Matt Birney

Classic Minerals has generated high-grade gold intersections from drilling at its emerging Kat Gap project near Southern Cross, WA, which have doubled the strike length of the ore system to 400 metres. The program targeted the ore body along strike and produced exceptional, shallow drilling results including 7m @ 24.3g/t from 24m down-hole, 9m @ 15.2g/t gold from 22m and 10m @ 8.2g/t from 7m in separate holes.

Kairos Minerals has recovered 223 gold nuggets weighing a total of 21.1 ounces that were hosted directly within a conglomerate unit, from a newly identified area at its Croydon project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The company said the discovery is analogous to the basal gold-bearing conglomerate horizon discovered by Canadian explorer Novo Resources at the Purdy’s Reward project more than 100km to the west northwest.

Calidus Resources has intersected high-grade gold with a bonanza hit of 1m @ 107.2g/t gold from 36m down-hole in a broader intersection of 13m @ 11.1g/t gold from 30m, during infill drilling at the Klondyke-St George shear-hosted deposits within its Warrawoona project, near Marble Bar, WA. The drilling campaign is aimed at upgrading mineral resources and proving up additional ore reserves to support the company’s BFS.

Alterra has appointed Brett Heather as its chief operating and technical officer as it prepares to address opportunities in Australia’s high-value avocado sector. Mr Heather helped transform the avocado category with one of Australia’s leading retailers by driving cost efficiencies from field to fork, improving post-harvest handling and implementing technology to ensure that consumers received the best possible product.

Strike Energy is preparing to carry out wireline logging at its multi-target West Erregulla-2 well in the Perth Basin, Western Australia, that flowed gas to surface earlier this month from the Basal Wagina formation. The company will also evaluate the shallower Lesueur Sandstone and Woodada Siltstone formations before casing the well and drilling ahead to intersect the primary target Kingia-High Cliff sand sequence.

Spectrum Metals’ drilling campaign at the Penny West project near Youanmi, WA, has returned its deepest high-grade gold intersection to date, with a spectacular 9m @ 15.9g/t gold from 294m down-hole, incorporating a 6-metre section going 22.5g/t gold from 295m. The company said additional drill rigs would commence work in August and that the latest results indicate gold mineralisation remains open at depth down-plunge.

Troy Resources’ infill, extensional and exploratory drilling programs at the Ohio Creek prospect of its Karouni project in Guyana have returned high-grade hits of up to 5m @ 27.5g/t gold from 62m down-hole. The results to date indicate that a coherent mineralised ore system is present over a strike length of at least 500m, with widths of up to 20m and a vertical depth of 125m.

Aurora Labs is proceeding with the commercialisation of its proprietary MCP 3D printing technology after its RMP1 Beta Printer completed full-size test prints as part of the commissioning process. Advanced discussions are already underway for the potential sale of the RMP1 Beta Printer to one of the company’s industrial partners while interest has been received from several potential customers for its upcoming production machines.

Infinity Lithium has reached a significant milestone after successfully recycling and reusing the potassium sulphate used to leach lithium from the micas sourced from its San José project in Spain. The company expects to ultimately achieve a 90% to 100% recycling rate for the reagent, which will minimise the amount of “fresh” sulphate needing to be added during the production cycle.

Geopacific Resources has revealed a 78% uplift in the estimated pre-tax net cash flows from its Woodlark gold project in PNG, based on gold prices at AUD$2,000 per ounce, compared with the base case scenario of AUD$1,650 per ounce used in last November’s DFS. The fully permitted and proposed low strip ratio open pit operation provides life of mine margins near AUD$1,000 per ounce, with payback in 1.4 years.

Coziron Resources has received further clues directing its gold exploration efforts at the Croydon Top Camp project in WA’s Pilbara region, after receiving a detailed report from a prospector who recovered 203 gold nuggets in the area. Information from this report has been integrated with other geological and geochemical data from Croydon and will be used to identify and prioritise targets for further field programs.

Kalia has restructured its board ahead of regional exploration programs seeking porphyry copper/gold mineralisation on Bougainville Island, with the addition of two resource industry veterans as its directors. Michael Johnston, who will be the company’s Director Corporate Development and Strategy, has extensive experience in PNG and the Asia Pacific and was Placer Dome’s GM of exploration in the early 2000s.

Buru Energy has spudded the Adoxa-1 conventional oil exploration well targeting the potential for multiple stacked reservoirs within the greater Yakka Munga regional structure in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. A success at Adoxa-1 will supplement and enhance the company’s existing reserves and production cashflow from the nearby Ungani Oilfield and potentially unlock several follow-up structures in the area.

Black Rock Mining has significantly improved the project economics of its Mahenge graphite mine in Tanzania, by ramping up the proposed production rate from 250,000 tonnes per annum to 340,000 tonnes per annum at the request of its offtake customers. The company will add a fourth processing module at the operation to increase production of the highly sought-after, world-class premium graphite flake product.

Anglo Australian Resources’ drilling program has intersected gold mineralisation at two prospects within its Koongie Park project near Halls Creek in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. One of the holes at the Bull Dog prospect returned a peak result of 1m @ 11.27g/t gold from 22m down-hole while a hole at the Nicolsons East prospect returned 3m @ 1g/t gold from 23m, including 1m @ 1.49g/t gold from 24m.

ASX-listed mineral sands producer, Image Resources, has increased its EBITDA forecast from previous guidance by $15m to between $55m to $65m due to its Boonanarring project just north of Perth performing above expectations in several key areas. Projected operating costs have been lowered by about $10m to between $75m and $85m, while revenue guidance has ticked up to between $130m and $145m.

Hot Chili has generated another large porphyry copper-gold exploration target called Cortadera North, located adjacent to its Cortadera project in central Chile. The target covers two square kilometres and is defined by a coincident geophysical induced polarisation chargeable anomaly and strong surface enrichment of the element molybdenum, which are fundamental deposit signatures of the nearby Cortadera ore system.

Strike Energy has flowed significant, high-pressure gas to surface from the Basal Wagina formation, a secondary target at its multi-target West Erregulla-2 well in the Perth Basin, Western Australia. The company will now subdue the productive formation before drilling ahead to a depth of 4230m before running wireline logs over the entire second intermediate section to fully evaluate the potential of the Basal Wagina.

MGC Pharmaceuticals’ cannabinoid formulations have demonstrated effectiveness in fighting brain cancers in ground-breaking pre-clinical trials conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Biology and University Medical Centre Ljubljana in Slovenia. The formulations inhibited the viability of cancerous glioblastoma cells taken directly from a patient and caused a significant fraction of the cancer’s stem cells to die.

Follow-up rock chip sampling by Hammer Metals has delineated gold mineralisation over 1km of strike length at the El Questro prospect within its Malbon project in Queensland’s Mount Isa mining district. Rock chip sampling along strike from the previous 99.4 gram per tonne gold result at the prospect returned top grades of 49.9g/t gold, 8.27g/t gold, 7.24g/t gold and 6.64g/t gold.

Greenland Minerals has formally applied for a mining licence over its giant Kvanefjeld rare earth project with Greenland’s Mineral License and Safety Authority confirming that the application has been received. A public consultation period of up to 12 weeks will soon commence and give interested stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback on the project.

Hawkstone Mining will generate a maiden resource estimate for its Big Sandy lithium clay project in the US later this quarter, as it winds up the comprehensive resource definition drilling campaign over the Northern Mineralised Zone at the large deposit. The latest drilling results have extended the ore system over a strike length of 850m, with mineralisation still open to the north, south and west.

Big River Gold has appointed Perth-based engineering consulting group, Wave International, to complete the definitive feasibility study for its Borborema gold project in north-eastern Brazil. The company has also appointed Brazil’s Grupo GE21 Mineral Consultants to review and update the mine schedule after it identified a higher-grade component at the surface within the Stage 1 pit design.

Adriatic Metals has generated a maiden mineral resource estimate for the high-grade Rupice base metal deposit in central Bosnia, delineating 9.4 million tonnes grading 5.1% zinc, 3.3% lead, 1.8g/t gold, 183g/t silver, 0.6% copper and 31% barite. The company also updated the nearby Veovača resource and will now use the new estimates and ongoing technical studies to underpin a scoping study for the Vareš project.

Image Resources has wrapped up its second full quarter as an operational mining company with a bang, thanks to the excellent operational performance of its high-grade, zircon-rich Boonanarring mineral sands project, 80km north of Perth. Operating costs were about $22 million, or just 78% of its budgeted figure, while unit margins were 131% higher than forecast at $294 per dry metric tonne

Northern Minerals is preparing to ramp-up ore sorting, product separation and exploration initiatives for its Browns Range heavy rare earth project, near Halls Creek in the East Kimberley region of WA. The move to progress the project comes after the company received commitments for a $30 million placement priced at 6.2 cents per share split into three roughly equal tranches, the first of which is due to be received on 23 July.

Coziron Resources has received $685,000 in funding from its directors and largest shareholder, Yandal Investments and will shortly undertake a placement to underpin a substantial mineral resource definition program at its intriguing Ashburton magnetite iron project in the west Pilbara, WA. Previous drilling returned thick, consistent intersections of magnetite iron mineralisation with simple metallurgical beneficiation test work yielding premium 67% iron ore products.

Venus Metals and Rox Resources have kicked off an RC drilling campaign targeting down-plunge and along-strike extensions of high-grade gold mineralisation intersected in previous drilling at their Youanmi gold projects in WA. Drilling at the Currans Find North prospect has returned a metre result of 72.67g/t gold from 39m down-hole, within a wider zone of 3m @ 27.5g/t gold.

Sovereign Metals has revealed that accessing a newly upgraded rail network corridor to a deep-water port in Nacala, Mozambique could significantly lower capital costs for developing its rutile and graphite projects in Malawi to the west. Access to the port could provide a low-cost transport and export solution, with estimated charges below USD$66 per tonne from the mine-gate to the port.

Ironbark Zinc is considering the potential for a high-grade development with a targeted 1Mtpa production rate and lower capital cost for its giant Citronen zinc project in Greenland. The starter project would target most of the shallow Beach Zone of the Citronen resource that is also in the measured resource category, while allowing for an expansion to the original feasibility study output of 3.3Mtpa.

St George Mining is expanding exploration to identify further nickel-copper mineralisation and increase the resource potential of existing discoveries at its Mt Alexander base metals project near Leonora, WA. With firm commitments in place for a $3 million placement, the company plans to kick off this exploration program with the diamond drilling of 42 new electromagnetic conductors later this month.

Great Southern Mining is expanding its reach in northern Queensland with two applications for exploration permits that cover much of the prospective ground surrounding the high-grade Dianne copper mine. The permits cover 360 square kilometres in a known gold-copper district and provide the company with an area to carry out detailed exploration to identify similar high-grade copper deposits for follow up drill programs.