Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Venture Minerals has continued its recent splurge on rare earths by signing a joint venture agreement designed to deliver the diversified metals explorer a majority stake in Sentinel Exploration’s Iron Duke project. Iron Duke is Venture’s third acquisition in Western Australia’s Mid West region in the past month. The company says it will get the drill bits spinning later this month.

A pancreatic cancer treatment developed by ASX-listed Radiopharm Theranostics has been granted crucial orphan drug designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration just weeks before clinical trials begin. The approval is for the company’s patented RAD301 integrin technology that aims to assist with the imaging and treatment of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Meeka Metals has played its trump card, revealing its highest rare earths mineralisation to date from the latest resource drill-out at its Circle Valley project near Esperance – Western Australia’s newest rare earths hotspot. The headline hit returned 4m running at 7475 parts per million total rare earths oxides, which will feed into a maiden mineral resource estimate due to be tabled next month.

Infinity Lithium is pushing closer towards mining licence and environmental authorisation submissions for its San José lithium project in Spain following positive government permitting recommendations. The finalisation of the Extremadura regional government’s Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Document, compiled by its General Directorate for Sustainability, classes the project as compatible with environmental and land use requirements.

DiscovEx is hunting an “enigmatic” gold source at its Edjudina project north-east of Kalgoorlie after recent drilling assays confirmed bedrock gold at all three prospects tested and ratified the continuity of mineralisation at the transition between weathered and fresh rock. All three targets displayed elevated gold results close to the bottom of hole and scale potential. The company’s chase for the source continues.

Octava Minerals is putting boots on the ground at its Yallalong nickel-gold project, 220km north-east of Geraldton – and the CSIRO has jumped in with funding to help lessen the impact of the imprint. The “green energy” metals explorer has snared exploration funding from the CSIRO’s Kick-Start program and will employ the agency’s leading-edge technology to optimise sample collection, while simultaneously reducing on-ground activity.

Lithium Australia will fill its coffers to the tune of more than half a million dollars after entering into a binding agreement to sell 70 per cent of its Lepidolite Hill lithium project to Eastern Resources. It will see Lithium Australia collect $550,000 in three tranches and allow it to put further focus on improving technology associated with the battery materials industry.

CZR Resources has cranked up its Pilbara-based Robe Mesa iron ore reserves by a massive 230 per cent to 27.3 million tonnes at 55 per cent iron, or 62.2 per cent iron after calcining. The reserves underpin an initial eight-year mine plan production of 3.5 million tonnes per annum with a cash cost of $57/t. CZR says there is still more scope for project growth.

ABx Group has boosted the mineral resource estimate at its rare earths project in northern Tasmania by 50 per cent, to pass the 20 million tonnes milestone on the back of a 30-hole drill program. The company believes “not all clays are created equal” and says its deposit is different to most others because the process of extraction would be cheaper and cleaner.

ASX-listed Aurumin is set to continue its search for lithium at its Mt Palmer project in the Goldfields after being named a successful applicant for the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme. The explorer has executed an agreement with the Department of Mining, Industry Regulation and Safety, through its subsidiary Aurumin Mt Palmer, to receive up to $150,000 in direct drilling and mobilisation costs.

DiscovEx Resources’ JV partner, Carnaby Resources, continues to rack up high-grade copper hits at the duo’s Burke & Wills discovery near Mt Isa in Queensland, pulling up 12m averaging 2.4 per cent copper from 126m. Drilling continues at the evolving copper find, with results set to feed into a maiden mineral resource estimate for Carnaby’s Greater Duchess project slated for the third quarter of this year.

Octava Minerals’ joint venture partner Future Metals, which operates their Panton North project in WA’s Kimberley region, is set to start exploration drilling on an interpreted extension of the neighbouring 5-million-ounce Panton platinum group metals deposit. Mineralisation was previously traced up to the tenement boundary. Drilling will also target soil and rock anomalies at Panton West, within the joint venture’s ground.

Allup Silica has polished off a 26-hole maiden air-core drilling program at its wholly-owned Pink Bark project, 110km from Esperance in Western Australia. The 421-metre campaign was chasing silica sands and other potential clay-hosted rare earths, with holes drilled to an average depth of 16.5m. Management is expecting results towards the end of next month.

Empire Energy Group has been given the green light to seek production approvals for its gas projects in the Beetaloo sub-basin – a game-changing moment for the area’s development of the vast resource. The company says finalisation of the NT Government’s new industry regulations sets the scene for gas production approval in the region, including for its EP187 Carpentaria pilot project.

Askari Metals will accelerate lithium exploration at its Uis project in Namibia after meeting the conditions for $2.5 million in strategic equity investment by global battery materials supplier Huayou International Resources. Huayou will subscribe for 4.5 million fully-paid ordinary shares in Askari at an issue price of 55 cents per share. Askari has a current share price of about 40c, offering a healthy premium.

Emu NL has enlarged its mineralised footprint in the heart of Esperance’s rare earths region after rock chips returned results of up to 1242 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from its latest reconnaissance survey. Management says fieldwork from outcropping Booanya suite granites has revealed high-value magnet rare earth oxides averaging about 22 per cent of TREO grade from 28 rock-chip samples.

Infinity Mining will kick off a maiden 1700m RC drilling program at its Brisbane nickel-chromium prospect in the Pilbara in early June. The company will drill 10 holes across its ultramafic basal contact target where previous rock chips returned up to 0.764 per cent nickel and 0.892 per cent chromium and also where electromagnetic survey returned a prominent conductive target that may represent nickel sulphides.

Globe Metals & Mining has ticked off a 10-tonne sample from its Kanyika niobium project as part of a plant feasibility study in Malawi. Management says it will be used to design a pilot plant, a testwork program and for commercial grade offtake samples. Globe recently became the first to sign a Mining Development Agreement with the Malawian Government for the advancement of its project.

Meeka Metals has bumped its total Murchison gold project resource up to 12.7 million tonnes at 3g/t for 1.215 million ounces of gold after revealing an initial oxide gold resource from its St Anne’s deposit. The St Anne’s resource of 270,000 tonnes at 2.8g/t gold for 25,000 ounces will be included in the company’s Murchison prefeasibility study to be released in June.

Aruma Resources has produced lithium concentrate from early metallurgical testwork at its Mt Deans project, 10km from Norseman in WA. Floatation has recovered 80 per cent of the lithium into 25 per cent of the mass with capture of tantalum, tin, potassium, rubidium and caesium giving the prospect of valuable additional by-products. Further testwork is to be undertaken with fresh outcropping pegmatite samples.

Infinity Mining is gearing up for its first East Pilbara drill campaign for 2023 after receiving cultural heritage clearance from the Nyamal Aboriginal Corporation to explore its Hillside nickel-copper project. The company has appointed iDrilling Australia to kick off a nine-hole RC program to test surface geochemistry and anomalies highlighted in a 2018 air-borne electromagnetic survey.

Venus Metals and IGO have inked a binding agreement for exploration – and possibly development and extraction – at the pair’s Henderson nickel-lithium project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields. The deal involves a farm-in and joint venture in which a subsidiary of IGO can progressively acquire up to a 70 per cent interest in the project by spending $4 million on exploration and reimbursing Venus with $1 million.

WA explorer Terrain Minerals has extended an induced polarisation survey at its Smokebush project in the State’s Mid West region after its initial scrutiny picked up a third hidden target that has more than whetted its interest. Key permits have already been granted, with drill rig quotes also received, and Terrain hopes to get the drill bit spinning by the end of next month.

Horizon Minerals is targeting extensions to its known resource of 270,000 tonnes at 4.99g/t gold in a new drilling campaign at its high-grade Penny’s Find gold deposit, 50km north-east of Kalgoorlie. The company will drill 2400m of RC with diamond core tails. Penny’s Find gold production will follow Horizon’s Cannon gold mine, which will start production in the second half of this year.

Surefire Resources has commissioned METS Engineering to undertake vital metallurgical testwork at its Victory Bore project in Western Australia’s Mid West region to help further its bid to impact Australasia’s emerging vanadium battery sector. Management hopes the move will boost the project’s value by finding a streamlined separation process to extract vanadium from its magnetite hosts.

Galan Lithium has labelled its beefed-up resource “world class”, with 6.6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at 880 milligrams per litre lithium at its Hombre Muerto West project in Argentina. Management says it is the third significant resource upgrade in three years and 72 per cent of the new figure sits in the higher “measured” category, representing 4.7 million tonnes grading 873 mg/l lithium.

American West Metals has revealed immediate RC drill program success at its Storm copper project in Canada’s far north … with the promise of more to come. The North American-focused company says the first four holes completed at its 4100N prospect all intersected thick visual copper sulphide intervals, confirmed to contain copper based on portable XRF analysis.

Everest Metals believes the identification of a raft new pegmatites has significantly boosted the potential of its Mt Edon mining lease near Paynes Find. Deep Ground Penetration Radar survey over 21 line kilometres shows 133 pegmatite-like anomalies prospective for lithium-tantalum and rare earths mineralisation that extends to depths greater than 50m. The discovery has sparked a new drilling program, to start within a fortnight.

Australian oil and gas company Empire Energy Group has turned the tap back on at its Carpentaria-2H gas well in the Northern Territory’s world-renowned Beetaloo sub-basin as it sets its sites on a pilot production plant. The well clocked a March quarter production rate of 2.81 million standard cubic feet per day over a 30-day period, up 17 per cent from previous tests.

ASX-listed Chimeric Therapeutics has been granted an Indian patent for its CLTX CAR therapies as it closes in on getting similar protection in Israel for its cell treatment for patients with glioblastoma. The new patent in India covers particular applications of the company’s technology which uses chlorotoxin, an amino acid peptide derived from deathstalker scorpion venom that it has utilised for its cancer fighting treatments.

Image Resources has lifted the heavy mineral content production from its Boonanarring mineral sands project north of Perth by 18 per cent during the March quarter, compared to the previous three-month period. According to the company’s latest quarterly report, the production increase is due to higher ore grades, despite a decrease in the amount of ore tonnes processed.

Northern Minerals’ definitive feasibility study for its Browns Range rare earths project in WA is on track to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year, as it continues to develop mining, metallurgical processing and plant and engineering design studies. The mining strategy has been determined as an open pit to 125m depth, followed by an underground mine at its Wolverine deposit.