Matt Birney

After poring over historical data mineral explorer Aurum Resources has confirmed the company’s flagship Penny South gold project in WA’s Mid West is also prospective for nickel along with a potential side of silver and zinc. Aurum intends to re-assay drill holes that were only ever assessed for gold as it looks to quantify the project’s base metal potential.

After a flurry of RC drilling Kairos Minerals has tabled a significant increase to the mineral resource at its Mt York gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The company says the operation now boasts a 1.1-million-ounce asset base up about 26 per cent from previous projections.

Meeka Metals’ Turnberry prospect has given up more high-grade gold with assay results from seven diamond drill holes including 1 metre at 28.23 grams per tonne gold and 1m going 15.6g/t from 305m. One drill hole also revealed nuggety visible gold and the company says the drilling program returned both high-grades and broad mineralised zones.

Lindian Resources is gaining momentum as it moves into the development stage of its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi following successful meetings with government officials and local stakeholders. Over the past week Lindian management has met with government representatives with the company saying the Malawi Ministry for Mining has confirmed its support for the acquisition and development of the project.

Askari Metals has embarked on another round of field mapping and sampling at the company’s Barrow Creek lithium project located in the NT’s Arunta pegmatite province. The field program is designed to identify and sample outcropping pegmatites in the previously unexplored south-central portion of the project. Previous phases of exploration across the area identified fertile pegmatites with lithium oxide values of up to 817 ppm.

Estrella Resources will turn its attention to upgrading its resource after the final chapter of resource drilling at its Spargoville nickel project near Kambalda in WA delivered a raft of solid intercepts. Assay results from two diamond holes sunk beneath the Spargoville 5A deposit include 2.76m at 3.58 per cent nickel from 71.46m and 2.2m going 3.17 per cent nickel from 61m.

Altech Chemicals has expanded its research and development centre in WA in order to produce a new range of high-performance batteries using its innovative anode technology. The company is looking to integrate its battery boosting Silumina Anodes mixture into the batteries’ graphite anode to produce a more powerful end product.

Explorer Strickland Metals has uncovered a new significant oxide mineralisation zone with an initial pass of RC drilling at the company’s Millrose gold project 80km north-east of Wiluna in WA. Results from the drilling extend mineralisation 350m north of Millrose’s existing gold mineral resource of 346,000 ounces. Peak assay values included a 37m hit running 1.6 grams per tonne gold from 58m, containing a higher-grade interval of 9m at 5.6 g/t gold from 86m.

AVZ Minerals has completed eight more extensional diamond drill holes at the company’s Manono lithium project in Democratic Republic of the Congo as it looks to significantly increase its lithium resources and reserves. The eight holes constitute about a tenth of the total metres planned in the ongoing 15,000m program at the project’s Roche Dure deposit with 40 more holes at a minimum depth of 200m to follow.

Estrella Resources has received positive assay results showing multiple nickel intersections at the company’s T5 deposit, part of its wholly owned Carr Boyd project north-east of Kalgoorlie in WA’s Goldfields. The company says the results show mineralisation plunges down and to the south with a clear opportunity at depth where the deposit remains open.

Results from recent RC drill work by mineral explorer Aurumin indicate a continuity of gold between two deposits at the company’s 784,000-ounce Central Sandstone gold project near Leinster in Western Australia. The RC program included nine holes for 1245m drilled and returned significant assays including 7m going 5.78 g/t gold from 137m downhole and 8m at 4.99 g/t gold from 80m.

ASX-listed BMG Resources has outlined a suite of regional gold anomalies after running a follow-up air-core drilling program over underexplored areas of its Abercromby project near Wiluna in Western Australia. The campaign adds a pipeline of greenfield exploration targets to the project’s previously defined Capital South, Barrack and Archer prospects.

Fast-tracked results from rock chip samples have confirmed the presence of anomalous rare earths for White Cliff Minerals at its Yinnetharra project about 100km north-east of Gascoyne Junction in WA. The 13 returned sample results of up to 780 parts per million total rare earths oxides, along with nearby thorium anomalies, have given the company a greater understanding of potential exploration targets over the next few weeks.

DiscovEx Resources has kicked off a 10,000m air-core program at its Edjudina project about 250km north-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia as it targets a compelling gold anomaly at the site. The company has been working up its Spartan target over the past few months conducting systematic soil sampling and geophysical survey work.

American West Metals has stretched the shallow mineralisation footprint at its Storm project in Canada after two holes plunged across a highly prospective zone known as “2750N” intersected broad intervals of visual copper. The explorer says its recent campaign has extended the strike length of the area’s copper to more than 200m.

Tambourah Metals’ maiden drill program at the company’s namesake gold project in the Pilbara region of WA has confirmed and extended its geological model for the goldfield in addition to highlighting new targets. The first campaign at the Tambourah gold and lithium project comprised 2527m of RC drilling at five of its gold prospects — Tambourah King, Western Chief, Western Chief south, Federal and Kushmattie.

Askari Metals has acquired ASX-listed Raiden Resources’ Myrnas Hill lithium project in WA’s highly prospective Pilbara region for a total of $200,000 in cash and shares, adding another lithium site to its portfolio. The company says its newly acquired project covers about 50 square kilometres and exhibits a geological setting strongly analogous to the nearby world-class Pilgangoora and Wodgina lithium mines.

Blackstone Minerals has successfully ticked more boxes during its definitive feasibility phase of the company’s green nickel project in Vietnam. A raft of work has been completed including bench tests, design, procurement, assembly and commissioning of equipment in addition to successfully converting mixed hydroxide precipitate to metal sulphate.

Superior Resources has spotted visual copper mineralisation across the majority of a recently sunk 933m-plus diamond drill hole at its Bottletree copper prospect, part of its larger Greenvale project near Townsville in Queensland. The company believes it has its foot on a large-scale copper porphyry system at the project and is using the campaign to target the interpreted core.

Xanadu Mines is kicking off a new exploration campaign at the company’s highly prospective Red Mountain project in the South Gobi region of Mongolia targeting shallow high-grade gold, silver and copper. A previous diamond and RC drill program at the site uncovered some impressive results at the site’s Bavuu and Diorite deposits with a number of hits from surface.

Terrain Minerals has made a significant land grab for a new 668 square kilometre package of base metals and gold exploration tenements in WA’s Mid West region. The group of tenements will form its new Calytrix project 50km north of the company’s Smokebush gold project. Two tenements have officially been granted and the approval of two more is expected by Terrain soon.

ASX-listed gold producer Horizon Minerals has recorded a raft of encouraging intersections from an RC drilling campaign at its Honeyeater prospect, part of its Binduli gold project area about 5km west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA’s Goldfields. The highlight was 1m at 68.04 grams per tonne gold from 74m, inside a larger 2m section going 34.85 g/t gold from the same depth.

Estrella Resources has been buoyed by more positive assay results and the bonus of additional key infrastructure as the company moves towards production at its Spargoville nickel project near Kambalda in WA’s Goldfields. Latest results from resource drilling below the Spargoville 5A deposit include a 6.8m hit going 4.4 per cent nickel from 66.2m including 1.76m at 10.21 per cent.

American West Metals’ share price jumped 40 per cent in opening trades after news the explorer had made a major new copper discovery at its Storm project on Somerset Island in Nunavut in Canada. The company says recent drilling intersected more than 68m of stratiform copper sulphide mineralisation that is indicative of a major system at depth.

Multi-element explorer St George Mining has wrapped up its maiden drill campaign after completing its three final drill holes at the company’s Paterson copper-gold project in WA’s Pilbara region. St George will now shift focus to its Mt Alexander nickel and copper project west of Leonora as it looks to drill a set of nickel, copper and PGE targets and collect rock chip samples from a pegmatite outcrop.

Mining software provider K2fly will launch a new technology platform later this year, capitalising on its experience gleaned from working with tier 1 and 2 miners in the increasingly critical environmental, social and governance sector. The company also unveiled collaboration to leverage its technology with Maptek, an organisation recognised as one of the world’s biggest private mining software companies with clients in 95 countries.

Empire Energy’s extended production testing of its Carpentaria-2H well in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo sub-basin continues to deliver strong gas flow with minimal decline. The ASX-listed oil and gas explorer and producer says the well is currently punching out a 13-day average of 2.6 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Xanadu Mines has received Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval for Chinese mining giant Zijin to acquire shares in the company to develop its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia. It is the first of three approvals required for Zijin to continue its three-phase investment in Xanadu that was announced in April. The project has a mineral resource estimate of 1.1b tonnes for three million tonnes of contained copper and eight million ounces of gold.

Mineral explorer Metal Hawk has commenced a 3000m RC drill campaign aimed at nickel sulphide targets at the company’s Berehaven nickel-gold project near Kalgoorlie in WA. The program is designed to test multiple zones with nickel sulphide potential across the project area including four new electromagnetic conductors within 5km of last year’s notable Commodore nickel discovery.

Pental, the ASX-listed supplier of well-known household cleaning products and chemicals, has delivered a strong set of figures for 2021-22 financial year, thanks in no small way to its acquisition last August of Hampers With Bite. Pental achieved underlying earnings before interest and tax, of $10.8 million — up 32.3 per cent. HWB’s earning rose almost 60 per cent.

The share price of mineral explorer Conico spiked 31 per cent during intraday trading this afternoon on the back of news of a 65m intercept of disseminated sulphides at its Mt Thirsty joint venture just 400m south of ASX-listed Galileo Mining’s recent Callisto discovery near Norseman in WA. With the assays expected within six weeks, there is a sense Conico and JV partner Greenstone Resources could have bagged an attractive extension.

Coda Minerals says stage 1 drilling at its Emmie iron oxide-copper-gold deposit in South Australia has enhanced geological understanding of the site and highlighted strong targets for further exploration. The company recently received the finals assays from the successful 23,000m drill campaign that identified three major conduits at the site including two geochemically and geologically distinct bornite zones.