Announcements

A geochemical survey at Venus Metals Corporation’s Youanmi lithium project has backed up previous drilling, with the company hoping recently delineated lithium anomalies are an extension of the Manindi lithium discovery to the south that excited the market last month. Interestingly, the extensions appear to coincide with existing and known pegmatite outcrops.

Godolphin Resources has struck multiple mineralised copper veins with its first hole in search of a large porphyry copper-gold system in NSW. The explorer kicked off a two-hole diamond-drill program at its Yeoval porphyry copper-gold project on April 4 and now is shooting for possible extensions to the south of its current resource hoping its second hole will make it two from two.

AVZ Minerals’ ongoing development of its flagship Manono lithium and tin project, about 500km north of Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has received a major shot in the arm after acquiring a positive technical opinion from the Department of Mines, clearing the path for an imminent decision on its mining licence at the operation.

The first holes drilled into the Amy Clarke target in more than 25 years have yielded high-grade gold hits for Great Southern Mining from an air core drilling program at its Duketon Gold project, near Laverton in WA’s Goldfields. Results included an intersection of 5 metres at 8.2 grams per tonne gold, including one metre at 33.5 g/t gold from 33m.

Wiluna Mining Corporation has boosted its global ore reserves by 10 per cent, even after mining depletion, to 36.8 million tonnes grading 1.2 grams per tonne gold for 1.42 million ounces of gold at its namesake WA operation. The company posted an impressive 31 per cent increase in underground ore reserves to 861,900 ounces grading 4.11 g/t gold as it looks to focus on optimising Stage 1 development.

Chimeric Therapeutics has entered into a strategic manufacturing partnership with US-based biopharmaceuticals outfit WuXi Advanced Therapies to accelerate production of its cancer-fighting CAR T therapies. According to Chimeric, WuXi delivers extensive experience in Good Manufacturing Practices and analytical testing and it says the deal will allow it to scale up manufacturing support ahead of several clinical trial programs.

88 Energy’s move to Texas is putting some colour into the ASX-listed company’s bank account after it banked the first A$600,000 cheque in March from its Project Longhorn. The company has lifted production from the Permian Basin project by over 30 per cent to more than 400 barrels of oil equivalent per day after the first of its planned capital-efficient workovers.

White Cliff Minerals has bolstered its battery metals ambitions after completing the acquisition of explorer Abraxis Mining and its trinity of WA-based tenement applications in the Pilbara that are prospective for lithium. According to the company, a subsequent review of remote satellite data has uncovered a network of pegmatite-rich target areas that will be further assessed through a maiden mapping and sampling program.

Triangle Energy’s imminent acquisition of a highly prospective Perth Basin block has been boosted by news it has delivered a 370 per cent increase in its best gas resource estimate – from 165 billion cubic feet of gas to 617bcf. Triangle is buying the 50 per cent it doesn’t already own in the acreage from departing partner Key Petroleum.

St George Mining has intersected nickel-copper sulphides in the second drillhole targeting an extension to its high-grade Stricklands deposit in WA. Nickel-copper sulphides were located from 102.7m to 106.3m downhole including 0.25m of massive sulphides abutting the granite contact from 106.05-106.3m. Drilling has confirmed a western extension of approximately 35m to the existing high-grade Stricklands deposit with mineralisation open down dip.

Mineral explorer DiscovEx Resources has outlined several additional target areas at its flagship Sylvania gold project about 15kms south of Newman in WA. The company recently wrapped a field exploration campaign that included gravity-based geophysics, geochemical sampling and a heritage survey and it is now gearing up to complete mapping, sampling and more geophysics en route to a maiden drill program at the project.

Junior explorer, Legend Mining has set the rods spinning with a diamond drilling program at its Mawson nickel, copper and cobalt discovery in the Fraser Range of Western Australia. The drilling program is designed to test the source of several intriguing seismic anomalies etched out from a recently completed 3D seismic survey.

Junior explorer, Superior Resources has boosted its Steam Engine gold resource to 196,000 ounces representing an increase of over 60 per cent compared to previous calculations incorporating a lower grade owner-operated processing model. The latest resource estimate takes in an additional 85 reverse circulation drill holes completed during the company’s 2021 drilling blitz at its Greenvale project in northern Queensland.

ASX-listed Cyclone Metals has unearthed gold nuggets weighing up to 20.5 grams at its wholly-owned Nickol River project in Western Australia’s West Pilbara region. The latest nuggets come from the 18 test pits dug in January and total 76 grams of the precious yellow metal. The explorer says with the latest results in hand, planning for a maiden drill program will now begin.

American West Metals says the results of a recent ore sorting program using material from its high-grade Storm copper project in Canada have delivered extraordinary results that could be a “game changer” for the project’s development. The company said test work using a full-scale ore sorter has generated a direct shipping ore product with a copper grade of 53.9 per cent free of impurities.

Junior explorer Venus Metals Corporation and its joint venture partner ASX-listed Rox Resources have encountered more high-grade results ahead of a near-surface resource update at the Youanmi gold project near Mount Magnet in WA. Results from the latest drilling include significant hits up to 1m running 13.44 g/t gold which will feed into a near-surface mineral resource update expected in the next two weeks.

Results from Valor Resources’ maiden drilling program at its Hook Lake uranium project have yielded encouraging results with elevated radioactivity in several holes at the S-Zone target. Valor is also planning an airborne gravity survey next month at its Hook Lake and the Cluff Lake projects and further drilling to chase up earlier rare earths results.

Coda Minerals’ off-market takeover of its joint venture partner Torrens Mining has been declared "unconditional", with Torrens shareholders to pocket 0.23 Coda shares for each Torrens unit held.

After successfully shaking the tin for $6.2m, K2fly now has the largest privately owned mining software provider in the world on its register. Australian based Maptek has emerged from K2fly’s latest capital raise with a 13.2 per cent holding in the ASX-listed mining software player. The deal also includes Maptek Chairman Peter Johnson taking a seat on the K2fly board as a non-executive director.

88 Energy says third party mapping of the area around AIM listed Pantheon Resources discovery of light sweet crude oil in Alaska shows the geological fairways likely extend to its Project Icewine ground on Alaska’s famed North Slope. The company says it is planning for a resource upgrade at Icewine within months and that talks with potential farm-in partners are in play.

Metal Hawk is launching a 3000-metre diamond and RC drilling campaign at its Commodore nickel-gold discovery in WA’s Goldfields that saw the company’s share price run from 18.5c to 96.5c last year. The discovery is part of the Berehaven project, 20km south-east of Kalgoorlie where the company is chasing further mineralisation after massive nickel sulphide hits as high as 5.9 per cent nickel were recorded last year.

Multi-mineral explorer Kula Gold has flicked the switch on an electromagnetic survey across a number of key targets at its Brunswick nickel-platinum group elements project in the well-addressed West Yilgarn province in WA. The West Yilgarn is host to the world-class Boddington gold mine and Julimar Gonneville copper-nickel-platinum group elements discovery.

Horizon Minerals has returned from the field with a bag of encouraging multi-element assays after first pass drilling at the company’s Lakewood project, 20km southeast of Kalgoorlie in WA. The anomalous platinum-palladium-nickel-cobalt results come from an initial 59-hole air-core program totalling 3002m over four priority targets within the 90 square kilometre project area.

Galan Lithium says extensional drilling at its wholly-owned Hombre Muerto West lithium project in Catamarca Province, Argentina, has further underlined its status as a major lithium brine resource. The company said the probe has extended the project’s resource to the east and enriched its hydrogeological model which could lead to production upside.

Okapi Resources has swelled its North American energy ground after entering into a binding agreement to pick up a 51 per cent interest in the Hansen uranium deposit in Colorado. The deal stretches the company’s resources at its Tallahassee project by 81 per cent to 49.8 million pounds of triuranium octoxide and boosts the grade by 10 per cent to 540 parts per million triuranium octoxide.

Altech Chemicals says recent drilling at its wholly-owned Kerrigan deposit, about 20km south of Hyden in Western Australia, has delivered a “fresh” kaolin resource boosting its current mineral resource estimate by 47 per cent to125 million tonnes at an ISO brightness of 85.2 per cent. The probe was initially completed to validate earlier drilling and collect samples for test work.

First ore should be pushed through Calidus Resources’ Warrawoona gold plant in the Pilbara by month’s end, with the company tipping its maiden gold pour to follow in mid-May. It said the SAG mill is now ready for commissioning by EPC contractor GR Engineering Services. Mining contractor Macmahon Holdings has also ramped up activities with the main mining fleet now onsite and in operation.

In the heart of the Northern Territory’s highly prospective Arunta pegmatite province, junior explorer Askari Metals has spotted and sampled major outcropping pegmatites in the latest field campaign at its Barrow Creek lithium project. The end of March saw Askari strap its boots on for another foray into the field intent on identifying and sampling outcropping pegmatites in the project’s previously unexplored southeastern region.

ASX-listed Indonesia-focused explorer Sihayo Gold appears to be homing in on more high-grade mineralisation after the company bagged surface samples yielding up to 36.6 g/t gold and 8.29 per cent copper in North Sumatra. Sihayo says the findings continue to support the South Block’s potential for high-grade gold and copper targets and discoveries.

Meeka Gold has revealed total rare earth oxides up to 633 parts per million in leached and oxidised surface horizon auger samples at its Cascade project near Esperance in WA. Total rare earth oxides above 400 parts per million were present within a 250 square km area and Meeka speculates that the large cerium anomalies point to possible deeper rare earths enrichment. Drilling is planned for later this year.

ASX-listed battery metal player Lithium Australia is a step closer to the development of a 10,000 tonne per annum lithium ferro phosphate manufacturing facility after its wholly-owned subsidiary VSPC appointed engineering and project delivery outfit Lycopodium to drive a definitive feasibility advancing the proposal towards reality.

Blackstone Minerals has delivered nickel-cobalt sulphides from its Ban Phuc mine in Vietnam to consultant, ALS in Perth, as part of a trial of its Ta Khoa nickel refinery pilot program. The company has a plan to become a globally significant producer of high purity NCM811 nickel precursor products for the lithium-ion battery industry and it is building an integrated mining, ore processing and downstream refinery business in Vietnam.