Craig Nolan

St George Mining is planning to launch a grid-spaced gravity survey next month at its intriguing C1 rare earths prospect at the company’s Destiny project, about 100km south-west of the Western Australian mining town of Kambalda. The company will conduct a grid-spaced 200m-by-200m gravity survey that has been designed to home in on discrete targets within the prominent magnetic and gravity-high core of C1.

Si6 Metals says it has discovered a 3km-by-800m pegmatite corridor at its Padre Paraiso project in the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil, with assays returning anomalous lithium from auger drilling and rock chip samples. The project sits 20km from Sigma Lithium’s renowned Grota do Cirilo operation that produces 270,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate.

Thunderbird Resources has levelled its sole focus on its prospective portfolio of uranium projects in Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin after turning its back on a pair of lithium projects in Ontario. Following a strategic review of its operations, the company is adamant it will get “more bang for its buck” by using its available financial and human resources across fewer projects.

Alma Metals plans to soon begin a core-drilling program to upgrade and expand the copper-molybdenum resource at its flagship Briggs project that sits about 60km from the deep-water port of Gladstone in Queensland. In a vote of confidence for the project, newly-appointed contractor iDrilling will take $240,000 of its fees in Alma shares priced at 1.2c – a 33 per cent premium to the existing price.

Everest Metals Corporation has hit multiple pegmatites during its recently-completed phase one drilling program as it hunts for rubidium to deliver a maiden resource at its Mt Edon critical minerals project in WA’s Mid West. The new intersections from a reverse-circulation campaign have significantly expanded the company’s target area at the project that sits about 5km south-west of the historical gold mining town of Paynes Find.

Incoming Lindian Resources chief executive officer Alwyn Vorster has vowed to bring the company’s massive flagship Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi into construction and operation “as soon as possible”. The experienced rare earths executive, who has a track-record of managing projects through all stages of development, is expected to take up his new post as of this Saturday.

King River Resources has pocketed a timely R&D tax rebate of more than $361,000 as it ramps up spending on a 10,800m reverse-circulation drill program at its prospective Tennant Creek East copper-gold project in the Northern Territory. The program, which kicks off this week, was delayed for several months due to flooding rains, but will now test 13 prospects at the company’s Top End projects.

A joint bid by Neometals and mining giant Mineral Resources, using electricity to turn purified lithium chloride from South American brines into lithium hydroxide, has entered its final stage at a testing facility in Canada. The pilot testwork progam being undertaken with Neometals’ proprietory “ELi” process is aimed at producing a converted material for use in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.

Buxton Resources has revealed plans to drill-test three new target areas unveiled by high-tech ground moving-loop electromagnetic (MLEM) surveys at its Ranger and Oculus prospects in an upcoming campaign at its Narryer project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The company says the surveys provided high-conductance levels up to 10,000 Siemens, indicating the potential for iron-bearing copper-nickel or graphite mineralisation.

The heavens have finally closed over King River Resources’ ground in the Northern Territory and it has declared itself open for drilling business for copper and gold at the many prospects within its Tennant Creek East project. The reverse-circulation drill program, delayed for several months due to flooding rains, is planned for 10,800m at 13 prospects within three of the company’s Top End projects.

Thunderbird Resources has launched a new high-tech survey sampling program as part of the latest uranium exploration campaign at its premier Hidden Bay project in the renowned Athabasca Basin in Canada. Taking advantage of the ideal Canadian summer conditions, the sampling program is understood to be able to detect blind uranium targets from depths of up to several hundred metres.

Si6 Metals has nailed high-grade hits of up to 5475 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from surface, including magnet rare earths up to 36 per cent, at its Caldera joint venture project in the notable mining region of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The company has today reported that its latest seven-hole auger drilling program intersected mineralisation in every hole.

Buxton Resources will try to turn a new project in Mohave County into a manganese oasis after today revealing its acquisition of the Matrix project that sits in the north-western region of Arizona. The 12-square-kilometre operation lies adjacent to the world’s sixth-biggest manganese resource in terms of contained metal and expands the company’s push into the electric vehicle critical minerals space.

Aspiring rare earths developer Red Metal is aiming to stretch its “world-first” Sybella discovery with a new drilling program outside the known mineralisation zone at its project about 20km south-west of Mt Isa in North Queensland. The company is looking to define the potential size of the deposit and its grade, with plans to drill 10,000m using a combination of air-core and percussion drilling.

St George Mining’s latest gravity survey program has unveiled four compelling targets with coincident high gravity and prominent magnetic features at its Destiny project, about 100km south-west of the small Western Australian mining town of Kambalda. The high gravity signatures indicate the potential for similar carbonatite or mafic intrusions found recently to host highly-valuable minerals such as niobium or high-grade rare earths.

Horizon Minerals is on the path to generating its first cash flows from mining its Boorara gold deposit in WA after entering an ore sale agreement with Paddington Gold for the treatment of 1.4 million tonnes of ore at the Paddington mill. The agreement will start in the next quarter and run for 22 months, with the mill sitting about 56km by road from Boorara.

Buxton Resources is poised to launch a drilling campaign to pump up the 2014 mineral resource at its Graphite Bull project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region after securing clearance from a recent Aboriginal heritage survey. The company can now complete infill drilling along a 2.1km potential strike zone where drilling last year confirmed further high-grade graphite mineralisation at the project.

ra Banda Mining has further bolstered its bank balance after pocketing $11.71 million as its lucrative joint venture deal with business goliath Wesfarmers at the Davyhurst project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region nears completion. Ora Banda will now receive a final $4.29 million next week to complete the Davyhurst transaction after all conditions of the deal were satisfied.

Aurumin has secured five new exploration tenements to stretch its near 1 million-ounce Sandstone gold operations that sit about 600km north-east of Perth in Western Australia’s historic East Murchison region. The tenements sit on more than 60 square kilometres of the Youanmi terrane greenstone and consist of various historical workings and old deposits that make up several compelling targets.

Empire Energy Group says it has received binding commitments to raise a hulking $46.8 million from new and existing institutional shareholders, including two United States-based oil and gas heavyweights. The company will be extremely well-funded after the raise and will use its new “cash stash” to drill a 3km-long development well at its Carpentaria pilot project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-basin.

Meeka Metals has unveiled a 60 per cent boost for its St Anne’s gold resource in Western Australia’s Mid West region, increasing to 40,000 ounces at more than 3 grams per tonne. The resource forms part of the company’s 1.23 million-ounce Murchison gold project that sits in the area bearing the same name, about 650km north of Perth.

Thunderbird Resources has assembled a surprising array of interesting-looking uranium and lithium targets in some of the hottest mineral territories in the world, including Canada’s Athabasca uranium basin. The Athabasca basin is remarkable for its average uranium grades of about 2 per cent and its massive-scale deposits – and Thunderbird appears to have picked the eyes out of it.

Aurumin is looking to join the ranks of Western Australia’s coveted million-ounce gold club after completing its latest reverse-circulation drill program at its Central Sandstone project, 520km north-east of Perth. Drilling was completed for 38 holes and tested seven new open-pit targets, as part of the company’s bold push to extend its current 946,000-ounce gold resource.

Bulls N’ Bears takes a look at the listed companies that have enjoyed share price explosions on the back of 16-year high uranium prices. With lithium taking a breather, the uranium renaissance has filled a gap as demand for uranium to power a clean-energy future pushed the commodity’s fortunes and propelled it to US$106 per pound earlier this year.

Aurumin has kick-started its reverse-circulation drill campaign as it hunts for gold at its Sandstone project in WA. The program will consist of 40 drill-holes and test up to nine new open-pit targets. The existing resource is tantalisingly close to the magical one-million-ounce mark and the company will be looking for some solid results to help it burst through that all-important level.

Si6 Metals has secured a second license at its JV Caldera rare earths project in the mining region of Minas Gerais in Brazil and will charge a drill-rig into the area to kick-off its latest program. The newly granted land borders that of Meteoric Resources exciting Caldeira rare earths project, where high-grade ionic-clay rare earths have been discovered at grades that are generally considered to be amongst the best in the clay based rare earths sector.

Strickland Metals is ready to put its WA gold hunt into overdrive, as it prepares to drill a multitude of high-grade gold targets at its highly prospective Yandal project, about 85km north-east of the town of Wiluna. The company’s liquid assets are impressive, with $54 million in cash and Northern Star shares available to fund its exploration programs.

Allup Silica’s shares soared by more than 300 per cent today after confirmation that silica sands from the company’s Sparkler project near Albany in WA will be suitable for the solar panel industry and high-tech manufacturing. Allup also tabled some stellar results from its Cabbage Spot project near Wyndham showing grades up to 99.4 percent silica. Its stock touched 13c from its close yesterday of 2.9c.

Novo Resources has boosted its recent gold drilling results by re-assaying larger sample sizes from its WA Nunyerry North project, using modern high-tech multi-pot photon-assays, due to the nature of its coarse-gold. The improved results highlight several significant intersections, including 6m at more than 6 grams per tonne at the project it has in joint-venture with the Creasy Group.

ABx Group’s latest assay results have further expanded the rare earths zone at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound project in northern Tasmania, showing mineralisation enriched in the valuable heavy rare earths, dysprosium and terbium. The company says the results prove the site west of Launceston retains the highest proportion of the two elements of any clay-hosted rare earths resource in Australia.

Si6 Metals has unveiled clay-hosted rare earths hits from surface sampling at its joint-venture Caldera project in the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil, in addition to discovering further nickel-copper-cobalt at its Maibele North deposit, part of the company’s base and precious metals play in Botswana. Si6 will now kick-off an auger drill campaign at Caldera to test for higher-grade rare earths mineralisation at depth.

ChemX Materials has pulled in $1.1m from sophisticated investors to help fund the completion of its High purity alumina pilot plant in Perth. The company will also look to raise another $500k from shareholders in an SPP and ChemX directors will kick $65,000 into the raise. The company’s HPA pilot plant is already 80 per cent complete.