Matt Birney

Meeka Gold is looking to accelerate metallurgical test work on rare earths from its Cascade and Circle Valley projects near Esperance in WA after assay results from the wholly owned operations pointed to shallow, wide and high-grade mineralisation across a significant tenement area. The company has now teamed up with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to develop a commercial product.

Podium Minerals is closing in on preferred locations to start mining at its Parks Reef platinum group gold project in WA’s Mid West. Results from its stage-nine drilling program continued to deliver the potential for higher grades in its hunt for critical minerals. Last month the company doubled the depth of the Parks Reef orebody to more than 500m along a 15km strike length.

After poring over its geological data, Tambourah Metals has lit up a handful of nickel, zinc and gold targets at its Achilles project, 200km north of Laverton in WA. The explorer plans to start drilling during the second or third quarter of 2022. Reprocessing of geophysical figures has identified a deep-seated structure whilst a data review has revealed historical gold and zinc hits.

Mineral explorer Cyclone Metals has been granted two exploration permits covering about 198 square kilometres in the Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island. The newly acquired Drybread and Waikerikeri projects form part of the company’s broader six-project acquisition completed in March. At the time the two projects were under application, however approvals have been given for a period of five years and can be renewed.

Emu NL’s Badja gold project has continued to produce quality hits in the shadow of the historic Gnows Nest mine. The junior explorer’s assays from its stage three drilling program have outlined more high-grade gold from the north plunging ore shoot at the Gnows Nest ore body in addition to discovering a new, shallow broad gold zone at the Flying Emu prospect.

Junior explorer Askari Metals has bagged further high-grade assay results from a second phase of RC drilling at its Burracoppin gold project in WA’s eastern Wheatbelt region. Significant results include a high-grade hit of 2.5m going 11.24 g/t gold contained within an 8.5m strike running 4.88 g/t gold from 19.5m. Another 1m intersection grading 13.2 g/t gold from 34m was also recorded.

Multi-metal explorer American West Metals says the latest assays from a diamond probe of its West Desert project in Utah have confirmed the presence of near-surface extensions of zinc, copper, gold and indium mineralisation that has emphasised the operation’s open-pit mining potential. According to the company, the results add another win to a remarkable campaign that continues to highlight the venture’s quality and scale.

Beetaloo Basin hopeful Empire Energy Group has outlined the 1250-metre-long hydraulic stimulation program it is planning for its Carpentaria-2H gas discovery in June. The company is trialling several fluid mixes used in the fracking process to obtain the best production rates from the Velkerri Formation B Shale in its massive but remote gas resource.

New gold producer Calidus Resources has poured the first gold bar from its carbon in leach circuit, marking the successful commissioning of a full processing circuit at its Warrawoona gold project in WA. A total of 33kg of gold was poured with the company’s gold production now scheduled to ramp up to about 90,000 ounces per year in stage one.

Quantum Graphite and its JV partner, Sunlands Co are pressing ahead with plans to develop thermal energy storage cells using natural flake graphite after launching independent test work to accelerate the commercialisation of the technology. According to the company, the devices could provide long-duration energy solutions and play an integral role in delivering stable and flexible energy to grids dependent on renewable power.

Allup Silica says an independent metallurgical review using targeted samples from its Sparkler silica sands exploration project, about 300km south of Perth in the South-West region of WA, has highlighted the potential to deliver a high-quality product. The recently ASX-listed company is looking to stake a claim as a prominent player in the silica sands space.

ASX-listed multi-element explorer Conico Ltd has revealed a 2000m reverse circulation drill program is planned to begin imminently at its Mt Thirsty project, following the recent spectacular PGE discovery by Galileo Mining only 200m from the northern tenement boundary held by the Mount Thirsty joint venture. A comprehensive geological review is also underway.

Meeka Gold says an 85-hole probe of the western block portion of its Cascade rare earths project near Esperance in Western Australia has highlighted shallow, high-grade mineralisation in saprolitic clays. According to the company, the program defined thick rare earths accumulations running up to 29m wide across a large area that has demonstrated the project’s remarkable scale.

In its bulk sample mining operation, gold developer Classic Minerals mined 1011 ounces of gold from its Kat Gap deposit, 170km south of Southern Cross in WA. The precious metal is currently sitting in its stockpile of 6504 tonnes of ore grading 4.82 g/t gold and will be used to dial in the company’s mobile gecko gold plant once it is assembled.

Si6 Metals has kicked off a regional exploration program across its 100 per cent owned Botswanan base and precious metals assets. The program will include rock and soil sampling in addition to geological mapping and aims to define targets for further exploration. The regional exploration will start at prospects along strike from an existing advanced resource of 2.36Mt at 0.72 per cent nickel and 0.21 per cent copper.

Aldoro Resources has broken ground at its Wyemandoo rubidium-lithium project about 60km southeast of Mt Magnet in WA after launching a maiden RC drill campaign at the venture. A number of key targets have been identified through earlier rock chip sampling and Aldoro is targeting a brace of pegmatites that previously delivered impressive grades of up to 2.06 per cent lithium oxide.

Neometals has executed a conditional binding agreement with a subsidiary of luxury vehicle manufacturer Mercedes-Benz that will see the duo team up to develop lithium-ion battery recycling technology. The collaboration will see Primobius, a joint venture partner of Neometals, team up with the car manufacturer’s subsidiary, LICULAR GmbH.

Estrella Resources has rallied a second rig to accelerate exploration at its Carr Boyd nickel and copper sulphide project, 80km northeast of Kalgoorlie in WA. The company is wheeling the new diamond drill rig to its T5 prospect where it will target expansions to the mineralisation along strike and at depth. The holes will initially test an array of downhole electromagnetic plates generated from earlier drilling.

Torian Resources’ Mt Stirling project in the Eastern Goldfields region of WA is scrubbing well and looks set to be a formidable multi-commodity play after the company identified an extensive suite of cobalt and scandium mineralisation that could lead to a significant rebrand for the gold miner. The operation already boasts heavy rare earths potential and a set of gold deposits.

After setting out in search of lithium and gold, Kula Gold fired a second volley of auger holes into its Rankin Dome project in WA’s Southern Cross region and struck a welcome cluster of rare earth elements. The program uncovered some impressive results across the tenure with 70 per cent of the 375 samples registering more than 115ppm total rare earth elements with two samples peaking at 1080ppm.

The succession baton is being readied at Buru Energy who has appointed Beach Energy executive Thomas Nador as CEO. Founder and Executive Chairman Eric Streitberg flagged an orderly transition to the role of Non-Executive Chair. Streitberg says he is looking to focus on overseeing the monetisation of the company’s expansion opportunities.

Perth-based Surefire Resources is gearing up for 4000m of RC drilling at its Yidby gold project in WA’s Mid West region. The program is expected to kick off as early as next week and will build on the legion of wide gold hits produced at the project since its acquisition in August 2020.

Infinity Lithium Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary, Extremadura New Energies has sealed a collaborative agreement with Asemtraex – the Association of Transport Entrepreneurs of Extremadura – that will see the duo team up to encourage economic development in the freight sector of Cáceres, Spain. According to the company, the work could foster economic growth, drive down unemployment and generate career opportunities for the township.

With the backlog at the labs clearing up, the assays are now flowing for Estrella Resources as the explorer continues its methodical drilling across various targets at its Carr Boyd nickel and copper sulphide project, 80km northeast of Kalgoorlie. Most assays from the phase 4 RC drilling campaign have now been received and the company says the results confirm nickel-copper enriched sulphide plume along most of the T5-Broonhill pyroxenite.

Mineral explorer Kairos Minerals has beefed up its management with Peter Turner to take the reins as Managing Director and Klaus Eckhof taking a seat as Non-Executive Chairman. The addition of the duo reflects the company’s commitment to accelerating the exploration campaigns at its WA lithium and gold projects. Turner’s appointment will be effective from May 23rd and Eckhof has already commenced his role.

Okapi Resources says its wholly-owned subsidiary Usuran Resources has been granted state approval to dive into a drilling program at its Tallahassee uranium project in Colorado, USA. The company says the permit will allow its subordinate to plunge up to 18,200m of drilling across 60 holes at the operation with the intent of bolstering the existing resource.

Mineral explorer Panther Metals says final assay results from drilling at its Coglia project in the Laverton region of WA have returned its best nickel and cobalt grades at the operation to date. The banner results include a 1m intersection going 3.97 per cent nickel from 64m with a 1m copper hit grading 7900 parts per million from the same depth.

Brightstar Resources has high hopes for a new RC drill program at its Cork Tree Well project at Laverton, WA where previous drilling delivered a 12m intersection grading 3.47 grams per tonne gold. The company is targeting the northern extensions of the main Delta lode whilst also chasing down new Delta 2 targets as it looks to grow its JORC resource.

A hydrometallurgical study conducted at Murdoch University in Perth has delivered robust processing results for Venus Metals Corporation and its Youanmi vanadium deposit in WA’s Mid West region. The study was commissioned in 2019 to develop an integrated process flow sheet for the extraction of vanadium, iron and titanium. Importantly, a provisional patent application has been lodged and accepted with IP Australia.

Great Southern Mining has locked down an initial term 21-year mining lease over its Southern Star prospect in the Duketon project area where drilling continues to progress with over 50 per cent of its 5,200-metre program now complete. Drilling quartz dolerites on strike with previous hits, the company expects assay results this month.

Mineral-explorer Si6 Metals has fired up an air core rig at its Monument gold project in WA’s Laverton gold district. The campaign will build upon an initial phase of drilling undertaken in late 2021 where 18 targets were confirmed as prospective for bulk tonnage gold mineralisation. The current round of exploration will see 140 holes over 5000m plunged into five target areas.

A large, multi-element geochem survey for Queensland focussed Superior Resources has delivered results from its wholly-owned Bottletree copper prospect. Multiple, strong targets for a planned aggressive drilling program into the cores of at least three porphyry intrusions have been identified as well as several large zones of copper mineralisation that will feel the pressure of the drill bit.