Public Company News

Strickland Metals jumped 21% to 11c after securing $5M from Chinese mining giant Zijin to turbocharge drilling at its 7.4M-ounce Rogozna project in Serbia. The strategic placement gives Zijin a 2.4% stake and adds firepower to Strickland’s drill blitz, including a fast-track push to deliver a maiden resource at the high-grade Gradina gold deposit. Zijin already operates major copper-gold projects in Serbia, adding weight to the new alliance.

GreenTech Metals has hailed significant results from its first two diamond drill holes at its Whundo volcanogenic copper-zinc project south of Karratha, including 7.14m at 1.46% copper and 1.23% zinc from 277.16m. That intercept from the company’s unmined Austin conductor target includes 6.3m going 1.84% copper and 1.4% zinc from 278m, including 3.45m assaying 2.42% copper and 2.41% zinc from 278m.

Galan Lithium has announced a transformation partnership with US lithium expert Authium for a funding and offtake package that will propel its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project toward first production. The deal includes a fully funded and operated plant to be supplied by Authium, eliminating a substantial US$41.5 million (A$65.5M) in capital expenditure for Galan.

In a major step toward its clean energy pivot, Pilot Energy has secured $5 million via a heavily oversubscribed placement priced at an impressive 100 per cent premium to its last trade. Pilot will use $4.5M to shore up the acquisition of a remaining 82 per cent stake in the Cliff Head oil project from Triangle Energy.

Ardea Resources has secured a pivotal $4.6 million strategic placement from Japanese joint venture partner Sumitomo Metal Mining to progress the company’s mammoth Kalgoorlie Nickel project in Western Australia. The cash injection will primarily fuel working capital, ensuring Ardea’s expert team continues to drive the ongoing $98.5M definitive feasibility study, which Sumitomo will pay for.

Aurum Resources has smashed out another big gold hit in West Africa, striking a massive 89 metres at 2.42g/t gold from 213m at its Boundiali gold project in Cote d’Ivoire. The standout hit came from its BDT1 deposit, which makes up part of Aurum’s 1.59-million-ounce gold JORC resource. The drill bit also picked up sections of 7m at 14.46g/t gold and 6m at 9.01g/t gold in the hole.

Askari Metals’ recent trawl through a historical exploration database at its Uis project in Namibia has identified significant tin, tantalite and rubidium mineralisation within its licence area. The review reveals “exceptionally high” tin, tantalum and rubidium responses from a 492-sample rock chip database, with assays including 3.17% tin oxide, 5226ppm tantalum pentoxide and 0.87% rubidium oxide.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has struck gold up to 9m grading 3.52 grams per tonne from 58m in fresh rock at its Lighthorse project near Pinjin, 140km northeast of Kalgoorlie. The company says the first-pass reverse circulation drill program appears to have cracked the code by confirming high-grade primary mineralisation exists below a shallow supergene blanket that was discovered two months ago.

St George Mining plans to start a maiden drill program within weeks focussing on expanding a 40.64Mt rare earths resource estimate from early April for its Araxá project in Brazil. The company’s mineral resource estimate for the venture came in at 41.2Mt and 0.68 per cent niobium pentoxide and 40.6Mt and 4.13 per cent total rare earths oxides.

Strickland Metals has hit top gear at its monster 7.4-million-ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project in Serbia by mobilising a sixth diamond rig to fuel what the company says is the biggest drilling campaign in the project’s history. The fresh rig is hard at work at the gold-rich Gradina deposit as part of Strickland’s effort to deliver a maiden resource at the prospect by the end of the year.

Aurumin Limited has wrapped up its latest RC drill program at the company’s Johnson Range project, which is part of its wider Central Sandstone gold project in the WA Goldfields, as it aims to ramp up its existing 64,700-ounce resource. The project is on a granted mining lease and near multiple processing centres, potentially enabling near-term development and mining opportunities to cash in on a roaring gold price.

Triangle Energy has started drilling its hotly anticipated Becos-1 oil exploration well in Western Australia’s Perth Basin. The rods for the conventional well started spinning two days ago to target a fault-trapped rock layer called the Bookara Sandstone from the Triassic period. The company estimates there could be 1-21MMbbl in the pay zone, with a best guess of 5MMbbl.