Public Company News

St George Mining has kicked off a major downstream processing study at its high-grade niobium-rare earths project Araxá in Brazil, aiming to fast-track the project into production following completion of its acquisition last week. Metallurgical programs are already underway and are soon to be accompanied by a substantial drilling campaign scheduled to begin this month.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has wasted no time gearing up the rigs for follow-up drilling at its exciting Lighthorse gold discovery, part of the company’s Pinjin project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. The 16-hole reverse circulation drilling program will test fresh rock beneath a shallow, wide area of mineralisation - interpreted as a horizontal supergene blanket - to chase up potential sources of uber-high-grade gold.

Quantum Graphite and its JV partner Sunlands Energy have received a big federal government tick that will help develop the companies’ graphite hub on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The hub will support the biggest commodity-focussed graphite supply chain between Australia and the US, centred around Quantum’s flagship Uley 2 graphite project and using Sunlands’ associated manufacturing, logistics and inventory management facilities.

Strickland Metals may be on the cusp of a major porphyry discovery after its diamond drill rig intercepted a whopping 493m intercept of 0.14 g/t gold from 223m at its Jezerska Reka prospect, part of the company’s Rogozna gold and base metal project in Serbia. Assays revealed a 412m section grading 130ppm copper from 300m, ending in gold and copper mineralisation at 700m depth.

Reach Resources’ latest drilling program has confirmed the company’s gold model with mineralisation intersected in every hole, validating historical results at the company’s Murchison South gold project, near Paynes Find in WA’s gold-rich Murchison region. The company now plans to optimise pit shells targeting the shallow, higher-grade, narrow-vein gold encountered within the project’s low-grade mineralised envelopes.

American West Metals’ preliminary economic assessment has knocked out a whopping $1.33bn revenue number for a 10-year mine with a net cashflow of A305m at its flagship Storm Copper project in Canada. The study is targeting 10.3mt of resource at 1.3 per cent copper and 3.7g/t silver to produce 487,000t of 17 per cent copper concentrate. With a low A$76m capex and a A$238m NPV, the project will pay for itself within three years.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Wide Open Agriculture. The company surged on news its high-protein lupin isolate had received approval for export into China. Pacific Edge received a stamp of approval for its bladder cancer diagnostics test, Forbidden Foods and its oat milk range received on-market buying from major shareholder Steve Smith, and Olympio acquired a Canadian gold project in a major mining postcode.

Altech Batteries is cleaning up its corporate structure by offering to buy the remaining minority stakes in its CERENERGY and Silumina Anodes projects from German-listed subsidiary Altech Advanced Materials. The $23.3m all-scrip deal increases Altech’s ownership to 75 per cent of CERENERGY and all of Silumina Anodes, strengthening its control over the company’s advanced salt battery technology

Meeka Metals is pushing ahead with open pit mining activities at its flagship Murchison gold project in WA. The company’s mining contractor has commenced work well ahead of schedule, a 2m lift of its southern tailings storage facility is underway and process plant expansion works are advancing rapidly. The company expects to achieve a first gold pour mid-year.

Ora Banda Mining has continued its smooth transition to become a high-grade underground miner, with its Sand King underground ramping up production and over-delivering on gold returns from its Davyhurst project in Western Australia. The company says it has successfully processed its first batch of Sand King ore, with both the reconciled gold grade and metal recovery exceeding expectations at the recently opened underground mine.

Thunderbird Resources has completed a review of historical exploration data uncovering high-grade assay samples up to 49.8 grams per tonne gold and 4.1 per cent antimony at its newly acquired Rockvale and Kookabookra projects near Armidale in New South Wales. Four of the tenements, covering 358 square kilometres, form the Rockvale project and are strategically positioned near Larvotto Resources’ exciting Hillgrove gold-antimony project.

Novo Resources is pushing ahead on multiple exploration fronts across Australia ahead of drilling at its John Bull and Tibooburra gold projects in NSW, while ex-tropical cyclone Zelia throws a temporary spanner in the works with flooding at its Karratha and Balla Balla gold projects in WA. Drilling across all projects is slated for next quarter as the gold price continues to push all-time highs.