ASX-listed Horizon Minerals has banked a cool $1.3 million in cash by divesting its interest in explorer Kingwest Resources via an off-market sale process. The company now plans to inject the funds, topped up with existing cash reserves into a host of new exploration programs across its core, WA-based gold assets over the next few months.

Infinity Mining has been granted a five-year extension to its exploration licence for a key tenement that forms part of the company’s Hillside project about 50km south of Marble Bar in WA’s Pilbara region. The company says the site is highly prospective for shear-hosted gold systems, ultramafic intrusive related nickel-copper and pegmatite hosted lithium deposits.

Everest Metals Corporation has entered into a tenement sale agreement to wholly acquire two gold-prospective exploration leases southwest of Paynes Find in WA known as the Ninghan project. The asset takes in a 228 square kilometre ground position and is in an area with a host of operations in the one million-ounce club including Minjar Gold’s namesake play and Kirkalocka Gold’s nearby property.

ASX-listed Image Resources has extended its gold mineralisation at the company’s Erayinia-King project to the north after receiving solid assay results from its latest drill campaign at the site near Kalgoorlie. The explorer and minerals sands miner says the recent infill program recorded significant gold intercepts in the central section of the northern mineralised zone that had previously seen limited drilling exploration.

Godolphin Resources’ looming resource update at its Narraburra rare earths project in NSW has received a boost after assays from a maiden, 27-hole drill campaign highlighted mineralisation outside of the known system. Eight drill holes delivered intercepts beyond the current threshold including a 21m at 1163ppm total rare earth oxide strike from 17m, suggesting the company could have a much larger inventory on its hands.

ABx Group’s 83 per cent owned subsidiary, Alcore has received an initial $3.3 million of an almost $7.6 million grant to support the development of an aluminium bath recycling plant at Bell Bay in Tasmania. The funding forms part of the Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative and will also be used to support the ongoing construction of a similar pilot plant on NSW’s Central Coast.

Green energy metals explorer Octava Minerals has entered into a farm-in joint venture agreement that enables fellow explorer Future Metals to earn up to 70 per cent in Octava’s Panton North and Copernicus North nickel, copper and platinum-group metals projects in the East Kimberley. Octava will be free-carried through to a decision to mine and will receive about $600,000 in Future Metals shares.

Askari Metals has recorded significant copper and gold results from a maiden drill program at its Horry project in the Kimberley region of WA and identified numerous follow up targets for a second phase of exploration. The company completed 29 RC drill holes for 2096m that confirmed multiple mineralised deposits at its Horry Horse gold target and Mt Dockrell copper prospect.

Triangle Energy Global has reeled in $9.96 million after farming out 25 per cent of its L7 production licence and EP 437 exploration permit in WA to New Zealand Oil & Gas. The deal follows a similar agreement with Talon Energy last year and allows Triangle, who still retains a 50 per cent stake in the assets, to advance exploration in the zones via the newly formed joint venture.

Assay results received by Greenland-focused Conico Limited from its 100 per cent owned Mestersvig project have confirmed the quartz veins in the Blyklippen-Sortebjerg, Holberg, and Nuldal faults all host high-grade lead, zinc and silver mineralisation. The results are from a 10-hole diamond drill campaign that targeted vein-hosted zinc-lead-copper-silver mineralisation adjacent to the Blyklippen Mine and 20 rock chip samples taken during 2022 fieldwork.

Everest Metals Corporation is looking to expand its battery and precious metals portfolio after lodging an application for two prospective tenement packages near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The total application area covers the Georgina and Amadeus projects that include 15 exploration licences covering an area around 10,200 square kilometres.

The final tranche of assay results from a recently completed RC drilling campaign at Surefire Resources’ Victory Bore project in WA’s Mid-West have dropped through the company’s letter box, confirming even more, massive mineralised widths of vanadium pentoxide to add to what is already an enormous resource. Surefire has also uncovered a new vanadium prospect it has called the Mystery Lode.