Announcements

Meeka Metals has secured mine dewatering and clearing permits to step closer to first gold at its Murchison project in Western Australia’s Mid West region, with the company now expecting mining permits early in September. Management has drawn down on $1.34 million of a $2.2 million secured bridging loan facility to purchase the camp and associated infrastructure at the operation.

White Cliff Minerals has beefed up its landholding at its Nunavut copper-gold-silver project in the northern Canadian province of the same name after putting its foot on two adjoining and “highly-prospective” exploration licences covering up to an additional 63 square kilometres. The new tenure includes the Halo prospect where historical drilling returned a 4.7m intercept at an eye-catching 10.47 per cent copper.

Dateline Resources is tapping investors for up to $5.8 million via a renounceable rights issue to provide a financial boost for its compelling Colosseum gold and rare earths project in California. The company plans to use the funds to conduct further exploration works and complete a mine planning study for the bumper 1.1 million-ounce gold resource it recently reported at the project.

Red Metal has produced what it says could be a premium saleable rare earths product after its first impurity removal trial using ore from its globally-unique Sybella rare earths project near Mount Isa in Queensland. The company says its low-impurity, magnet rare earth oxides-dominant product is another proof-of-concept step towards Sybella becoming a significant, low-cost rare earths mining operation.

Latitude 66 has immediately hit its stride after a recent reverse takeover of DiscovEx Resources and re-listing on the ASX, revealing impressive new gold assay results up to 22.4m at 2.4g/t from extensional diamond drilling at its Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) project in Finland. The company is building on the existing indicated resource of 650,000 ounces of gold and 8000 tonnes of cobalt.

Ardea Resources has launched a $98.5 million definitive feasibility study, fully funded by a powerhouse Japanese consortium, for its giant Goongarrie Hub nickel project that sits 70km north-west of Kalgoorlie in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region. The Goongarrie Hub is an integral part of the company’s Kalgoorlie nickel project that embraces a collection of deposits combining to host what it says is the biggest nickel-cobalt resource in the developed world.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Warriedar Resources’ 19m at 4.94g/t gold from 188m at its Ricciardo Mine in Western Australia’s Murchison region. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week as reported by AIC Mines, Mt Malcolm Mines and KGL Resources.

Aguia Resources has endured a forgettable few years, but with new management and a new plan in place for its South American projects, a road to riches may well lie just ahead. The company is aiming to deliver strong early cashflow from its high-grade Santa Barbara gold mine in Columbia to provide the cash needed to fire up its organic phosphate operations in Southern Brazil.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Infini Resources. Its share price jumped nearly 226 per cent on the back of a slew of lab-busting soil-sampling uranium results that showed grades so high that they have been dispatched back to the lab for another round of analysis. Other movers and shakers this week were Waratah Minerals, AML3D and Wellard.

Askari Metals has outlined a significant JORC-compliant gold exploration target at its Burracoppin gold project in Western Australia, with average grade variance between 0.67 to 0.91 grams per tonne within 8.2 to 11.1 million tonnes. It is in addition to the existing Burracoppin mineral resource estimate of 1.32 million tonnes grading 1.52g/t gold for 64,600 ounces of contained gold.

Ardea Resources has kicked off definitive feasibility study drilling planned to stretch for 51,745m in 888 holes at the Goongarrie Hub nickel project that it now shares with a giant Japanese consortium in the Western Australian Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie. The aim is to upgrade the project’s massive nickel-cobalt resource to the coveted measured mineral category to boost the confidence in its initial five-year plan.

The new combined ASX entity known as Latitude 66 believes it has high-tech electromagnetic data that makes exploration at its flagship KSB gold-cobalt project in Finland as easy as “shooting fish in a barrel”. DiscovEx Resources’ reverse takeover of Latitude 66 Cobalt has put together “a group of like-minded people” after the corporate transaction on the back of a $4 million capital raise.

Buxton Resources is employing a high-tech magnetic survey in a bid to define potential targets for the company’s maiden drill program at its recently-acquired Matrix manganese play in Arizona’s Mohave county. The survey will be flown at 30m flight lines above the 12-square-kilometre ground that sits on the interpreted western extension of Artillery Peak’s 277 million-tonne manganese resource grading at 2.8 per cent.

Strickland Metals has upped the ante at its Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia by adding a fourth diamond rig to target substantial copper-gold porphyry mineralisation at the site, with initial assays due next month. The new drilling activities come hot on the heels of Strickland confirming yesterday that it had completed its full acquisition of the project.

Aguia Resources is on the cusp of securing a processing facility close to its Tres Estrades phosphate project in Brazil that should see it avoid paying through the nose for a brand new one and lead to an earlier production ramp up by mid-2025. The identification of existing processing plants within an economic trucking distance of Aguia's orebodies presents a unique opportunity to cut costs and accelerate production timelines.

Aruma Resources has wasted little time in firming up confidence at its new Bortala project in the Mount Isa Copper Belt after an initial appraisal at the site confirmed some promising copper-gold targets. The acquisition revealed only in late May was part of what management described as potentially “company-changing” gains of two copper operations in Queensland and a highly-prospective IOCG and uranium play in SA.

Ora Banda Mining has beefed up the mineral resources and ore reserves at its Davyhurst gold project in WA, attributing the growth to its underground exploration success and the definition of a new gold lode. The company not only managed to increase its underground ore reserve by 94 per cent, but also sweetened up the gold reserve grade by an extra 17 per cent.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Chilwa Minerals’ drilling in Malawi that threw up an intriguing intercept of 13m at 10.5 per cent total heavy minerals. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week reported by Magnetic Resources and West African Resources.

Aurumin has unveiled a new suite of positive gold hits from four of its seven new targets at the company’s 881,000-ounce Sandstone gold project in Western Australia following a first-pass reverse-circulation drilling campaign. With more imminent drilling to come, the latest finds build on results in May that included a bonanza 1m intersection of 344g/t from the company’s Plum Pudding target.

ASX-listed Strickland Metals has tied up the acquisition of its mammoth Rogozna gold and base metal project in Serbia where a resource containing more than 5.4 million ounces of gold equivalent has already been defined. A 60,000m resource expansion and exploration drilling campaign is also well underway, with three rigs smashing out the metres and a fourth to be added shortly.

King River Resources is set to unleash the drill bit in a new campaign designed to home in on high-grade gold targets at its Tennant Creek project in the Northern Territory following detailed interpretations of geophysical studies. The 1600m reverse-circulation drilling program will test newly-identified gold targets at the company’s promising Kurundi operation at Tennant Creek.

American West Metals has nailed 20m of copper at 2.3 per cent from 38m including 8m at 5.3 per cent in a drill campaign designed to test an electromagnetic (EM) anomaly at the “Gap” within its Storm project in Canada. The 8m intercept also jagged another 3m interval at 7 per cent copper from 41m, confirming the strong correlation between copper mineralisation and EM anomalism.

Lycaon Resources has won a tenement ballot for a highly-prospective new lithium and copper project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The tenement, in addition to four other applications, lies adjacent to the Marble Bar and DOM’s Hill projects that are held in a joint venture by Kali Metals and lithium major Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM).

Lindian Resources has lifted the lid on a compelling new set of financial numbers for its giant Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, including a whopping annual EBITDA of US$84 million (AU$124.5 million) in a 45-year mine life. A feasibility study on the project’s stage-one development also shows a post-tax payback period of just 1.5 years for a US$40 million (AU$60 million) pre-production capital outlay.

Dateline Resources has kicked the door in as the latest entrant to the million-ounce gold club on the ASX having just tabled a 1.1 million-ounce resource last month at its Colosseum gold and rare earths project near Las Vegas running 1.26g/t gold. Notably, the company says the resource still has plenty of legs, but it is also showing early signs of rare earths in a region that is revered for the scale and grade of its rare earths.

Estrella Resources has inked a milestone joint venture and royalty deed with Murak Rai Timor (MRT), the State-run mining arm of the Timor-Leste Government, to explore for manganese, copper and gold in that country. Estrella will hold 70 per cent of the newly-formed venture that includes three exploration licenses covering a landholding of 121.5 square metres, with MRT holding 30 per cent.

Larvotto Resources has revealed a bumper exploration target at its Hillgrove gold and antimony project in New South Wales, consisting of 2.8 to 3.6 million tonnes holding between 670,000 and 1.08 million ounces of gold equivalent grading at 7.4 to 9.46 grams per tonne. The target adds strong potential for the company to grow its vast resource base that contains 1.4 million ounces of gold equivalent at a cracking grade of 6.1g/t.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … InteliCare Holdings. Its shares jumped 144 per cent on the back of a $2 million capital raise to kickstart key commercial agreements for its AI-driven platform aimed at enabling the elderly to stay in their homes for longer. Other ASX movers and shakers were Encounter Resources, Vonex and Actinogen Medical.

ChemX Materials has taken a crucial step towards high-purity alumina production after cranking up the early-stage commissioning of a leach circuit at its innovative “HiPurA” pilot plant in Western Australia. The leach circuit is a critical initial part of ChemX’s purification process in its aim to produce 99.99 per cent, or “four nines”, purity HPA from its planned 24-tonne per annum plant.

Surefire Resources says it has identified a significant opportunity to produce high-grade iron and titanium concentrates from its Unaly Hill magnetite deposit that sits in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company is also engaging with potential stakeholders interested in fast-tracking the development of its flagship Victory Bore project abutting its Unaly Hill ground, about 450km north-east of Perth.

Red Metal’s metallurgical testwork has given a green light to the rare earths at its Sybella play near Mount Isa in Queensland, with bulk mining and a low-cost heap leach process to lead to a potential mining operation. The company says granite-hosted soft ore that appears to be abundant in its ground, offers simple crushing and processing options that provide an economic edge to the project.

Novo Resources and its respective joint venture partners De Grey Mining and industry veteran Mark Creasy are firing up the rigs with multiple gold and base metal drilling programs in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The partnerships will be plunging a combined 32,000m of drilling into the respective Becher and Nunyerry North targets in a bid to make another compelling Pilbara discovery.