Matt Birney

ASX-listed gold producer in waiting, Horizon Minerals has tabled a revised open-pittable mineral resource estimate for the main gold deposits at its flagship Boorara gold project, about 15km east of Kalgoorlie. The updated measured, indicated and inferred resource now stands at 11.03 million tonnes of ore grading an average 1.26 grams per tonne for 448,000 ounces of contained gold.

ASX-listed Buru Energy has increased oil production by 20 per cent at its Ungani oil field in the Canning Basin east of Broome in Western Australia after successfully installing an electric submersible pump in the Ungani-5 oil production well. Average oil production rates were previously around 800 barrels per day but have now stabilised at above 1,000 barrels of oil per day.

South Australian focused copper-cobalt explorer, Coda Minerals continues to deliver the goods at the Elizabeth Creek project in the Olympic Dam Copper Province. High grade hits at the Emmie Bluff prospect going up to 4.71 per cent copper equivalent have the company well placed to turn out a maiden resource estimate projected for the third quarter. Further drilling is due to commence in May.

Innovative ASX-listed project developer Neometals is set to expands its exposure via a secondary listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Admission to AIM is projected for the second half of this year as the company seeks to gain greater access to UK and European investment capital for four core projects in the burgeoning electric vehicle and energy storage solution sectors.

Venus Metals has unearthed five new electromagnetic targets following its recent high-powered geophysical survey as the company steps up its nickel-PGE hunt in the mineral rich Youanmi terrane. The anomalies were spotted at Venus’ new Vidure South prospect where historical drilling returned tantalising grades of nickel and platinum group elements with the company yet to tap the deeper source of this elusive sulphide mineralisation.

Terrain Minerals is back on the ground at its Smokebush project in WA, with the company firing up the drill rigs and embarking on a 17-hole, 2,100 metre program of reverse circulation drilling. The latest program will extend the current drill pattern over the Monza prospect and jump into a maiden four-hole program over its new Paradise City discovery.

TNT Mines drilling campaign over its Eureka deposit in WA has now drawn to a close with the company having ploughed more than 11,000 metres of drilling into the gold-rich ore system that has returned a swag of mineralisation including a surprising 34m hit going 1.75 grams per tonne gold. The drilling has defined new mineralisation surrounding the existing open pit and highlighted a new discovery along strike.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia’s 50 per cent-owned household lithium battery supplier, Soluna Australia has received Clean Energy Council approval for another of its battery packs, the 10K Pack HV, expanding its range of energy storage offerings for residential applications. Soluna says the 10K or 10-kilowatt Pack HV is a “premium quality” residential battery module that stores solar power.

Neometals is set to lend its expertise in vanadium processing to the low-cost recovery of the specialty metal from waste materials in Europe. The company is nearing completion of a detailed Pre-Feasibility Study which proposes to extract a wealth of vanadium pentoxide from the metal-bearing waste materials produced by SSAB, a large-scale steel producer based in Scandinavia.

ASX-listed Venture Minerals remains on course to make the first iron ore shipment from its revitalised Riley iron ore mine in Tasmania during the current quarter. The Perth-based company says commissioning of Riley’s key wet screening plant is expected to kick off within a couple of weeks as various stages of the construction phase near completion.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia is looking to secure another place in the burgeoning battery metals business as it plans to spin out its non-core assets into a new IPO to be known as Charger Metals. The company will retain a 30 per cent stake in Charger ahead of its proposed listing on the ASX.

Eclipse Metals is homing in on a potential high-grade, near-surface silver deposit at Rock Hill in the Northern Territory, with analysis of the historical exploration revealing the presence of a melting pot of metals including both copper and zinc. However, the star of the show looks to be silver with intercepts grading at an astounding 2,288 grams per tonne.

Aspiring gold miner Horizon Minerals appears to have nailed its drilling campaign at the Peyes Farm prospect just 10km northwest of Kalgoorlie in WA’s Goldfields. Numerous high-grade hits have been returned including a 4-metre interval going a whopping 18.17 grams per tonne gold. A resource estimate update is anticipated for the June quarter this year.

Anglo Australian Resources continues to build an impressive ensemble of gold discoveries at its Mandilla project in WA. The company’s latest batch of results have delivered broad intercepts of gold mineralisation from infill drilling over the Mandilla East Main Zone including an eye-catching 83 metres grading 1.47 grams per tonne gold from 96m down-hole.

ASX-listed gold explorer, Kingwest Resources continues to deliver the goods at the Menzies project in the Goldfields of WA. Recent extensional and infill drilling has returned a suite of high-grade results outside the existing mineral resource including 4 metres going 7.7 grams per tonne gold. Interestingly, some holes hit gold outside the pit shell design from the recent scoping study.

ASX-listed gold explorer, Sihayo Gold has shifted its drilling focus to the under-explored high-grade epithermal vein Sihorbo prospect at its Hutabargot Julu gold-silver project in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The Brisbane-based company recently kicked off a 10-hole program totalling 2,200 metres at the exciting target on the western side of the project area to follow up on a clutch of historic high-grade gold hits.

Indiana Resources has headed straight into its second round of drilling in South Australia’s Gawler Craton. The company is set to plough 6,000 metres of drilling into the gold-rich Lady Labyrinth Shear in the coming weeks, where recent exploration over the Minos prospect has returned a stream of outstanding intercepts including a stellar 38 metres at 6.54 grams per tonne gold from only 29m down-hole.

Deep Yellow’s captivating Barking Gecko discovery in Namibia continues to grow with recent drilling showing the hard-rock uranium ore system continues at depth. Drilling across the prospect area has returned a quiver of mineralised intercepts, including 14 metres at 404 parts per million uranium oxide which included 4m at 1,067 ppm uranium oxide from 81m metres down-hole.

ASX-listed gold explorer, Okapi Resources has received regulatory approvals to kick off a maiden RC drilling program at its recently acquired historic Enmore gold project in NSW’s New England Fold Belt next month. Enmore includes two walk-up drill targets known as Sunnyside and Bora that have already yielded high-grade gold values from historic drilling and rock chip sampling work carried out by previous owners.

Emu NL is stalking a gaggle of new targets at its Sunfire nickel-copper project near Bridgetown in WA. The project hosts a suite of mafic-ultramafic intrusions similar in nature to Chalice Mining’s heralded Julimar discovery. The Yornup Mill prospect already boasts an extensive, drill-ready nickel-copper anomaly that currently extends over more than 1,500 metres of strike.

Venus Metals has continued to rack up high-grade gold hits along the down-plunge extension of the Link target at its joint-ventured Youanmi gold project near Mount Magnet in WA’s Goldfields region. One of the best assays from the latest batch of RC drill results returned 4m at 7.2 g/t gold from 131m. Another notable hit at Link was 4m at 2.7 g/t gold from 164m downhole.

Ongoing DFS works at Adriatic Metals’ Rupice and Veovaca deposits in Bosnia are accelerating and the company says results are anticipated for the third quarter this year. This week, the multi-metals developer tweaked its Rupice underground mine plan to squeeze out 26 per cent more silver in the first two years by attacking the high-grade core earlier in the plan.

Neometals has moved a step closer to production at its massive Barrambie titanium-vanadium deposit in WA after inking an MOU with leading Chinese titanium slag producer, Jiuxing Titanium Materials. The agreement contains the framework for a long-term offtake for either mixed or single metal titanium and vanadium concentrates, with the contract likely to put Barrambie on the fast-track to production.

Lithium Australia’s joint venture partner, Galan Lithium has completed a review of historical data that it says enhances the prospectivity of the JV’s Greenbushes South lithium project in WA. Greenbushes South lies less than 5km south of the giant Greenbushes lithium and tin mining and processing operation in the South West. The old data suggests a strong tin-tantalum anomaly over the existing Greenbushes deposit may extend south onto Lithium Australia and Galan’s ground.

Whilst Impact Minerals continues its tour-de-force in NSW where it is drilling both porphyry copper-gold and intrusive nickel-PGE targets across the resurgent mining state, the company is now keen to up the ante once again in its own backyard as it sizes up a swag of WA nickel, copper and gold targets. They include the Beau and Arkun projects along strike from the famed Julimar nickel-PGE discovery.

Hot Chili is on a roll now at its colossal Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile where the company says a resource upgrade is looming after it hit a 185m intersection going 0.5 per cent copper and 0.2 grams per tonne gold from 568m down-hole at the project. Another 550m long intersection that Hot Chili says is shows copper-gold mineralisation but has yet to be assayed.

ASX-listed aspiring US helium developer, Blue Star Helium has elevated Executive Director and Geoscientist, Trent Spry to the company’s corner office. Mr Spry, who has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Star, has more than 25 years of experience in the oil, gas and helium sectors and is regarded as a leading authority on helium within the niche helium market.

Impact Minerals’ maiden drilling program over its Little Broken Hill Gabbro nickel and platinum group element project has validated the company’s conceptual modelling, with three first-pass nickel-PGE targets confirmed in the north of the 6-kilometre-long mafic intrusion. Exploration shows the PGE mineralisation increasing in both thickness and grade with depth, with better results including 51 metres at 0.3 grams per tonne 3PGE from 140m.

First ore has been successfully run through ASX-listed Element 25’s new processing plant at its developing Butcherbird manganese mining and beneficiation operation in WA as part of its current commissioning program. Commissioning activities have been “progressing well”, according to the company, and a saleable manganese concentrate has now been produced.

In what is becoming a definite trend for graphite developers now, ASX-listed Comet Resources is looking for downstream commercial opportunities for its Springdale graphite deposit near Ravensthorpe in WA. The company says it is aiming to create a graphitic product for use in anodes in the flourishing lithium-ion battery market and its recent test work on ore from Springdale showed excellent recoveries and purity levels.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia’s wholly owned subsidiary, VSPC has pinned its commercialisation hopes on India as the preferred jurisdiction for the proposed development of its lithium ferro phosphate cathode powder production facility. Perth-based Lithium Australia has just tabled an impressive pre-feasibility study that it says points to robust project economics for the manufacture of advanced LFP cathode powders using VSPC’s proprietary processing technology.

Si6 Metals has wrapped up another bundle of solid gold hits from drilling at two key prospects at its Monument gold project in WA. Notable intersections from the recent drilling at the Korong prospect included 5m going 2.56 g/t gold from 124m and 5m at 2.03 g/t from 60m, while Waihi chimed in with 4m at 5.89 g/t from 62m and 3m at 2.45 g/t from 113m.