Matt Birney

Kairos Minerals has identified significant new lithium soil anomalies at its Roe Hills project in the Eastern Goldfields of WA. The lithium hits are near Kairos’s 2.6km long Black Cat lithium soil anomaly where preparations for drilling are well advanced. The company says Black Cat appears to have the same geology as the nearby Manna deposit, 20 per cent of which sold for $60 million in October.

The US federal government has provided the Utah Geological Survey with a US$300,000 grant to study American West Metals' West Desert project near Salt Lake City. The project boasts large resources of commodities critical to the new energy push including zinc and copper and indium and the work is aimed at providing the necessary know-how to sniff out similar deposits.

Aruma Resources has intersected multiple pegmatites over a 1500m strike length in its latest drilling at the Mt Deans lithium-rubidium project. RC drilling was conducted over the pegmatite swarm where previous drilling returned grades up to 1.14 per cent lithium and 1.05 per cent rubidium. The company says current drilling intersected visual lithium mineralisation identified as the mineral lepidolite.

Northern Minerals has secured a $3.9 million refund from the ATO as part of the Federal Government’s research and development tax offset scheme for a suite of activities completed at its Browns Range pilot plant project in the Pilbara. The reimbursement follows ongoing trial beneficiation and hydrometallurgical work that is aiming to further the company’s expertise in the processing of its heavy rare earths.

Askari Metals has kicked off a soil auger drilling and rock sampling program at the company’s freshly acquired Myrnas Hill lithium project in WA’s Pilbara region to define priority target areas for follow-up exploration. The campaign will collect more than 600 samples in areas of interest marked by a hyperspectral survey and Askari’s own geological target generation.

Altech Chemicals has unveiled a 60KWh battery that uses garden variety table salt instead of lithium and other critical metals typically found in a lithium battery. The company is looking to muscle into the multi-billion-dollar renewable energy and grid storage market that is currently dominated by the lithium players. The battery is designed to fill the need for middle and long-duration power sources that provide sustained power over long periods.

White Cliff Minerals’ WA projects have thrown up rare earth rock chip results up to 924 parts per million TREO at Yinnetharra in the Gascoyne region of WA and drilling of magnetic and other anomalies is now imminent at the company’s Hines Hill project in search of buried carbonatite hosted rare earths mineralisation.

Strickland Metals has locked onto further gold mineralisation with a round of diamond drilling at a recently discovered lode within the company’s 603,000-ounce Yandal gold project in WA. With a standout intersection of 7.7m at 6.6 grams per tonne gold from 179m, Strickland’s diamond work has confirmed its ‘Wanamaker’ lode as a 300m long high-grade deposit that remains open at depth.

Fresh assays from phase two diamond drilling at Godolphin Resources and joint venture partner Orange Minerals’ Calarie gold project in New South Wales have validated a suite of compelling hits from a historical probe. The feature strike from the five-hole, 1170m program was a 2.4m intersection at 15.69 grams per tonne gold from 45m, inside of a larger 10.6 section grading 5.63 g/t from 39m.