Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

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.

Murdoch University’s Hydrometallurgy Research Group has kicked off a research project that will look to develop a new roasting process for ASX-listed King River Resources’ massive Speewah vanadium, titanium and iron deposit in WA’s Kimberley region. Speewah boasts a cocktail of metals including high purity alumina that are part of the new energy and battery revolution.

While White Cliff Minerals is encouraged by results from the first look at its Hines Hill rare earths project 200km east of Perth. Mother Nature is still holding out on the geological origins of the exciting rare earth oxide anomalies that have been showing up in field work at the project and White Cliff will now get stuck into more geochem sampling ahead of its first air core drilling program.

Mineral explorer Panther Metals has gold in its sights after launching a 2500m RC drill program at its Eight Foot Well prospect near Laverton in Western Australia. According to the company, the campaign will see it kick off infill and extensional drilling as it looks to vector in on the region’s historic gold trend in search of a mineral resource.

Capping off its first round of holes in one of WA’s historical gold mining centres, Tambourah Metals has spotted what it believes could be lithium-bearing pegmatites at its namesake gold project. After lighting up geophysical anomalies and taking aim beneath past workings, the explorer has fired off its inaugural volley of 23 reverse circulation holes for 2527m across its numerous gold targets.

Junior explorer Emu NL has lit up a 10km structural corridor at its flagship Badja gold project due east of Geraldton in WA that it says is prospective for gold and tungsten. Results from a recent soil sampling program have etched out a string of high-priority targets along the corridor that are set to feel the impending bite of the drill bit.

DiscovEx Resources is set to offload its Newington project in WA’s Goldfields region after entering into an option agreement to sell off the venture to Midas Minerals. According to the company, the venture is prospective for gold and lithium and its sale will provide a cash boost that could be funnelled into its flagship precious and base metal projects that are scattered across the state.

Cancer fighting biotech Radiopharm Theranostics has licensed another tumour killing antibody, known as DUNP19, from its US development partners, adding to the company’s clinical development pipeline of radiotherapy cancer treatments. The antibody is unique in its dual action in killing both the cancerous tumour and micro-environment cells that make up most of the mass of a solid tumour.

Okapi Resources is set to sink 100 shallow drillholes at its Rattler uranium project in Utah, USA after getting its hands on a government drill permit to launch the operation. According to the company, the RC probe will be aimed at testing the degree and nature of mineralisation at the Rattlesnake mine, where a recent rock chip sampling program delivered promising results.

On the back of high-grade tidings from its joint venture project, the drill bit is now spinning for Godolphin Resources at its Yeoval porphyry copper-gold project in NSW. The company says the 900m program will feature two diamond drill holes and will aim for southern extensions to its current resource, in addition to identifying further mineralisation at the Cyclops prospect.

Gold-focused explorer Classic Minerals is energised in its final run to production at its flagship Western Australian project after receiving approvals from the state regulator to assemble its gold processing plant and drill a water bore. Given water is required to run its plant, Classic sees the approval as an essential milestone towards processing.

Wiluna Mining Corporation has notched up a win in WA after its farm-in and joint-venture partner A-Cap Energy scored a series of positive nickel and cobalt results from a recently completed diamond-drilling program at its Wilconi project near Wiluna. According to the company, the probe took in roughly 1490 metres and represents a crucial milestone as it works towards a pre-feasibility study at the venture.

Off the back of strong vanadium demand, multi-element explorer Surefire Resources is looking to kick start its vanadium project in WA’s Mid West region. The company’s Victory Bore and Unaly Hill inferred resources combine to form a whopping 237Mt of ore going 0.43 per cent vanadium pentoxide and 5.9 per cent titanium dioxide with iron credits.

ASX-listed explorer White Cliff Minerals has boosted its WA-focused battery metals armoury after sealing a binding agreement to acquire explorer Abraxis Mining and its trio of adjacent tenement applications in the Pilbara that are considered highly prospective for lithium. The new ground spans 294 square kilometres and importantly borders two promising lithium projects.

Metal Hawk has seen early results from a recent air-core drilling program back up its geological modelling for the Commodore nickel sulphide discovery. The work at the mineralised komatiite system defined several nickel zones matching features mapped in a moving loop electromagnetic survey last month. It has now started a 3000 metre RC drilling program to bedrock-test priority nickel sulphide targets near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

St George Mining has nailed 5.2m of nickel copper sulphides in its very first drill test of downhole electromagnetic conductor targets at its Mt Alexander project. The company said the new intersection extends the high-grade Stricklands deposit 35m further northwest and confirms the extension of mineralisation down dip. Similar looking conductors are also scheduled to feel the drill bit along the 5km strike of the company’s Cathedrals Belt.

Fresh from discovering its own 330m tonne ore body, sharemarket darling Chalice Mining is set to get the rods spinning again – this time to test farm-in partner Venture Minerals’ conductors in the same geological province. Previous work at Venture Minerals’ South West project revealed multiple EM anomalies scattered across the 20km long Thor magnetic anomaly target area.

Valor Resources has mapped out five promising spectral anomalies at its Picha project, with trademark porphyry signatures indicating the explorer may be tantalisingly close to unearthing a porphyry-style deposit in its Peruvian precious metal hunt. The company’s project lies only 17km from Chucapaca, Peru's largest goldmine, where close to eight million ounces of gold equivalent has been defined.

Galan Lithium is pulling out all stops to get a DFS tabled for its massive lithium brine play in Argentina by the end of the year and the company expects to update its resource by quarter three this year after discovering potentially new mineral resource zones courtesy of a Transient Electromagnetic geophysical survey. The project already boasts a US$2.2b net present value and a seriously impressive set of pre-DFS numbers.

Gold and nickel explorer Great Southern Mining is bringing the drill back to its 100 per cent owned Duketon gold project to commence a 5000 metre RC program on the Southern Star orebody, where previous exploration yielded stunning results up to 56 g/t gold. The company is looking to focus on a southern extension of a lookalike magnetic high feature similar to the existing orebody.

Twenty Seven Co has entered an agreement with mega-miner Rio Tinto’s exploration arm covering a six month exclusive option period to explore for non-gold minerals at its North Rover project near Sandstone in WA. Rio can earn an 80 per cent interest in non-gold minerals at the tenement by spending $5 million on it.

Multi-element explorer Horizon Minerals has netted $2m in cash by divesting assets as it continues its expansive exploration campaign in WA. The company shed its shareholdings in Red Dirt Metals and Cyprium Metals in addition to the non-escrowed portion of Metal Hawk. The earnings pocketed from monetising its assets will be used to fund part of its ongoing large-scale multi-commodity drilling program.

It may be over half a century on but kick-starting gas supply out of the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin and the historic move to get oil flowing from the Bass Strait share similar themes. There’s an interesting discussion happening in Australia regarding energy security right now that assumes greater importance during times of high energy and/or geopolitical instability.

Gold developer Brightstar Resources has a rig in the wings for a 10,000m reverse circulation drilling program at its Cork Tree Well project in WA’s highly prospective Laverton gold belt. The company says the planned work is designed to significantly grow its resource in addition to hitting a new target that has historically recorded a 2m hit going 27.87 g/t gold.

Memphasys Limited has sold more units of its sperm separation system known as “Felix” to two of its current customers, Diagens Biotechnology Company in China and the Indian Women’s Centre IVF clinic in Coimbatore, India. According to the company, receiving repeat orders from patrons within its existing consumer base validates its business model and confirms its products efficiency across both research and clinical platforms.