Announcements

Venture Minerals has unveiled hopes of supplying boron to global markets after identifying large-scale borate-hosted tin and boron zones throughout its Mount Lindsay skarn mineralisation system in northern Tasmania. Venture appraised 102 historic diamond drill intersections to identify borate tin-boron zones not previously assessed in any mining studies at Mount Lindsay. Boron is critical in the solar panel and electric vehicle industries.

Lithium Australia is one step closer to bringing its lithium ferro phosphate cathode powder pre-qualification plant to reality after results from independent testing confirmed its product proved more stable than the two leading commercial brands. The combination of commercial grade graphite and LFP demonstrated the potential to support long-lifetime cell designs. The testing was undertaken by NOVONIX Battery Technology Solutions as part of a customer joint materials selection program.

Kairos Minerals is poised to drill-test a recently discovered 1km long light and heavy rare earths anomaly which has produced early results going up to 553 parts per million total rare earths oxide. The pending RC drilling program at its Roe Hills project, 100km east of Kalgoorlie also includes some tantalising results for neodymium and praseodymium reaching up to 126ppm, heavy rare earth oxides grading up to 154ppm and light rare earth oxides running up to 420ppm.

Askari Metals has stepped up its aggressive exploration strategy across two tenements at its Uis lithium project in Namibia where it is targeting previously identified pegmatites. The dual RC campaign forms part of a recently expanded phase 1 program at tenement EPL 8535 from 3000m up to 4000m where it has pinpointed at least four different target zones.

Venus Metals Corporation subsidiary Redscope Enterprises will increase its net smelter royalty from the Youanmi Gold Mining leases to one per cent after signing a deal with St Claire Resources. Redscope currently holds a 0.7 per cent net smelter royalty for the Youanmi leases that will increase to one per cent following the completion of the deal with St Clair handing over its 0.3 per cent share.

ASX-listed Codrus Minerals has kicked off its maiden hunt for critical minerals with 2000m of RC drilling at its niobium-rich Karloning project in WA making the company a first mover to explore exclusively for rare earths in the area. After a successful reconnaissance exploration program last year, Codrus is keen to push deeper into the earth and test the potential of the Karloning project.

Superior Resources has confirmed the discovery of significant molybdenum mineralisation at its Bottletree prospect that forms part of the company’s Greenvale copper project near Townsville in Queensland. Recently received assay results from a drill campaign completed in December show impressive figures with a 6m intercept at 1.39 per cent molybdenum from 470m including a 1m section at an outstanding 5.2 per cent molybdenum from 474m.

Brightstar Resources has extended its Cork Tree Well gold deposit 30km north of Laverton, WA with a successful 30 RC hole 6000m drilling campaign. Assays from the first 13 holes have confirmed gold mineralised extensions along strike and at depth with the best results including a 2m hit grading 4.23 grams per tonne gold from 106m, 2m running 3 g/t from 140m and 4m at 1.88 g/t gold from 152m.

Toro Energy has extended its Dimma nickel discovery with another massive nickel sulphide intersection of 2.4m with P-XRF analysis between 1.4 and 5.1 per cent nickel. Drilling intersected an 8.9m zone of visible nickel sulphide mineralisation from 327.2m downhole. Dimma is one of Toro’s four new nickel sulphide discoveries in a 7.5km long komatiite rock unit at WA’s Yandal greenstone belt.

88 Energy will proceed to flow testing after confirming multiple hydrocarbon bearing pay zones at its Alaskan Hickory-1 oil well. The company’s wireline program discovered a new zone in addition to verifying hydrocarbon bearing pay zones across all pre-drill targets. Estimated net pay was calculated from wireline data and totalled 137.1m. Pre-drill expectations were all met or exceeded on reservoir quality, thickness, size and total net pay.

Lindian Resources has received positive signs from early phase metallurgical testwork at its Kangankunde project in Malawi with results showing concentrate grades of around 60 per cent rare earth oxides. The company says the test results show that water-only, low-cost gravity and magnetic beneficiation techniques are suitable for the mineralisation found at the operation.

Askari Metals is pulling out all stops as it hunts lithium at its Uis project in Namibia that adjoins Andrada’s 71.5 million tonne lithium-tin mine. The company has wrapped up the acquisition of a 90 per cent interest in the 114 square km exploration licence with a binding agreement to purchase the rest. RC drilling has kicked off after project wide mapping and sampling identified new pegmatite drilling targets.

Neometals has increased its ownership in joint venture company Recycling Industries Scandinavia AB (RISAB) up to 72.5 per cent as it moves towards developing Finland’s first vanadium recovery project. The remaining 27.5 per cent of RISAB equity is held by unlisted Australian mineral development company Critical Metals.

Conico is set to feed more thick high-grade nickel-cobalt-manganese-scandium hits into an imminent updated mineral resource estimate on its Mt Thirsty nickel-cobalt project near Norseman. Recent drilling has pulled up a clutch of significant hits including 10m running at 0.09 per cent cobalt, 0.71 per cent nickel, 0.38 per cent manganese and 23 grams per tonne scandium.

ASX-listed Godolphin Resources believes maiden metallurgical results from independent laboratory ANSTO have confirmed the low-cost development potential of its Narraburra rare earths project in New South Wales. The company says a recovery rate of 92 per cent of the key magnet rare earths praseodymium, neodymium, terbium and dysprosium, puts the project in a good position ahead of larger-scale testing and a bulk sampling program.

With iron ore prices hovering around US$120 per tonne (A$178) Venture Minerals is seriously considering restarting its Riley iron ore mine in Tasmania which has been on care and maintenance since September 2021. At the time of its closure, the price of iron ore was in free-fall plunging to US$80 per tonne (A$118) in late 2021.

Surefire Resources is growing in confidence that a large gold mineralised system is emerging at its wholly-owned Yidby project, after finding sulphide-rich quartz porphyry in all 25 of its most recent RC drillholes. Visible gold was also seen in several locations at the project, 350km north-east of Perth in the Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt. Samples from all holes are now being analysed.

Venus Metals Corporation and Rox Resources are headed for a mineral resource upgrade at their Youanmi gold project after impressive new drill results, including a 4m hit at 14.85 grams per tonne gold from 298m. The joint venture partners say the high-grade results confirm significant gold endowment at the project that sits about 480km north-east of Perth.

Kairos Minerals is far from resting on its glittering gold laurels as the company zeros in on a boost to its existing 1.1-million-ounce resource at its flagship Mount York project in WA’s Pilbara region. Management says it has landed wide hits including 82m at 0.57g/t gold from 104m, which contained 11m grading 1.25g/t from 135m and 17m running 1.03g/t gold from 169m.

Chimeric Therapeutics will showcase its cutting-edge cell therapy work before the world’s leading cancer specialists in the United States in June, joining a select cohort picked from more than 6500 entries. The Melbourne biotech will outline its new clinical trial, designed to test its potential treatment for brain cancer, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Buru Energy is forging ahead in its bid to unlock the massive potential of its Rafael 1 well, east of Broome in WA’s Canning Basin, by taking another important step on its pathway to production. Buru has lodged a declaration of location application with the State Government – a move described as a key step towards the commercialisation and monetisation of its gas and condensate resource.

Diversified explorer Askari Metals has backed its bold claim to be leading the charge for lithium out of Namibia by grabbing the final 10 per cent of an exclusive prospective lease at its Uis project. The news comes just days after the company revealed it had acquired an 80 per cent interest in an adjoining tenement for about $1.8 million.

Kairos Minerals has vowed to expand its lithium, gold and base metal targets after confirming a “compelling” 2.8km-long lithium anomaly and a nearby 2.3km gold anomaly at its Roe Hills project near Kalgoorlie. The company sees the anomalies as high-priority targets for spodumene lithium-bearing pegmatites akin to Global Lithium’s nearby Manna deposit containing 32.7 million tonnes at 1.0 per cent lithium oxide.

Middle Island Resources has named Roland Bartsch, a geologist with 35 years’ experience, as its new CEO. The industry veteran will lead the company’s copper-gold hunt at its flagship Barkly project in the Northern Territory. With its maiden drilling program delivering the trademarks of an iron oxide-copper-gold-style mineralisation, the company has plucked a CEO with a background of developing and managing similar projects.

Infinity Mining plans to dig deeper for gold at its Victor Bore project in the Central Goldfields after new drill results highlighted an 8m hit at 3.46 grams per tonne gold from 56m, including 1m going a solid 21.86g/t gold from 57m. A total of 13 of the 16 holes drilled at Victor Bore returned anomalous results of more than 1g/t gold.

ASX-listed oiler 88 Energy has hit the pay zone after successfully drilling at its Alaskan Hickory-1 oil well. After reaching a total depth of 3,246 metres and through all levels, the explorer discovered a new oil reservoir as it hunts for a potential billion-barrel resource. The news sent the share price 33 per cent higher by the close of day’s trading.

A women’s hospital in India has delivered good news for reproductive biotechnology innovator Memphasys, reporting the first successful birth for the company’s “Felix” sperm separation system. Memphasys has also scored a separate win with its first commercial sales in another key market – Japan. India offers Memphasys a $50 million opportunity, while Japan is twice that size.

Conico expects to transform the economics at its Mt Thirsty cobalt-nickel project near Norseman in WA by adding high-pressure acid leaching and a lithium-ion battery cathode precursor plant in an updated scoping study. The company also plans to reveal an updated mineral resource estimate ahead of an initial public offering to come later this year.

Venus Metals Corporation has upgraded the mineral resource estimate for its Bellchambers gold deposit in WA’s Goldfields region with a 35 per cent increase in tonnage and a 40 per cent rise in gold ounces. The updated JORC-compliant resource now sits at 722,000 tonnes at 1.31 grams per tonne gold for a total of 30,500 ounces at a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold.

Javelin Minerals’ latest testwork program has confirmed the presence of both gravity-recoverable gold and free-milling gold at its Coogee project near Kalgoorlie. Latest results also show copper can be recovered separately. Further testing will continue at the project, which last year unveiled a new gold mineral resource estimate of 1.42 million tonnes at 1.07 grams per tonne gold for a total of 49,000 ounces.

Infinity Mining has secured a five-year licence extension for its Strelley Gorge project in the Pilbara that is considered prospective for volcanic-hosted massive sulphide-style copper-zinc mineralisation. Just last year the company completed a helicopter electromagnetic survey across the site with initial data showing several conductive targets. Follow-up testing is planned for later this year.

Meeka Metals is bringing modern techniques to historical areas at its Murchison gold project with high impact drilling targeting the 25km long greenstone hosted Fairway shear zone that hosts its 700,000-ounce Turnberry gold deposit. The company’s St Anne’s gold deposit also lies in the Fairway zone and will have a mineral resource estimate scheduled for release in April. A detailed pre-feasibility study for the project remains on track for June.