Announcements

ASX-listed WA precious and base metals explorer Podium Minerals says it has engaged a drilling contractor to complete three deep diamond holes to test for continuity of extensive near-surface platinum group metals and copper mineralisation at its Parks Reef project south-west of Meekatharra. The three holes targeting reef mineralisation about 500m below surface will be co-funded under the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme.

ASX-listed PharmAust appears to have made a breakthrough in its fight to combat canine cancer with a “phase IIb” trial of its Monepantel anti-cancer drug reportedly achieving tumour regression and increased progression-free survival in dogs. The company says the results could have significant implications for human cancer treatment and it will now fast-track to phase-three animal trials.

Ora Banda Mining has rattled off an impressive slew of high-grade drill results from the Iguana satellite gold deposit about 55km south of its Davyhurst gold production hub, 120km north-west of Kalgoorlie. Some of the stand-out intersections were 2m going at 13.6 g/t gold from 136m, 4m at 7.9 g/t from 68m, 9m at 7.6 g/t from 181m and 4m at 7.6 g/t from 84m.

Kairos Minerals has launched an aircore drilling program at its Kangan project 70km south of Port Hedland in WA’s Pilbara region as it looks to uncover an intrusion-hosted gold deposit similar to the exciting 6.8-million-ounce Hemi gold discovery only 20km to the north-west. The company’s latest round of drilling will be aimed at testing a “sizeable” gold anomaly that straddles major regional structures.

ASX-listed Infinity Lithium Corporation has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with LG Energy Solution for supply of lithium hydroxide from its proposed San Jose project in Spain. LGES is a major South Korean manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries. The San Jose project is seen as an important component in the EU’s progress towards a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery supply chain.

ASX-listed Zuleika Gold is nearing the halfway mark of a major drilling campaign at projects in the historic mining camps of the Kundana and Menzies goldfields, with results set to start flowing for more than 100 aircore and reverse circulation holes at its flagship Paradigm East project just east of ASX gold major Northern Star Resources’ Paradigm mine.

ASX-listed Calidus Resources has kicked off a round of confirmatory diamond drilling at its high-grade Blue Spec satellite underground gold deposit, which has the potential to increase annual production from its under-construction Warrawoona gold mine in WA’s East Pilbara region. The company says it will plug the diamond drilling results into a planned definitive feasibility study on Blue Spec, which lies about 75km from Warrawoona.

Barton Gold has hit the boards this morning, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange after closing its initial public offering early. The successful IPO has delivered more than $15 million into the aspiring miner’s coffers to fuel an accelerated exploration and development program across its strategic ground holdings in South Australia’s famed Gawler Craton.

Heavy rare earth price tailwinds are strengthening as Northern Minerals kicks off two months of resource drilling at Browns Range in WA’s north. The drilling, and certainly pricing, will be vital factors in new economic projections for commercial-scale beneficiation at one of the world’s most advanced "heavy" rare earths ventures. Dysprosium has surged 50 per cent since last November and terbium pricing is also heading northwards.

88 Energy has confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in core samples at depths that showed good oil flows during drilling of the Merlin-1 well at its Peregrine project in Alaska. The company is targeting a gross mean prospective resource of 645 million barrels of oil from the well. Geochemical analysis to better understand the quality of oil and its migration pathways continues.

Indiana Resources is set to begin probing the depths of its Minos gold discovery in South Australia, with diamond drilling scheduled to kick off later this week. The company says earlier rounds of shallow reverse circulation drilling have set the stage for the upcoming program, which will delve into the roots of the gold-rich system that has already returned assays of over half an ounce per tonne.

ASX-listed Si6 Metals has defined a 2.5km-long geophysical anomaly coinciding with shallow historical drilled copper-silver mineralisation at its 60 per cent owned Dibete prospect in Botswana. The past drill hits included 38m at 1.72 per cent copper and 119.5 grams per tonne silver. Si6 Metals is looking to pin-point base and precious metal targets for drill-testing.

ASX-listed Troy Resources has edged closer to bringing its 288,000-ounce Smarts underground gold deposit into production at its 100 per cent-owned Karouni project in Guyana. The company has been granted approvals from the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission to enable it to advance work on Smarts as it finalises a series of technical reports on the proposed development.

Blackstone Minerals has successfully completed the spin-out of its non-core assets, birthing Codrus Minerals which was admitted to the Australian Securities Exchange this week. Codrus’ initial public offering was built on Blackstone’s suite of Australian and US gold projects, with the company receiving 35 million shares as part of the listing and leaving the Vietnam-focused nickel developer with a 46 per cent holding in the new entity.

Quantum Graphite has entered a transformational joint venture agreement with The Sunlands Company to manufacture thermal energy storage battery cells, or “TES”, utilising graphite sourced from its Uley 2 deposit on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Sunlands will contribute processing technologies and flake specifications for the final product, with the 50-50 partnership aiming to break into the burgeoning renewable power generation market.

In just three short months Strickland Metals has established a dominant land position in one of the world’s premier gold belts. Its rapid-fire consolidation of WA’s east Yandal Belt has already delivered a project resource inventory of 600,000 ounces and put it in a position to mount the first systematic drilling assault on a 100km-long stretch of the prospective Celia shear zone.

Impact Minerals is zeroing in on the source of nickel-PGE mineralisation at its Little Broken Hill Gabbro discovery in western New South Wales, with diamond drilling returning a 100m-thick intercept containing up to 5 per cent iron sulphides. Intriguingly, the intercept has a 50m-wide zone of anomalous copper mineralisation that looks similar in nature to the mineralised halo surrounding the massive Voisey’s Bay deposit in Canada.

Ardiden has sealed a joint venture agreement in relation to its hard-rock lithium projects in Canada after new partner Great Northern Lithium gave the nod to acquiring an 80 per cent interest in the assets. Great Northern, which plans to change its name to Green Technology Metals, exercised its option to buy the stake for $8.7 million over the next 18 months.

Venus Metals Corporation and joint venture partner Rox Resources have grown resources at their Youanmi gold project near Mt Magnet in Western Australia’s Murchison district by a whopping 39 per cent. Nearly 1.7 million ounces have now been defined with 800,000 ounces near surface and a further 856,000 high-grade ounces at depth. Resource drilling continues with a feasibility study on the cards.

Latitude Consolidated continues to return encouraging gold hits from an RC drilling campaign near the former Andy Well underground mine at its Murchison gold project in WA. Best of the latest reported drill intersections came from the Margaret prospect, including 3m at 2.52 g/t gold from 136m containing 1m at 7 g/t and 9m at 1.14 g/t from 150m with 2m at 3.09 g/t.

ASX-listed junior explorer Surefire Resources has been buoyed by a recently completed scoping study on its Perenjori iron ore project in WA’s south-west Murchison district that points to a potentially economically viable mining and beneficiation operation producing high-grade magnetite concentrate. The company says the study shows a “clear pathway” to meeting its 30 per cent internal rate of return hurdle for a project development.

ASX-listed St George Mining has delivered a “breakthrough” high-grade nickel sulphide drill hit below previously intercepted mineralisation at the 75 per cent-owned Mt Alexander project in Western Australia’s north-Eastern Goldfields. The 11.07m hit grading 1.58 per cent nickel and 0.71 per cent copper included a 1.28m interval going at 6.54 per cent nickel, 2.96 per cent copper and 3.88g/t PGEs from 342.12m depth.

ASX-listed base and precious metals explorer PolarX is gearing up to kick off a new round of diamond drilling at the Caribou Dome copper project, about 250km north-east of Anchorage in Alaska, USA. The company says it has locked in a drilling contractor for the program that is planned to start in August this year with an aggregate drill coverage of at least 1,500m.

Todd River Resources has expanded its footprint in WA, picking up close to 900 sq.km of ground in the Edmund Basin south of the Pilbara Craton. The company’s new Pingandy tenure covers a package of rocks similar to those hosting Rumble Resources Earaheedy lead-zinc discovery and prospective for copper, lead, zinc and silver mineralisation.

ASX-listed Venus Metals and joint venture partner Rox Resources are extending deep drilling at their Youanmi gold project near Mt Magnet in Western Australia. The pair have added 2,000m of diamond drilling to a program targeting depth extensions to high-grade gold shoots and seeking new ones. They are looking to add to the current 1.19-million-ounce resource at Youanmi as stellar gold hits continue.

ASX-listed Infinity Lithium Corporation has signed a consultancy agreement with Spanish mining outfit Promotora de Minas de Carbon as the Australian company looks to shore up its San Jose lithium project in Spain’s Extremadura region. Forty-five-year-old Promotora de Minas de Carbon has agreed to provide mining advisory services to Infinity for an all-options success fee comprising two tranches of 20 million options each.

Coda Minerals has pocketed $14.4 million from an oversubscribed capital raising, with the company now boasting more than $21 million in cash reserves to fund ongoing exploration in South Australia. Whilst the company has wowed the market in recent weeks with its Emmie Bluff IOCG discovery, Coda continues to build a substantial inventory of copper resources at its Elizabeth Creek project.

ASX-listed 88 Energy is cutting more than US$1 million of annual finance costs and adding US$2.6 million to its treasury with the US$18.7 million sale of oil and gas tax credits in Alaska. The balance-sheet reset strengthens the company’s position as it strives to expand oil and gas resources at its 100 per cent-owned Peregrine project in the US state.

Wiluna Mining’s development program over its namesake WA operation continues to come up trumps with reserve drilling across the Happy Jack deposit returning 1.78 metres grading a stunning 66.74 grams per tonne. Meanwhile drilling at East Lode has turned up intercepts of 13.12m at 6.89 g/t and 6.85m at 7.72 g/t gold, underlining the lucrative nature of the deeper sulphide mineralisation.

ASX-listed 3D metal printing company Aurora Labs has hit the ground running after moving operations to its new Canning Vale facility in Perth. The company’s Beta prototype printer has produced its first coupons since the relocation, marking the relaunch of Aurora’s 12-month “Technology Development Pathway” strategy with an end goal of commercialising its 3D printing technology.

Coda Minerals has stepped up exploration at its Emmie Bluff IOCG discovery in South Australia, with drilling now underway to further test the mineral-rich body, located 450 kilometres north-west of Adelaide. The company has now kicked off drilling of a series of daughter holes that splay off the original diamond drill hole to test the mineralisation at various levels within the stratigraphy.

ASX-listed Blackstone Minerals has launched a “green” hydrogen study as it continues to look at ways of developing a zero-carbon mining and downstream processing operation at its flagship Ta Khoa nickel-copper-PGE project in Vietnam. In relation to the proposed downstream processing plant, the company intends assessing oxygen production via the electrolysis of water that it says generates green hydrogen as a by-product.