Announcements

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.

Javelin Minerals has kicked off its maiden drill program at the company’s recently acquired Eureka gold project, 50km north of Kalgoorlie, targeting extensions to mineralisation outside its existing 112,000 gold-ounce resource. The company has hit the ground running and has already completed four holes at the southern end of the Eureka pit and plans to test several high-grade targets to the pit’s north.

Ardea Resources has completed a 287-hole infill reverse circulation drilling program to support potential resource classification upgrades at its vast Goongarrie Hub nickel project, 5km south of Menzies. The company drilled 186 holes at its Big Four prospect for 10,238m, while 101 holes were put in at Scotia Dam for 6332m. Ardea has sampled a total of 16,570m of vertical holes at 2m intervals over their full depths.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Osteopore Ltd after its 3D-printed bone regrowth implants were approved by the European Union for distribution. Leeuwin Metals’ historical gold results unveiled extensive shallow high-grade mineralisation over 3km at its new Marda project in WA, Golden Horse Minerals returned stellar gold extensions at its WA project and Pivotal Metals ran up on no news other than renewed interest in its Canadian copper project with a sizeable resource.

As Larvotto charges ahead with a definitive feasibility study at its Hillgrove gold-antimony project in NSW, the company has now opened a new community hub in Armidale to keep locals in the loop. Larvotto says the Hillgrove Hub will deliver on its commitment to locals by offering a front-row seat to the project’s progress while fostering open dialogue with the community.

Aurumin Limited's first RC drilling program, along with pulp re-sampling of old holes, has thrown up some high-grade iron hits at its Central Sandstone project in WA’s Mid West region, including a best 10m at 62% iron. The 2000m drilling campaign across two of Aurumin’s three granted mining leases was co-funded as part of private company Newcam Mineral’s due diligence before exercising its option to enter a joint venture with Aurumin.

Lindian Resources has kicked off early site works at its world-class Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, marking a major step towards production. A new 5km access road is already well underway, allowing the company to mobilise earthmoving equipment and begin ground preparations. The move is part of a fast-track strategy to accelerate stage one construction at one of the world’s top rare earth deposits.

Neometals has responded to the current heady gold prices and somewhat lukewarm battery metals market with a strategic re-evaluation of its Barrambie gold project in WA’s Murchison region. The company says it has identified “a compelling opportunity” to use its in-house expertise, infrastructure, strategic position and existing Barrambie exploration target to bring a gold prospect to a decision to mine status in the second half of 2026.

American West Metals has entered into a partnership and funding agreement for the development of its 2200-square-kilometre Storm copper project in Nunavut, Canada, which will underpin the project’s long-term future. The binding agreement with Ocean Partners Holdings includes an US$2M (A$3.32M) private placement, provision of up to 80% of initial capital for project development and Ocean Partners’ offtake of 100% of the project’s copper and silver production.

Thunderbird Resources’ joint venture partner Firetail Resources is ramping up exploration efforts at their Picha JV copper project in Peru, ahead of maiden drill testing set for the second half of this year. Firetail is upping its game with geophysics, soil sampling and structural mapping underway to unlock the region’s substantial copper porphyry potential.

Reach Resources has unveiled a shallow, high-grade and open-pittable resource of 61,300 gold ounces at its Blue Heaven deposit, part of the company’s Murchison South project in Western Australia. Independent consultancy Mining Plus has put its stamp of approval on a mineral resource of 681,000 tonnes grading 2.8g/t gold from an optimised pit design at the company’s Blue Heaven deposit.

The United States Interior Department has reconfirmed ASX-listed Dateline Resources’ rights to mine and explore for gold and rare earths at its flagship Colosseum project in California. The long-awaited decision paves the way for a dual-commodity future for the company, just 10km from the US’s only operating REE mine, Mountain Pass.

Aurumin has launched a 1250m reverse circulation drilling program at the 64,700-ounce Gwendolyn gold deposit in its Johnson Range project, between Southern Cross and Sandstone. The validation and infill campaign is the first drilling undertaken since 2013 at the 803,000-tonne, 2.51g/t resource and, in the current heady gold price market, it has the potential to prove up an impeccably timed resource development opportunity.

After a thin few weeks for notable drill intercepts on the ASX, Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits this week digs deeper into Western Mines Group’s big reveal of an eye-watering 5.3 million tonnes of contained nickel metal in the company’s maiden mineral resource estimate for its Mulga Tank project in the WA Goldfields. That includes a notable hit from its most recent - and deepest - diamond drill hole.

Aurum Resources will kick off a maiden diamond drill program this month at its newly acquired Boundiali South tenement in Cote d’Ivoire to pursue some big hits from previous reverse circulation drilling, including a 20m intercept at 10.45 grams per tonne (g/t) gold. With government approvals on track, Aurum sees no further impediment to future exploration or obtaining mining rights for the prospect.

Horizon Minerals has awarded ASX-listed GR Engineering with the scope to complete engineering studies on the mothballed Black Swan processing facility to have it roar back to life as a gold plant. The coveted piece of infrastructure was secured by Horizon from its recent merger with Poseidon Nickel. The Kalgoorlie plant was used to process nickel before it was placed on care and maintenance.

Lindian Resources will start metallurgical test work of its high-grade Kangankunde monazite from Malawi, helped by Australia’s top nuclear science team, to target a market-ready mixed rare earth carbonate product. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation will run parallel acid and alkaline cracking methods to find the most economical way of producing a usable carbonate product prior to generating a final certificate of analysis.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runners of the Week is… Whitehawk Ltd, after it became a core cyber partner in a massive US$920M (A$1474M) US government contract. WA junior goldie OzAurum surged on results from its Cross Fault discovery next to Carosue Dam, Argent’s cannabis-based epilepsy therapy was approved for prescription in Germany and Galan turned down an unsolicited $240M bid for its Argentinian lithium projects.

Estrella Resources is set to make history in Timor-Leste by launching the country’s first mineral exploration drilling campaign at its Ira Miri, Sica and Lalena manganese prospects. Partnering with experienced in-country operator CoreSearch Minerals, a division of the experienced H2O group, Estrella is investing US$200,000 to mobilise a fully equipped RC and diamond drilling rig into the country’s northwest.

Galan Lithium has turned down a US$150 million (A$240M) cash offer from a Chinese-French combo to acquire its lithium brine projects in Argentina, labelling the proposal “opportunistic” and “undervalued”. The market responded swiftly, with Galan’s shares soaring more than 50 per cent to a high of 16c per share - defying the broader ASX index and lithium market sentiment.

GreenTech Metals and Artemis Resources have teamed up to form Andover Lithium, creating a massive 420-square-kilometre lithium exploration venture in Western Australia’s highly prospective West Pilbara region. By consolidating their lithium assets into one joint venture, the duo now holds the largest exploration package in the area - boosting the companies’ appeal to major funding partners drawn to the landholding’s scale and potential.

ASX-listed video tech innovator Atomos Limited has struck a savvy new $13.7 million debt deal - wiping out its old facility and dodging any shareholder dilution in the process. The move also delivers a fresh shot of $5M in working capital, as the company eyes a return to positive cash flow within the next year.

Novo Resources will launch a 2000m reverse circulation drilling program this month at Tibooburra in northwestern NSW to test high grade gold results from soil and rock chip geochemistry and other exploration. Recent surface sampling at the Clone prospect produced results of 89.6g/t and 41.9g/t gold in mullock around old workings and 31.4g/t and 10.4g/t gold from quartz vein outcrop along a 700m strike.

Javelin Minerals has taken the final hurdle ahead of drilling at its Eureka gold project, 50km north of Kalgoorlie, by completing of a heritage survey that clears the path for a maiden 3000m reverse circulation drill program. The company has a rig secured and ready to target extensions of high-grade lodes and a series of untested anomalies around the existing high-grade pit.

Shares in Buru Energy soared as much as 36 per cent on the open to 4.9 cents after the company inked a game-changing deal with a private LNG processing and supply firm to fund and build an LNG plant at its Rafael-1 gas discovery in WA’s Canning Basin. The deal could see Buru transition from explorer to producer with saleable gas potentially flowing from Rafael by the second half of 2027.

Horizon Minerals is on a tear after toll treating the first 37,000t of ore from its Phillips Find JV in the WA Goldfields and 50,604t from its Boorara mine to bank a cool $12.9M. With gold prices soaring to US$3,122 (A$5000) per ounce, Horizon’s timing could not be better.