Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Image Resources has tabled a prefeasibility study on its proposed new Bidaminna mineral sands project in WA that estimates a total EBITDA for its contemplated 10.5-year mine life of $379 million. Management says it will cost $194 million to build the mine which should yield a net present value of about the same figure.

Quantum Graphite has achieved flake purity grades of 99.99 per cent graphitic carbon following thermal purification results from its final phase of testing on samples from its Uley 2 mine in South Australia. The flake was treated at 2850 degrees celsius in a testwork program conducted by Germany’s Institute of Nonferrous Metallurgy and Purest Materials (INEMET), ProTherm Systems and Sunlands Power.

Classic Minerals has won approval from the WA Government to spud a second water-bore to help run its “Gekko” processing plant and to suppress dust at its Western Australian Wheatbelt-based Kat Gap gold project. The bore will provide vital operational water supply security as the State’s imminent next gold producer gears up to join the production ranks.

Aurumin set the drillbit spinning this morning on the first of its four planned diamond drill holes at its Mt Palmer project in Western Australia. It is targeting lithium-bearing pegmatites where it believes the geology is analogous to Wesfarmers’ and SQM’s Mt Holland lithium deposit, 65km to the south. The design of the diamond drill holes was awarded government funding for half of the costs.

Zuleika Gold has wrapped up a plethora of soil-sampling surveys at its Zuleika, Goongarrie and Menzies projects in Western Australia’s golden heartland. Employing CSIRO’s patented “Ultrafine” assaying technique, which can detect mineralisation blanketed by transported cover, the company is looking to later this year drill-test a string of compelling anomalies that are coincident with historical workings and favourable structures. Planning is well underway.

Globe Metals & Mining has launched into its next stage of processing and testwork after extracting a 12-tonne bulk sample from its Kanyika niobium project in Malawi and trucking it to Johannesburg. Management says it has also selected six separate vendors to undertake key operational tasks as the project reaches its next stage of development.

Northern Minerals has kicked off its mission to establish a rock-solid financial structure behind its 100 per cent-owned Browns Range rare earths project in northern Western Australia. Management says the Federal Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has completed a strategic review of its project and will now begin a detailed due diligence process as it considers a potential funding arrangement.

Galan Lithium has kicked off pre-construction activities at its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina after being granted its development permits by the local Mines Department Minister. The permit allows the company to start the commissioning of its new camp, begin removal of top-soil and enter preliminary testing activities for securing the ground quality.

ASX-listed Valor Resources has signed an earn-in agreement with global copper and gold producer Barrick Gold Corporation at its Charaque project in Peru. Under the deal, Barrick has a five-year option to acquire 70 per cent of the operation for a cash payment of $1.2 million. Valor says the agreement allows it to focus on the upcoming drill campaign at its flagship Picha copper project.

Strickland Metals has entered into a binding agreement to sell its Millrose gold project to neighbouring global gold miner Northern Star Resources in a deal worth about $61 million. The deal has netted the company $41 million in cash and 1.5 million fully-paid ordinary Northern Star shares, with a $2 million cash deposit paid on the execution of the agreement.

ASX-listed explorer Gold Mountain’s stock doubled from 0.0035 cents to 0.007c after it unveiled a massive land acquisition in prime lithium real estate in Brazil. Management says its 3921sq-km package gives the company the biggest footprint of any Australian explorer in the region as it looks to transform from gold explorer to lithium player.

Oil explorer 88 Energy has confirmed it has multiple targets waiting to be tested at Project Phoenix once the Alaskan winter operation season begins in October. While the company waits to get boots on the ground, it plans to comb over scores of mud gas isotubes and wireline data in a bid to get a better understanding of the project’s composition.

Brightstar Resources has cracked the magical million-ounce milestone after upgrading the resource for its Cork Tree Well deposit to a total of 1.02 million gold ounces across its Laverton and Menzies projects. The independently-completed upgrade at the deposit saw Cork Tree Well increase by 20 per cent from 252,000 gold ounces up to 303,000 ounces of the precious yellow metal.

ASX-listed Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has highlighted a gold-mineralised corridor with a strike length of nearly 7km following reconnaissance fieldwork across its Zelica project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region. The company has recorded high-grade gold mineralisation in near-surface quartz veining, including results of up to 39.6 grams per tonne gold and 6.44g/t gold from rock chip samples at its West Nest prospect.

American West Metals has continued to ride a copper wave at its Storm project in Canada after revealing more thick and high-grade intervals near surface, with a headline 1.5m hit going an impressive 8 per cent. The company says its “outstanding results” point to the ongoing consistency and scale of its copper mineralisation … with the promise of more to come.

TSX-listed Novo Resources has secured the support of giant neighbour De Grey Mining as a cornerstone investor and potential joint venture (JV) partner in a deal worth up to $35 million at the Becher gold project in WA’s Pilbara region. De Grey could earn a 50 per cent interest in the project and adjacent tenements as part of the deal.

Estrella Resources’ share price doubled this morning on the back of the company revealing an impending world-first helicopter-borne electromagnetic survey (TargetEM) at its Carr Boyd nickel-copper-PGE project in Western Australia. Given the significant technology and sensitivity upgrades of its new system, Estrella is intensifying its hunt for drill targets that previously evaded detection while using the older technology.

ABx Group has hit some “major milestones” through its 83 per cent-owned subsidiary Alcore by finalising the preliminary engineering design phase for its pilot facility and ordering a laboratory reactor. The alumina technologist and rare earths explorer is developing a pilot plant in NSW to recover fluorine from an aluminium smelter waste product to produce hydrogen fluoride.

Terrain Minerals has added a Queensland operation to its raft of WA projects after lodging tenement applications for about 2500 square kilometres of highly-prospective ground near the Cracow gold mine. It says its extensive “Biloela” package includes at least two known historic copper mines, in addition to copper and gold targets first identified by mining giants Rio Tinto, Gold Fields and Newcrest Mining.

Askari Metals has expanded its lithium foothold in Western Australia’s Pilbara region by finalising its purchase of Greenstone Lithium’s 60-square-kilometre Hillside lithium project after fully acquiring the now former owner. Management says the acquisition takes the company’s total landholding in the promising region to 2300sq km. The Hillside project covers two granted tenements considered prospective for lithium, tin and tantalum mineralisation.

ASX-listed Aurumin has kicked off a diamond drill program at its Mt Palmer project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, where it will target lithium-bearing pegmatites with a focus on its Vickers Find South prospect. The target hosts confirmed pegmatites within a mafic-ultramafic sequence in a geological setting similar to that at the Mt Holland lithium deposit, which is about 65km to the south.

Brightstar Resources is primed to join the ranks of Western Australian gold producers, with mining set to begin in August at its Selkirk open-pit gold mine that holds 30,000 tonnes of ore going more than 6 grams per tonne gold. Brightstar picked up the operation that forms part of the Menzies gold project after completing its successful merger with Kingwest Resources last month.

ESG software provider K2fly will continue to supply mining behemoth BHP with its “ground disturbance” solution for another three years after the “Big Australian” agreed to a contract extension. Management says the new deal will generate annual recurring revenue of $664,000 and has a total contract value of $1.99 million. The deal will cover the global miner’s iron ore operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

DiscovEx Resources can tick heritage surveys off its to-do list ahead of planned drilling at the Contact prospect within its Sylvania project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Drilling at the 2.5km-long target area is due to begin in August, in addition to geophysics targeting copper-gold and lead-zinc mineralisation at the project’s Prairie Downs fault zone.

Once primarily used in steel-making to boost strength and add corrosion and heat resistance, niobium is now turning heads with its ability to cut charging times and fire risks for lithium-ion batteries. Accordingly, companies finding the metal are watching their stock take flight ahead of the next boom as sales for electric vehicles step up another notch.

Terrain Minerals has successfully wrapped up the first phase of drilling at its Smokebush project in Western Australia’s Mid West region, with 10 of the 11 holes drilled intersecting multiple zones of pegmatites. The reverse-circulation program prioritised seven of the 11 pegmatites identified, ranging from about 10m to 15m in width and 200m in length, before shifting undercover in about a 4km area.

Infinity Mining has highlighted rare earths at its Victor Bore project, with two samples from a recent reverse-circulation campaign returning results of more than 1000 parts per million TREO. Of 24 samples from a drill campaign in WA’s Central Goldfields, one returned a 1m hit at 1018ppm TREO from 20m, while a second recorded another 1m intercept at a solid 1582ppm TREO from 53m.

Toro Energy has confirmed massive nickel sulphide hits at the Dimma discovery that forms part of its greater Dusty nickel project after the return of assays previously identified by X-ray fluorescence analysis. One diamond drillhole intersected 4.31m of massive nickel sulphides at 1.16 per cent nickel and 0.29 per cent copper, in addition to 0.386 grams per tonne platinum and palladium from 243.33m.

BMG Resources has expanded its portfolio of Western Australian gold and lithium projects, acquiring the Bullabulling project in the Eastern Goldfields' emerging Coolgardie lithium and gold region. The company exercised its option on the project after initial reverse-circulation drilling confirmed strong prospectivity for lithium and gold. Plans for follow-up drilling is underway and more assays are due in the coming weeks.

After a merger deal with Kingwest Resources last month, Brightstar Resources has wasted no time in getting drill rigs to its Menzies gold project in Western Australia to shore up its understanding of the deposit’s proven high-grade gold intercepts. The successful merger has fast-tracked Brightstar’s move towards becoming WA’s next gold producer as it builds its resource growth.

Mining software provider K2fly will supply Eramet SA with its resource disclosure solution after the French-owned miner signed a three-year deal worth $564,000 to cover its five operations and four commodities. Management says the partnership will provide an annual recurring revenue of $152,000 and it is hopeful the key relationship will lead to future opportunities in a growing prospective region.

Alma Metals has unveiled wide zones of copper-molybdenum sulphides mineralisation after its latest round of drilling targeted areas outside the current resource at its Briggs copper project in Central Queensland. Management says a significant resource upgrade is now on the cards as the latest results extended its known mineralisation area by 190m to the north-west and 100m to the north-east.