Craig Nolan

White Cliff Minerals has bolstered its funding for an upcoming drill program at its Rae copper-silver project in Canada, with a $5 million capital raise at a premium to the market price – cornerstoned by its strategic advisor, John Hancock. Management says the raising attracted widespread support from new and existing shareholders and institutional funds based locally and in the United Kingdom, United States and Europe.

In tough recent times for many junior mining companies on the ASX, luring a financially-powerful “big dog” onto the share register to provide some much-needed muscle has become a common boardroom pursuit. In this second part of an occasional series, Bulls N’ Bears takes a look at some of those companies which have prospered after jumping into the business bed with a major partner.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Hydration Pharmaceuticals. The company sold its non-US assets for a sum equivalent to, quite incredibly five times its market capitalisation. Also, Odessa Minerals ran hard after raising more than $1 million to drill its Lyndon uranium project in WA, while other movers and shakers this week were Nyrada and Australian Rare Earths.

Surefire Resources is planning a maiden drill program at its recently-discovered Phat Boy copper prospect in Western Australia’s Mid West region in a bid to add to its established critical minerals portfolio. The prospect consists of four coincident copper-zinc anomalous zones and is interpreted to sit within a similar geological and structural setting to the world-class Golden Grove massive sulphide deposit.

Octava Minerals has tapped the market for $1 million in a bid to expand the antimony prospect within its Yallalong project in WA, with plans for both extensional and infill drilling. In a further show of support, company directors have also agreed to stump up $150,000 to provide a cash boost that will bolster the funds required for planned exploration programs.

Xanadu Mines has confirmed it is in the final stages of completing a prefeasibility study on its Kharmagtai copper-gold project that sits in Mongolia’s South Gobi region. The company recently handpassed operational duties for the massive project to joint venture partner and Chinese behemoth, Zijin Mining, and says it has taken additional time to finalise the mine design to ensure a higher standard.

Strickland Metals is targeting the near-surface mineralisation at its Gradina prospect in Serbia in a bid to expand the company’s existing 5.4 million-ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project and drive its gold and base metal resource to next-level status. A new diamond-drilling program for 10,000m has been launched at the site that sits in the landlocked Balkan nation.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Element 25 after the potential high-purity manganese producer hit paydirt with a US Government energy grant for US$166 million (AU$241.5 million). West Cobar Metals’ share price also leapt higher after it nailed impressive antimony-copper drill hits at its NSW project, while other movers-and-shakers this week were Emperor Energy and Neometals.

Terrain Minerals has leapt into a new drill campaign at its Wildflower gold project in Western Australia’s Murchison province, with an air-core program of 41 holes for 2100m set to test its two high-priority targets – Wildflower and Cota. The AC drilling will target a significant 1000m-by-500m gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly consisting of a peak value of 246 parts per billion gold.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … BPM Minerals. The exploration company hit high-grade gold at its Claw project in Western Australia and its share price surged on massive volume. Octava Minerals’ stock also leapt on an antimony discovery from historical drill results at its Yallalong project, while other movers-and-shakers this week were Mithril Silver and Gold and Metal Hawk.

Metallurgical testwork at Xanadu Mines’ Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia has highlighted impressive recovery levels of 80 per cent from sulphide feed and a high-grade concentrate with low impurities. The potentially-saleable concentrate shows grades of up to 25 per cent copper and 25 grams per tonne gold from the porphyry deposits at the company’s South Gobi site in the landlocked East Asian country.

King River Resources has intersected significant geochemical anomalies from recent drilling at its Langrenus and Providence prospects that sit within the company’s Tennant Creek East project in Australia’s Top End. The drill campaign is part of a $2 million spend to follow up geophysical targets generated from last year’s program and encountered anomalous gold, copper, silver, antimony, bismuth and cobalt.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Aruma Resources. The exploration company hit high-grade copper-antimony samples at its Fiery Creek project in Queensland, with its share price jumping on massive volume. Also, Petratherm’s stock soared after it discovered titanium-rich heavy mineral sands in South Australia, while other movers-and-shakers this week were Locksley Resources and Enova Mining.

Horizon Minerals has signed a significant new joint venture deal aimed at developing and mining two open pits at its Phillips Find gold project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region in a bid to cash in on record high prices for the precious yellow metal. The deal with BML Ventures is underpinned by a plan to produce 15,000 ounces of gold from the site.

Red Metal says its latest step-out drill program has confirmed two huge, parallel magnet rare earths zones at its Sybella project near Mount Isa in Queensland, highlighting the impressive resource potential at the site. The company’s latest assays featured strong shows for all four magnet rare earths –neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium – and infill drilling is now a key priority.

ChemX Materials has received a $250,000 boost to help drive the commissioning of its high-purity alumina pilot plant in WA and plans to use the first part of its expected Federal Government research and development (R&D) rebate as security for the funding. A further $191,000 is also due in the coming weeks as the company ramps up the commissioning of its high-tech development.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Golden Deeps. The exploration company struck high-grade copper-zinc at its Havilah project in NSW. Osmond Resources’ shares also bounded higher after the Melbourne-based company acquired a rare earths and heavy minerals project in Spain, while other movers-and-shakers this week were Energy Metals and Killi Resources.

The race is still on for companies trying to crack the exploration code within Western Australia’s rugged Albany-Fraser Orogen in the ongoing mission to reproduce the area’s renowned – and only – Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper find. Despite some firms claiming to have defined the geological silver bullet they believed would shoot them to fame, the search for the elusive prize continues.

Lycaon Resources has engaged a renowned geophysical expert to help make its Stansmore project that sits in Western Australia’s West Arunta region the next cab off the niobium rank to follow other nearby recent success stories. Both WA1 Resources and Encounter Resources captured the market’s attention after identifying niobium and rare earths mineralisation associated with a carbonatite intrusive in the same region.

Local rare earths explorer ABx Group and TSX-listed Canadian firm Ucore Rare Metals have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to forge a binding offtake agreement for the supply of a mixed rare earths carbonate –enriched in the valuable dysprosium and terbium metals – sourced from the former’s Deep Leads project that sits 45km west of Launceston in northern Tasmania.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … MC Mining. The South African-focused coal producer inked a US$90 million cash injection into its coal operations. Also, Actinogen Medical received renewed support upon revealing analysis showing its Xanamem therapeutic to effectively treat depression, while other movers and shakers this week were Kalina Power and Felix Gold.

Horizon Minerals has kicked off mining activities at its recently-approved Boorara gold development operation that sits adjacent to Northern Star’s massive Super Pit mine in the regional WA city of Kalgoorlie. Management last month gave approval for the mining of four open pits containing 1.24 million tonnes of ore grading 1.24g/t gold for 49,500 ounces and says it has already kicked the plan into action.

Surefire Resources has executed a joint co-operation agreement with WA’s Mid West Ports Authority to define the best pathway forward for exporting magnetite product from the company’s Victory Bore operation. Management’s aim is to secure port access for 1.25 million tonnes per annum to be shipped to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where the ore will be processed into a suite of valuable products.

Higher silver and zinc prices have led Horizon Minerals to dust off the mothballed Nimbus project that sits adjacent to its flagship Boorara gold operation, some 17km from Kalgoorlie in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region. The company has set a big exploration target to chase in a drilling campaign planned for next year as it looks to ramp up its resources for an upcoming feasibility study.

Aurumin is preparing to launch into a drilling campaign to expand its gold inventory and potentially find economic iron mineralisation at its range of projects around Western Australia’s historic Mid West town of Sandstone. The company has a 946,000-ounce gold resource at its projects and recently retrieved 320 pulp samples to be assayed for the iron it identified from rock-chip sampling.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … antimony. The grey metal was behind significant share price jumps for Larvotto Resources and several other ASX-listed companies. Also, Dundas Minerals jumped 188 per cent on news of finding solid gold up to 9.5g/t in re-assayed samples, while other movers and shakers this week were MTM Critical Metals and First Lithium.

Novo Resources has produced a suite of high-grade gold assays after an intensive reassessment of core from past drilling at its Belltopper project in Victoria – just 50km south of Agnico Eagle’s world-class Fosterville mine. The company says its re-assaying of 11 historic diamond drillholes has confirmed multiple mineralised intercepts across several priority target corridor zones prospective for gold and other “in-demand” minerals.

King River Resources has punched 68 reverse-circulation (RC) holes for 7998m into its Tennant Creek East and Kurundi projects that sit near the town of Tennant Creek in Australia’s Top End. The $2 million drilling campaign has been designed to also test a range of new targets generated from an intensive geophysics program that was completed last year.

Reach Resources says it has secured the vital heritage clearance that will allow it to launch a drilling program at its Wabli Creek niobium-rare earths project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The company now plans to target a series of highly-prospective areas at its ground after recently revealing several high-grade assays from rock chips that were taken directly from outcropping granitic bedrock.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … LiveHire. Its share price jumped 95.83 per cent on news of it entering a bid implementation agreement for an all-cash takeover offer priced at 4.5 cents per share – an impressive 75.8 per cent premium to its 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP). Other movers and shakers this week were Artemis Resources, LTR Pharma and Noxopharm.

Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has given its approval for a powerful Japanese consortium consisting of Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation to join forces with Ardea Resources for the development of the Goongarrie Hub operation within the latter’s giant Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. A joint venture (JV) agreement was signed by the three parties in April this year.

In tough recent times for many junior mining companies on the ASX, luring a financially-powerful “big dog” onto the share register to provide some much-needed muscle has become a common boardroom pursuit. Bulls N’ Bears takes look at some of those companies which have received both a timely cash injection and a share price boost up to recent highs.