Matt Birney

ASX-listed biotech company Chimeric Therapeutics has signed a sponsored research deal with Case Western Reserve University in the United States to develop the company’s NK cell therapy portfolio to assist in its fight against cancer. One of Chimeric’s key missions is to cure cancer, not simply slow its progress, by developing cutting-edge cell therapy treatments aimed at killing the molecules that drive cancer cells and promote metastases.

Okapi Resources could soon fire up the diamond drill rig and launch a 40-hole, 5000m program at its Newnham Lake and Perch uranium projects in Canada after lodging applications with the Government of Saskatchewan. The looming probe follows a recent exploration drive that unveiled a bevy of compelling targets prospective for deeper lying mineralisation.

Galan Lithium has submitted an application to scale up the piloting stage of the company’s flagship Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina that sits within South America’s Lithium Triangle. The proposed semi-commercial test run is anticipated to produce up to 4000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent per annum in the form of a high-quality 6 per cent lithium concentrate.

Infinity Mining has kicked off its maiden drill campaign in search of lithium at the company’s Tambourah South project in the Pilbara region of WA after positive results from rock chip sampling at the site. The 2500m RC drill program has been designed to test the largest lithium-bearing pegmatites at the project where the depth and width of the structures will be targeted.

Mining software provider K2fly has tabled some healthy numbers from the September quarter with the company achieving record highs in its core metrics thanks to continued major tier 1 contract wins. The company operates in the global resources space under a ‘Software as a Service’ business model – meaning its product is delivered on a subscription basis.

Zuleika Gold shares popped more than 16 per cent after the WA Supreme Court found in its favour in litigation the company took against fellow explorer Vango Mining and a subsidiary over a farm-in joint venture at a northern Goldfields tenement. Zuleika declared it had been “wholly successful” and flagged an imminent claim for damages.

ASX-listed Empire Energy has closed the book on a memorable quarter, tabling bumper revenues of $3.96 million from its portfolio of conventional oil and gas assets in the New York State and Pennsylvania regions. Strong demand for gas has also seen the company’s US operations deliver a solid EBITDA of US$1.66 million and end the September period with $32 million in the bank.

Lithium Australia has grown its Envirostream battery recycling feed sources through new partnerships with LG and Battery World. With permits and feed stock being key barriers to entry Lithium Australia has set itself up for an entrenched and fully permitted position in the fast growing industry sector. Its Envirostream battery recycling plant has a 99-year Victorian EPA permit.

After receiving regulatory approvals, ASX-listed gold-focused Classic Minerals has commenced construction activities for the development of the company’s 100 per cent owned and recently approved Kat Gap gold mine south of Southern Cross in WA. A series of earthwork activities including the stripping and stockpiling of vegetation and topsoil began earlier this month ahead of stage 1 mining.

The wait is finally over for Lindian Resources as its maiden exploration campaign at the company’s Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi kicks off marking the first drilling program at the site this century. The explorer has begun phase 1 of its 12,500m resource definition drilling program including 10,000m of RC drilling and a further 2500m of diamond drilling to test mineralisation to a depth of 300m. The 44-hole campaign will include two RC rigs and one diamond drill rig with first assays expected within six to eight weeks.

ASX-listed Aurumin is now wielding a gold inventory of 946,000 ounces in WA’s Mid West region after tabling resource updates for the company’s newly acquired Central Sandstone deposits and incorporating its nearby Johnson Range project into one operation. Notably, the explorer boosted the gold grade of the operation’s centrepiece, the Two Mile Hill underground deposit, from 1.1 grams per tonne to 1.6 g/t.

Podium Minerals has doubled the size of its five-element platinum group metals mineral resource at the company’s flagship Parks Reef project after the completion of a successful drilling campaign. The explorer recently received the final assays from stage 10 drilling at the Mid West site that has led to an upgraded mineral resource estimate of 143 million tonnes at 1.3 grams per tonne for a total of six million ounces of 5E PGM.

WA oil producer Triangle Energy closed the September quarter on a high, completing a flurry of activity including its first oil delivery to a refinery in Thailand using a new shipping route, acquisition of two onshore exploration permits and banking a slice of a $6.9 million pay packet courtesy of oil sales associated to its Cliff Head joint venture partnership with Pilot Energy.

TSX-listed Novo Resources says recent results at its Becher and Nunyerry North prospects highlight the potential for its Egina project in the Pilbara to become a standalone gold production hub. The company has completed more than half of its 30,000m air-core campaign and has highlighted the district as a priority for RC drilling after scoring shallow gold hits along an area it has interpreted to extend to De Grey Mining’s extraordinary nine-million-ounce Hemi gold discovery.

Okapi Resources has received the last of its assay results from a recently completed seven-hole diamond drilling program for 1440m at the company’s Enmore gold project in NSW’s New England Fold Belt. Further significant gold mineralisation was encountered including a broad 28m hit grading 2.03 grams per tonne gold from 191m downhole.

Image Resources has posted another successful quarter of operations at its Boonanarring mineral sands project just 80km north of Perth in WA, despite rising inflation and a tight labour market. The company generated $39 million in revenue and ended the financial quarter with a net cash position of $53.2 million up from $47.9 million last quarter.

ASX-listed producer Buru Energy has chalked up a quarter to remember, tabling its highest revenues in recent memory after banking $5.7 million from its onshore operations in WA’s Canning and Carnarvon basins. The company’s strong cash and debt-free financial position was bolstered through the sale of about 76,000 barrels of oil and fits within its strategy of optimising fluid production whilst unlocking its gas resources.

Northern Minerals has inked a deal with Iluka Resources to supply the company with rare earths concentrate from its Browns Range project in northern WA. The agreement covers the asset’s initial 8-year-plus mine life and includes the supply of 30,500 tonnes of contained total rare earth oxides. The deal also includes a $78 million funding package with Iluka to establish commercial-scale production at the project.

Valor Resources has identified two substantial new anomalies at its Ichucollo and Huancune targets from an induced polarisation survey across the company’s Picha copper and silver project in Peru. The explorer says the latest discoveries are coincident with significant surface copper mineralisation identified from channel sampling and combine with a previously identified anomaly for a strike length of more than 6km.

Infinity Mining has received a five-year extension to a key tenement that forms part of its Panorama project in the Pilbara region of WA that the company says is highly prospective for gold and base metals. The site sits immediately south of the explorer’s Sulphur Springs and Kangaroo Caves base metal deposits with similar geology extending to the south onto Panorama.

Balkans-focused mineral explorer Adriatic Metals has delivered another swag of high-grade base metal intercepts from an ongoing extensional drilling campaign at the company’s Vares silver operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The current campaign is designed to confirm whether high-grade mineralisation at the project’s existing resource, Rupice, continues along strike to the north-west in an area recently predictably coined Rupice Northwest.

ASX-listed medical technology specialist Radiopharm Theranostics has strengthened the supply chain for a critical ingredient in its cancer-fighting treatments by inking a 10-year deal with an American supplier. The agreement with Wisconsin-based NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes is for Actinium-225, also known as Ac-225, which is a radioactive medical isotope used in a wide range of cancer treatments.

North America focussed mineral explorer American West Metals has appointed highly experienced mining executive Daniel Lougher as its new Non-Executive Chairman effective from February next year. Lougher previously served as Managing Director for nickel developer Western Areas, leading the company to a $1.3 billion acquisition by mega miner IGO Limited. He will initially serve as the company’s Non-Executive Director from November this year before transitioning to Chairman.

An initial public offering for shares in Horizon Minerals’ partly-owned and highly anticipated vanadium spin-out is now open. The holding vessel, Richmond Vanadium Technology is seeking to raise up to $35 million in exchange for public exposure to the proposed development of what is hailed as one of the world’s largest undeveloped oxide vanadium resources.

Explorer St George Mining has moved quickly on its discovery of high-grade lithium-bearing rock chip samples at the company’s Mt Alexander project near Leonora, launching its first lithium-focused drill campaign at the project. The 20-hole 2,000m program’s initial focus is Mt Alexander’s Jailbreak prospect where high-grade lithium in outcropping pegmatites has been confirmed by the rock chip assays.

Tambourah Metals has appointed experienced geologist Caue “Paul” Araujo as its new Managing Director as the company plans to accelerate exploration and development opportunities in the critical minerals sector. Araujo has more than 20 years of international exploration, management and consulting experience across multiple commodities including lithium, nickel, copper and platinum group elements.

Indonesia-focused gold explorer Sihayo Gold has unveiled some compelling drill hits including a standout strike of 11.1m going 7.49 g/t, inside a larger 31.5m hit at 4.29 g/t from 259m in North Sumatra. The results form part of a seven-hole, 2216m diamond drilling campaign designed to test deeper-lying mineralisation below and south of the company’s planned Sihayo open-pit mine.

Strickland Metals has begun a native title heritage survey to gain clearance for further exploration around multiple high-priority prospects within the company’s Yandal and Earaheedy projects near Wiluna in WA. The survey will include Strickland’s recent Wanamaker discovery to the north of its Millrose project where the company has returned impressive results including 7m at 22.2 grams per tonne gold from 72m.

Askari Metals has inked a binding heads of agreement with private company LexRox Exploration Services to acquire a 90 per cent interest in its advanced lithium, tantalum and tin project in Namibia, Africa. The advanced project bears visible spodumene mineralisation on its surface with recent rock chip assays delivering high-grade results up to 3.1 per cent lithium oxide, 3.2 per cent tin, 452ppm tantalum and 3387ppm rubidium.

Alumina technologist and rare earths explorer ABx Group’s 83 per cent owned subsidiary, Alcore has selected its initial operating conditions for its planned pilot plant on the NSW Central Coast after performing extensive assessments. Now the initial operating conditions have been selected the pilot plant reactor engineering design can be completed.

White Cliff Minerals has added to its rare earth portfolio after acquiring the Lake Tay project in addition to applying for a further 10 exploration licences surrounding the area 120km south-west of Norseman. The company has signed a binding agreement with Hurricane Prospecting for the purchase of the three granted exploration licences that make up the project for $30,000 in cash, $125,000 in White Cliff shares and 2 per cent of net smelter rights.

Reproductive biotechnology company Memphasys is working with key opinion leaders in Japan and Canada to launch “in vivo” studies for its Felix System that aids IVF conception. In an update on its commercialisation activities, NSW-based Memphasys says the studies are precursors to potential commercial opportunities in Japan and Canada. Management adds that regulatory approval processes in China and the USA are also proceeding as planned.