Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

ASX-listed junior explorer Valor Resources says a recently completed airborne geophysical survey has exceeded its expectations, pointing to historical uranium occurrences and new targets across its Hook Lake project in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Follow-up field exploration work has been earmarked to kick off this month and the Perth-based company hopes to be drilling priority prospects in the venerated Athabasca Basin region later in the year.

ASX-listed biotechnology company PharmAust has filed a patent for the use of its monepantel anti-cancer drug to treat viral diseases, having previously said the drug had a positive anti-viral effect on cultured cells infected with COVID-19. The company is developing monepantel as a novel, safe and effective treatment for cancer in humans and animals and is also testing its efficacy in neurodegenerative disease.

Askari Metals has undertaken an initial field reconnaissance program at its Burracoppin gold project about 20km east of Merredin in WA’s eastern Wheatbelt region prior to its planned inaugural reverse circulation drilling program kicking off next week. The company says during the reconnaissance work several old shallow artisanal mining shafts that are prevalent along an interpreted strike length of about 1.6km were given a once-over.

ASX-listed Coda Minerals says it is unlocking the potential of its newly discovered Emmie Bluff IOCG deposit in South Australia’s Gawler Craton, with new directional diamond drilling intersecting copper sulphide zones broadly comparable to the recently announced discovery hole. The new intercepts are reportedly dominated by high-tenor copper sulphides including bornite and covellite suggesting Coda is closing in on a large-scale mineralised structure.

Hydrometallurgical testing by King River Resources has delivered 99.73 per cent pure titanium dioxide product from its 100 per cent owned Speewah specialty metals project in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The company is aiming to develop a process flowsheet at the project that will produce high-purity vanadium and titanium products for use in vanadium flow batteries, master alloys and titanium oxide pigments.

Vietnam-focused Blackstone Minerals has confirmed independent production and verification of a battery-grade nickel-cobalt-manganese 811 sample using nickel from its Ban Phuc project on the eve of delivering a much-awaited pre-feasibility study on nickel refining in northern Vietnam. The ASX-listed company says the precursor sample achieved a purity above 99.7 per cent.

Aspiring London-based Balkans precious and base metals producer Adriatic Metals has been given the nod to start trading on OTC Markets Group’s premier “OTCQX Best Market”. Adriatic management says upgrading to the OTCQX offers its existing and prospective US shareholders improved market visibility, increased trading liquidity and the most up-to-date information otherwise not found on the Pink market.

Venus Metals and joint venture partner Rox Resources have drilled high-grade gold some 80m outside of the existing resource base at their Youanmi gold project in the Murchison district of Western Australia with a 6.8m intercept returning a stellar 11.98 grams per tonne gold from 264m. Drilling continues as the partners seek to grow the 1.66-million-ounce resource at the project.

Lithium Australia has gained admission to the coveted Global Battery Alliance, an international collaboration between public and private organisations dedicated to ensuring sustainability in the battery value chain. The company will now have direct access to experts and key participants in the global battery recycling industry, enhancing its aspirations to vertically integrate lithium extraction, production of battery materials and battery recycling.

Wiluna Mining has pumped out a solid 12 months of gold production at its Wiluna operation in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields with the performance complemented by a cracking average price on gold sales. The company reported June quarter production of 12,524oz from Wiluna at all-in sustaining costs averaging an impressive $1,371/oz, taking the full financial year production total to 51,552oz at average all-in sustaining costs of $1,794/oz.

Todd River Resources has divested 100 per cent of the Manbarrum zinc-lead-silver in the Northern Territory to Boab Metals. Under the agreement Todd River will be issued with A$500,000 of Boab shares and retains a 1.25 per cent net smelter return royalty. The strategic sale paves the way for Todd River to focus on developing other key assets including the Berkshire Valley nickel-copper-PGE project in Western Australia.

Central Africa lithium developer AVZ Minerals hopes to secure an all-important mining licence for its advancing flagship Manono hard-rock lithium and tin project in the DRC in the not-too-distant future as it builds relationships with the newly formed Congolese Government. The company says some timelines for regulatory approvals have been prolonged due to the change in the country’s government earlier this year.

Oar Resources has launched field exploration at its Crown nickel-copper-PGE and gold project just 9km west of Chalice Mining’s heralded Julimar discovery in Western Australia. Geological mapping and outcrop sampling will look to assess about 20 identified target areas, with systematic soil sampling set to follow. A maiden drilling program is planned for later in the year.

ASX-listed Wiluna Mining continues to deliver impressive drilling results in areas targeted for expanding underground production at its namesake operations in Western Australia. Ongoing diamond drilling across the East and Happy Jack lodes has turned out a welter of new high-grade intercepts grading up to 773 g/t gold in the Happy Jack area.

ASX-listed Galan Lithium has hit the go-button on a scoping study into the potential development of its Candelas lithium brine project in the Catamarca, Argentina, sector of South America’s “lithium triangle”. Candelas lies south-east of and in the same fertile salt flat terrane as the Perth-based company’s flagship Hombre Muerto West brine project, which was the subject of an impressive scoping study last year.

ASX-listed Image Resources is on track to beat its 2021 heavy mineral concentrate production guidance after reporting record June quarter output from the wholly-owned Boonanarring operation, 80km north of Perth in Western Australia. The company says surging ilmenite, rutile and now zircon prices are set to boost its full-year heavy mineral concentrate sales and strengthen its pursuit of growth options.

Neometals is edging closer to demerging its significant Mt Edwards nickel sulphide project near Kambalda in Western Australia into a new company, Widgie Nickel, which is targeting a September listing on the ASX. Existing Neometals shareholders are set to get a free piece of Widgie proportionate to their current shareholdings. A new board of directors has now been appointed for Widgie.

Junior explorer Latitude Consolidated has scored a high-grade gold hit at the St Anne’s prospect just 3km south of its existing 610,000-ounce Turnberry open-pit deposit, which forms part of its Murchison gold project in WA’s Murchison Goldfields. The latest drilling highlight from the company’s recently completed reverse circulation program was an intersection of 5m grading an average 6.77 grams per tonne gold from 103m depth.

Venus Metals has pounced on a hefty 546 square kilometres of ground prospective for nickel, copper, platinum group elements, gold and rare earths in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Two of the new licences, one granted and one under application, adjoin tenure hosting a 1km-long outcropping structure where rock chip samples have returned 1 per cent copper and 0.6 per cent nickel.

Adriatic Metals has successfully cleared the final major regulatory approval hurdle that now opens the way for it to start construction of its proposed Vares silver-zinc-lead mining and processing operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina later in the year. The company says it clinched the exploitation, or mining, permit for the project’s keystone Rupice underground deposit from the country’s Federal Ministry for Energy, Mining and Industry.

Australian Bauxite’s 87 per cent owned chemical refining subsidiary, Alcore, appears to have made a significant technical breakthrough with its proprietary mineral production process used to produce commercial-grade aluminium fluoride from metal refining waste known as “dross”. The company believes its process can deliver substantial economic and environmental benefits for Australasian aluminium smelters reliant on imports of the material.

ASX-listed Comet Resources expects to have results of testwork to assess the suitability of concentrate produced from its Springdale graphite project in Western Australia to be used in battery anode manufacturing in the current quarter. The company says the testing at a specialised facility in Germany follows initial “excellent” grade and recovery results in preparation of the concentrate sample in Perth.

Terrain Minerals has intercepted “exciting” new gold zones at three prospects at its Smokebush project in Western Australia’s Murchison goldfield, including a 3m hit going 4.86 grams per tonne gold at the Monza prospect where strike length has now more than doubled to 700m. First pass drilling has also hit a new mineralised structural zone at Monza North with returns including 3m at 1.53 g/t gold from 39m.

After locking in a couple of major project acquisitions that consolidate its foothold on the north-eastern flank of the Yandal-Millrose greenstone belt in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields, Strickland Metals has cranked up a systematic initial exploration campaign across its expanded ground position. The company’s current gravity survey and surface geochemical programs will pave the way for 100,000m of aircore drilling and 30,000m of reverse circulation drilling.

ASX-listed explorer Victory Mines has extended the length of the gold-copper mineralised trend at its Coogee project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to 1km, with latest drilling results including 8m at 3.03 grams per tonne gold and 0.37 per cent copper from 124m in the “Eastern Trend” area. Assay results from other holes remain pending as the recently commenced drilling program motors on.

ASX-listed Altech Chemicals has officially opened an advanced battery materials research and development centre in Germany, where it is seeking to construct a battery materials high purity alumina coating plant. The company is ticking along with a pre-feasibility study into the venture as it looks to fast-track its coating technology to full-scale commercialisation.

Barton Gold has launched a “phase two” drilling campaign at its brownfields Tarcoola gold project in SA designed to follow up on a string of earlier high-grade gold hits. The company says last year’s RC drilling at Tarcoola encountered multiple southern and down-dip extensions of the Deliverance target beneath the former Perseverance mine and also led to the discovery of the shallower Perseverance West gold zone.

Strickland Metals has sewn up the acquisition of strategic ground-holdings abutting its flagship Horse Well gold project in WA that increases its footprint in the Yandal greenstone belt in the north-eastern Goldfields. The company completed the deal to purchase a 75 per cent stake in the Yandal East gold project tenements from Renegade Exploration for a consideration of 40 million new Strickland shares and $800,000 cash.

ASX-listed junior precious and base metals explorer Godolphin Resources is set to kick off a follow-up reverse circulation drilling program at its high-priority Lewis Ponds project in the New South Wales Lachlan Fold Belt region’s Lachlan Transverse Zone next week following encouraging gold sniffs from an initial round of resource definition diamond drilling.

ASX-listed Galan Lithium is consolidating its position in South America’s prolific “Lithium Triangle”, executing a binding option agreement with a private Argentinian landholder to earn a 100 percent interest in the Casa Del Inca III lithium brine tenement. The land package strategically abuts Galan’s Hombre Muerto West project. A further 900 hectares is also available under the agreement.

Infinity Lithium is edging closer to producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide from its 75 per cent owned San Jose lithium project in Spain with feasibility study metallurgical testwork advancing to the final “crystallisation” stage of the planned process flow sheet. Infinity recently entered a memorandum of understanding with leading lithium-ion battery producer, LG Energy Solutions, on potential long-term supply of battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

Element 25’s maiden shipment of manganese concentrate from its Butcherbird operation in WA has left Port Hedland, marking a stunning development pathway to production time frame of a little over a year from an initial PFS to exporting first commercial ore. The company’s first load of about 27,000 tonnes of manganese concentrate aboard a Handymax-size vessel departed Utah Point bulk handling facility yesterday.