Matt Birney

In a win for minor shareholders of successful mineral sands producer Image Resources, board members have seen off an attempt by large Chinese backed activist shareholder Murray Zircon Pty Ltd to dispense with directors who delivered almost $20m profit for the company last year. Ninety-six per cent of voting shareholders voted against the six spill motions albeit the vote was close given Murray Zircon’s substantial holding.

ASX-listed Meeka Gold appears to be unlocking more rare earths potential at its Circle Valley gold project 95 kilometres north of Esperance in Western Australia. The explorer says it has now defined ionic adsorption clay mineralisation over an area of 7km by 5km, yielding higher than 300 parts per million total rare earths oxides.

Brightstar Resources has amassed a solid drill budget following an oversubscribed capital raising in March that it plans to put to good use in a 10,000m RC and diamond blitz at its flagship Cork Tree Well gold project near Laverton in WA. The company plans to target extensions to known mineralisation to grow its resource base in addition to investigating the prospectivity of other early-stage targets nearby.

Soil sampling has given Aurumin Limited the belief it could have lithium in its Mt Palmer project that straddles Western Australia’s town of Southern Cross. Analysis of elements associated with the battery metal lit up multiple targets, including some coincident with historical pegmatite intercepts of up to 50m that had previously only been tested for gold.

Buoyed by surging demand and market outlook for silver and zinc, Horizon Minerals has completed a data review and concept study at its wholly-owned Nimbus project, 15km from Kalgoorlie-Boulder in W

Galan Lithium could be closing in on the key battery metal at its Greenbushes South project in WA after recent exploration work at the venture highlighted anomalous pathfinder mineralisation in soil samples and rock chips. According to the company, the samples show the trace elements could support pegmatites similar to those found in the nearby Greenbushes mine, the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposit.

Radiopharm has agreed on commercial terms to commence its first phase of lung cancer trials in Australia with renowned global oncology provider GenesisCare. The program aims to start testing Radiopharm’s proprietary nanobodies, part of its Nano-mAbs platform, by targeting non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of the disease. The project is scheduled to be completed within 18 months.

Cyclone Metals has added a diversified portfolio of gold, copper, nickel and PGE assets in New Zealand to its stable after completing the acquisition of Grand Port Resources and its wholly owned subsidiaries Midway Resources Limited and Nimitz Resources. Under the terms of the agreement, Cyclone will grant Grand Port 900 million shares and the right to nominate one board member to join Cyclone's Board.

Godolphin Resources is poised to sink two diamond drill holes totalling 900m at its Yeoval and Cyclops prospects in NSW. The company says the holes are part of an initial probe aimed at testing the extent of the project's existing mineral resource estimate of 12.8m tonnes at 0.38 per cent copper, 0.14 grams per tonne gold, 2.2 g/t silver and 1200 parts per million molybdenum.

The shallow, gold orebody at Classic Minerals’ flagship Kat Gap project has been revealed for the first time. The gold explorer says the ground-breaking exposure is only 7m below the surface and comes from a shallow hole in the floor of the bulk sample mining pit. The company plans to remove the remaining overburden after a three-kilogram sample was crushed and panned yielding fine visible gold.

Regulatory approval for its Tarcoola gold project has Barton Gold fast-tracking towards its upcoming drilling programs in South Australia’s Gawler Craton. The company will be testing targets generated in recently completed gravity surveys, including a large-scale anomaly that sits beneath the existing open pit that, in 2018 yielded a 1m hit grading an astonishing 607.75 g/t gold from 17m within a larger 11m going 73.31 g/t from a shallow 11m.

Minerals explorer Panther Metals has hit a new high from drilling at its Coglia project in the Laverton region of WA with initial assays delivering the best nickel and cobalt grades to date at the venture. The headline results were a 1m intercept going 3.77 per cent nickel from 74m in one hole and another 1m section at 3160 parts per million cobalt from 49m in another.

Indonesia-focused gold explorer, Sihayo Gold has produced some eye-catching drilling results including a standout strike that returned 2.1m going 74 g/t gold and 119 g/t silver from 112.8m downhole in North Sumatra. The results come from a southern target outside the company’s existing mineral resource and Sihayo aims to incorporate the high-grade mineralisation into its Starter project.

88 Energy has struck oil after successfully reaching total depth in the Merlin-2 appraisal well in Alaska and is now waiting on wireline logging results to confirm whether oil will actually flow to surface from the target Nanushuk Formations. The company said it would take between seven and ten days to complete logging the 100 per cent owned well.

Horizon Minerals has updated its open pit ore reserve figures at the company’s Lilyvale vanadium deposit in Queensland to a solid 560 million tonnes grading 0.48 per cent vanadium at a 0.3 per cent cut-off. A bankable feasibility study has also progressed through offtake and alliance discussions with battery and electrolyte manufacturers, onshore refining assessments and project approvals for advancement to major project status.

Perth-based oil and gas outfit Buru Energy says an initial review of its Rafael 1 flow testing program has confirmed positive results scored in the field. The company says an ongoing data review suggests the area could hold significant gas accumulation housed in conventional reservoirs with “very valuable light oil and low CO2 content”. The company’s share price rose more than 36 per cent on the back of the news in intraday trading.

Perth-based explorer Kula Gold is closing in on the finish line of a diamond drilling campaign at its Boomerang kaolin prospect, part of the larger Marvel Loch – Airfield project near Southern Cross in Western Australia. According to the company, the campaign marks its final stage of fieldwork for resource studies and says its metallurgical test work is nearing a conclusion.

Reproductive biotechnology company Memphasys looks to be hitting the mark in the high-value world of horse breeding after its Samson fertility diagnostic device achieved accuracy rates of more than 80 per cent when predicting pregnancies in thoroughbred and standardbred horses, all within a turnaround time of an hour. The company has been developing and field testing the device for the past 18 months.

Battery metal explorer Conico and its joint venture partner ASX-listed Greenstone Resources are relishing today’s high prices for cobalt and nickel that are turbocharging the economics of the 50-50 Mt Thirsty project in Western Australia. The project aims to produce a mixed sulphide product to be consumed by the burgeoning lithium-ion battery industry.

Gold explorer Barton Gold and ASX-listed SensOre have inked a term sheet to form a strategic research and development partnership focused on the Gawler Craton. The deal will see SensOre serve up targets to the explorer using its AI technology to then be validated by the drill. The mineral targeting company stands to benefit in the form of royalties for any gold or copper produced.

Godolphin Resources has entered into a binding term sheet with ASX-listed Orange Minerals to offload its Ophir and Wiseman’s Creek projects in New South Wales for a total consideration of $550,000. The projects are prospective for gold and base metals and according to the company, the sale will provide a cash injection that will be funnelled to its nearby Narraburra rare earths project.

Buoyed by initial drilling results, Surefire Resources has booked a rig for April to drill out anomalies 400m northwest of its Yidby gold project in WA that returned 16 metres of gold at 1.39 grams per tonne from 16m. The company said the figures suggest a new discovery area hosting a northwest trending structure with wide downhole gold results.

Aruma Resources has tabled another lovely set of high-grade drill results including a one metre section grading a whopping 224 grams per tonne gold from just 44 metres downhole in maiden drilling at its Salmon Gums greenfields gold project 200 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie in WA. Other notable drill results include a 5m intersection going 50.2 g/t gold from 42m downhole with a 3m internal parcel coming in at 83 g/t gold.

Trigg Mining has revealed significant growth potential using gravity surveys at its Laverton sulphate of potash, or ‘SOP’ projects in the eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. With two pivotal gravity surveys now complete, Trigg is now preparing for a maiden drill-program in the second half of the year.

Junior gold explorer Aurumin Limited has taken control of a 784,000 ounce gold resource through the acquisition of the Sandstone gold project from Middle Island Resources near the town of Sandstone in WA. The asset acquisition will add to Aurumin’s existing and nearby 65,000-ounce gold mineral resource base at its Johnson Range project in addition to providing a new prospective hunting ground for further discoveries.

Meeka Gold has identified two new gold targets coinciding with a 5.5km long magnetic anomaly at its Circle Valley project in Western Australia. Air core drilling has highlighted gold mineralisation over 700m and 350m of strike at two parallel shear zones. Drilling at Circle Valley also intersected saprolite clays over 20m thick similar to the high-grade rare earth clays recently discovered 3km to the east.

Calidus Resources has etched out a plethora of promising new gold targets at its Blue Spec project in the heart of the Pilbara. Stream sediment sampling has lit up three prospective targets returning values up to 326 parts per billion gold along strike from the high-grade Blue Spec project where the company is set to deliver the results of a definitive feasibility study in the coming months.

Oar Resources has grown its Douglas Canyon gold project in Nevada by more than 60 per cent, as diamond drilling recommences to test mineralisation that previously yielded gold hits at 18 grams per tonne gold and 398 parts per million silver. The company is also aiming to lock in more acreage in the red-hot Julimar province near market darling, Chalice Mining.

Multi-element explorer Askari Metals is now spinning an auger drill in search of gold in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region. It plans to sink and sample 328 holes across a four-kilometre strike distance at its Burracoppin gold project. The latest campaign aims to build upon a recent pass of soil sampling that yielded results of up to 2 grams per tonne gold.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining or KalGold has launched a diamond drill program to further characterise gold mineralisation and to inform future JORC 2012 resource estimates. The move follows a string of successes at its La Mascotte prospect within the company’s flagship Bulong Taurus project near Kalgoorlie. An RC rig is also set to join the party in late April or early May to keep the campaign going.

Legend Mining has received positive modelling results from a 3D seismic survey carried out over a 6.5 square kilometre area of its Mawson prospect within the Rockford nickel project in the Fraser Range of Western Australia. The survey was undertaken by HiSeis and has shown a clear seismic signature of the Mawson discovery zone that looks to have a repeated offset position below the main target area.

Godolphin Resources has stretched its NSW ground after picking up a brace of exploration licences from the state government’s Department of Mining, Exploration and Geoscience. The company’s new tenure spans 160 square kilometres and is prospective for gold amongst other minerals. The pick-up adds to a portfolio of projects based around the revered Lachlan Fold Belt and sits amongst the explorer’s existing projects.