Doug Bright

Lycaon Resources has completed a crucial heritage survey for its multi-element Stansmore carbonatite project in Western Australia’s West Arunta region, marking a significant step towards drilling. The clearance relates to three priority drill targets at the company’s Stansmore, Volt and Ions targets where it is chasing niobium, rare earths and iron oxide copper-gold and it is now eyeing a drilling program later this year.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Santana Minerals’ impressive 48m slice at 5.8g/t gold from 167.3m in New Zealand. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week as reported by Predictive Discovery, Venture Minerals and DevEx Resources.

GreenTech Metals has knocked off the first 1743m of a planned 2200m reverse-circulation drilling program to test the Austin, Shelby and Ayshia targets at its Whundo copper-zinc project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The first phase of the program was designed to test the company’s unexplored Austin and Shelby targets and for possible extensions of its Ayshia deposit – all associated with fixed-loop electromagnetic geophysical anomalies.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has extended a prospective gold strike at its Pinjin project in Western Australia to 21km after being granted a new 3.5-square-kilometre parcel of contiguous ground at the site that sits 140km north-east of Kalgoorlie. The ground is centred about 3.75km south along strike from the company’s Wessex target and about 8km north along strike from its Kirgella Gift and Providence gold prospects.

ABx Group has polished off a 37-hole air-core drilling campaign that explored a previously-untested north-west area of its Deep Leads rare earths project sitting 45km west of Launceston in northern Tasmania. Previous success at ABx’s high-grade Deep Leads target has led it to interpret the area as prospective for rare earths and the latest drilling has yielded 316 samples that have been sent for analysis.

Meeka Metals has secured a greater-capacity ball mill than envisaged in its definitive feasibility study in May for its Murchison gold project in WA, paving the way for significantly enhanced economies of scale. The company says the $318,000 purchase reduces its DFS mill capex by 75 per cent, lifts processing capacity by 30 per cent to 640,000 tonnes per annum and increases ore processing options.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Encounter Resources’ 46m at 3.1 per cent niobium pentoxide from 60m to hole end at 106m. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week as reported by Future Battery Minerals, Riversgold and Spartan Resources.

Middle Island Resources has kicked off its first round of drilling for the year, with three deep diamond drillholes to test three iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) targets at its Barkly “super project” in the Northern Territory. The program entails three holes targeting depths between 600m and 650m, constituting the company’s maiden testing of the Wilma, Pebbles and Dino IOCG prospects within its Georgina project.

After pocketing $5 million in new money, Larvotto Resources is on the cusp of launching a 5250m exploration drilling program to infill and extend its Clarks Gully gold-antimony resource that sits just 4.7km north-west of its Hillgrove Mine in NSW. The measured and indicated Clarks Gully resource contains 266,000 tonnes at 3.8 per cent antimony and 2g/t gold, or 8.40g/t gold equivalent.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining is planning to kick off an air-core drilling program at its Pinjin project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields next month to follow up an April campaign that hit zones running up to 3.07g/t gold. The program will centre on the company’s Wessex target at the project that sits on the eastern flanks of the prospective Laverton Tectonic Zone, about 140km north-east of Kalgoorlie.

GreenTech Metals has reinforced evidence for three major lithium trends within its Kobe and Osborne tenements in Western Australia’s Pilbara region following an infill geochemical soil sampling program. The campaign has confirmed continuity of the Kobe South lithium anomalism that is well-defined through a 5.5km east-to-south-east-trending corridor, with maximum responses in the range of 200ppm to 467ppm lithium oxide.

Buxton Resources is aiming to get back in the black – the black-coloured carbon at its Graphite Bull project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region, that is – when it kicks off a new diamond drill program to explore deep geophysical targets in the hope of expanding its existing resource numbers. The company’s two diamond drillholes have been designed to target potentially significant extensions of its graphite mineralisation.

Initial geochemical results from 260 regional stream samples at Gold Mountain’s Down Under project in Brazil have thrown up anomalous rare earths responses from a combined area of about 80 square kilometres. The company says the results indicate good potential for ionic-adsorption clay (IAC)-hosted rare earths deposits and ultra-high-grade, hard-rock monazite-hosted mineralisation featuring niobium, uranium and scandium.

Ardea Resources has launched a $98.5 million definitive feasibility study, fully funded by a powerhouse Japanese consortium, for its giant Goongarrie Hub nickel project that sits 70km north-west of Kalgoorlie in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region. The Goongarrie Hub is an integral part of the company’s Kalgoorlie nickel project that embraces a collection of deposits combining to host what it says is the biggest nickel-cobalt resource in the developed world.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Warriedar Resources’ 19m at 4.94g/t gold from 188m at its Ricciardo Mine in Western Australia’s Murchison region. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week as reported by AIC Mines, Mt Malcolm Mines and KGL Resources.

Aruma Resources has wasted little time in firming up confidence at its new Bortala project in the Mount Isa Copper Belt after an initial appraisal at the site confirmed some promising copper-gold targets. The acquisition revealed only in late May was part of what management described as potentially “company-changing” gains of two copper operations in Queensland and a highly-prospective IOCG and uranium play in SA.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Chilwa Minerals’ drilling in Malawi that threw up an intriguing intercept of 13m at 10.5 per cent total heavy minerals. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week reported by Magnetic Resources and West African Resources.

American West Metals has nailed 20m of copper at 2.3 per cent from 38m including 8m at 5.3 per cent in a drill campaign designed to test an electromagnetic (EM) anomaly at the “Gap” within its Storm project in Canada. The 8m intercept also jagged another 3m interval at 7 per cent copper from 41m, confirming the strong correlation between copper mineralisation and EM anomalism.

Lindian Resources has lifted the lid on a compelling new set of financial numbers for its giant Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, including a whopping annual EBITDA of US$84 million (AU$124.5 million) in a 45-year mine life. A feasibility study on the project’s stage-one development also shows a post-tax payback period of just 1.5 years for a US$40 million (AU$60 million) pre-production capital outlay.

GreenTech Metals has kicked off its mission to lift the resource numbers at its Whundo base metals project in Western Australia’s West Pilbara region after cranking up a new 2200m reverse-circulation drilling program. The company flagged the program a fortnight ago, about a month after revealing that an extensive review, based largely on geophysics, had confirmed significant additional resource potential at the project.

Strickland Metals has gone back to its Horse Well gold camp in the Western Australian desert and returned with another string of impressive hits including 20.3m at 1.9 grams per tonne gold from 103

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the more notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Astute Metals’ 59.43m at 1300 parts per million lithium from 73.2m. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits revealed last week by Patagonia Lithium, Australian Rare Earths and FireFly Metals.

Gold Mountain will keep a foot planted on the Salitre lithium project in Brazil that is now set to become a joint venture operation that it will share with Alderan Resources and Mars Mines in a new earn-in deal. The move will allow Gold Mountain to retain exposure to exploration upside at Salitre, while also narrowing its focus on its diverse portfolio of mineral holdings.

St George Mining has defined a promising 2.1km-diameter high-density circular intrusive at its Destiny project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields via a follow-up gravity survey designed to identify potential rare earths-rich carbonatite targets. The company says the geophysical characteristics of the gravity anomaly are consistent with a potentially-mineralised intrusive body that could be similar to other local structures known to host rare earths and related mineral suites.

Aurum Resources has delivered yet another suite of lengthy gold hits from its burgeoning Boundiali project in West Africa’s Côte d'Ivoire, this time with a headline act showing 69m at 1.05 grams per tonne gold from 195m including 12m at 2.28g/t. Another hole in the ongoing campaign bored through 10m at 1.97g/t gold from 131m including 2m at 7.37g/t.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Culpeo Minerals’ biggest-ever run of 298m at 0.98 per cent copper equivalent from 90m downhole. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits last week from Wildcat Resources, Spartan Resources and Terra Metals.

GreenTech Metals is putting the finishing touches on a new 2200m reverse-circulation drilling plan aimed at lifting the resource numbers at its Whundo volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit in Western Australia’s West Pilbara region. The move follows the company’s detailed review of the old Whundo and Ayshia deposits and other spatially or geologically-related targets identified between the two zones, primarily from fixed-loop electromagnetic geophysics

Triangle Energy expects to have the drill rods turning late next month at its Booth-1 well in the North Perth Basin after the company today confirmed the rig will soon be released to the joint venture project. Management says Booth hosts a prospective resource range of between 113 and 540 billion cubic feet of gas (Bcf), with a best estimate of 279Bcf.

Classic Minerals has pumped up the combined indicated resources for its Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene deposits to establish a new mark of 69,966 ounces of gold at the company’s Forrestania project near Southern Cross in Western Australia. Management says its inferred resource for the two projects now shows more than 227,613 gold ounces, bringing the combined indicated and inferred resource to 297,579 ounces.

Image Resources has launched the on-ground construction activity for its Atlas heavy mineral sands project in Western Australia’s North Perth Basin as management ramps up the operation’s proposed development. The company plans to soon start building a new accommodation camp at Atlas and will also dismantle and transfer the wet concentrator from its now-completed Boonanarring mining project.

Strickland Metals has launched into a new exploration campaign at its 5.44 million-ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project in Serbia, with two rigs kicking off a planned 60,000m of drilling and another two on the way. The infill, extensional and scout probing strategy devised by the company will be the biggest program ever committed to the project.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including WA1 Resources’ 40.1m at 3.2 per cent niobium pentoxide from 126m. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits in the past week from ACDC Metals, Iltani Resources, KGL Resources and Talisman Mining.