Matt Birney

After a major metal discovery only 200m from its fence line, junior explorer Conico will embark on a 5000m diamond and RC drilling program at the company’s Mt Thirsty project in search of platinum group metals and lithium. With all relevant approvals in order and target generation nearing completion, the maiden program, 16km north-north-west of Norseman in WA, is set to kick off early next month.

Recently renamed Meeka Metals continues to return high-grade gold results at its Murchison project in Western Australia with shallow air-core drilling intersecting thick gold zones at its St Anne’s prospect. The company says its latest results confirmed gold mineralisation over a 1km strike length across a 7km gold shear system that also hosts its nearby Turnberry deposit. Assay highlights from St Anne’s show a 32m intersection going 2.2 g/t from 48m including 20m at 3.31 g/t gold.

ABx Group subsidiary Alcore has completed the commissioning of three laboratory reactors in its efforts to produce a high-value essential ingredient for aluminium smelting from a smelter waste product. If its process is successful, it would deliver the bonus benefit of providing a local supply of the essential ingredient aluminium fluoride in addition to providing a waste disposal solution.

West Perth-based explorer Zuleika Gold has appointed Jonathan Lea as Managing Director, aiming to use his combination of geology and corporate experience of 35-plus years to drive the junior explorer’s pursuit of opportunities. Lea’s career spans gold, iron ore and base metals in open- cut and underground operations in Australia and overseas. Most recently he was Managing Director of Ozz Resources.

Galan Lithium has appointed former SQM Hydrogeology Superintendent Alvaro Henríquez as its new Exploration Manager. Henríquez will be responsible for ramping up the company’s exploration and development efforts at its battery metal projects in Australia and Argentina. He has more than two decades’ experience in the mining sector and will join Galan from one of the world’s largest lithium producers.

ASX-listed Si6 Metals has engaged monitoring platform Socialsuite to streamline the explorer’s disclosure and reporting process for its recently adopted environmental, social and governance, or “ESG” framework. The company says there are increasing expectations on mining and exploration companies to improve ESG performance and believes the framework outlined by the World Economic Forum is the most appropriate for the explorer.

Valor Resources continues to make headway at its Picha project in southern Peru with recent channel sampling at the operation’s Ichucollo target delivering a raft of notable hits, including 12m at 1.1 per cent copper with anomalous silver. Importantly, more than 30 of the 132 channel samples delivered encouraging assays above 0.5 per cent copper with some running up just shy of 8 per cent copper and 100 grams per tonne silver.

Asra Minerals is just weeks away from completing its updated gold mineral resource estimate for its Mt Stirling project in WA’s eastern Goldfields region that will prioritise the site’s open-pit potential. The 74 square kilometre project is 20km north of Leonora and currently has a JORC-compliant resource of about 118,400 gold ounces. Asra says at least 167 holes will be included in its upcoming figure.

Podium Minerals’ Parks Reef platinum group metals project in the Mid West region of WA is looking like the gift that keeps on giving after the explorer’s latest round of RC drilling. The Perth-based company’s assay results from nine holes delivered a raft of solid strikes including 6m at 1.39 grams per tonne three-elements platinum-group metals from 177m and 2m going 2.27 g/t 3E PGM from 121m.

Okapi Resources has launched a helicopter-supported review at its wholly owned Newnham Lake and Perch projects, part of its larger Athabasca Basin uranium tenements in Canada. The work is part of a maiden exploration program including prospecting, outcrop sampling and vegetation analysis to help identify favourable structural settings for uranium mineralisation.

Galan Lithium believes it holds an “outstanding” set of well results after an initial pumping test at its wholly owned Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina's Catamarca Province. The company says the bumper grade of greater than 910 mg/L will roll into a definitive feasibility study for the operation, earmarked for later this year for territory with a proven track record from its big-hitting neighbours.

The joint venture between DiscovEx Resources and Carnaby Resources has its sights on yet another set of compelling drill targets at its Greater Duchess copper-gold project near Mt Isa in Queensland after an aeromagnetic survey underlined a strong structural corridor between and beyond its previously defined Nil Desperandum and Lady Fanny prospects. The results form part of an exploration ramp-up at the operation.

Panther Metals has struck a series of bonanza, shallow gold hits from its Burtville East gold project near Laverton, WA, including 1m going 478 g/t gold from 28m, 1m grading 125 g/t from 34m and a further 1m at 79 g/t gold from 27m. The company says visible gold was also panned from another hole and follow-up work is now being planned.

Triangle Energy has secured a new export route for its Cliff Head oil to Asian crude markets, loading out 24,500 barrels through a newly established facility at the Port of Geraldton with another 25,000–30,000 barrels to be added in the next six weeks. The deal allows the company to move past this year’s closure of BP’s Kwinana crude oil handling centre.

Venture Minerals’ JV earn-in with Chalice Mining received a boost after Chalice defined two new nickel-copper-PGE targets through a recently completed auger soil geochemistry campaign at the duo’s South West project about 240km south of Perth in WA. The anomalies are associated with the company’s previously defined Thor target that has drawn comparisons to Chalice’s revered Julimar discovery.

BMG Resources is ploughing through the metres with two diamond holes from an eight-hole 3700m campaign nearing completion at the operation’s Capital prospect in the Wiluna region of WA’s Mid West. Visual inspection of the drill core suggests the company is closing in on intersecting the predicted extensions of the high-grade East and West gold lodes about 250m along strike.

Neometals’ joint venture partner Primobius has signed a binding co-operation agreement with a subsidiary of luxury vehicle manufacturer Mercedes-Benz to help develop lithium-ion battery recycling solutions. The deal with German carmaker's subsidiary LICULAR is part of negotiations to design and construct a 10 tonne per day integrated battery recycling centre in southern Germany.

Strickland Metals has been given the green light to explore the main structure of its Millrose gold project near Wiluna after receiving heritage clearance from the Tarika Matuwa Piarku Aboriginal Corporation in addition to program of work approval from the West Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. The company can now focus on several high-priority areas along strike of the main 13km structure.

St George Mining’s maiden drilling program at its Paterson copper-gold project in WA’s east Pilbara region is in full swing with three more drill holes returning encouraging signs. The explorer says the lithologies intersected in all three drill holes appear consistent with those known to host major copper-gold deposits in the Paterson province.

Empire Energy has started the much-awaited fracking of its Carpentaria-2H well, the longest horizontal well drilled in the Beetaloo sub-basin as it attempts to unlock the potential of the prospective multi-trillion cubic feet NT gas play. The company has pumped the first of a 25-stage frack in its 1250m-long hydraulic stimulation program it is planning for last year’s C-2H gas discovery.

They say if you want to go elephant hunting you must go to elephant country and when talking mineral endowment, Mongolia is clearly elephant country. The ridiculous scale of Rio Tinto’s part-owned Oyu Tolgoi mine is just one truly biblical example and Xanadu Mines is also turning heads in the country with its Kharmagtai project, now thought to be one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold resources controlled by a junior explorer.

Routine earth-moving activities at Kairos Minerals’ Mt York gold project in the Pilbara have turned up spodumene pegmatites, opening the door to a possible lithium play for the diversified West Perth explorer. The discovery has excited Kairos, not least because it was made less than 4km from Pilbara Minerals’ massive lithium operation, Pilgangoora.

Okapi Resources has become a key player in the new energy sector after completing the acquisition of a 51 per cent interest in the high-grade Hansen uranium deposit in Colorado, USA, from STB Minerals. The deal extends its resources at its Tallahassee project to 42 million tonnes at 540 ppm for 49.8 million pounds of triuranium octoxide and increases the grade of Okapi’s existing resource about 10 per cent.

Great Southern Mining says it will focus its Queensland exploration efforts on its Edinburgh Park gold project after signing a deal to offload its Palmer River site to Revolver Resources for a cool $1 million. The deal appears to be mutually beneficial for both companies with Great Southern enjoying a significant exploration cash boost whilst Revolver receives licences covering an area of 360 square kilometres adjacent to its flagship Dianne copper mine project in northern Queensland.

Junior explorer Meeka Metals has done no harm to its goal of growing the resource at its Murchison gold project by finding more high-grade gold on the western flank of the project’s Turnberry deposit including 32m at 3.09 g/t gold from 32m. The strikes will bolster Meeka’s case to upgrade its mineral resource and bolster the company’s forthcoming pre-feasibility study for mining operations.

Rock chip samples from three recently discovered pegmatite sites at Tambourah Metals’ namesake gold and lithium project in WA’s Pilbara region have returned elevated rubidium and lithium results. The 17 samples were assayed at Labwest for a full suite of pegmatite elements, with 12 recording between 151 and 842 parts per million rubidium and another four samples returning lithium grades between 96 and 226 ppm.

ASX-listed American West Metals could be riding a winner after drilling at its West Desert project in Utah, USA, delivered a solid set of copper, gold, zinc and silver-laced assays that continue to illustrate the project’s potential scale. The company is in the midst of a resource upgrade and says the significant mineralisation intersected in its latest play bodes well for its campaign.

Conico is ready to kick off drilling at its Ryberg copper-nickel and platinum group project in east Greenland as it follows up high-grade gold hits it reported in April. It expects a second crew to spin the bit at its Mestersvig zinc-lead-copper-silver project this month.

Octava Minerals is preparing for its ASX debut next month as it seeks to exploit some early lithium shows just 10kms from Global Lithium’s revered Pilbara lithium discovery. Octava has also pulled together a package of Kimberley and Mid West tenements in solidly mineralised terranes that are already jostling with battery metals big hitters and the company’s Pilbara ground also has some intriguing historical gold drill holes that are begging for follow up.

Perth-based Polyline Pipe Systems has joined forces with Aboriginal-owned mining and services business Karlayura Group to use Polyline’s mobile pipe-extrusion technology in WA’s Pilbara region. Polyline’s patented mobile and modularised system allows high-density polyethylene, or “HDPE” pipe to be extruded and produced on site.

A chance discovery at one of its in-demand rare earth elements projects – including the extremely valuable rare earths used to make super magnets – has prompted a name change at WA explorer Meeka Gold. Its new name is Meeka Metals and the company says its new name better reflects the huge opportunity it also sees in the rare earths space.

WA Gold developer Brightstar Resources has completed its latest drilling programs as it presses on with the company’s ambitions of boosting the resource at its Laverton Goldfields' project and getting its processing plant out of mothballs. RC drilling programs were conducted at Brightstar’s Cork Tree Well and Alpha projects and an air-core program at its Queen of Hearts South prospect, south of the plant.