Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Lithium Universe is on the ground at its Apollo project in Canada’s James Bay, armed with a helicopter and a swag of targets generated by artificial intelligence – less than a month after re-listing on the ASX. The company has used a combination of satellite imagery, geophysics and fieldwork ahead of testing a regional faulted greenstone belt running through Apollo to Winsome Resources’ Adina project.

GreenTech Metals has confirmed spodumene as the dominant lithium mineral in a single rock-chip sample from its Osborne joint venture ground following x-ray diffraction (XRD) mineral characterisation analysis. Previous chemical analysis had revealed the sample contained a healthy 3.6 per cent lithium oxide, prompting management to confirm its host mineral. Spodumene is the most common host mineral in hard-rock lithium deposits.

Perth-based explorer Emu NL has kicked off its maiden drilling campaign at its 100 per cent-owned Condingup clay-hosted rare earths project, near Esperance on Western Australia’s scenic south coast. The 3000m air-core program will test rare earths enrichment within clay traps imaged by passive seismic, adjacent to and overlying the fertile Booanya granite, which the company says may have leached its pay into the clays.

An induced-polarisation survey at Strickland Metals’ Great Western project has thrown up a bonzer drill target for the company, with a high-chargeability anomaly centred over coincident gravity, magnetic and geochemical anomalies. Management believes its survey confirms Great Western as a compelling drill target that potentially represents a large-scale high-grade orogenic gold mineralised system at the site that sits 85km north-east of Wiluna.

A significant increase in recycling division sales has doubled Lithium Australia’s annual revenue in the past financial year to $5.5 million, up from $2.5 million during the previous reporting period. Associated sales costs were also cut by $600,000 down to $4 million, resulting in a gross profit of $1.5 million for the year compared to a gross loss last year of $1.7 million.

Si6 Metals has unveiled plans to kick off a 10,000m drilling program next month at three prospects within its flagship Maibele nickel sulphide deposit in Botswana, with a mineral resource upgrade looming. Management says mineralisation may extend along strike and at depth, allowing its inferred resource estimate of 2.38 million tonnes at 0.72 per cent nickel and 0.21 per cent copper to grow.

Askari Metals has highlighted three significant mineralised corridors of anomalous lithium across a strike length of 4.6km following a successful sampling program at its Hillside project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The company says a total of 216 rock samples were collected during two separate phases of work, with peak results of 350 parts per million lithium and 170ppm lithium.

ASX-listed Horizon Minerals has its eyes on a maiden resource for its Pinner prospect near Kalgoorlie after revealing positive results from an infill drilling program at its Greater Boorara-Cannon gold project. The company completed 26 holes of both air-core (AC) and reverse-circulation (RC) drilling through 1259m across its Pinder and Monument prospects to support its assessment of small-scale open-cut mining.

Software provider K2fly has revealed a steady stepladder towards profit-making after its latest financial year report showed healthy revenue of $12.8 million – a jump of 28 per cent on the previous period. The company’s positive result was bolstered by a 25 per cent increase in annual recurring revenue up to $7.5 million, putting its three-year compound annual growth rate at 48 per cent.

Horizon Minerals has moved to monetise its non-core assets after entering into a binding option and sale deed with Dundas Minerals for the former’s Baden Powell/Scotia and Windanya gold projects near Kalgoorlie. The option covers all mineral rights in 16 prospecting licenses, two mining leases and one mining lease application, across 3230 hectares about 45km north of Kalgoorlie.

Lithium Universe’s promise to “build a lithium project in Canada as quick as we can” has been boosted by the appointment of experienced industry identity Patrick Scallan as non-executive director. Mr Scallan brings to the table his experience of running the massive lithium hard-rock mine at Greenbushes for 25 years, taking its annual output from 200,000 tonnes in 1997 up to 1.4 million tonnes.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has turned the start key on its Pinjin project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields, with hole collars and drill pads being prepared after management confirmed vital heritage clearance at the site. The company says discussions with traditional owners clarified that there were no Aboriginal heritage sites at either of its Kirgella Gift or Providence prospects and drilling is slated to start soon.

Buru Energy’s coffers are poised to swell by $4 million through the sale of a 72,500-barrel batch of Ungani oil to global giant BP. With the batch now lifted to ship, Buru is also set to assume full ownership of the Kimberley region oilfield, with joint venture partner Roc Oil to hand over its 50 per cent interest and approvals expected next month.

Cancer-fighting cell therapy company Chimeric Therapeutics has finished its fourth and final phase-1A dose escalation study at the City of Hope campus in the United States, with the successful treatment of a third clinical trial cohort using a scorpion venom derivative. The company’s “CHM 1101” (CLTX CAR T) treatment is designed to treat patients with glioblastoma cancers.

Altech Batteries has revealed a vital update for key aspects of its Silumina Anodes pilot plant in the German State of Saxony to help progress its definitive feasibility study for a 10,000 tonnes per annum operation. The company says permitting, site design and supplier quotations are also advanced. An earlier prefeasibility study returned a net present value of US$507 million (AU$787 million).

Galan Lithium has set a new record at its Hombre Muerto West project in Argentina’s world-renowned “Lithium Triangle”, pumping 981 milligrams per litre of lithium brine at 15 litres per second during testing. At the company’s Catalina tenement, the first diamond hole hit 300m of highly-fractured rock flowing at 6 litres per second following airlift, with fluid density of about 1216 grams per cubic centimetre.

Terrain Minerals is eyeing the potential to unearth gallium and germanium to complement the rare earths at its Lort River project near Esperance, where an air-core program recently intersected clay hosts. The 16-hole proof-of-concept program through 300m was designed to test for clay-hosted rare earths and rare semi-conductor mineralisation, with all holes intercepting clay zones to a maximum vertical depth of 38m.

An updated scoping study by PolarX for its Alaska Range copper-gold play shows a total EBITDA of US$573 million over a 9.5-year mine life at a post-construction average annual free cash flow of US$53 million. The positive study shows mining and processing are scheduled to begin with an open-pit operation at the company’s Caribou Dome site, followed by underground mining at its Zackly deposit.

BMG Resources is again cranking the drillbit, with a 36-hole air-core (AC) drill program to home in on multiple, high-quality lithium and gold targets at its Bullabulling project where anomalous lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites were identified in its maiden reconnaissance program. Fieldwork and geochemical analysis previously outlined lithium-bearing pegmatites within a 4km corridor and gold occurrences were also recorded at the major Coolgardie lithium and gold province.

Strickland Metals will kick off a planned heritage survey on October 9 at the company’s Yandal and Earaheedy projects ahead of a planned drill program at what it describes as a compelling but untested gold target. The company seeks heritage clearance across priority areas, with particular focus on its promising Great Western, Rabbit Well and Cowza prospects and other regional gold prospects in the Yandal project.

Brightstar Resources has made the milestone jump from explorer to producer status following the inaugural blast on the cutback of its Selkirk joint venture open-pit mine in Western Australia’s historic Menzies goldfields. Mining is expected to run for about six months, with ore being stockpiled in Menzies, and the company is anticipating its maiden gold pour early next year.

Auric Mining’s first toll milling of ore from its Jeffreys Find mine has yielded 1721 ounces of gold – and more than $5 million in revenue. The company says all mining has been completed, but a package of about 145,000 tonnes of ore is still in haulage for processing. Surplus funds are to be set aside for further development of its Munda project.

Xanadu Mines has revealed its massive Mongolian copper-gold Kharmagtai deposit is now connected to the local electric grid, paving the way for current and future construction and exploration activities. The company says its vital 35,000-volt connection to the Mongolian Southern Electricity Distribution Network is expandable and will accommodate Kharmagtai moving closer towards operational mine status.

Surefire Resources has engaged premier mining and exploration consultant Snowden Optiro to provide a mine plan, cost estimate and report for the upcoming prefeasibility study (PFS) at its 100 per cent-owned Victory Bore vanadium project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company expects to deliver the PFS for what it describes as its “world-class” deposit in November.

Radiopharm Theranostics has negotiated an expanded agreement with TerThera for the supply of the terbium-161 isotope to continue its fight against prostate cancer. The crucial isotope will be joined with a proprietary monoclonal antibody to form “RAD 402”, a radiotherapeutic being developed to target KLK3, a clinical cancer biomarker. Radiopharm says it could become the first KLK-based theranostic option for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Venus Metals has uncovered two neighbouring pegmatite outcrops, with visible coarse lithium-bearing petalite running up to 4.6 per cent lithium oxide, after completing a field program at its Youanmi project in Western Australia. The program was aimed at discovering the cause of a prominent lithium soil anomaly labelled the “Deep South Target”. Results also revealed a separate assay of 3.26 per cent lithium oxide.

Brightstar Resources has its sights set firmly on building its gold resource after revealing results from its latest 2000m reverse-circulation drilling campaign at its Cork Tree Well deposit in the Laverton Gold Belt. The results include 1m at 109.6g/t from 167m and 3m at 8.7g/t from 197m and interpretations show a high probability that a 3km northerly extension to mineralisation exists, requiring immediate follow-up work.

Australian rockers Cold Chisel made Bow River famous way back in 1982 with their song of the same name. Now Lycaon Resources wants to do the same by unearthing a nickel-copper monster at its Bow River project in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. The project is the flagship operation for a discovery-focused company more than willing to get its hands – and drills – dirty.

Neometals’ joint venture company Primobius has received an order from Mercedes-Benz to supply a 10-tonne per day lithium-ion battery shredding plant for the global vehicle manufacturing giant’s new recycling operation at Kuppenheim in southern Germany. The “spoke” plant is designed to recover materials that will be recycled into a planned 50,000 battery modules that will be installed into new Mercedes vehicles.

Gold Mountain’s recent trial soil sampling at its Casa Nova project in Brazil has revealed a zone it believes is anomalous in several critical elements including lithium, caesium, beryllium, tin and gallium. The company says it may represent components of a classic pegmatite-hosted lithium, caesium, tantalum (LCT) mineralised system. The trial was conducted on only a small part of the project.

Terrain Minerals has joined the frenetic exploration and drilling fray in Western Australia’s up-and-coming, clay-hosted rare earths province near Esperance. The company has joined the ever-growing rare earths search party in the area by launching a maiden proof-of-concept drilling program after securing heritage approval at its 100 per cent-owned, 320-square-kilometre Lort River project, just 50km north-west of the town.

Buru Energy will assume full ownership of the 500-barrel per day Ungani oilfield in Western Australia’s Canning Basin from next month after JV partner Roc Oil decided to withdraw from its 50 per cent interest. Roc Oil will remain liable for its share of costs associated with both the near-term staged suspension of Ungani operations and the future decommissioning of all wells and remediation costs.