Public Company News

ABx Group has pocketed a cool $1.25 million in research-and-development tax rebates after receiving more than $503,000 from the Australian Tax Office for rare earths activities in Tasmania throughout last year. Earlier this month, the company’s 83 per cent-owned subsidiary Alcore took home a similar tax offset of $522,715 for work undertaken last year on its world-first process to recover hydrogen fluoride.

Xanadu Mines is on track to produce a prefeasibility study resource update for its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia before the end of the year after completing phase-one infill drilling at the site. Management says the infill program has defined and expanded the volume of higher-grade mineralisation within its Stockwork pit, indicating both grade uplift and resource expansion potential.

Hard on the heels of a recently-completed prefeasibility study, Image Resources has reported positive results from beneficiation testwork involving the conversion of ilmenite from its Bidaminna mineral sands project to synthetic rutile. The company believes it could offer an opportunity to enhance the processing, economic, marketing and ore utilisation considerations of its project in Western Australia’s North Perth Basin.

Reach Resources’ imminent maiden drill campaign at its Bonzer pegmatite field in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region now has new intrigue attached after the company unveiled soil samples going as high as 759ppm lithium oxide. Assays came in at an average of 128ppm lithium oxide, suggesting a strong, coherent lithium anomaly extending more than 1.5km along strike and 700m in width and remaining open.

DiscovEx Resources has continued to build the prospectivity of its Sylvania project near the Western Australian town of Newman after its maiden soil-sampling program returned anomalies of up to 78ppb gold and 1315ppm lead, close to the mineralised Prairie Downs fault zone. The company says it is the first time the zone has been investigated for gold.

Brightstar Resources has struck more gold at its Menzies project in WA’s glittering goldfields, where 18 of 19 holes hit grades of more than 2g/t at its Aspacia prospect and all holes within its “Link Zone” found pay. The company says gold mineralisation is now confirmed in more than 500m of strike at Aspacia, while the Link Zone area has potential for open-pit mining.

White Cliff Minerals’ incoming executive chairman and mining veteran Roderick McIllree has vowed to mark his new role by immediately focusing on the company’s exploration and business development programs. Technical director Ed Mead will transition to the role of executive director of exploration and business development and the pair will work together to build a global development business of critical metals in low-risk jurisdictions.

Galan Lithium’s Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina is now full steam ahead after securing all permitting required to clear the way for construction. Phase-one production of lithium chloride, at what is Argentina’s highest-grade, lowest-impurity lithium brine deposit, will deliver 5400 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate equivalent in a 40-year period starting in the first half of 2025.

St George Mining has picked up seven new hard-rock lithium projects in Western Australia through its wholly-owned subsidiary Lithium Star, including five operations in the renowned southern Yilgarn Craton area. The company has secured a total of 14 licenses covering a significant 653 square kilometres, with exploration programs already planned this year across each of its projects.

Empire Energy Group has revealed a new deal with infrastructure specialists APA Group to progress gas transport solutions for its Carpentaria gas project in the Northern Territory. The company says it is now planning two stages of development for the project, which has the potential to service the Top End and east coast of Australia with more than 500 terajoules of power per day.

Everest Metals has intercepted multiple lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites in all 12 holes of the stage-two reverse-circulation (RC) drilling program at its Mt Edon LCT project. The project sits along the Paynes Find greenstone belt in Western Australia’s South Murchison region, which hosts an extensive pegmatite field. Assays from the drilling program are expected next month.

Auric Mining has notched a major milestone with all of the gold from the first 36,000-tonne parcel of ore from its Jeffreys Find project near Norseman delivered to the Perth Mint for its final refining process. A total of seven doré bars have been transported to the Perth facility, where the semi-pure alloy will be refined into its purest form of the precious yellow metal.