Matt Birney

ASX-listed Buru Energy has got its new drilling in Western Australia’s onshore Canning Basin off to a flying start with the first casing set in the Currajong 1 exploration well. Targeting 28 million barrels of conventional oil, Buru’s drilling of Currajong 1 is due to conclude in the next two weeks. A second well targeting 69 million barrels of oil at Rafael 1 is set to follow.

ASX-listed Hot Chili has applied to dual list on the Toronto Stock Exchange as it steps up its funding and development plans for the proposed large-scale Costa Fuego copper-gold project in Chile. The Canadian share market has a proven track record of supporting world-class exploration and development companies in the copper space with a number of recent transformative dual listings.

Novo Resources’ conglomerate gold-fed operation at Nullagine in WA continues to break new production records with the company pumping out more than 16.5 per cent more gold in June than in the previous month. Novo’s Golden Eagle mill produced 5,898 ounces of fine gold for the period, with the company also posting revenue of $12.8 million.

ASX-listed software-as-a-service provider K2fly has achieved strong business growth momentum heading into its new fiscal year with surging revenues and invoicing in the June quarter rounding out a successful FY2021. During the financial year K2fly landed significant new contracts with large miners which saw it invoice A$2.54 million in the June quarter, up 34 per cent year-on-year, bringing FY21 invoices to $7.8 million.

Venus Metals and joint venture partner Rox Resources have delivered solid gold hits including 5m at 5.96 grams per tonne gold near an old underground mine the duo plan to bring into production at the Youanmi gold project in the Murchison district of Western Australia.

St George Mining is off to a flying start in its copper-gold search in the “world-class” Paterson region of Western Australia with multiple holes from its maiden drilling campaign at its Paterson prospect hitting prospective basement rocks. Initial XRF analysis has returned elevated levels of pathfinder elements suggesting potential for base metal and gold mineralisation across 35km of target stratigraphy at the company’s tenure.

ASX newcomer Barton Gold is poised to commence drilling at its Tarcoola and Tunkillia gold projects in South Australia’s famed Gawler Craton, where the company is looking to build on a plus-1 million ounce resource base. SA-based contractor Bullion Drilling is mobilising to join Barton Gold’s exploration team on site and kick off more than 11,000m of drilling over coming weeks.

Askari Metals has successfully listed on the ASX, hitting the boards at an impressive 25 per cent premium to its 20c offer price. The company has raised close to $6 million as part of its initial public offering and has already locked in a drill rig to begin testing its highly prospective suite of copper and gold projects in Western Australia.

Lithium Australia appears to have taken a key step to commercialising its lithium manganese ferro phosphate or “LMFP” cathode powder used in lithium-ion batteries with the product now available for consumer testing. The company says LMFP-type batteries are cheaper, safer and longer lasting than traditional nickel-based alternatives with the likes of Tesla transitioning to phosphate-based batteries to power its electric vehicles.

Premium fertiliser hopeful Trigg Mining has edged closer to an ultimate development of its Lake Throssell sulphate of potash project near Laverton in WA following a “highly successful” brine pumping field trial. The company hopes to deliver a maiden indicated mineral resource this quarter on the back of its recently released inferred-category resource estimate of 14.2Mt of drainable sulphate of potash at 4,638mg/L potassium.

Aldoro Resources is spreading its wings in Western Australia’s Murchison region, snapping up lithium pegmatite prospects adjacent to its Windimurra lithium footprint through a deal to acquire the neighbouring Wyemandoo as well as the Niobe tantalum-lithium project near Mount Magnet from privately-owned Meridian 120 Mining. Aldoro says Windimurra is rich in lithium-cesium-tantalum or “LCT” type pegmatites, with tungsten also present.

Valor Resources has bumped up its uranium exploration acreage in the mighty Athabasca Basin region in central Canada to 986 square kilometres by acquiring five new projects, including one along strike from Rio Tinto’s Janice Lake property. The Athabasca Basin has historically produced about 20 per cent of global primary uranium supply and hosts the world’s highest-grade uranium mine at Cigar Lake.

Torian Resources has picked up the scent of arsenic from recent surface portable XRF gun and field work that it says points to two new high-priority gold targets at its Mt Stirling project about 40km north-west of Leonora in WA. The company says arsenic anomalies have previously correlated with gold in the region and recently led to the discovery of the Viserion lode at Mt Stirling.

Neometals has wrapped up a review of historical data for its 11 nickel sulphide deposits forming the Mt Edwards resource base near Kambalda in Western Australia, bumping up the total resources to a hefty 162,560 contained nickel tonnes grading at an average 1.6 per cent. Neometals plans to demerge Mt Edwards into a new ASX-listed company and focus on its core battery recycling and vanadium extraction businesses.

Middle Island Resources has set about the task of expanding the overall gold resource inventory at its multi-deposit Sandstone project in WA as it looks to improve the economic feasibility of recommissioning the old Sandstone processing plant. To help kick things along the company says it decided to extinguish the legacy two per cent net smelter return royalty that was hanging over Sandstone by paying Troy Resources $250,000.

ASX-listed Eclipse Metals has received a green light from the Greenland Government to commence initial exploration fieldwork at Ivittuut in the country’s south-west, enabling it to get boots on the ground next month at what was once the world’s only commercial source of cryolite. Eclipse aims to compile a JORC-compliant resource and also assess the rare earths potential at Ivittuut.

Native Mineral Resources has executed a pivotal access agreement with the pastoral leaseholder at its promising Music Well gold project north of Leonora in Western Australia. The Pastoral Access Deed agreement with Next Horizon 888 Management gives Native Minerals a clear path to accelerate exploration and development at Music Well, which has been producing bumper gold results from sampling of an outcropping quartz vein.

ASX-listed junior explorer St George Mining is set to kick off a seismic survey next week across an under-explored western portion of the “Cathedrals Belt” at its joint ventured Mt Alexander nickel-copper sulphide project in WA’s north-Eastern Goldfields region. The Perth-based company will be looking to map the host intrusive structures in the western area, where new electromagnetic conductors have been recently encountered.

Results from new metallurgical testwork on sample material from the 132N and Munda nickel deposits at ASX-listed Neometals’ Mt Edwards nickel sulphide project in WA’s world-class Widgiemooltha nickel province are said to have confirmed the project’s potential to deliver commercially acceptable nickel concentrates. The presence and recoverability of palladium from the deposits also points to a possible additional revenue source.

Oar Resources appears to have grown the target area of its exciting Gibraltar kaolin-halloysite find on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia after identifying new zones of bright-white kaolin away from the initial discovery, including a large 5km-by-2.5km zone associated with granite basement rocks to the south-west. Initial XRF analysis has highlighted a 5m section going at 80 ISO-B brightness from 17m with results from more detailed XRD analysis pending.

ASX-listed base and precious metals explorer PolarX is aiming to get a drill rig into action soon at its Humboldt Range silver-gold project in Nevada, USA, after outlining several substantial, high-grade epithermal silver-gold anomalies at its Fourth of July claims. A major 3.5km-long anomaly has been identified grading up to 186g/t silver in the soils and with rock-chips going at more than 1,000g/t silver and 10g/t gold.

Aruma Resources has sniffed out a trio of encouraging historical shallow gold hits from drilling carried out almost a quarter of a century ago at its Scotia South gold project about 60km south of Norseman in WA. The intercepts were 7m grading 2.71 g/t gold from 36m including 5m at 3.48 g/t, 3m going at 3.02 g/t from 9m and 1m at 5.6 g/t from 51m down-hole.

ASX-listed explorer Venus Metals has launched into an air-core drilling campaign at its Henderson gold-nickel project in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia where it is targeting structurally controlled gold associated with two fault zones crossing the tenure. Several historical gold operations believed to be related to the faults lie near the project including a 322,000-ounce resource just 15km away.

High purity alumina hopeful Altech Chemicals has set up a dedicated research, development and testwork laboratory in Perth as it looks to refine its graphite and silicon particle battery materials HPA coating technology. The company says the almost fully operational laboratory, previously occupied by an environmental consulting business, has been in a commissioning phase since May this year and was easily converted to meet its requirements.

Galan Lithium’s share price has touched an all-time high after a second look at its pond design determined it might be able to squeeze up to 25,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent annually out its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in South America’s renowned Lithium Triangle, rather than the originally contemplated 20,000 tonnes per annum.

WA-based technology company Neometals has announced a key step in its lithium-ion battery recycling efforts, with commissioning of a demonstration plant with its German joint venture partner. Its unique recycling process aims to recover cobalt, nickel, lithium and copper from spent batteries for reuse. Demonstration plant results will inform the joint venture’s decision to develop a commercial recycling plant.

ASX-listed heavy rare earth explorer and producer Northern Minerals has kicked off vital resource drilling at its advanced Browns Range project in WA’s north. The planned 12,000m of reverse circulation drilling is aimed at defining new resources and reserves ahead of next year’s project bankable feasibility study and final investment decision on a commercial-scale operation.

Estrella Resources has served up several nickel-copper sulphide hits at its exciting T5 discovery near the historical Carr Boyd Rocks mine north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Results include 13.4 metres at 1.3 per cent nickel and 0.4 per cent copper from 392m. The company plans to test the extent of the T5 basal contact which hosts the mineralisation at T5 and Carr Boyd Rocks.

Extensional RC drilling by ASX-listed Kingwest Resources has delivered a slew of cracking high-grade gold hits in auriferous shoots outside the existing mineral resource at its multi-deposit Menzies gold project in WA. The pick of the new intersections from the recently completed program was 26m at an average grade of 4.56 grams per tonne gold from 158m including 2m at 49.49 g/t from 169m.

ASX-listed aspiring central Africa lithium developer AVZ Minerals has poured $40 million into its coffers via a “heavily oversubscribed” capital raise, paving the way for the company to increase its ownership stake in its flagship Manono lithium and tin project in the DRC to 75 per cent. Funds from the share placement will also help advance early project capital works.

Kula Gold says it has achieved a “major technical breakthrough” in its hunt for significant new Archean lode-style gold deposits in unexplored terrane next to gold mines between Southern Cross and Nevoria in WA that have underpinned regional production of 15 million ounces of gold at grades between 3 and 5 grams per tonne. Drilling has picked up Archean greenstones where none were previously mapped.

As it closes in on a fresh mineral resource estimate for its flagship Parks Reef project in WA, PGMs explorer Podium Minerals has served up a cluster of high-grade assays from a recent resource extension reverse circulation drilling program. The pick of the drill intersections from the first batch of results received for the “stage seven” round of 27 holes totalling 4,157m came from one hole.