Public Company News

Element 25 has completed its ramp up to Stage 1 production levels at the company’s flagship Butcherbird manganese mining operation in Western Australia. The company says the mine has now achieved a “steady state” of manganese output and is looking to manufacture a high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate product for use in the burgeoning lithium-ion battery market.

Blackstone Minerals has tabled a head turning 375 metre nickel sulphide intercept from recent drilling at its Ban Phuc deposit in Vietnam. The company’s ongoing diamond drilling program is designed to upgrade much of the existing resource to the coveted “measured and indicated” status, however exploration now appears to be also extending the ore system at depth.

ASX-listed gold developer, Classic Minerals has nailed multiple high-grade gold intercepts from depth extension drilling at its Kat Gap project 170km south of Southern Cross in WA. Best numbers include a cracking 1m interval going 44.43 g/t gold within a wider 6m intersection grading 8.94 grams per tonne gold from 142m. Classic recently commenced trial mining at Kat Gap in anticipation of full-scale production planned for next year.

Si6 Metals has completed the purchase of its Monument gold project west of Laverton in Western Australia. The company sealed the deal by exercising its option over the project and making a final payment of just $400,000 in cash and shares to the previous owner of the project, the Tim Goyder-backed explorer DiscoverEx.

ASX-listed Buru Energy has spudded a second highly anticipated well in its exploration program in the Canning Basin, Western Australia’s largest onshore basin. The Rafael 1 conventional oil exploration well located 150 kilometres east of Broome is targeting 69 million barrels of oil. A seismic program to define new prospects for future drilling is next on the agenda.

Impact Minerals looks to be sneaking up on a large copper system at Apsley in New South Wales. The company says its analysis of surface and drilling data indicates it may be touching on the margins of a porphyry copper-gold system not dissimilar to Newcrest’s nearby Cadia-Ridgeway mine. Apsley’s geochemical footprint extends over more than a kilometre along strike and up to a kilometre in width.

Blue Star Helium has clinched a vital initial consent from US authorities as part of a new protracted pathway towards an eventual approval allowing it to drill a first exploration well at its exciting Las Animas helium project in Colorado. The ASX-listed US helium player now hopes to secure an all-important drilling permit in relation to its planned maiden well at the project’s Enterprise prospect later this year.

ASX-listed Kingwest Resources has kicked off an aircore drilling campaign at its Lake Goongarrie project 90km north of Kalgoorlie. The campaign taking aim at litho-structural targets will punch out 5,000m of drilling with first assays expected in a couple of weeks. Final assays from recent drilling at “target A9” show a headline hit of 5m going 8.31 grams per tonne gold.

Emu NL is back on the bit in Western Australia with the tenacious ASX-listed explorer set to plough more than 6,500 metres of drilling into its Monte Cristo and Gnows Nest gold discoveries south of Yalgoo. Previous drilling over the prospects uncovered a bounty of high-grade mineralisation, with better intercepts including an impressive 3m at 42.17 grams per gold from 77m.

Great Southern Mining has uncovered another cluster of high-grade gold hits from the exciting Southern Star deposit at the ASX-listed company’s Duketon gold project about 45 kilometres north of Laverton in WA. The pick of the latest batch of assays from its maiden RC drill program at Southern Star are 7m at 13.9 g/t gold from 123m including 1m at a bonanza 91.7 g/t.

ASX-listed Legend Mining has kicked off a regional exploration program at its Rockford project in Western Australia’s famed Fraser Range. The diamond drill rods are now spinning into nickel-copper prospects along the western structural corridor with four holes, totalling 1800m, to be punched into the Magnus and Octagonal intrusive complexes. Another 100 aircore holes will be ploughed into regional targets to test geophysical and geochemical targets.

ASX-listed Coda Minerals continues to ring the till with a bevy of high-grade copper and gold intercepts at its Emmie Bluff Deeps deposit, which is located 100km south of Olympic Dam in South Australia. Latest numbers include 24 metres at 2.2 per cent copper, 0.3g/t gold and 8.9g/t silver. Peak grades of 15.3 per cent copper and 4.49 g/t gold confirm the deposit’s potential to host a large-scale, vertical mineralised structure of substantial thickness, according to Coda.