Helen Barling

Aurumin is betting on striking gold at its Central Sandstone gold project in Western Australia, with results from its latest reverse-circulation (RC) drilling program to be revealed early in the ne

ABx Group and its subsidiary ALCORE are redefining the circular economy by turning waste into opportunity and have garnered the Tasmanian Government’s support along the way. Tassie will provide indicative terms and conditions for a $1 million, zero-interest loan to fund the construction of a continuous pilot plant to trial its world-first proprietary process that produces industrial chemicals from waste generated during aluminium smelting.

Christmas has come early for Lindian Resources, with it wrapping up the year with a US$50 million (A$78.6 million) funding agreement with US-based commodity trader Gerald Metals Group. Funds are earmarked to kick off development of its world-class Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi. A feasibility study on the stage one development shows a whopping annual EBITDA of US$84m (A$132m) in a 45-year mine life.

Thunderbird Resources is racking up the uranium targets at its Cluff Lake project in Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin, with results from a detailed electromagnetic survey lighting up a suite of intriguing conductors that may have identified favourable geological settings for yellowcake mineralisation. Several targets sit along strike from the nearby Shea Creek deposits that collectively contain 95.85 million pounds at 1.3 per cent uranium oxide.

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 has wheeled in a reverse-circulation drill rig at its Graphite Bull play in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region, eager to unveil the full extent of thick graphitic mineralisation intersected from a recent diamond program. The company says it has squared away several strategic deals, with its drilling and earthworks contractors to partly fund the 5500m program.

Strickland Metals has hauled in a whopping 89.7m running at 4 grams per tonne gold from 244m at its wholly-owned Rogozna project in Serbia. The spectacular intercept includes 24m averaging an impressive 10.5g/t gold from 296m. The well-funded Western Australian explorer has four rigs working around the clock targeting extensions to the existing 4.6 million-ounce gold equivalent Shanac resource.

Gold Mountain has etched out a second intriguing rare earths patch at its Down Under project in Brazil, with a further 85 assays returned from a scout stream sediment survey showing values up to 4582ppm TREO. The company recently collected 800 samples in a first-pass reconnaissance program at its freshly-minted tenure – a stone’s throw from Brazilian Rare Earths’ Rocha da Rocha critical minerals province.

Triangle Energy Group has capped off a solid quarter, raking in $6.54 million courtesy of oil sales associated with its Cliff Head JV partnership with Pilot Energy. The proceeds are earmarked for high-impact exploration drilling near Geraldton in Western Australia’s Mid West region, with the company set to kick off its hunt for hydrocarbons at the Booth-1 well by July.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears top ASX runner is … Dalaroo Metals. Its share price rose more than 182 per cent to join fellow movers and shakers Nimy Resources, Adherium and Firebrick Pharma.

A second drill rig has rolled onto Strickland Metals’ Yandal project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region to target high-grade gold intercepts from last year’s reconnaissance drilling program that pulled up 39m averaging 6.1g/t, including a 7m core running at 22.2g/t of the precious yellow metal. It is back to business for Strickland after it yesterday confirmed the acquisition of a giant Serbian gold project.

Terrain Minerals is preparing to stare directly into a Nova-style “eye” magnetic feature at its Lort River project, with a detailed airborne electromagnetic survey slated to kick off early next month. The company identified the intriguing feature just eight weeks ago and is wasting no time in refining the target, which displays stark similarities to IGO’s Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper-cobalt deposit in Western Australia’s prospective Albany-Fraser Belt.

Lycaon Resources has secured a crucial tick of approval from WA’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister to kick off exploration at its Stansmore project in the West Arunta region – near WA1 Resources' notable niobium discovery. The highly-coveted mining entry permit paves the way for the company to land boots on ground, with a heritage survey planned before it plunges the drill bit into alluring magnetic anomalies.

As the gold price continues its meteoric rise, tipping over $3500 per ounce, Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has completed an interpretation of its Pinjin project in WA’s goldfields, revealing a clutch of compelling new targets. With the project nestled along strike from Ramelius Resources’ 1.1 million ounce Rebecca project, KalGold is set to spin the rods in a first-pass aircore program designed to test the targets.

Estrella Resources is wasting no time as it looks to explore the potential of its freshly minted 500 sq kms of tenure in Timor-Leste with a high-grade manganese rock chip sample peaking at 60.8 per cent already on the table. As the ink dries on the historical agreement with state-owned Murak Rai Timor, Estrella is making history as one of the first companies to receive exploration rights in the country.

Quantum Graphite has completed a detailed airborne electromagnetic survey over its Uley tenure on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The company is on a quest to boost its current Uley 2 resource of 6.3 million tonnes at 11.1 per cent total graphitic carbon for an inventory of 697,000 tonnes of the critical battery mineral.

With the till topped up to the tune of $3.2 million, courtesy of a sweet, new JV deal with budding producer Delta Lithium, Reach Resources has landed boots on ground at its Wabli Creek niobium-rare earths project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The company has at least 16 compelling anomalies to ground-truth, with recent soil geochemical surveys indicating niobium, rare earths and lithium mineral systems.

Metallurgical testwork on samples from Surefire Resources’ Yidby gold project in Western Australia’s Murchison region alludes to almost 70 per cent more gold than previously reported by the company. And it is a timely finding for Surefire as the gold price continues to glitter, trading last week at a stunning all-time Australian high of $3308 per ounce.

Software provider K2fly has initiated a sweeping strategic review of its operations in a swift boardroom move designed to maximise the full potential of its innovative resource governance software solutions. After posting 13 quarters of increasing revenue on the trot, K2Fly has vowed not to sit on those laurels and has appointed Argonaut PCF and Atrico as joint advisors to steer its review.

Boots on ground at Allup Silica’s Cabbage Spot project has mapped out an extensive high-purity silica sand system within easy trucking distance to the Wyndham Port on WA’s Kimberley coast. The company collected 20 surface samples along a 2km traverse designed to help pinpoint future priority drill targets. Previous sampling across the surficial sand masses returned a plethora of high-purity results peaking at 99.4 per cent silica.

There is new survival hope for people diagnosed with brain cancer after a positive response from patients engaged in a Chimeric Therapeutics trial designed to monitor the efficacy of its promising cell therapy for glioblastoma. The cancer fighter says more than half of its participating patients extended median survival expectations up to 10 months, with two patients demonstrating survival beyond 14 months.

Aruma Resources’ deep dive into its Saltwater project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region is tossing up a myriad of intriguing high-grade polymetallic targets from first-pass rock-chip sampling. The company’s latest results have returned high-grade manganese peaking at 40 per cent, in addition to anomalous vanadium, uranium, iron, lead and zinc tipping into the melting pot of previously-reported anomalous copper, cobalt and rare earths.

Buru Energy has started the hunt for an ally to help develop its Rafael conventional gas and condensate resource in Western Australia’s Canning Basin after appointing Miro Capital as a key advisor for its strategic partner selection process. With the Canning Basin’s first significant gas discovery, Buru believes the scope of its project will hep create a long line of suitors for Miro to assess.

Mineral explorer Emu NL has kicked up a collection of intriguing rocks during a maiden foray into to its Georgetown project in Queensland, returning a staggering 18 per cent copper, 35.4 ounces silver and 26 per cent lead – while also mapping out a 2km-long pegmatite. Emu has secured the right to earn up to 80 per cent in the trio of exploration permits.

The dust has settled and the rods have been pulled on Aurum Resources’ maiden 74-hole air-core drilling campaign at its Ryans Find gold project, north-east of Koolyanobbing in WA’s illustrious goldfields. Drilling was designed to test the source of a suite of alluring gold and base metal anomalies etched out over a prospective – and under-explored – greenstone sequence.

Galan Lithium and ASX-listed joint venture partner Redstone Resources have snatched up a pair of exclusive projects in two of Canada’s premier lithium provinces – a 5400-hectare patch in the rapidly-emerging James Bay region that is home to Patriot Battery Metals’ gigantic Corvette deposit, and a 1400ha lot in Ontario’s evolving “Electric Avenue”, which houses Frontier Metals’ massive PAK lithium discovery.

Early boots on ground at Reach Resources’ White Castle manganese project in WA’s Gascoyne region have been handsomely rewarded with high-grade manganese readings up to an eye-catching peak of 48 per cent. The company has amassed an impressive foothold in the emerging critical metals province after acquiring an additional exploration licence from Firebird Metals and extending its tenure to 70km at the prospective Edmund Basin.

Altech Batteries has notched up a win that will see permitting for its 100MWh battery project in Germany go through State approval, bypassing the more complex Federal process and expediting its mission. The company is in joint venture with Fraunhofer IKTS to commercialise the battery plant, which is designed to meet the demands of the stationary energy storage market.

Galan Lithium has upped the ante, with its phase-two DFS into its Hombre Muerto West project in Argentina projecting an annual average EBITDA of US$374 million (AU$588 million) for an astounding 40 years. Hot off the heels of its phase-one DFS, the company is looking to boost production at its flagship project, which is estimated to deliver a whopping US$2 billion (AU$3.1 billion) NPV.

ABx Group’s ALCORE pilot plant in NSW is now fully funded to completion after the company raised an extra $1.5 million to complement a $7.5 million grant received from the Australian Government through its Modern Manufacturing Initiative. Construction at the NSW Central Coast site has started and the company has taken delivery of the bath mini-reactor, with formal commissioning of the plant just days away.

A deep dive into an historical dataset coupled with boots on ground has lit up a 10km lithium trend at GreenTech Metals’ West Pilbara projects that sit tantalisingly close to Azure Minerals’ Andover lithium discovery. Field mapping and analysis of historical soil sampling has etched out two distinct lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite trends where recent rock-chip sampling returned assays peaking at 3.6 per cent lithium oxide.

American West Metals has continued a winning streak at its Storm project in Canada, striking an 18m intercept of visual copper sulphides in its latest diamond drillhole. The hit extends copper mineralisation 2km from its recent Thunder zone discovery hole that yielded more than 76m of visible copper sulphide mineralisation, hinting that the company has tapped into a major belt-scale sediment-hosted copper system.