Announcements

Ora Banda Mining produced 22,973 ounces of gold in the December quarter at 2.9g/t, totalling 47,300 ounces for the half year. All-in sustaining costs rose 14.7pc to $2536 due to processing residual low-grade ore. With the Riverina mine paying for itself inside 18 months, Sand King is set to boost output to 150,000 ounces annually by June. Cash reserves grew by $9m to $57.8m.

A consortium of South Korean mega-energy firms is set to enter into an agreement with Pilot Energy to jointly develop the Mid West clean energy project in the Perth Basin to secure a supply of ammonia. The ammonia will be used in coal-fired power plants. The consortium received more than $2m in funding last November from the Korea Export-Import Bank to conduct a feasibility study on the project.

Strickland Metals is poised for a blockbuster start to 2025, with key assay results from the Shanac and Gradina deposits at its flagship Rogozna project in Serbia expected next week. A maiden resource estimate for the Medenovac deposit is slated for late February, while at its Yandal project in WA, an updated resource estimate is on track for late March.

Terrain Minerals has launched into an eagerly awaited reverse circulation drilling campaign early at its Lort River copper-nickel project in Western Australia’s renowned Albany-Fraser Belt. The campaign will target two high-priority Nova-Bollinger-like sulphide conductors, hot on the heels of promising ground-based electromagnetic survey results completed last month.

St George Mining has inked a nine-month non-exclusive memorandum of understanding with one of the world’s leading steelmakers, the China-based Liaoning Fangda Group, which may lead to a deal to supply at least 20 per cent of future niobium production from its Araxá REE project in Brazil in exchange for funding support.

ABx Group’s 83 per cent owned subsidiary ALCORE is set to produce aluminium fluoride at the company’s pilot plant, which will be established at a facility adjacent to Rio Tinto Aluminium’s Bell Bay smelter in northern Tasmania. ALCORE plans to prove its world-first process to produce hydrogen fluoride from smelter waste, which will then be converted into aluminium fluoride, essential for the aluminium smelter industry.

GreenTech Metals has rebooted its 4000m stage two diamond coring drilling program at its Whundo massive sulphide-hosted copper-zinc project in WA’s West Pilbara, chasing downhole conductors at four target areas. A stage one 1710m reverse circulation drilling program, done and dusted last July, produced encouraging results supported by follow-up geophysics, prompting the current stage two campaign.

Horizon Minerals has poured its first gold bars from ore hauled from its Boorara project, near the famous mining town of Kalgoorlie in WA, under its ore sale agreement revealed last year with Norton Gold Fields’ Paddington mill. Proceeds from the sale are expected to be pumped into the company’s bank account within the week.

Legend Mining has reached for some innovative exploration techniques at its Rockford nickel-copper project in WA’s Fraser Range, earning it a windfall $1.77 million research and development cash refund from the taxman. Legend’s high-power fixed loop electromagnetic equipment has pushed the boundaries of traditional electromagnetics by identifying targets at depths below 600m.

Horizon Minerals has pumped $6.345 million into its bank account via an at-market share placement of 4.5c per share with a further $3.28 million expected shortly, all earmarked for the development of its soon-to-be producing gold deposits. Privately-owned Golden Crane Holdings will stump up the entire $9.625 million via a two-tranche placement in exchange for approximately 213 million shares in Horizon.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Sparc Technologies. The company is developing new-age hydrogen technology using sunlight to split water without the use of an electrolyser. Argent Biopharma raised funds at a significant premium to its last closing price while Australian Mines boosted its scandium resource and Dimerix revealed a tie-in with a Japanese pharmaceutical firm to treat kidney disease.

Aurum Resources has tightened its grip on fellow West African gold explorer Mako Gold, boasting an 86.77 per cent ownership stake and setting the stage for the final act. Having already declared its off-market takeover bid as unconditional, Aurum has now upped the stakes by branding its bid “Best and Final,” signalling a determination to close the deal.

St George Mining has joined forces with two of Brazil’s leading government scientific agencies to develop an optimal downstream process for the company’s niobium and rare earth mineralisation at its Araxá project. The company recently secured $20 million in funding to acquire 100 per cent of the project located within the renowned mining region of Minas Gerais in south-east Brazil.

Reach Resources has kick-started a highly anticipated reverse circulation drilling program at its Murchison South gold project marking the first time its new geological model will be tested at the site near Paynes Find in Western Australia. The program is focused on reevaluating previous structural controls and targeting high-grade zones identified to be connected to the newly interpreted Primose fault structure.

Thunderbird Resources has scooped the services of industry veteran George Ventouras as executive chairman in a shift the company says is a strategic move to accelerate an ambitious exploration agenda at its Rockvale and Kookabookra antimony-gold projects in New South Wales. Ventouras has stepped into his new role following the resignation of former executive chairman, George Bauk.

The share price of Meeka Metals soared to a record high of 10.2 cents today after unveiling a set of stunning gold hits from its drilling at St Anne’s, part of the company’s flagship Murchison gold project in Western Australia. The results included a jaw-dropping 10m section grading 52.79 grams per tonne (g/t) gold within a broader 23m intercept running at 26.73g/t.

Terrain Minerals has revealed an ambitious exploration roadmap for 2025, pitching a diversified drilling assault across WA on gold, nickel, copper and gallium targets. The company is gearing up for two significant reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaigns at its flagship Smokebush gold-gallium and Lort River nickel-copper projects which is set kick-off this month and continue through the quarter and beyond.

In a move that brings St George Mining a step closer to becoming a key critical metal producer, the company has raised $20 million in a placement to new and existing investors. The funds will be used to finalise its acquisition of the high-grade Araxá niobium-rare earth (REE) project in Brazil, adjacent to CBMM’s world-leading operations in Minas Gerais, with settlement now due in March.

Aguia Resources is fast approaching first gold pour at the company’s ultra high-grade Santa Barbara gold project in Colombia as it ramps up the mine and its processing plant to treat 50tpd of ore for the shiny yellow metal. The first 25 tonnes of ore has now been mined and loaded into a series of agitator tanks in preparation for the carbon-in-leach solution.

As Meeka Metals moves towards first mining in March, it has jagged more high-grade gold at its Murchison project in WA with 1m at 154.5g/t gold in 6m intercept at 26.47g/t from its ongoing infill RC drilling. Management says the findings have reinforced the company’s confidence in its open pit production strategy, with the first gold pour scheduled for late June or early July.

Galan Lithium has secured phase two permitting for its Hombre Muerto West and Candelas lithium brine projects in Argentina’s world-class Lithium Triangle. The permit allows for expanded production of up to 21,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate equivalent and sets the stage for Galan to scale its operations in line with a predicted lithium market bounce back.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is… 5E Advanced Materials, up 86 per cent following a booming price for its dual listed shares on Nasdaq and as it focuses on becoming a vertically integrated and global boron producer. On home turf, Lycaon Resources also stunned the market with a coup of epic proportions landing industry veteran, Tony Rovira, who has joined the company’s ranks as a non-executive director.

Lycaon Resources shares soared 66 per cent to 15c a share after the company bolstered the board and its bank balance by locking in former Azure Minerals managing director Tony Rovira as a new non-executive director of the company. The well-regarded mining veteran has also agreed to invest $360,000 in Lycaon through the issue of four million new shares at 9c a share.

88 Energy has banked a US$1 million payment from its joint venture partner, Texas-based Burgundy Xploration, as part of an outstanding US$4 million cash call, now due in February. The funding is supporting the ongoing development of the company’s massive Phoenix petroleum development in Alaska. Burgundy has reiterated its intention to provide full carry costs to earn an additional working interest in the project.

Meeka Metals is charging along in fine style developing its flagship Murchison gold project near Meekatharra in WA’s Mid West region, with first gold production slated for mid-New Year. Establishment of new milling, processing, administration and camp infrastructure and other earthworks, such as site access and tails retention, continues in tandem with new surface and underground resource development at the company’s Turnberry and Andy Well deposits.

Aurum Resources has delivered a massive 50.9 million tonne maiden resource estimate averaging 1g/t gold for 1.59m ounces of contained gold at its 1037-square kilometre Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. The resource estimate includes mineralised zones from its BST, BD and BM tenements, where its systematic drilling campaigns are ongoing.

Pilot Energy has identified a further 27 million tonnes of carbon storage capacity at its Cliff Head carbon storage project following recent technical assessments by the company’s sub-surface consultant. CO2Tech undertook the review of Pilot’s WA 31-L licence area in anticipation of the next phase of regulatory approvals, increasing the 2C/P50 storage resource from its previous capacity of 45.6mt to 72mt.

Lindian Resources has appointed seasoned businessman Robert Martin as chairman to assist with the development of its mammoth Kangankunde project in Malawi, one of the largest rare earth deposits in the world. Martin, who sits on a number of other ASX-listed company boards has a track record of experience across a broad range of sectors, including mining and mining services, manufacturing and capital markets.

BMG Resources has bored three diamond holes at its Wiluna Abercromby project in WA. The company began drilling 19 days ago and has booked 1076m drilled so far in a phase one program on the Capital deposit to expand and upgrade Capital’s maiden 518,000-ounce gold resource. The resource had previous hits of 1.45 g/t gold with high-grade zones up to 5.94g/t gold.

Aurum Resources has confirmed some impressive high gold recoveries from its flagship Boundiali gold project at Côte d'Ivoire peaking at 97.1 per cent while also reducing reagent costs significantly. The company managed the twin achievements of high recoveries at reduced cost with lime use dropping by 32 per cent and cyanide requirements slashed by 40 per cent during leaching. Additionally, gravity recovery alone accounted for 50-60 per cent of gold recovery, a testament to the free-milling nature of the ore.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is… icetana. The video analytic solution provider inked a three-year Malaysian security deal for 1 Utama, Malaysia's largest shopping mall which saw its shares peak more than 100 per cent higher during the week. Patriot Lithium also had a nice time in the sun following a transformative deal to buy into the highly prospective Zambian Kitumba copper project while a huge cheer went up for Mesoblast after it landed FDA approval for its cell therapy treatment. There was also Black Dragon taking out the silver… but we’ll get to that.

Larvotto Resources has received US$4 million (A$6.2m) as pre-payment from Wogan Resources’ sister and financing company Xcelsior Capital under an exclusive antimony off-take agreement with Wogan. The agreement, signed on December 2, will see Wogen provide exclusive global off-take sales for Larvotto’s antimony concentrate produced at its Hillgrove project.