Michael Philipps

Galan Lithium has filled its coffers to the tune of $31.5 million from an institutional placement priced at $1.05 per share to help drive development at its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina. It says the funds will be used to purchase long lead items for its proposed lithium carbonate pilot plant and the stage-two definitive feasibility study at the project.

Reach Resources says it has confirmed high-grade copper-oxide mineralisation at its Morrissey Hill project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region after gleaning results of up to 33.2 per cent copper from recent rock-chip sampling. The impressive results were from the company’s Swallowtail prospect from an outcropping quartz‐veined gossan that shows visible malachite through a strike length of about 150m.

White Cliff Minerals has acquired the Mineral Fields, Soak Sands and Border Exploration companies in a deal that brings 12 projects prospective for rare earths and iron-oxide-copper-gold deposits into its fold. The projects cover 2562sq km in Western Australia – from Jerramungup to Wanna Lakes near the South Australian border and up to the Three Rivers-Ashton Hills projects east of Carnarvon and south of Newman.

Auric Mining has officially begun production at its Jeffreys Find project after receiving the green light from the Department of Mining, Industry Regulation and Safety, with its first gold pour expected in July. It started work immediately after getting approval for its full open-pit mine at its project near Norseman. The drill and blast of the first 5m bench is already completed.

Could Legend Mining finally be poised to unearth a nickel monster from the renowned Fraser Range? Management has lined up its strategic ducks and has the drills ready to explore two key targets at its Octagonal prospect, 250km east of Kalgoorlie. The company believes results from a combination of seismic data, an induced polarisation survey and 3D audio magnetotellurics survey has changed its game.

Ora Banda Mining continues to deliver impressive results from phase-one drilling at its Riverina underground deposit near Kalgoorlie, with assays highlighting a 0.4m intercept at a massive 243g/t gold from 151.6m. The 0.4m hit was contained within a 4.4m intersection grading 22.88g/t gold from 151.6m drilled at the company’s Murchison Lode, with a second hole recording a 0.8m segment going 24.33g/t gold from 103.6m.

Middle Island Resources has increased its tenement holdings in the Northern Territory after entering into a binding agreement with ASX-listed Strategic Energy Resources to purchase its East Tennant project. The acquisition will expand the company’s Barkly super project in the region and adds 1319 square kilometres of ground to take its total tenement area to an impressive 6753sq km.

Reach Resources has confirmed the presence of lithium at its Morrissey Hill and Wabli Creek projects following a successful sampling program in WA’s emerging Gascoyne region. Samples from its Bonzer prospect that forms part of Morrissey Hill returned significant results, including one assay showing 2.3 per cent lithium oxide in addition to 4295 parts per million caesium, 705.8ppm tantalum oxide and 7978ppm rubidium.

Lindian Resources continues to deliver extraordinary results from its drill campaign at its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, with assays reading up to a massive 14.9 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO). The impressive grade was recorded in a 1m section from 79m that formed part of a bigger 85m hit at 3.35 per cent TREO from surface.

Northern Minerals has extended the mineralisation of its flagship Wolverine deposit following solid assays from the company’s recent diamond drilling program at its Browns Range project in northern Western Australia. Assay highlights show a 17.6m intercept at 1.96 per cent total rare earths oxide (TREO) from 589m, including a 9.94m hit going 3.27 per cent TREO from 589m.

WA’s Gascoyne region is emerging as one of the State’s newest lithium hotspots with local exploration heavyweights snapping up prime locations in the hunt for valuable EV mineralisation. Delta Lithium hit the headlines last year with its Yinnetharra project and more recently, Minerals 260 crashed the party by grabbing 1700sq km of tenements near Delta’s northern lithium project.

Infinity Mining is narrowing in on a host of precious and base metal targets at three of its key projects in Western Australia’s Pilbara region following analysis of four recent electromagnetic surveys at the sites. The company now has seven priority targets under investigation after it designed surveys to detect conductors related to volcanogenic-hosted massive sulphides and magmatic nickel-copper mineralisation.

American West Metals has been buoyed by visual analysis of its five latest RC drill holes sunk at the company’s Storm copper project in Canada that show thick copper-sulphide intercepts. The explorer says its initial phase of drilling is designed to define maiden JORC resources within the 4100N, 2750N and 2200N zones where high-grade copper mineralisation starts from surface.

A pancreatic cancer treatment developed by ASX-listed Radiopharm Theranostics has been granted crucial orphan drug designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration just weeks before clinical trials begin. The approval is for the company’s patented RAD301 integrin technology that aims to assist with the imaging and treatment of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Lithium Australia will fill its coffers to the tune of more than half a million dollars after entering into a binding agreement to sell 70 per cent of its Lepidolite Hill lithium project to Eastern Resources. It will see Lithium Australia collect $550,000 in three tranches and allow it to put further focus on improving technology associated with the battery materials industry.

ASX-listed Aurumin is set to continue its search for lithium at its Mt Palmer project in the Goldfields after being named a successful applicant for the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme. The explorer has executed an agreement with the Department of Mining, Industry Regulation and Safety, through its subsidiary Aurumin Mt Palmer, to receive up to $150,000 in direct drilling and mobilisation costs.

Empire Energy Group has been given the green light to seek production approvals for its gas projects in the Beetaloo sub-basin – a game-changing moment for the area’s development of the vast resource. The company says finalisation of the NT Government’s new industry regulations sets the scene for gas production approval in the region, including for its EP187 Carpentaria pilot project.

Infinity Mining is gearing up for its first East Pilbara drill campaign for 2023 after receiving cultural heritage clearance from the Nyamal Aboriginal Corporation to explore its Hillside nickel-copper project. The company has appointed iDrilling Australia to kick off a nine-hole RC program to test surface geochemistry and anomalies highlighted in a 2018 air-borne electromagnetic survey.

Image Resources has lifted the heavy mineral content production from its Boonanarring mineral sands project north of Perth by 18 per cent during the March quarter, compared to the previous three-month period. According to the company’s latest quarterly report, the production increase is due to higher ore grades, despite a decrease in the amount of ore tonnes processed.

Smart home technology company Zimi has produced an impressive March quarter to generate more value in receipts from customers in the the last three months than in the combined amount from its previous two reporting periods. The company collected $464,000 in customer receipts in the quarter, compared to a combined $308,000 from the entire first half of the financial year, according to its latest quarterly report.

Horizon Minerals has promoted chief operating officer Grant Haywood to the position of chief executive officer – effective from the start of July – as the company eyes production at its Cannon gold project. The move comes as managing director Jon Price steps down and into the position of non-executive director after more than seven years at Horizon’s helm.

Ora Banda Mining has seen a mined gold grade increase of more than 50 per cent at its operations to 2.5 grams per tonne over the March quarter compared to an average of 1.7 g/t gold in the previous six months. The significant grade increase caps a solid three months for the company that also included an almost 5 per cent increase in gold produced with a total of 12,310 ounces against 11,803 ounces in the December quarter and 11,720 ounces through the September quarter.

Lithium Australia has recorded green gains after mixed battery collections by subsidiary Envirostream jumped more than 30 per cent to 364 tonnes in the March quarter, compared to 275 tonnes in the December quarter. According to the parent company’s latest quarterly report, Envirostream also generated a comparative cash gross profit of almost $1 million in the nine months to March.

Venus Metals Corporation has gained a boost to exploration plans for its Marvel Loch East rare earths project after its subsidiary Redscope Enterprises scored a co-funded drilling grant from the WA Government. The Exploration Incentive Scheme funding will contribute 50 per cent of direct drilling and mobilisation costs, with Redscope successfully applying for a maximum amount of $157,500 to explore the project near Southern Cross.

Neometals says an engineering cost study has earmarked processing technology developed by subsidiary Reed Advanced Materials as the most economic method for its proposed Estarreja lithium refinery in Portugal. The study was co-funded with Portugal’s biggest chemical producer, Bondalti, with the aim of developing a 25,000-tonne per annum lithium hydroxide operation in a 50-50 joint venture.

Javelin Minerals has highlighted positive rare earths results from a comprehensive sampling program at its Mt Ida-Ida Valley project near Leonora, with assays of up to 0.11 per cent total rare earth oxides. The company has collected 680 orientation samples from selected tenements at the operation, with the positive rare earth assays taken from the Turkey Creek kimberlite province in WA’s Goldfields region.

Ora Banda Mining has hit significant lithium results from an initial three-hole exploration campaign at the company’s Federal Flag prospect, just 10km from its Davyhurst gold processing plant near Kalgoorlie. The traditional gold explorer has confirmed the presence of lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites, along with potential lithium-bearing spodumene, with an 11.1m hit at 1.28 per cent lithium oxide from 54m.

Infinity Mining says it has uncovered a “lithium-rich system” during a maiden scout drilling program at its Tambourah South project in the Pilbara, with more than 50 samples returning results above 0.2 per cent lithium oxide. Highlights include a 4m hit at 0.573 per cent lithium oxide from 32m, while the widest section showed a 9m intercept going 0.332 per cent lithium oxide from surface.

Legend Mining has highlighted two significant nickel-copper sulphide targets ready for diamond drilling at its Octagonal prospect in Western Australia’s Fraser Range after analysis of 3D seismic and additional data sets. Octagonal forms part of the company’s Rockford project and sits within the same structural corridor as IGO’s game-changing Nova-Bollinger deposit.

Godolphin Resources has set a maiden JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource at its Narraburra rare earth project in NSW, with a massive 126 per cent increase in resource grade compared to its previous JORC 2004 estimate. The updated estimate sits at 94.4 million tonnes at 739 parts per million total rare earth oxides, with 50 per cent of the resource now defined in the indicated category.

White Cliff Minerals is eyeing a maiden JORC resource at its Hines Hill rare earths project near Merredin in WA, with a shallow air-core drill program underway following solid results from last year’s campaign. It is targeting ionic absorption clay mineralisation in the top 20m of the project across a strike of 1km and a width of 800m, with some 90 air-core drill holes planned.

Javelin Minerals has highlighted a slew of follow-up drill targets at its Husky project in NSW after receiving geochemically-elevated results for multiple minerals from a recent air-core program at the site. The company has already started an RC drill campaign of 10 holes at the project to test the new geochemical features at depth.