Announcements

Gold Mountain has found thorium anomalies – which may indicate high-grade rare earths – in four areas up to 250m wide within its Brazilian ground after tests with a new state-of-the-art hand-held spectrometer. The results from the Ronaldinho project area peaked at about 640 counts per second thorium. Management says the hits are similar to those from known rare earths grading more than 4 per cent TREO.

The bright lights of a future Saudi Arabia are enticing Australian companies such as Surefire Resources to the Arabian Peninsula – and the company is looking to supply the minerals needed to build the Kingdom’s pipeline of significant projects planned for the coming decades. The super-wealthy country has openly acknowledged it needs help from “experienced mining heads” to help develop its fledgling industry.

A comprehensive analysis study by Askari Metals has identified seven new lithium pegmatite targets at the company’s Uis project in Namibia, with a detailed mapping and rock sampling campaign already underway. Management says its recently-discovered K10 pegmatite has an interpreted strike length of 3.1km, the GP target has an estimated length of 2.4km and its Tawny prospect extends for 2.2km.

Novo Resources has jagged some solid gold numbers from a six-hole, 2529m diamond drilling program at its Belltopper project in Victoria, with a highlight hit of 2m going 15.18 grams per tonne gold from 185m. The intersection flagged a previously undiscovered gold-bearing reef, while 430m further south, a second hole shows 4.25m going 5.88g/t gold from 274.75m with 2m running 11.15g/t from 277m.

Lithium Universe says it is making significant progress in definitive feasibility study work for its proposed Bécancour lithium refinery in Canada, with process flow sheets and stream tables already finalised. The company has plans for a 16,000 tonnes per annum battery-grade lithium carbonate refinery in the North American nation, with heavyweight engineering firm Hatch commissioned to undertake a comprehensive study for the refinery’s design.

ABx Group has confirmed that its “Alcore” technology has delivered its best fluorine recovery result to date, returning 93 per cent in testwork at its Technology Centre on the NSW Central Coast – increasing the company’s confidence in the commercial viability of the process. Management says detailed experimental work and an in-depth knowledge of the relevant process underpinned the impressive result.

88 Energy says its maiden net mean prospective resource estimate for its Leonis project on the North Slope of Alaska shows 381 million barrels (MMbbls) of recoverable oil from the Upper Schrader Bluff formation. The prospective estimate indicates an unrisked (3U) net high of 671MMbbls, a 2U best estimate of 338MMbbls and a 1U low of 167MMbbls.

Neometals has taken a first-hand look at the extraction of high-value metals palladium and gold from metallurgical testwork at the United State-based Precious Metals Recovery pilot plant as it considers taking an 80 per cent stake in the high-tech operation. A second trial has also now begun in a bid to replicate the success when using the preferred feedstock and re-agents process.

King River Resources has completed 11 reverse-circulation drillholes for 1824m at two of the company’s Langrenus gold targets within its Tennant Creek project in the Northern Territory and has sent some 1300 samples away for assay. Management now plans to move the rig to its Commitment deposit, then back to Langrenus to test the orientation of a new quartz-haematite target.

A four-stage plan has allowed Reach Resources to consolidate its share position, negotiate a farm-in deal, raise cash and focus its attention on multiple targets at its Wabli project in WA’s Gascoyne region. The strategic repositioning comes hot on the heels of the company identifying a magnetic intrusive it believes may be linked to the source of niobium, yttrium and rare earths at Wabli Creek.

St George Mining is planning to launch a grid-spaced gravity survey next month at its intriguing C1 rare earths prospect at the company’s Destiny project, about 100km south-west of the Western Australian mining town of Kambalda. The company will conduct a grid-spaced 200m-by-200m gravity survey that has been designed to home in on discrete targets within the prominent magnetic and gravity-high core of C1.

Perth-based explorer Thunderbird Resources is beefing up its bank balance to the tune of $4.1 million ahead of a 2400m drilling blitz targeting high-grade uranium at its flagship Hidden Bay project in the globally-renowned Athabasca Basin in Canada. Fieldwork programs are already underway, with the company’s drill-testing of multiple targets at the operation expected to kick off in August.

Red Metal has delivered a boost to its Sybella rare earths discovery in Queensland, with metallurgical testwork enhancing the prospects of a low-cost and low-capital heap leach processing operation. Management believes the results could pave the way for a process route that lifts revenue and lowers processing costs in a future mine at the project.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Southern Cross Gold’s 0.5m at 473g/t gold equivalent from 913.6m. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits in the past week from Falcon Metals, Flynn Gold, Northern Minerals and Austral Resources.

Estrella Resources’ hunt for manganese in Timor-Leste is heating up, with recent grab samples from riverbeds going as high as 58.4 per cent manganese at the company’s newly-coined Dasidara prospect. Management says geological reconnaissance across its 503.7 square kilometres of ground has defined mineralisation through 30km of strike length as proposals to kick off trenching and drilling are maturing.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week goes to … DY6 Metals, which hiked more than 505 per cent on the back of impressive historic rare earth assays at its Tundulu project in Malawi. It joins fellow runners Forrestania Resources, Nanoveu and DeSoto Resources.

ASX-listed Aurumin will focus its attention on its flagship Sandstone gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region after completing the last of its strategic divestments near Southern Cross in a deal with Kula Gold. The company has entered into a binding term sheet for Kula to acquire an initial 51 per cent interest in the Mt Palmer project for $250,000 in cash or shares.

Si6 Metals says it has discovered a 3km-by-800m pegmatite corridor at its Padre Paraiso project in the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil, with assays returning anomalous lithium from auger drilling and rock chip samples. The project sits 20km from Sigma Lithium’s renowned Grota do Cirilo operation that produces 270,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate.

Liatam Mining has today confirmed it will spend $6 million in a new hunt for lithium at the Quartz Hill joint venture project it shares with Novo Resources in WA’s Pilbara region. Exploration to date has extended the known hard rock lithium mineralisation at the JV’s Lepidolite Fields prospect, with sampling results reading as high as 2.71 per cent lithium oxide and 828ppm caesium oxide.

Scoping study details revealed today on the Carnaby Resources-DiscovEx Resources copper-gold joint venture in Mount Isa shows the operation will deliver $491 million in free cash during the project’s nine-year mine life. The study indicates that commercialisation of the project is viable by 2026 and also confirms that processing by a third party will be the best option.

Strickland Metals’ Palomino prospect has produced more strong results, with a top new hit of 10.6m at 7.5g/t gold from 161.4m including 3m going 21.2g/t at the project within WA’s Yandal gold belt. Reinforcing other recent gold runs, the company’s latest RC drilling also threw out 9m going 2.4g/t gold from 22m and a deeper 21m intercept in the same hole at 1g/t from 76m.

Meeka Metals has outlined its pathway to gold production, with plans to mine 400,000 ounces during an initial nine-year mine life at its Murchison project following the release of a definitive feasibility study. The operation, near Meekatharra in Western Australia, hosts a mineral resource of 1.2 million ounces at 3g/t gold, with an ore reserve of 2.5 million tonnes at 3.8g/t for 305,000 ounces.

Thunderbird Resources has levelled its sole focus on its prospective portfolio of uranium projects in Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin after turning its back on a pair of lithium projects in Ontario. Following a strategic review of its operations, the company is adamant it will get “more bang for its buck” by using its available financial and human resources across fewer projects.

Alma Metals plans to soon begin a core-drilling program to upgrade and expand the copper-molybdenum resource at its flagship Briggs project that sits about 60km from the deep-water port of Gladstone in Queensland. In a vote of confidence for the project, newly-appointed contractor iDrilling will take $240,000 of its fees in Alma shares priced at 1.2c – a 33 per cent premium to the existing price.

A geophysical data review at Reach Resources’ Wabli Creek project in WA’s Gascoyne region has identified a magnetic intrusive it believes may be linked to the source of niobium, yttrium and rare earths mineralisation. The target is coincident with previous high-grade results from eluvial samples and soil geochemical anomalies including 32 per cent niobium oxide, 0.72 per cent yttrium oxide and 2.6 per cent TREO.

Everest Metals Corporation has hit multiple pegmatites during its recently-completed phase one drilling program as it hunts for rubidium to deliver a maiden resource at its Mt Edon critical minerals project in WA’s Mid West. The new intersections from a reverse-circulation campaign have significantly expanded the company’s target area at the project that sits about 5km south-west of the historical gold mining town of Paynes Find.

Aurumin has smashed its previous ASX trading volume record out of the park after it revealed a bonanza gold grade hit of 1m going 344 grams per tonne from 43m in drilling at its Sandstone project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The immediate market response saw 56 million of the company’s shares change hands – more than six times its previous record volume.

Aurum Resources has recorded its highest-grade gold hit to date from diamond drilling at its Boundiali project in the West African nation of Côte d'Ivoire, with 1m going 163 grams per tonne from 277m. The impressive section was contained within a wider 12.22m intercept grading 14.56g/t gold from 275m that was recorded 60m down-dip from a previous 4m segment at 22.35g/t from 226m.

White Cliff Minerals is poised for an exploration blitz when it kicks off a maiden fieldwork campaign at its Nunavut copper-gold-silver project in the northern Canadian province of the same name. The company has already identified a slew of high-priority targets at the operation and its imminent field campaign has been designed to include detailed geological mapping and sampling ahead of a maiden drill program.

Si6 Metals has increased its tenement area in the Limpopo Mobile Belt in Botswana by 45 per cent to a total of 2868 square kilometres after being granted a new 903sq-km prospecting licence. The newly-granted ground in the South African country sits 7km south of the company’s high-grade copper-silver projects at Airstrip and Dibete and the Maibele North nickel-copper-cobalt.

Incoming Lindian Resources chief executive officer Alwyn Vorster has vowed to bring the company’s massive flagship Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi into construction and operation “as soon as possible”. The experienced rare earths executive, who has a track-record of managing projects through all stages of development, is expected to take up his new post as of this Saturday.

Aruma Resources is heralding the potentially “company-changing” acquisition of two copper operations in Queensland and a highly-prospective iron oxide-copper-gold and uranium play in South Australia. As part of a share acquisition agreement with NHM Holdings, the company has picked up the Wilan project near Olympic Dam in SA, while also adding the Fiery Creek and Bortala copper operations near Mt Isa in Queensland.