Announcements

Alma Metals has expanded the Briggs, Mannersley and Fig Tree Hill joint venture it shares with Canterbury Resources in central Queensland after grabbing two new exploration permits adjacent to the project. The JV ground includes the Briggs porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit that contains an inferred mineral resource of 415 million tonnes at 0.25 per cent copper and 31ppm molybdenum.

While 2023 saw explorers flock to the James Bay region of Quebec in Canada, a host of ASX-listed companies set their sights further north to the province of Nunavut to hunt for gold, copper and critical minerals. With Quebec becoming a little too popular, several hopefuls decided to roll the dice in the cold, but far less crowded province of Nunavut.

Senior geologists from giant Chinese battery raw materials supplier Huayou Cobalt have made a snap visit to Namibia to assess Askari Metals’ trenching and channel sampling progress at its Uis lithium project. Huayou, a major supporter and key strategic and technical partner of Askari, is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of about US$12.8 billion (AU$19 billion).

New seismic data has revealed that Triangle Energy may be sitting on a gushing 36 million barrels of oil and 535 billion cubic feet of gas as best-estimate prospective (P50) resources in the North Perth Basin. The company plans to drill-test two of its 12 new prospects that hold part of the volume, with wells kicking-off in the first half of this year.

Buxton Resources has discovered an extension to the porphyry copper-molybdenum system at its Copper Wolf project in Arizona that is not a part of the nearby JV it shares with mining giant IGO. The new “Wolverine” prospect gave up rock chip samples going as high as 14.1 per cent copper and 1160 parts per million molybdenum, suggesting the potential for a fertile porphyry system below.

In the next Bulls N’ Bears instalment on what made stocks jump in 2023, we look at Buxton Resources’ blistering start to last year with a 169 per cent share price jump on the back of graphite drill hits in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. It went from 10.2c in early January to 27.5c the following month … and there was still more to come.

Mercedes Benz has put in a $30.7 million purchase order for Neometals’ JV company Primobius to build a hydrometallurgical “hub” to complete the motoring giant’s new lithium-ion battery recycling plant in the German town of Kuppenheim. The order continues a growing relationship between Primobius and Mercedes and includes the fabrication, installation and commissioning of the innovative plant.

Larvotto Resources says new testwork shows it can simply and efficiently upgrade rare earths samples from its Eyre multi-element project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region by using a hydrometallurgical cyclosizer. AC drilling last April at Eyre’s Merivale South prospect returned impressive total rare earth oxides results of up to 1.26 per cent, or 12,611ppm, including 3787ppm magnetic rare earth oxides.

Everest Metals Corporation has placed its foot firmly on strategically important new ground, with the acquisition of two new exploration licenses and an application for a third at its Revere gold and base metals project, 90km north-east of Meekatharra in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The acquisitions more than double the area of the company’s existing tenure in the area.

Galan Lithium is making impressive progress with the construction of its wholly-owned Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina, with its first evaporation pond almost complete and liner installation underway. Filling the initial pond is expected this quarter, with the evaporation process for the operation – the first major step of the company’s long-term production schedule – set to begin in the coming months.

In the second Bulls N’ Bears instalment on what made stocks jump in 2023, we look at how some bonanza hits at American West Metals’ Storm Copper project in northern Canada blew up a share price gale. The company’s stock bulged from just 4.3 cents in March to hit a high of 37.5c on August 10 – a rise of more than 772 per cent.

Si6 Metals has received the green light from shareholders to acquire a 50 per cent share in four Brazilian projects covering 10 exploration licenses and form a joint venture with seller Foxfire Metals. The purchase will see the company pick up the half share in tenements covering 17,000 hectares across three Brazilian States prospective for lithium, rare earths, gold, base metals and platinum group elements.

Chariot Corporation has vowed to break out from a freezing Wyoming winter and polish off its diamond drilling campaign at Black Mountain, following its scheduled halt for the Christmas holiday season. Management says that since beginning its phase-one program in mid-November, it has drilled six diamond-core holes for a total of 652m of triple-tube HQ core and results are expected this month.

Analytical results from Askari Metals’ Uis lithium project in Namibia have turned up lithium oxide grades going as high as 2.91 per cent in its southern licence and 1.92 per cent in its northern licence. Tantalum oxide grades of up to 339ppm and 757ppm were returned from the north and south licences, respectively, accompanied by a best tin oxide hit of 0.52 per cent.

Larvotto Resources has lit up a slew of new drill targets at its Mt Isa copper-gold-cobalt project in Queensland after collecting more than 6200 samples from a geochemical soil sampling program last year. Key areas highlighted for further exploration include the Ballara Saddle, Portal Creek, IXL and Psamathe targets, with a geophysical induced-polarisation survey already underway.

What made share prices rise in 2023? Bulls N’ Bears will take a look in the next few days, starting with Ardea Resources. Its stock jumped 162 per cent in a busy four days during the middle of last year on the back of a mineral resource upgrade and a mammoth prefeasibility study for its Goongarrie Hub nickel-cobalt deposits in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears top ASX runner is … Orion Equities. Its shares rose more than 250 per cent to join fellow movers and shakers Pan Asia Metals, MTM Critical Minerals and Calima Energy.

While some companies slow down at the end of each year, Valor Resources spent December building its lithium and uranium portfolio and also added a cool $1 million to its coffers through a successful placement. The first move it made in the last month of 2023 was entering into an exclusive option agreement to pick up three lithium projects in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Following the sale of its Mt Dimer asset, Aurumin has wasted no time in making good its promise to home in on its Sandstone gold play, with the addition of a new tenement containing three historic gold mines. The mines produced 197 tonnes grading 10.58g/t gold for 67 ounces, 376 tonnes at 27.45g/t for 331 ounces and 82 tonnes at 5.92g/t for 15 ounces, respectively.

Lithium Universe has laid the foundation for a targeted assault with the drill bit at its Apollo lithium project in Quebec having completed soil sampling, airborne magnetic surveys and related fieldwork, with the rods expected to start turning early in the new year. The fieldwork included 666km of mapping and sampling traverses, with 209 rock chip samples being collected over much of the company’s 240 square kilometre Apollo permit area.

Horizon Minerals has bumped up its resource estimate for the company’s 100 per cent-owned Penny’s Find gold mine project 50km north-east of Kalgoorlie by nearly 50 per cent to 63,000 ounces. The latest estimate is based on a compilation of all drilling results below the 260m relative level and a lower cut-off grade of 1.5g/t gold, yielding a total resource estimate of 429,000 tonnes at a grade of 4.57g/t gold.

Aurumin has cleared the final outstanding amount owing on a convertible note and is now debt free having completed the sale of its suite of thirteen Mt Dimer tenements to Beacon Minerals for $3 million. Executed as part of a series of financial and corporate deals, the company is now squarely focused on further developing its recently acquired Sandstone Gold Project, 520km north-east of Perth.

St George Mining has completed a soil sampling and rock chip program over a previously untested area of its flagship Mt Alexander project with assay results expected about mid-January. The company also has plans in place for a new year drill program at its Lithium Star group of projects and at Destiny - a 3,000 square kilometre landholding south-west of Kalgoorlie where a high-grade rare earths discovery, announced just weeks ago, identified numerous potentially lithium-bearing pegmatites.

Radiopharm Theranostics is poised to open a second site for conducting human trials of its RAD 204 treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) having received the green light from Perth’s Hollywood Private Hospital’s Human Research Ethics Committee. The approval follows its successful Brisbane site initiation visit at Princess Alexandra Hospital prior to trials which are slated to begin as soon as next week.

With the uranium price touching US$80 a pound, up from a low of US$20 just a few years ago, a bevy of ASX-listed small caps are lining up for a piece of the action. Geoscience Australia says Australia boasts almost half (46 per cent) of the global uranium resources which screams opportunity. Dollar Bill pontificates on potential for law changes and the future for uranium mining in Australia.

Radiopharm Theranostics has stepped closer to kicking off what it says could be a “game-changing” trial for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after a successful initiation site visit to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital. The visit was made ahead of the trial that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the company’s treatment for advanced NSCLC – the most common type of lung cancer.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears profiled ASX runner is … MTM Critical Metals. Its shares tripled this week to join fellow movers and shakers Culpeo Minerals, Novo Resources and Millennium Services Group.

Novo Resources has committed to stepping up its hunt for gold in 2024 within several priority targets at its Egina Gold Camp and Balla Balla project that both sit in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The company is awaiting assays from more than 10,500m of drilling at its Becher project and says it gleaned positive shallow results in a maiden RC program at Nunyerry North.

Neometals has revealed plans for its 50 per cent-owned subsidiary Primobius to deliver a fully-integrated hydrometallurgical refinery hub to Stelco, offering recycled battery metal products to the electric vehicle market. Primobius’ option to acquire up to a 50 per cent equity in the Stelco special purpose vehicle has been extended until June 30 in 2025 to align with the fully-integrated plant offer.

Ora Banda Mining has received an early $10 million Christmas present as part of its Goldfields project farm-in agreement with Wesfarmers subsidiary Davyston Exploration – and another $16 million is on the way. Davyston will get 65 per cent of the lithium rights at the Davyhurst gold project north of Kalgoorlie, which has a drill hit of 11.1m at 1.28 per cent lithium oxide from 54m.

Reach Resources has added 16 new targets to its niobium-rare earths project in the highly-prospective Gascoyne battery metals province of Western Australia, about 260km east of Carnarvon, following soil assays. The company says a tenement-wide soils program at its Wabli Creek project threw up promising assays going 3860 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO), 2744ppm, 2425ppm, 2271ppm, 1976ppm and 1918ppm.

Estrella Resources will use a $1.327 million research-and-development tax rebate from the ATO to repay a loan facility, with about $181,000 in surplus cash to be aimed at further exploring its Carr Boyd nickel project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. The company says it will continue its R&D work into mineralisation genesis and make a further claim at the end of the next financial year.