James Pearson

Strickland Metals has upped the ante at its Rogozna gold and base metals project in Serbia by adding a fourth diamond rig to target substantial copper-gold porphyry mineralisation at the site, with initial assays due next month. The new drilling activities come hot on the heels of Strickland confirming yesterday that it had completed its full acquisition of the project.

King River Resources is set to unleash the drill bit in a new campaign designed to home in on high-grade gold targets at its Tennant Creek project in the Northern Territory following detailed interpretations of geophysical studies. The 1600m reverse-circulation drilling program will test newly-identified gold targets at the company’s promising Kurundi operation at Tennant Creek.

ChemX Materials has taken a crucial step towards high-purity alumina production after cranking up the early-stage commissioning of a leach circuit at its innovative “HiPurA” pilot plant in Western Australia. The leach circuit is a critical initial part of ChemX’s purification process in its aim to produce 99.99 per cent, or “four nines”, purity HPA from its planned 24-tonne per annum plant.

Geological mapping and grab sampling by Estrella Resources has stretched its manganese strike out to 47km in Timor-Leste, with some priority samples already crushed and sent back to Perth for expert lab analysis. The company is now weighing up its business case for the potential first-ever manganese exports from the Southeast Asian country formerly known as East Timor.