Michael Philipps

Venus Metals Corporation has upgraded the mineral resource estimate for its Bellchambers gold deposit in WA’s Goldfields region with a 35 per cent increase in tonnage and a 40 per cent rise in gold ounces. The updated JORC-compliant resource now sits at 722,000 tonnes at 1.31 grams per tonne gold for a total of 30,500 ounces at a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold.

Venus Metals will become a major shareholder in joint venture partner Rox Resources after the companies agreed to consolidate their ownership interests in the greater Youanmi gold project in Western Australia. Shares in Venus jumped more than 20 per cent on the back of the latest announcement to touch 17.5 cents during intraday trading after closing yesterday at 14.5 cents.

Image Resources has found a silver lining in unforeseen delays caused by a labour shortage, revealing it has used the extra time to consider adding a mineral separation plant to its Bidaminna mineral sands project. The company says the delays have slowed its prefeasibility study, but also allowed it to assess the potential production of only heavy mineral concentrate at the operation, with positive results.

American West Metals is set for an exploration blitz with a new rig at its Storm copper project on Somerset Island in Canada and has scheduled a 10,000m RC and diamond drill campaign to begin within days. The company says its initial drilling phase is designed to define maiden JORC resources within the 4100N, 2750N and 2200N zones where high-grade copper mineralisation starts from surface.

Askari Metals is eagerly-awaiting results from a reconnaissance mission targeting rare earths at Barrow Creek after rock chip samples highlighted results of up to 4553 parts per million total rare earth oxides. The project is within 40km of Arafura’s Nolans Bore deposit that hosts a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 56 million tonnes at 2.6 per cent TREO. Askari believes it may host similar geology.

Ora Banda Mining directors and London-based investor Hawke’s Point have stumped up a combined $9.2m as part of a $30m capital raise to fund the cost of operating the reimagined underground Riverina project. The company says the well-supported shares placement and planned development of the underground system will help set it on the path to producing 100,000 gold ounces annually by the 2025 financial year.

Ora Banda Mining has been given the green light to start mining at its Riverina underground gold deposit near Kalgoorlie after receiving financial investment decision approval from its board of directors. While the mining decision is still subject to the company securing a capital requirement of about $30 million, the approval supports its 2025 financial year production target of 100,000 gold ounces per annum.

Askari Metals’ bold vision of identifying a major exploration discovery at its Uis lithium project in Namibia has received a timely boost through the signing of a conditional investment agreement with global giant, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. The deal, and an accompanying institutional investment raise, would boost the company’s coffers by more than $5.7 million as it aims to beef up exploration.