Announcements

Aurumin has smashed its previous ASX trading volume record out of the park after it revealed a bonanza gold grade hit of 1m going 344 grams per tonne from 43m in drilling at its Sandstone project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The immediate market response saw 56 million of the company’s shares change hands – more than six times its previous record volume.

Aurum Resources has recorded its highest-grade gold hit to date from diamond drilling at its Boundiali project in the West African nation of Côte d'Ivoire, with 1m going 163 grams per tonne from 277m. The impressive section was contained within a wider 12.22m intercept grading 14.56g/t gold from 275m that was recorded 60m down-dip from a previous 4m segment at 22.35g/t from 226m.

White Cliff Minerals is poised for an exploration blitz when it kicks off a maiden fieldwork campaign at its Nunavut copper-gold-silver project in the northern Canadian province of the same name. The company has already identified a slew of high-priority targets at the operation and its imminent field campaign has been designed to include detailed geological mapping and sampling ahead of a maiden drill program.

Si6 Metals has increased its tenement area in the Limpopo Mobile Belt in Botswana by 45 per cent to a total of 2868 square kilometres after being granted a new 903sq-km prospecting licence. The newly-granted ground in the South African country sits 7km south of the company’s high-grade copper-silver projects at Airstrip and Dibete and the Maibele North nickel-copper-cobalt.

Incoming Lindian Resources chief executive officer Alwyn Vorster has vowed to bring the company’s massive flagship Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi into construction and operation “as soon as possible”. The experienced rare earths executive, who has a track-record of managing projects through all stages of development, is expected to take up his new post as of this Saturday.

Aruma Resources is heralding the potentially “company-changing” acquisition of two copper operations in Queensland and a highly-prospective iron oxide-copper-gold and uranium play in South Australia. As part of a share acquisition agreement with NHM Holdings, the company has picked up the Wilan project near Olympic Dam in SA, while also adding the Fiery Creek and Bortala copper operations near Mt Isa in Queensland.

Neometals is looking to stage a US$10 million ($AU15.1 million) cash-and-shares payment to grab an 80 per cent share in a United States-based company which has developed a hydrometallurgical process that selectively recovers precious metals from industrial waste streams. The company says it has secured an option for the acquisition, believing its expertise could increase production by further refining the pilot-plant process.

King River Resources has pocketed a timely R&D tax rebate of more than $361,000 as it ramps up spending on a 10,800m reverse-circulation drill program at its prospective Tennant Creek East copper-gold project in the Northern Territory. The program, which kicks off this week, was delayed for several months due to flooding rains, but will now test 13 prospects at the company’s Top End projects.

Terrain Minerals says the latest gallium and rare earths hits at its Larin’s Lane project have provided more compelling evidence of an emerging mineralisation province in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company’s air-core sample assays show total rare earth oxides (TREO) to a high of 3254ppm and surprisingly-elevated gallium signatures to a maximum of 53.74ppm gallium oxide.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX last week, including Turaco Gold’s long 105m hit at 1.61 grams per tonne gold from 135m. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits from Everest Metals Corporation, Toubani Resources, Venture Minerals and Aurum Resources.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Strategic Energy Resources. Its share price jumped more than 170 per cent to join fellow movers and shakers Gibb River Diamonds, Sierra Nevada Gold and Charger Metals.

Aurum Resources’ diamond drilling efforts at the company’s Boundiali gold project in West Africa’s northern Côte d'Ivoire have continued to deliver big gold hits – this time 74m grading 1g/t from 167m. The latest set of assays included a 1m high-grade chunk going 24.73g/t as Aurum chases shallow mineralisation at depth with three diamond rigs to support a maiden mineral resource estimate for later this year.

Image Resources has edged a step closer to its mining plans at its high-grade Atlas mineral sands project 90km north of Boonanarring in Western Australia after securing environmental approval for the proposed development. Atlas’ 18 million-tonne resource features a heavy mineral grade of 6 per cent, including 9.3 per cent zircon, 46 per cent ilmenite, 4 per cent leucoxene and 6.5 per cent rutile.

Quantum Graphite’s JV partner Sunlands Energy has secured a patent green light for its thermal energy storage graphite cell technology from the powerful US Patent and Trademark Office. Management says the patent ensures its participation in the world’s biggest energy storage market. Thermal energy storage cells are devices that temporarily store energy to be used later for power generation.

Buxton Resources is dialling in on geophysical anomalies it believes may be iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) ore deposits as it prepares for fieldwork at its 100 per cent-owned Centurion project in Western Australia’s West Arunta region. Neighbouring tenements have thrown up significant rare earths enrichment, including niobium, at WA1 Resources’ Luni and Pachpadra carbonatite discoveries – and they have no shortage of head-turning assays.

Askari Metals has revealed some tantalising high-grade copper-silver mineralisation in rock chip sampling at its Callawa project in WA’s Pilbara region, jagging a top hit of 6.78 per cent copper with 2.34g/t silver. The headline result is supported by a second sample that produced 4.35 per cent copper with 8.25g/t silver and a third offering of 2.02 per cent copper with 6.42g/t silver.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has hit thick, near-to-surface gold running as high as 28m at 1.27g/t from 36m in air-core drilling at its Pinjin play near Kalgoorlie in WA’s Goldfields. The company believes it may be onto an extension of a bigger system being mined in adjacent ground by Hawthorn Resources, where 62,000 ounces have been pulled from open pit operations and 157,000 ounces sit underground.

Si6 Metals has expanded its Brazilian footprint, snatching 300 square kilometres of new ground prospective for rare earths in the State of Minas Gerais. The newly-acquired turf, dubbed the Pimenta project, sits in the north-east of the State and has thrown up some head-turning radiometric anomalies over 26km of untested strike. It adds further ground to the Brazilian JV it shares with Foxfire Metals.

Strickland Metals has delivered “outstanding” initial results from the first two diamond drill holes sunk at its Palomino prospect near Wiluna in WA, with a solid 17m hit grading 10.6g/t tonne gold from 144.7m. The impressive intercept contains a 3.5m section going 15g/t gold from 150.1m, while the second hole returned 13.7m at 6.3g/t from 133.4m including 3m reading an eye-catching 20g/t from 133.9m.

Every cloud has a silver lining and Dollar Bill reckons silver IS that silver lining right now. Once considered a poor man’s gold, silver is poised to take its place in the sun, having quietly tracked the gold price skywards. Sun Silver provided a poignant example last week when its 20c IPO hit the boards at 50c before marching to a 75c high.

A joint bid by Neometals and mining giant Mineral Resources, using electricity to turn purified lithium chloride from South American brines into lithium hydroxide, has entered its final stage at a testing facility in Canada. The pilot testwork progam being undertaken with Neometals’ proprietory “ELi” process is aimed at producing a converted material for use in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.

Buxton Resources has revealed plans to drill-test three new target areas unveiled by high-tech ground moving-loop electromagnetic (MLEM) surveys at its Ranger and Oculus prospects in an upcoming campaign at its Narryer project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The company says the surveys provided high-conductance levels up to 10,000 Siemens, indicating the potential for iron-bearing copper-nickel or graphite mineralisation.

A granted 21-year mining lease over two gold deposits set to join Classic Minerals’ stable of operations will give the company what it says is a bigger play at its Forrestania project area near Southern Cross in Western Australia. The new 1804-hectare lease complements the company’s existing Kat Gap mining operation and clears the pathway to an expanded operation.

The heavens have finally closed over King River Resources’ ground in the Northern Territory and it has declared itself open for drilling business for copper and gold at the many prospects within its Tennant Creek East project. The reverse-circulation drill program, delayed for several months due to flooding rains, is planned for 10,800m at 13 prospects within three of the company’s Top End projects.

American West Metals has delivered three holes intersecting between 30.5m and 47.2m of visible copper sulphides after reverse-circulation drilling at its Storm copper project in Canada’s Nunavut territory. The second hole in the program revealed a visible copper sulphide run of 36.5m dominated by chalcocite – an important copper ore mineral – between 79.3m and 115.8m downhole, just north of the company’s Cyclone deposit.

Thunderbird Resources has launched a new high-tech survey sampling program as part of the latest uranium exploration campaign at its premier Hidden Bay project in the renowned Athabasca Basin in Canada. Taking advantage of the ideal Canadian summer conditions, the sampling program is understood to be able to detect blind uranium targets from depths of up to several hundred metres.

Everest Metals has delivered high-grade gold grades including 97 grams per tonne in a 1m hit from just 8m after rolling out drill and blast works at its Revere gold and base metals project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company says the evidence of near-surface gold mineralisation confirms and continues to support the existence of a large-scale orogenic gold system at the operation.

White Cliff Minerals is primed to get boots on the ground at its Great Bear Lake project in Canada’s Northwest Territories, with a comprehensive data review identifying a slew of priority multi-mineral targets. Management has highlighted its Thompson, Hunter Bay, Sparkplug Lake and Spud Bay prospects as high priorities and found evidence of potential IOCG mineralisation at its southern Luv Lake, OMNI and HD44 areas.

Askari Metals’ mapping and sampling at the Kestrel target within its Uis project in Namibia has unveiled visible high-grade spodumene – a lithium mineral – with rock chips assaying up to 3.06 per cent lithium oxide. Ten of the 32 samples taken produced lithium grades exceeding 1 per cent lithium oxide, with the top five assaying 3.06, 2.97, 2.91, 2.88 and 2.28 per cent, respectively.

Si6 Metals has nailed high-grade hits of up to 5475 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from surface, including magnet rare earths up to 36 per cent, at its Caldera joint venture project in the notable mining region of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The company has today reported that its latest seven-hole auger drilling program intersected mineralisation in every hole.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the most curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Warriedar Resources’ stunning gold hit of 4m at 14.49g/t. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits in the past week from Ora Gold, Australian Gold and Copper, Dateline Resources and Patriot Battery Metals.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Sun Silver. Its share price jumped 225 per cent in a photo finish with Errawarra Resources, which also leapt 225 per cent, to join movers and shakers Australian Copper and Gold and First AU.