Matt Birney

Aiming to kick its vanadium resource into production, Surefire Resources has completed a bout of infill RC and diamond drilling at the company’s 100 per cent owned Victory Bore vanadium deposit in WA’s Mid West region 50km south of Sandstone. The drilling program comprised 62 RC holes for 5188m and two diamond drill holes for 292m.

Godolphin Resources has completed four large diameter diamond drill holes for 285.6m as it hunts rare earths and rare metals at its Narraburra project in NSW. Whilst all samples are bound for the lab, portable XRF testing indicated mineralisation in all cores. The company says the maiden test of the underlying bedrock and preliminary results are very encouraging.

The hits keep coming for Podium Minerals as the company continues its 100 per cent strike rate from a drilling campaign aimed at extending mineralisation at its Parks Reef platinum group metals project in WA. The company recently added rhodium and iridium to its mineral resource estimate at Parks Reef and is busy creating what it says is Australia’s first defined 5E PGM resource.

DiscovEx Resources and Carnaby Resources have turned up a trio of new exploration targets at their Greater Duchess copper-gold project near Mt Isa in Queensland. First phase RC drilling at the duo’s Mount Hope prospect visually defined a 75m copper sulphide vein whilst geophysical programs at its nearby Lady Fanny North and Lady Don prospects turned up a pair of compelling induced polarised anomalies.

Classic Minerals has delivered more high-grade gold intercepts from infill RC drilling at the company’s flagship Kat Gap gold project, 170km south of Southern Cross in WA. Significant results include a 1m hit going 40.1 g/t gold from 33m within a 2m intercept at 21.07 g/t also from 33m. The results come from another 14 holes that have been completed from Classic’s 109-hole infill program.

ASX-listed Si6 Metals is one step closer to exploration at its Maibele joint venture project in Botswana after receiving consent from the liquidators for partner BCL. The company says it can now finalise exploration discussions with the relevant governing bodies including the mining and environmental departments that were awaiting liquidator approvals.

There’s a quiet rumbling at Talisman Mining that the next major copper-gold discovery in NSW may not be far away. A recently refocused exploration drive initiated by the ASX-listed explorer has unveiled more than a dozen targets hidden under cover at the company’s wholly owned Lachlan copper-gold project.

Ahead of a first phase of RC drilling, mineral explorer Aruma Resources has completed a heritage survey at the company’s Melrose gold project in WA’s Pilbara region. The survey kicks off its initial exploration campaign at the project’s Gossan Hill prospect, 5km north of the revered Paulsens gold mine near Pannawonica. The explorer plans to drill up to 50 of the permitted 200 RC holes in its maiden program, with drilling expected to reach depths of about 100m.

Battery metals and gold explorer Askari Metals has revealed a 600m strike extension of potential gold mineralisation with an auger drilling campaign at the company’s Burracoppin gold project in WA’s Wheatbelt region. Results running up to 619 parts per billion gold were returned with the surficial drilling work in addition to successfully mapping gold mineralisation at Burracoppin along a strike length of more than 4km.

Triangle Energy has notched up a second milestone for its Cliff Head joint venture in as many months, sending another oil shipment from the joint venture’s Arrowsmith stabilisation plant onto a chartered tanker at the Port of Geraldton. The 26,500 barrels joined oil from its maiden lift with the 51,000 barrels now en route to a refinery in Thailand. Triangle holds an almost 79 per cent interest in the partnership with Pilot Energy holding the remainder.

Legend Mining will conduct a new 3D seismic survey at its Octagonal prospect in WA’s Fraser Range following the success of a similar survey at the company’s Mawson nickel, copper and cobalt discovery. The new 3D seismic survey will cover 24.5 square kilometres of Octagonal that forms part of the company’s flagship Rockford project.

Horizon Minerals has scored a swag of encouraging drill hits after a phase 1 RC drilling campaign at its Monument gold prospect, part of the developer’s larger Boorara-Cannon project near Kalgoorlie in WA. Results from its 14-hole, 2156m program include 1m at 16.13 grams per tonne gold from 99m inside a larger 5m parcel running 4.09 g/t gold from 99m.

Metal Hawk will drill test a strong downhole electromagnetic conductor that may be harbouring disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation at its Torana prospect. The target is a mere 200m from a recently plunged hole that returned 10m at 0.55 per cent nickel from 130m and is part of the company’s larger Berehaven project near Kalgoorlie in WA.

Lindian Resources is one step closer to securing the Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi after making its first tranche payment to acquire current site owner Rift Valley Resource Developments. Whilst the deal is subject to shareholder approval, the US$2.5 million transaction is the first of four payments totalling US$30m with the remaining US$27.5 million across three installments within 48 months from the start of this month.

A five-hole diamond drilling program to test an inflexion zone beneath historical gold mine workings has begun at the Calarie gold project, a joint venture in NSW between Godolphin Resources and Orange Minerals. The phase 2 program, with a minimum of 1000m of drilling, is the follow-up to what Orange describes as “outstanding” results from phase 1 of the campaign conducted late last year.

Javelin Minerals has released an updated mineral resource estimate at its Coogee gold project near Kalgoorlie showing a massive 1400 per cent increase in tonnage and a 350 per cent rise in contained metal. The new gold mineral resource estimate at the project is now 1.42 million tonnes at 1.07 grams per tonne gold for a total of 49,000 ounces.

Calidus Resources plans to plough up to $20 million into a pair of WA precious and battery metals projects after a successful capital raise. The company says the proceeds will fund an accelerated drill campaign at its Pilbara JV with Pirra Lithium and feed a production ramp-up at its Warrawoona gold project near Port Hedland.

Mineral explorer Aurumin has recorded consecutive wide intercepts at its Two Mile Hill deposit from an RC and diamond drilling campaign at the company’s Central Sandstone gold project 130km west of Leinster in WA’s Goldfields. The second hole assayed at the deposit recorded an impressive 224m intersection going 1.5 grams per tonne gold from 229.6m. The first hole drilled at the site recorded a broad 344m hit going 1.29 g/t gold.

Battery and gold-focused explorer Askari Metals has underlined 11 compelling target zones at its Yarrie lithium project, about 50km north-east of Marble Bar in WA, after completing phase 1 of its exploration program. The company drew up the list after analysing 129 rock and 238 rock stream samples bagged in May.

A successful field program at its Surprise Creek project in Canada has uncovered significant new uranium and copper mineralisation for Valor Resources in addition to confirming targets from historical results. Based on the quality of the findings from the field program, the company has increased its land holdings by pegging another 7 square kilometres to the north of the project.

Empire Energy’s ongoing testing at its Carpentaria-2H gas well in the Northern Territory has delivered strong initial flow rates. It has recorded a sustained output of 2.6 million standard cubic feet over the program’s first 91 hours – a potential milestone in the revered Beetaloo sub-basin.

Brightstar Resources has increased its gold inventory to 252,100 ounces at the company’s Cork Tree Well gold project near Laverton in WA as the explorer moves closer to potential production. The upgraded resource of 5.62 million tonnes at 1.4 grams per tonne gold represents an increase of 6 per cent or 15,100 ounces of gold on the previous estimate.

Gold and copper explorer Orange Minerals has taken a stake of almost 7 per cent in Godolphin Resources spending $600,000 to snap up 7.6 million shares in Godolphin’s recent share placement. The two companies already had ties through their joint venture Calarie gold project, north of Forbes in Central NSW.

Middle Island Resources has completed its maiden drilling program for iron oxide-copper-gold, or "IOCG”-style mineralisation at the company’s copper gold project in the NT’s Barkly region, east of Tennant Creek. After intersecting IOCG-style alteration in its first 808m diamond drill hole at the start of the month, the explorer has chewed through another 2217m in search of a large-scale and lucrative IOCG deposit.

ASX-listed explorer 88 Energy has announced a maiden resource estimate of 1.03 billion barrels located on the central North Slope of Alaska. The Icewine East project is spread over an area of 185,320 net acres. The maiden resource estimate is based on well logs from the previously drilled exploration well Icewine 1, seismic data, data from other wells in the region, recent petrophysical analysis and geophysical mapping. 88 Energy holds a 75 per cent working interest in the project.

Meeka Metals has delivered a string of high-grade shallow gold hits at its emerging St Anne’s discovery in the prolific Murchison region of Western Australia. The ongoing air-core campaign is testing the fertile gold shear corridor extending from the company’s 610,000 ounce Turnberry deposit. The latest results include a stunning 32m running at 16.07 g/t gold from 48m downhole.

Richmond Vanadium Technology, which is 25 per cent owned by Perth-based Horizon Minerals, has struck an off-take agreement with emerging manufacturer Ultra Power Systems to supply vanadium for its patented energy storage modules. Under the agreement, Richmond will invest up to $5 million to shift Ultra into production of its battery technology and in turn secure a guaranteed buyer of vanadium pentoxide from its Queensland project.

ASX-listed Valor Resources has outlined six high priority drill targets following an initial field visit, legacy data review and airborne gravity survey at its Hidden Bay uranium project in Canada. The project is strategically located about 20km south of Cameco’s historical Rabbit Lake mine where over 200 million ounces of uranium concentrate was once produced.

Quantum Graphite has made a play for fellow SA graphite developer and explorer Lincoln Minerals. Under the off-market bid, the company is offering one Quantum share for every 40 Lincoln shares. Lincoln is the custodian of the 2.2Mt Kookaburra Gully graphite project grading 15.5 per cent total graphitic carbon and is located in a world-class flake graphite province on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Following ongoing success across its reinvigorated gold and rare earths-focused portfolio, Meeka Metals has offloaded its Gecko North project in WA to private explorer LithGold Minerals. The deal will see the company pocket $130,000 now, $100,000 in February and claim a slice of the operation’s future riches thanks to a 1.5 per cent net smelter royalty.

Godolphin Resources’ maiden diamond drill hole from its Cyclops prospect on the Lachlan Fold Belt of central west NSW has returned multiple zones of shear-hosted high-grade copper with coincident gold, silver and molybdenum mineralisation. Godolphin describes the multiple intersections as “highly encouraging” with assay results greater than 1 per cent copper included within a broader low envelope of mineralisation.

Toro Energy has continued its run of impressive results at the company’s Dusty nickel project in WA with the discovery of a fourth massive nickel sulphide zone from its ongoing diamond drill campaign. The latest discovery was highlighted after a drill hole hit a 3.6m section of massive sulphides from 244.1m. Toro says portable X-ray fluorescence analysis of the 3.6m intersection indicates grades between 1.45 and 3.66 per cent nickel.