Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

Horizon Minerals has secured the green light to start gold mining at Phillips Find in WA, less than a week after mining the first ore from its Boorara mine that also sits in the State’s Goldfields region.

Askari Metals has further bolstered its uranium foothold in the world-class exploration jurisdiction of Tanzania by acquiring the prospective Eyasi project in the nation’s north. The 292-square-kilometre project – which the company pounced on following detailed in-house geotechnical reviews in collaboration with its Tanzanian partners – strengthens its position in the white-hot Tanzanian uranium sector, complementing its recently-staked Matemanga project in the south.

Meeka Metals says recent metallurgical results from its Meekatharra project in Western Australia, including 95.5 per cent gold leach recovery, will allow the inclusion of its Turnberry underground resource into a looming DFS. The testwork explored conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) recoveries at three grind sizes and gravity recovery at two grind sizes, reporting optimal recoveries at 106 microns for both methods.

Larvotto Resources is set to fast-track the development of its Hillgrove gold-antimony mine in NSW after appointing a manager to crunch the numbers for a definitive feasibility study by early next year, in a bid to start production in late 2025. MACA Interquip Mintrex will look after the metallurgical testing and necessary plant design modifications to optimise the 500,000 tonnes per annum processing plant.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some notable drill intercepts revealed on the ASX, including Barton Gold’s 7m at 9.63g/t gold from 67m at its Tarcoola project in South Australia. We also take a look at other interesting drill hits reported from American Rare Earths’ Cowboy State Mine project in the US and Lunnon Metals’ Kambalda play in WA.

Thunderbird Resources has revealed recordings of elevated radioactivity levels up to 597 counts per second using a downhole gamma probe in a maiden drilling campaign at its 100 per cent-owned Hidden Bay uranium project in Canada’s Athabasca Basin. The recordings came in the fifth and final drillhole of the program that bore through 1781m in the renowned region.

Reach Resources has launched its maiden reverse-circulation drilling program at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Wabli Creek project in WA’s Gascoyne to probe fresh niobium and rare earths targets. Intriguing and anomalous results previously taken from 74 surface samples during the company’s latest mapping and sampling program set the train in motion and the drill rig is now poised to test what lies beneath.

White Cliff Minerals has kicked up a swag of uber high-grade copper sniffs, tipping the scales at a record-breaking 64 per cent, giving hints of a large-scale copper discovery at its Rae project in northern Canada. The latest haul follows a suite of extraordinary silver grades the junior explorer recently racked up, reaching as high as an eye-boggling 75,439 grams per tonne, from its nearby Great Bear Lake project.

Buxton Resources drilling at its Narryer project in WA’s Murchison region has intercepted 20m at a grade of 9.06 per cent total graphitic carbon in a 60m thick zone, indicating a possible new graphite province. The discovery, accompanied by recently-acquired electromagnetic (EM) signatures, indicates the existence of near-surface graphite which may have unveiled a new graphite province within the company’s ground.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Hydration Pharmaceuticals. The company sold its non-US assets for a sum equivalent to, quite incredibly five times its market capitalisation. Also, Odessa Minerals ran hard after raising more than $1 million to drill its Lyndon uranium project in WA, while other movers and shakers this week were Nyrada and Australian Rare Earths.

GreenTech Metals has ramped up the copper-zinc-gold hunt at its Whundo project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region after appointing experienced mining executive Julian Hanna as a technical advisor. The company says Hanna will bring 35 years’ worth of experience in the discovery, early development stages and corporate management of significant copper, nickel and gold deposits and their associated companies.

Surefire Resources is planning a maiden drill program at its recently-discovered Phat Boy copper prospect in Western Australia’s Mid West region in a bid to add to its established critical minerals portfolio. The prospect consists of four coincident copper-zinc anomalous zones and is interpreted to sit within a similar geological and structural setting to the world-class Golden Grove massive sulphide deposit.

Radiopharm Theranostics has moved closer to securing investigational new drug approval for a cancer-fighting radio-antibody after manufacturing the first batch of its “BetaBart” radiotherapeutic agent.

Octava Minerals has tapped the market for $1 million in a bid to expand the antimony prospect within its Yallalong project in WA, with plans for both extensional and infill drilling. In a further show of support, company directors have also agreed to stump up $150,000 to provide a cash boost that will bolster the funds required for planned exploration programs.

Horizon Minerals says it expects to rake in $30 million in free cash flow from its Boorara gold project, 15km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. After giving Boorara the green light just two months ago, the company has wasted little time getting its shovels into the ground for the project that is set to produce 49,500 ounces of gold.

Chariot Corporation has hitched its wagon to a pilot plant strategy at its United States-based Black Mountain lithium project in Wyoming to fast-track production and supply spodumene concentrate into that nation’s rising domestic demand for the silvery-white metal. The decision follows an internal review that revealed a quicker, lower-cost route to production in time to capitalise on a predicted resurgence in lithium prices.

Xanadu Mines has confirmed it is in the final stages of completing a prefeasibility study on its Kharmagtai copper-gold project that sits in Mongolia’s South Gobi region. The company recently handpassed operational duties for the massive project to joint venture partner and Chinese behemoth, Zijin Mining, and says it has taken additional time to finalise the mine design to ensure a higher standard.

Askari Metals' share price surged 63 per cent today on big volume after a strategic review of its 100 per cent-owned Mt Maguire gold project in Western Australia’s Ashburton region threw up historic high-grade hits. The findings included 2m at 12.14g/t from 35m and 31m at 0.84g/t from 20m as the company moves to tap into the potential for a gold discovery at the site.

Strickland Metals is targeting the near-surface mineralisation at its Gradina prospect in Serbia in a bid to expand the company’s existing 5.4 million-ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project and drive its gold and base metal resource to next-level status. A new diamond-drilling program for 10,000m has been launched at the site that sits in the landlocked Balkan nation.

Latitude 66 has wrapped up what could prove to be a pivotal 18-hole, 2197m diamond drilling program at the K South target within its Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) play in Finland, in a bid to lift the project’s gold resource. The company says all samples from the program have now been submitted to MSALABS in Canada, with assay results expected in early November.

Altech Batteries has clocked up a key milestone with the successful launch of its first 60kWh “Cerenergy” sodium-chloride battery prototype in Germany. The company says the battery unit, which has been installed at the Fraunhofer IKTS lab in Dresden, has passed all physical tests with “flying colours” and has smashed through forecast performance and efficiency expectations in the rigorous daily assessments.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine notable drill intercepts revealed on the ASX, including Global Uranium’s hits up to 5387ppm uranium oxide in Colorado. We also take a look at other interesting drill hits as reported by Superior Resources from its Steam Engine gold project in Queensland and Great Boulder Resources from its Mulga Bill gold prospect in WA.

Triangle Energy has secured the crucial environmental plan approval to drill its Becos-1 well in WA’s Perth Basin and expects to launch the campaign before year’s end in its quest for onshore oil and gas. Rig tenders are now underway to test the shallow target where a best estimate of 5 MMbbl has been identified, with the potential to reach as much as 21 MMbbl.

Estrella Resources has revealed high-grade manganese in Timor-Leste just days after nailing down new exploration licenses at its Samalari prospect in the nation’s Baucau Municipality. The site is showing manganese oxide mineralisation along a 1.7km strike zone with widths of up to 5m and early samples have returned impressive hits going up to 53.9 per cent manganese, according to analysis from Australian Laboratory Services.

Aguia Resources has reinterpreted its high-grade, polymetallic gold-copper-silver-zinc El Dovio play in Colombia as an orogenic lode gold-silver style of mineralisation that was followed later by copper and zinc. The company’s new designation contrasts sharply with its previous casting as a volcanogenic-hosted massive sulphide (VMS/VHMS) deposit and indicates that the base metal component results from emplacement during later tectonic processes.

Lithium Universe has defied market trends to post an upbeat prefeasibility study for its Bécancour lithium carbonate refinery in the Canadian city of Québec, delivering a pre-tax NPV of US$779 million (AU$1.17 billion) and an annual EBITDA of US$147 million (AU$221 million) in its bid to service the growing North American market and fill the conversion gap by reducing the need for Chinese product.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has kicked off a high-resolution aeromagnetic geophysical survey in the northern half of its Pinjin project, 140km north-east of Western Australia’s important mining centre of Kalgoorlie. The survey will provide modern quality data with significantly better resolution than is currently available for the northern part of the project that covers the prospective Jungle Dam area and southward extensions of the Edjudina Goldfield.

Estrella Resources has locked up four extra exploration and evaluation concessions to kick off Timor-Leste’s newly-instituted 2021 mining code direct grant process. The leases, which are particularly prospective for manganese, sit in the Southeast Asian country’s western Baucau Municipality and add to its four exploration licences, 30km to the north-east, that it picked up last year.

American West Metals has revealed one of the best-ever drill hits at its Storm project in Canada after a hole put in on the south side of the North Graben fault intercepted 22.9m at 8.5 per cent copper. The interval includes semi-massive sulphide zones with individual assays up to 27 per cent copper and importantly, lies outside the Cyclone target’s mineral resource.

A recently-completed magnetic survey by Carnaby Resources has jagged multiple new targets at the Greater Duchess copper-gold joint venture (JV) it shares with Latitude 66 near Mount Isa in Queensland. The versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) survey covering 194 line kilometres revealed multiple strong bedrock conductors at previously-undrilled sites at the JV’s Mount Hope and Nil Desperandum deposits.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Element 25 after the potential high-purity manganese producer hit paydirt with a US Government energy grant for US$166 million (AU$241.5 million). West Cobar Metals’ share price also leapt higher after it nailed impressive antimony-copper drill hits at its NSW project, while other movers-and-shakers this week were Emperor Energy and Neometals.

Strickland Metals has struck the third-biggest drill result from its Rogozna play in Serbia, reeling in a hefty 50m intercept grading 5.6g/t gold equivalent as part of a total 365.8m hit at 2g/t. The drillhole was aimed at replicating the more than 300m-thick body of gold, copper and zinc mineralisation discovered at an earlier hole and has confirmed a 60m extension to the south-east.