Matt Birney

Newfield Resources has appointed Charl Barnard as General Manager of its Tongo diamond mine in Sierra Leone. The new GM will hold the tiller as Newfield heads for diamond production. The Tongo diamond mine comprises two adjacent mining licenses covering a combined 134 square kilometres in eastern Sierra Leone. It has an indicated and inferred diamond resource estimate of 8.3 million carats.

Venus Metals Corporation, together with joint venture partner Rox Resources has continued its golden run of high tenor drill hits after a fresh set of results from recent work at the company’s flagship Youanmi gold project in WA. Notable results from recent drilling include 3.25 metres grading a formidable 32.22 grams per tonne gold from 282m downhole and 4m going 10.91 g/t gold from 196m downhole.

Mixed metals explorer Kairos Minerals could be onto lithium at its wholly owned Lalla Rookh Project, located in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia. The company has unveiled a suite of lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatite targets that it says forms part of an ongoing battery metals hunt aimed at beefing up its new energy portfolio amid a ravenous global market for all things lithium.

ASX-listed junior explorer Javelin Minerals has secured a further 72 sq kms of territory at its Mt Ida-Ida Valley project in a region currently under the microscope of other juniors for its multi-element mineralisation. The Mt Ida-Ida Valley project covers approximately 972 square kilometres in total of highly prospective ground about 100 kilometres west of Leonora in WA.

Torian Resources has dished up further high-grade gold hits from recent resource and extensional drilling at its flagship Mt Stirling/Viserion project approximately 40km northwest of Leonora in WA that continues to consistently produce high tenor results. Notable recent results include 1 metre grading 5.57 grams per tonne gold from 20m downhole, 5m at 7.79 g/t gold from 194m and 2m going 15.21 g/t gold from 195m.

King River Resources will pick up a hefty $452,831 rebate from the federal government for research and development costs spent developing its high purity aluminium precursor compounds for application in the flourishing lithium-ion battery industry. Using the company’s proprietary “ARC” processing technology, three separate trials of a newly commissioned lab scale pilot plant have delivered a “Type 1” precursor aluminium salt at more than 99.999 per cent purity.

Junior explorer Meeka Gold has entered the rare earths game following the acquisition of the Cascade project that boasts a huge 2,068 square kilometre landholding in the emerging province along the Albany-Fraser mobile belt in southwest Western Australia. Neighbouring explorers have had successes in the region with the most notable being Mount Ridley Mines who intersected peak grades up to 10,461 parts per million rare earths.

ASX-listed junior explorer Askari Metals has launched an accelerated exploration program at the Barrow Creek Lithium project in the Arunta Pegmatite Province of the Northern Territory. The work will investigate the outcropping lithium pegmatites identified in an earlier round of field reconnaissance. Initial sampling found the rocks running up to 817 parts per million lithium oxide.

ASX-listed Calidus Resources has spun out a new company, Pirra Lithium, together with Haoma Mining with the aim of focusing exploration primarily on the most prospective lithium ground in the Calidus and Haoma portfolios. The lithium rights tenure granted totals 1,063 square kilometres with the two companies each owning an equal share of the newly created venture.

Oar Resources is poised to return to an early-stage, gold-focused diamond drilling campaign at its Douglas Canyon project in Nevada in the United States after adverse weather conditions and the festive season break paused the program. According to the company, the area to be examined has been expanded during the recess with new claims staked in the west.

Alaskan explorer 88 Energy has increased its American presence with the purchase of a 75 per cent stake of Texas oil player Big Horn Energy who is currently producing around 300 barrels of Permian Basin oil per day. The company will spend US$9.7 million to take a majority share of Bighorn Energy’s 32 wells across nine leasehold areas and is targeting a doubling of production by year’s end.

Allup Silica is poised for a March 2022 listing on the ASX and is aiming to raise $5 million to supercharge its resource definition drilling efforts across its four WA based high-purity silica sands projects. The company has been quietly accumulating high-quality, low impurity silica sands projects near shipping ports across the southwest and Kimberley regions of WA over the last two years.

ASX-listed Trigg Mining is eyeing a seat at the table amongst global sulphate of potash producers as it shifts gears from fertiliser explorer to developer. The company is progressing a pre-feasibility study to develop its flagship Lake Throssell project east of Laverton in WA that it says should see it muscle its way into the top ten SOP producers club globally.

Toronto-listed gold miner and explorer Novo Resources has unveiled a series of “high-order” soil sampling assay results from exploration work completed late last year at its Nunyerry North gold prospect in the West Pilbara region of WA. According to the company the work has advanced its understanding of the region’s prospectivity ahead of additional sampling and drill testing.

Home and hygiene products business Pental Ltd has delivered a bumper $5.27 million net profit after tax driven in part by last year’s acquisition of online hamper and gifting specialist, Hampers with Bite. Revenue from Hampers in the four months since its August acquisition was higher than the unit’s entire FY21 sales, pushing the bottom line up 82.5 per cent.

Northern Minerals has been refining its heavy rare earths processing systems using a specialised pilot plant that could see the company become the world’s first serious heavy rare earth producer outside of China. Northern has an expanding dysprosium and terbium resource base at its flagship Browns Range project. Both products are critical in the manufacture of permanent magnets in an electric vehicle motor.

DiscovEx Resources and joint venture partner Carnaby Resources have identified multiple, strong, undrilled chargeability targets in an ongoing induced polarisation geophysical survey at its Lady Fanny prospect, part of its Greater Duchess project in Mt Isa, Queensland. The company says the anomalous targets correlate very well with outcropping mineralisation, almost certainly identifying strong copper sulphides at surface and at depth.

ASX-listed junior explorer Askari Metals has unveiled some sizeable lithium targets with a hyperspectral survey at its Yarrie project in the eastern Pilbara hotspot. Seven high priority targets were identified including one measuring a staggering 88 square kilometres and another with a potential strike length of 24km. The company is aiming for on-ground exploration to commence as soon as possible.

Polymetallic mineral explorer Aldoro Resources has encountered its thickest pegmatite intersections to date. A third phase of drilling continues to churn out solid pegmatite intervals at the company’s Niobe lithium project 40 kilometres south of Leinster in WA. The campaign consisted of 13 RC holes with each one intersecting multiple pegmatite intervals. A total of 45 holes have been drilled to date over the three phases at Niobe.

Uranium and gold explorer Okapi Resources has appointed former Newmont and LionOre executive Brian Hill to the role of Chairman, replacing Peretz Schapiro who helped engineer Okapi’s turnaround over the last year. Hill has a solid domestic and international record of building mining companies into significant acquisition targets.

Classic Minerals has entered into a joint venture treaty with Tribitrage Holdings that will see the company offload 80 per cent of its lithium interest rights at two Kat Gap mining tenements in WA. Under the agreement, Tribitrage will cough up $300,000 to claim a majority stake and will be required to spend $500,000 on exploration within the first 2 years.

Perth Basin operator Triangle Energy is heading into 2022 with a completely refreshed board of directors led by new managing director Conrad Todd after his appointment this week to steer the company. The departures of shareholder Tamarind Energy and founding managing director Rob Towner earlier this month kicked off the renewal process.

Oil and gas producer and explorer Empire Energy has booked its maiden contingent resource and significantly lifted all other estimates for its Beetaloo Basin assets in the Northern Territory after its successful 2021 drilling and testing operations on the Carpentaria project area. An independent consultant reported an 866 per cent upgrade to its mid-range estimates figure as 396 billion cubic feet, or “bcf” up from the previously modest 41bcf.

ASX-listed explorer PolarX’s Humboldt Range gold-silver project in Nevada looks to be screaming out to be drilled as strong sampling results confirm a large and highly promising target. The Perth-based company is in the final stages of securing a rig to sink some holes into what is fast becoming a high priority project at the Black Canyon lode claim.

AVZ Minerals has announced the expeditated completion of a US$240m cornerstone investment from Chinese operator Suzhou CATH Energy Technologies for its Manono lithium-tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the company the agreement provides certainty of funding to progress the venture, pending the award of a mining licence and collaboration development agreement from the local government.

Junior explorer Valor Resources has met its first-year expenditure and cash payment commitments under a farm-in agreement where it is looking to take an 80 per cent stake in the Hook Lake uranium project located 60 kilometres east of the Key Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan in Canada. Expenditure by Valor has now exceeded the C$750,000 requirement set out in the farm-in agreement.

ASX-listed Wiluna Mining is ticking off milestones after confirming the first shipment of gold concentrate to its two off-take partners, Polymetal International and Trafigura. The company says the maiden supply forms part of an ongoing delivery that could significantly spike its revenue and assist in financing its transition towards becoming a top tier gold producer.

Venture Minerals is scrubbing up its Tasmanian tin-tungsten play in rapid fire after drilling at its Mount Lindsay project rattled off a clutch of exemplary results including a monster 119.2 metre intersection grading 0.8 per cent tin and 0.2 per cent tungsten from 75.8m. Remarkably, Venture says the hole is still open and that it is still awaiting additional assay results.

Image Resources’ major shareholder, Chinese backed Murray Zircon is looking to show the existing board and management the door despite three solid and profitable years at the mineral sands miner. Murray Zircon has lobbed a section 249D notice over the wall seeking to remove the directors and its largest beneficial shareholder, LB Group is working the phones looking for support for the 249D – the key question however is why?

Horizon Minerals has unearthed a mixed bag of geological goodies at its Yarmany project near Coolgardie. Initial drill results confirm gold, nickel-cobalt-copper, silver, lead, zinc and even lithium mineralisation to be present, opening up a grab bag of opportunities for the gold developer. The Yarmany project sits around 25 kilometres northwest of Coolgardie and takes in some 400km2 along the prospective Mt Ida Fault and Reptile shear zone.

Kairos Minerals has eked out an extensive lithium-in-soil anomaly at its Roe Hills project some 120km east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. With the white metal running red hot and the emerging discovery of Breaker Resources’ Manna Lithium deposit only 10km up the road, the company cast its eye back over the results of a 2020 soil sampling program and discovered the intriguing anomaly stretching over 2.7km.

Oar Resources is making headway at its wholly owned Crown project, about 70 kilometres north east of Perth, after finalising plans for an airborne geophysical mapping survey at the site. The project is considered highly prospective for nickel, copper and platinum group elements and is on the doorstep of Chalice Mining’s much-lauded Gonneville polymetallic discovery.