Announcements

After successfully shaking the tin for $6.2m, K2fly now has the largest privately owned mining software provider in the world on its register. Australian based Maptek has emerged from K2fly’s latest capital raise with a 13.2 per cent holding in the ASX-listed mining software player. The deal also includes Maptek Chairman Peter Johnson taking a seat on the K2fly board as a non-executive director.

88 Energy says third party mapping of the area around AIM listed Pantheon Resources discovery of light sweet crude oil in Alaska shows the geological fairways likely extend to its Project Icewine ground on Alaska’s famed North Slope. The company says it is planning for a resource upgrade at Icewine within months and that talks with potential farm-in partners are in play.

Metal Hawk is launching a 3000-metre diamond and RC drilling campaign at its Commodore nickel-gold discovery in WA’s Goldfields that saw the company’s share price run from 18.5c to 96.5c last year. The discovery is part of the Berehaven project, 20km south-east of Kalgoorlie where the company is chasing further mineralisation after massive nickel sulphide hits as high as 5.9 per cent nickel were recorded last year.

Multi-mineral explorer Kula Gold has flicked the switch on an electromagnetic survey across a number of key targets at its Brunswick nickel-platinum group elements project in the well-addressed West Yilgarn province in WA. The West Yilgarn is host to the world-class Boddington gold mine and Julimar Gonneville copper-nickel-platinum group elements discovery.

Horizon Minerals has returned from the field with a bag of encouraging multi-element assays after first pass drilling at the company’s Lakewood project, 20km southeast of Kalgoorlie in WA. The anomalous platinum-palladium-nickel-cobalt results come from an initial 59-hole air-core program totalling 3002m over four priority targets within the 90 square kilometre project area.

Galan Lithium says extensional drilling at its wholly-owned Hombre Muerto West lithium project in Catamarca Province, Argentina, has further underlined its status as a major lithium brine resource. The company said the probe has extended the project’s resource to the east and enriched its hydrogeological model which could lead to production upside.

Okapi Resources has swelled its North American energy ground after entering into a binding agreement to pick up a 51 per cent interest in the Hansen uranium deposit in Colorado. The deal stretches the company’s resources at its Tallahassee project by 81 per cent to 49.8 million pounds of triuranium octoxide and boosts the grade by 10 per cent to 540 parts per million triuranium octoxide.

Altech Chemicals says recent drilling at its wholly-owned Kerrigan deposit, about 20km south of Hyden in Western Australia, has delivered a “fresh” kaolin resource boosting its current mineral resource estimate by 47 per cent to125 million tonnes at an ISO brightness of 85.2 per cent. The probe was initially completed to validate earlier drilling and collect samples for test work.

First ore should be pushed through Calidus Resources’ Warrawoona gold plant in the Pilbara by month’s end, with the company tipping its maiden gold pour to follow in mid-May. It said the SAG mill is now ready for commissioning by EPC contractor GR Engineering Services. Mining contractor Macmahon Holdings has also ramped up activities with the main mining fleet now onsite and in operation.

In the heart of the Northern Territory’s highly prospective Arunta pegmatite province, junior explorer Askari Metals has spotted and sampled major outcropping pegmatites in the latest field campaign at its Barrow Creek lithium project. The end of March saw Askari strap its boots on for another foray into the field intent on identifying and sampling outcropping pegmatites in the project’s previously unexplored southeastern region.

ASX-listed Indonesia-focused explorer Sihayo Gold appears to be homing in on more high-grade mineralisation after the company bagged surface samples yielding up to 36.6 g/t gold and 8.29 per cent copper in North Sumatra. Sihayo says the findings continue to support the South Block’s potential for high-grade gold and copper targets and discoveries.

Meeka Gold has revealed total rare earth oxides up to 633 parts per million in leached and oxidised surface horizon auger samples at its Cascade project near Esperance in WA. Total rare earth oxides above 400 parts per million were present within a 250 square km area and Meeka speculates that the large cerium anomalies point to possible deeper rare earths enrichment. Drilling is planned for later this year.

ASX-listed battery metal player Lithium Australia is a step closer to the development of a 10,000 tonne per annum lithium ferro phosphate manufacturing facility after its wholly-owned subsidiary VSPC appointed engineering and project delivery outfit Lycopodium to drive a definitive feasibility advancing the proposal towards reality.

Blackstone Minerals has delivered nickel-cobalt sulphides from its Ban Phuc mine in Vietnam to consultant, ALS in Perth, as part of a trial of its Ta Khoa nickel refinery pilot program. The company has a plan to become a globally significant producer of high purity NCM811 nickel precursor products for the lithium-ion battery industry and it is building an integrated mining, ore processing and downstream refinery business in Vietnam.

Murdoch University’s Hydrometallurgy Research Group has kicked off a research project that will look to develop a new roasting process for ASX-listed King River Resources’ massive Speewah vanadium, titanium and iron deposit in WA’s Kimberley region. Speewah boasts a cocktail of metals including high purity alumina that are part of the new energy and battery revolution.

While White Cliff Minerals is encouraged by results from the first look at its Hines Hill rare earths project 200km east of Perth. Mother Nature is still holding out on the geological origins of the exciting rare earth oxide anomalies that have been showing up in field work at the project and White Cliff will now get stuck into more geochem sampling ahead of its first air core drilling program.

Mineral explorer Panther Metals has gold in its sights after launching a 2500m RC drill program at its Eight Foot Well prospect near Laverton in Western Australia. According to the company, the campaign will see it kick off infill and extensional drilling as it looks to vector in on the region’s historic gold trend in search of a mineral resource.

Capping off its first round of holes in one of WA’s historical gold mining centres, Tambourah Metals has spotted what it believes could be lithium-bearing pegmatites at its namesake gold project. After lighting up geophysical anomalies and taking aim beneath past workings, the explorer has fired off its inaugural volley of 23 reverse circulation holes for 2527m across its numerous gold targets.

Junior explorer Emu NL has lit up a 10km structural corridor at its flagship Badja gold project due east of Geraldton in WA that it says is prospective for gold and tungsten. Results from a recent soil sampling program have etched out a string of high-priority targets along the corridor that are set to feel the impending bite of the drill bit.

DiscovEx Resources is set to offload its Newington project in WA’s Goldfields region after entering into an option agreement to sell off the venture to Midas Minerals. According to the company, the venture is prospective for gold and lithium and its sale will provide a cash boost that could be funnelled into its flagship precious and base metal projects that are scattered across the state.

Cancer fighting biotech Radiopharm Theranostics has licensed another tumour killing antibody, known as DUNP19, from its US development partners, adding to the company’s clinical development pipeline of radiotherapy cancer treatments. The antibody is unique in its dual action in killing both the cancerous tumour and micro-environment cells that make up most of the mass of a solid tumour.

Okapi Resources is set to sink 100 shallow drillholes at its Rattler uranium project in Utah, USA after getting its hands on a government drill permit to launch the operation. According to the company, the RC probe will be aimed at testing the degree and nature of mineralisation at the Rattlesnake mine, where a recent rock chip sampling program delivered promising results.

On the back of high-grade tidings from its joint venture project, the drill bit is now spinning for Godolphin Resources at its Yeoval porphyry copper-gold project in NSW. The company says the 900m program will feature two diamond drill holes and will aim for southern extensions to its current resource, in addition to identifying further mineralisation at the Cyclops prospect.

Gold-focused explorer Classic Minerals is energised in its final run to production at its flagship Western Australian project after receiving approvals from the state regulator to assemble its gold processing plant and drill a water bore. Given water is required to run its plant, Classic sees the approval as an essential milestone towards processing.

Wiluna Mining Corporation has notched up a win in WA after its farm-in and joint-venture partner A-Cap Energy scored a series of positive nickel and cobalt results from a recently completed diamond-drilling program at its Wilconi project near Wiluna. According to the company, the probe took in roughly 1490 metres and represents a crucial milestone as it works towards a pre-feasibility study at the venture.

Off the back of strong vanadium demand, multi-element explorer Surefire Resources is looking to kick start its vanadium project in WA’s Mid West region. The company’s Victory Bore and Unaly Hill inferred resources combine to form a whopping 237Mt of ore going 0.43 per cent vanadium pentoxide and 5.9 per cent titanium dioxide with iron credits.

ASX-listed explorer White Cliff Minerals has boosted its WA-focused battery metals armoury after sealing a binding agreement to acquire explorer Abraxis Mining and its trio of adjacent tenement applications in the Pilbara that are considered highly prospective for lithium. The new ground spans 294 square kilometres and importantly borders two promising lithium projects.

Metal Hawk has seen early results from a recent air-core drilling program back up its geological modelling for the Commodore nickel sulphide discovery. The work at the mineralised komatiite system defined several nickel zones matching features mapped in a moving loop electromagnetic survey last month. It has now started a 3000 metre RC drilling program to bedrock-test priority nickel sulphide targets near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

St George Mining has nailed 5.2m of nickel copper sulphides in its very first drill test of downhole electromagnetic conductor targets at its Mt Alexander project. The company said the new intersection extends the high-grade Stricklands deposit 35m further northwest and confirms the extension of mineralisation down dip. Similar looking conductors are also scheduled to feel the drill bit along the 5km strike of the company’s Cathedrals Belt.

Fresh from discovering its own 330m tonne ore body, sharemarket darling Chalice Mining is set to get the rods spinning again – this time to test farm-in partner Venture Minerals’ conductors in the same geological province. Previous work at Venture Minerals’ South West project revealed multiple EM anomalies scattered across the 20km long Thor magnetic anomaly target area.

Valor Resources has mapped out five promising spectral anomalies at its Picha project, with trademark porphyry signatures indicating the explorer may be tantalisingly close to unearthing a porphyry-style deposit in its Peruvian precious metal hunt. The company’s project lies only 17km from Chucapaca, Peru's largest goldmine, where close to eight million ounces of gold equivalent has been defined.

Galan Lithium is pulling out all stops to get a DFS tabled for its massive lithium brine play in Argentina by the end of the year and the company expects to update its resource by quarter three this year after discovering potentially new mineral resource zones courtesy of a Transient Electromagnetic geophysical survey. The project already boasts a US$2.2b net present value and a seriously impressive set of pre-DFS numbers.