Announcements

Aurum Resources has struck more high-grade gold at its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire, with hits of up to 8m at 8.23g/t gold outside the known resource. Results from 3079m of drilling across 12 holes at Target 3 have extended mineralisation by 380m, pushing the strike to 1.9km - well beyond the 950m already included in the 1.59-million-ounce global resource.

After a week of market elation and ASX all-time highs, this week saw the index experience a serious pullback as banks and miners alike were left with nowhere to hide.

Image Resources has landed first production of heavy mineral concentrate at its Atlas project, 170 km north of Perth, marking a key step in the company’s plan to expand its mineral sands footprint and achieve planned revenue growth by mid-2025. The mine achieved its first production during early-stage commissioning this month. Despite bushfire evacuations last year, accelerated construction has since kept the project on schedule with initial forecasts.

Aurumin Ltd has wrapped up a 54-hole reverse circulation program at its Central Sandstone project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The holes were designed to test a clutch of iron-rich prospects key to a proposed exclusive option agreement with private entity Newcam Minerals. A successful joint venture deal could provide Aurumin with $7m in project funding.

Reach Resources’ share price surged 29pc this morning to 1.8 cents, up some 125pc on this time last week, after the company unveiled initial drilling results from its Murchison South gold project in Western Australia. The first two reverse circulation drill holes intersected shallow high-grade gold, including an impressive 41m section grading 2.01g/t.

Chariot Corporation has secured strategic West Australian lithium and gold assets by obtaining seven tenements in the Southern Cross greenstone belt, a world-class lithium and gold address. Chariot swooped in after a series of relinquishments by other gold and lithium explorers over the past two years, taking advantage of a countercyclical opportunity. The company says it has successfully leveraged the strategy elsewhere.

Meeka Metals is keeping its golden streak alive at its flagship Murchison project in Western Australia’s Mid West region, striking 16m at 9.45 grams per tonne gold. This follows a red-hot 23m at 26.73g/t gold from the St Anne’s deposit earlier this year. With rigs spinning and the mining fleet mobilised, Meeka is on a fast track to development and is closing in on production.

Strickland Metals has boosted its Serbian Rogozna project’s mineral resource by 23pc, reaching 6.69m gold equivalent ounces. A key driver is the maiden resource at Medenovac, contributing 1.28m gold equivalent ounces from a resource of 21mt grading 1.9g/t gold equivalent. The polymetallic deposit - rich in gold, copper, zinc, lead and silver – has lifted Rogozna’s portfolio, reinforcing its status as a major gold and base metals asset.

King River Resources has wrapped up the sale of its Speewah critical minerals project in WA’s rugged Kimberley to NT resources firm Tivan Ltd. The sale was initiated two years ago for a mix of cash and shares worth $20 million. The deal was restructured in February last year, resulting in a $2.4m payment last December with no further shares to be issued.

St George Mining has bolstered its cavalry by appointing an ex-CBMM engineering manager from a neighbouring industry-leading niobium plant. Armed with a $20 million war chest and strategic alliance with global mining engineering firm Shandong Xinhai Mining, St George is assembling elite in-house expertise to fast-track the development of its Araxá niobium-rare earths project in Brazil.

Great Southern Mining and Gold Fields Limited have identified a second large-scale induced polarisation (IP) target at their Edinburgh Park gold and copper project in northern Queensland. The newly discovered Mt Dillon target follows a previous IP anomaly at Leichhardt Creek, located 10km northwest. The latest find reinforces the potential for significant mineralization within the jointly owned exploration area.

Lithium Universe has approved a final investment to progress its Bécancour lithium refinery in Canada and will now aim to secure US$549m (A$862m) in funding for the project, which has a net present value of US$718m (A$1.128b). The project is expected to generate EBITDA of US$148m from annual revenue of US$383m with a 3.9-year payback based on current price assumptions.

McLaren Minerals has launched an air core drilling campaign at the company’s flagship McLaren titanium sands project in Western Australia’s Eucla Basin. The program aims to refine resource estimates, expand high-grade titanium mineralisation and enhance confidence in the 280-million-tonne resource. A key priority will be to collect 5 tonnes of sample material for metallurgical testing at IHC Mining’s laboratory in Queensland.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has etched out an under-explored 13km corridor along strike at its freshly minted Lighthorse gold discovery and is fast-tracking drilling to test the full extent of its prospective gold system. The company set tongues wagging and its share price bolting earlier this month when it pulled up a clutch of impressive intercepts including 17m running at 4.81 g/t.

Javelin Minerals is about to launch a 2500-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its newly acquired Eureka gold project, 50km north of Kalgoorlie in WA. The company has a program of works submitted and an RC rig secured through a drill-for-equity deal with TopDrill. The program, to target high-grade lodes, is expected to begin in early March and will take about three weeks.

88 Energy has sealed a deal with US partner Burgundy Xploration, signing a two-phase farmout participation agreement for its Phoenix oil and gas project in Alaska. The Texas-based Burgundy will tip US$39m (A$61.3 million) into the kitty to fully fund future works programs, including drilling a horizontal well and production testing in return for a 75 per cent stake.

Larvotto Resources’ plans to run a dry tailings stacking process at its Hillgrove antimony-gold project in New South Wales have been accepted by the NSW planning and infrastructure department. The company decided to move away from a conventional wet slurry tailings dam because the dry storage solution offered significant low-cost design and eco-friendly benefits given Hillgrove’s nature, scale and current infrastructure.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is… Caprice Resources. The company’s share price rocketed after unveiling gold results at its Island Gold project in the Murchison. EV Resources and its ultra-high-grade molybdenum in Peru surged thanks to China’s export bans, Scorpion acquired yet more Murchison hot property and Latitude 66 is returning to test its high-grade gold projects in Northern Finland.

Neometals has scored another tranche of funding to advance its vanadium recovery operation in Finland. EIT RawMaterials will throw in an additional €0.494m (A$818) in grant funding, following an earlier €0.5m investment late last year to increase its minority shareholding in a Scandinavian special purpose vehicle to 2.2 per cent.

BMG Resources is poised to ramp up drilling at its Abercromby gold project near Wiluna in Western Australia, with phase one results expected any day and phase two drilling scheduled to begin next month. With the first-round results from December’s 1076m diamond drilling campaign expected imminently, BMG is confident that visual observations suggest the project’s existing 518,000-ounce gold resource is set to grow.

King River Resources has revealed a set of eye-catching assay results up to 26 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from shallow drilling at its Kurundi gold project near Tennent Creek in the Northern Territory. The phase 2 drilling program at Kurundi consisted of 36 RC holes for 2,472m designed to look for new mineralised structures and extensions up to 1.5km from the main workings at Kurundi.

Suvo Strategic Minerals has locked away a game-changing five-year renewal of its key hydrous kaolin offtake agreement with Chaozhou Chengcheng Industrial Co, doubling sales to the Chinese industrial powerhouse. The take-or-pay agreement, valued at $6.56 million before delivery costs, has increased volumes from 4275t of the company’s hydrous kaolin in the previous three-year agreement to 8750t under the new deal.

Latitude 66 is gearing up for an innovative exploration initiative at its flagship Kuusamo Schist Belt gold-cobalt project in Finland, with plans to deploy reverse circulation drilling for the first time in the region. The company has locked in an agreement to trial the RC technique this March at its K6 prospects, which lie just 1km south of its existing 650,000-ounce gold and 5840t cobalt mineral resource.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining will fast-track a follow-up reverse circulation drilling program after earlier this week revealing the impressive Lighthorse gold discovery at its Pinjin project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields. An RC rig will target deeper host rock after earlier air core drilling hit a rich supergene zone. The latest drilling is set to begin in early March.

Ora Banda Mining has uncovered a new gold discovery – along with another set of blockbuster results from deep drilling at its Riverina mine in Western Australia. The results will also extend the deposit’s mine life. The company’s depth extension drilling campaign has continued to intersect high-grade gold for more than 300m below its current mine plan, further extending the life of mine at the company’s ever-refining Davyhurst operation.

Amid a surge of investor interest in its flagship Malawi rare earths project, Lindian Resources is advancing its financing options with a new hire to work on an existing deal and recommend further solutions. Experienced finance advisor Henk Ludik will progress a non-binding agreement Lindian has in place with US-based Gerald Group, and identify, review and recommend more funding solutions.

Carnaby Resources hit shallow, high-grade copper of up to 4.9pc and gold grading as high as 2.8g/t from just 22m depth at its Burke and Wills prospect, part of the Greater Duchess JV with ASX-listed Latitude 66 in Queensland. All 10 drill holes intersected mineralisation, helping to define deposit geometry and test extensions. Latitude holds a 17.5pc free-carried interest in the project.

St George Mining has secured $8 million in backing from leading global mining engineering firm Shandong Xinhai Mining to fast-track the development at its high-grade Araxá niobium-rare earths project in Brazil. The company has formed a major strategic partnership with the engineering and construction services giant through an agreement that includes an engineering, procurement and construction contract over Araxá.

Lithium Universe has partnered with a research-focussed Canadian engineering school, Polytechnique Montreal, to drive innovation in lithium processing in the country and increase local expertise in battery metals to improve its supply chain. The initial five-year deal, outlined in a memorandum of understanding, will focus on three key areas: industry education, curriculum development and R&D collaboration.

Horizon Minerals has launched its second gold mine, kicking off ore processing at its Phillips Find project, 45km northwest of Coolgardie in WA. Mining at the Newminster and Newhaven pits is well underway, with more than 800,000 cubic metres of material now shifted to the ROM pad. The first 40,000t have been trucked to FMR Investments' Greenfields mill, where processing will begin next week on a two-week turnaround.

Estrella Resources has received some stunning assay results from rock chip sampling from two in-situ supergene manganese discoveries at its Lautém project in Timor-Leste, with grades up to a striking 58.6 per cent manganese. Bulk determinations for detrital material accumulated on valley floors average a whopping 40.1pc manganese.

Askari Metals has pumped up its gold resource by 28pc to 82,700 ounces grading 1.2g/t at its Burracoppin project in the WA Wheatbelt, winning over market punters who pushed up the price earlier today by more than 100pc. Due to a booming gold price, the company says it has fielded significant enquiries for the project, which sits 20km east of Merredin.