Doug Bright

The Human Research Ethics Committee has given Radiopharm Theranostics its stamp of approval to begin first-in-human phase-one dose escalation trials in Australia on patients living with non-small cell lung cancer. The company says the vital approval will allow it to pursue greater hope for patients dealing with a devastating condition that currently has a “poor prognosis” in terms of life expectancy.

Strickland Metals is galloping along at its Horse Well prospect in the Warburton mineral field, near Wiluna in Western Australia, with more solid gold hits from drilling. Management has today revealed new intercepts of 4m at 1.7g/t gold from 2m in near-surface laterite and an impressive 58m at 1.7g/t gold from 17m, including 10m at 4.2g/t gold, largely in the weathered oxide zone.

ChemX Materials has confirmed the significant 4N (99.99 per cent) purity results from its 100 per cent-owned high-purity alumina “micro-plant” in Perth’s southern suburbs in Western Australia. The results were determined across an impressive spectrum of 66 elements and represent a key milestone for the company – achieved within just a year of commissioning its HPA facility ¬– on its pathway to 5N purity.

ABx Group has unearthed rare earths grades it believes are “unrivalled” for clay-hosted mineralisation in Australia at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound prospect in Tasmania, with an eye-watering result of 17,333 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO). The results came from a program 2km west of a hole that yielded the company’s previous best assay result with a top value of 4444ppm TREO.

Estrella Resources is evaluating its Carr Boyd project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region for lithium-pegmatite potential associated with a granitic or monzonitic body that intrudes the northern flanks of the mafic-ultramafic nickel host. New interpretations and a recent nickel discovery have highlighted areas of nickel potential and also indicate possible pegmatite-hosted lithium and related mineralisation within the project.

ABx Group has strengthened its grip on a significant area of Tasmanian rare earths potential with the granting of two new exploration licences covering 483 square kilometres for an initial five-year term, extending its recent Portrush discovery. The company also has an application in train to secure intervening ground between its established Deep Leads and Wind Break prospects.

Askari Metals’ soil sampling at its Callawa project near Marble Bar in Western Australia's Pilbara region has yielded significant nickel-copper-cobalt mineralisation, with a top value of 1808ppm nickel. It also threw up a a strong nickel-chromium correlation to a high of 2349ppm chromium, a high magnesium- chromium content and a typical nickel-copper ratio – all indicating a strong potential for peridotite-dunite-associated nickel mineralisation.

Independent testing by Novonix Battery Technology Solutions has found Lithium Australia’s lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) cathode material to be of high quality – either matching or exceeding competitor products across the key parameters of capacity, stability and high temperature performance. Tests suggest the company’s product is an attractive alternative in the existing LFP supply chain, which is heavily concentrated in China.

The Australian Patent Office has granted Neometals’ recycling subsidiary Primobius timely protection for the key hydrometallurgical separation “hub” of its lithium-ion battery (LiB) recycling process – the downstream component of its mechanical battery disassembly “spoke” plant. The company recently revealed it had received an order from Mercedes-Benz for a 10-tonne per day lithium-ion battery shredding plant for its new recycling operation in Germany.

Meeka Metals has revealed it has completed a gravity survey over its St Anne’s and Turnberry resource areas to better define their principal mafic gold hosts. It has also begun drilling to extend the Turnberry resource and to probe surrounding thinly tested areas for additional ounces to bolster existing resource numbers.

Lindian Resources has launched a 4000m mine development drilling program at its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi in a bid to upgrade about 20 million tonnes of its inferred resource to higher categories before finalising its stage-one pit outline. The company says the campaign is one of the key steps in its transition to production.

Strickland Metals has discovered a new high-grade gold trend at its Horse Well prospect in Western Australia, with its discovery air-core drillhole intersecting 31m at 5.6 grams per tonne gold from 72m to bottom-of-hole, including 8m at 17.7g/t gold. The company says the find was in an area that is not known to have been previously drilled.

Reach Resources has entered into a tenement sale agreement to acquire a new exploration licence from Firebird Metals, extending its grip on prospective manganese terrain in Western Australia’s Edmund Basin. The strategy is in line with the company’s anticipation of increasing global demand for critical lithium, manganese and rare earths in the ongoing global phase of decarbonisation and attendant electrification.

Multiple outcropping lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites carrying high lithium oxide grades of up to 4.6 per cent have been revealed in follow-up mapping and sampling by Venus Metals at its Deep South prospect within its Youanmi lithium project in Western Australia. The company says broad surrounding caesium-tin anomalism is indicative of an extensive and mostly-hidden granitic and pegmatitic late-phase intrusive system.

When all looked lost for a group of parent hopefuls in India, a groundbreaking piece of Australian medical technology developed by Memphasys has turned their dreams of the pitter-patter of tiny feet into reality. Memphasys confirmed today that after its Felix system led to a baby boy being born in India in April, another 10 families have now welcomed little ones into the world.

Stream geochemical sampling by Gold Mountain at its Cerro Cora-Porta D’Agua project in Brazil has confirmed that lithium anomalies correlate with niobium-tantalum ratios and may help the company identify lithium-rich pegmatites. Management says it found that a fine sample fraction provided better anomaly definition and it used the method’s results in all subsequent analyses and interpretations.

Strickland Metals has kicked off two 3D induced-polarisation surveys at its priority Rabbit Well and Iroquois base metals prospects in Western Australia’s Earaheedy Basin – an emerging metallogenic terrane believed to have tier-one base metal potential. The company says both prospects exhibit coincident geophysical and surface geochemical anomalies and are geologically well-situated for the mineralisation styles it is chasing.

Australian med-tech Chimeric Therapeutics has secured the support of a United States cancer centre for a trial of its “natural killer” cell therapy for newly-diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The clinical “Advent_AML” study, designed to enrol up to 20 patients at the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center, will include a novel first-time combination with standard-of-care therapy.

ABx Group has installed a pilot-scale bath reactor and an associated support system at its Alcore Technology Centre in NSW to trial the production of hydrogen fluoride from aluminium smelter waste. The chemicals research and manufacturing company has developed a world-first process to produce hydrogen fluoride from a fluoride-rich waste product known as “bath”, which is often produced in excess from aluminium smelting.

BMG Resources has instigated scoping and development studies, in addition to resource definition, expansion and exploration drilling, to develop and expand the 518,000-ounce resource at its Capital deposit in Western Australia. The company also plans to test other gold anomalies south of Capital, which it believes have the potential to deliver more pre-PFS ounces to the project.

ABx Group has locked in a deal that could be worth up to about $9 million for the supply of cement-grade bauxite to South Australian construction materials company Adelaide Brighton Cement’s Birkenhead manufacturing operation. The contract will see ABx supply between 90,000 and 120,000 tonnes of bauxite during a five-year term from its DL130 project in northern Tasmania.

Reach Resources’ maiden reverse-circulation and deep diamond drilling at its Bonzer prospect at Yinnetharra has intersected multiple thick pegmatites in all holes, including some at depth that do not outcrop at surface. The program was run to follow-up extensive soil and rock-chip sampling results that returned significant lithium, caesium and tantalum values. The discovery highlights the potential for significant lithium mineralisation.

GreenTech Metals has confirmed spodumene as the dominant lithium mineral in a single rock-chip sample from its Osborne joint venture ground following x-ray diffraction (XRD) mineral characterisation analysis. Previous chemical analysis had revealed the sample contained a healthy 3.6 per cent lithium oxide, prompting management to confirm its host mineral. Spodumene is the most common host mineral in hard-rock lithium deposits.

An induced-polarisation survey at Strickland Metals’ Great Western project has thrown up a bonzer drill target for the company, with a high-chargeability anomaly centred over coincident gravity, magnetic and geochemical anomalies. Management believes its survey confirms Great Western as a compelling drill target that potentially represents a large-scale high-grade orogenic gold mineralised system at the site that sits 85km north-east of Wiluna.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has turned the start key on its Pinjin project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields, with hole collars and drill pads being prepared after management confirmed vital heritage clearance at the site. The company says discussions with traditional owners clarified that there were no Aboriginal heritage sites at either of its Kirgella Gift or Providence prospects and drilling is slated to start soon.

Cancer-fighting cell therapy company Chimeric Therapeutics has finished its fourth and final phase-1A dose escalation study at the City of Hope campus in the United States, with the successful treatment of a third clinical trial cohort using a scorpion venom derivative. The company’s “CHM 1101” (CLTX CAR T) treatment is designed to treat patients with glioblastoma cancers.

Terrain Minerals is eyeing the potential to unearth gallium and germanium to complement the rare earths at its Lort River project near Esperance, where an air-core program recently intersected clay hosts. The 16-hole proof-of-concept program through 300m was designed to test for clay-hosted rare earths and rare semi-conductor mineralisation, with all holes intercepting clay zones to a maximum vertical depth of 38m.

Strickland Metals will kick off a planned heritage survey on October 9 at the company’s Yandal and Earaheedy projects ahead of a planned drill program at what it describes as a compelling but untested gold target. The company seeks heritage clearance across priority areas, with particular focus on its promising Great Western, Rabbit Well and Cowza prospects and other regional gold prospects in the Yandal project.

Brightstar Resources has made the milestone jump from explorer to producer status following the inaugural blast on the cutback of its Selkirk joint venture open-pit mine in Western Australia’s historic Menzies goldfields. Mining is expected to run for about six months, with ore being stockpiled in Menzies, and the company is anticipating its maiden gold pour early next year.

Auric Mining’s first toll milling of ore from its Jeffreys Find mine has yielded 1721 ounces of gold – and more than $5 million in revenue. The company says all mining has been completed, but a package of about 145,000 tonnes of ore is still in haulage for processing. Surplus funds are to be set aside for further development of its Munda project.

Brightstar Resources has its sights set firmly on building its gold resource after revealing results from its latest 2000m reverse-circulation drilling campaign at its Cork Tree Well deposit in the Laverton Gold Belt. The results include 1m at 109.6g/t from 167m and 3m at 8.7g/t from 197m and interpretations show a high probability that a 3km northerly extension to mineralisation exists, requiring immediate follow-up work.

Neometals’ joint venture company Primobius has received an order from Mercedes-Benz to supply a 10-tonne per day lithium-ion battery shredding plant for the global vehicle manufacturing giant’s new recycling operation at Kuppenheim in southern Germany. The “spoke” plant is designed to recover materials that will be recycled into a planned 50,000 battery modules that will be installed into new Mercedes vehicles.