Matt Birney

Javelin Minerals has completed a detailed aeromagnetic survey of its 900 square kilometre Mt Ida-Ida Valley project near Menzies in WA. The results are set to guide field-based exploration and drill results from the company’s exciting Coogee gold-copper project are also expected soon. Strike and depth extensions were targeted to follow up previous results that include 4m at 9.34 g/t gold and 27m at 1.22 g/t gold.

Novo Resources Corporation has set a high bar for itself this year after ticking off a flurry of 2021 exploration that saw the company further develop its gold, base-metals and battery-metals tenements across WA and Victoria. The company is now gearing up to run a 20,000m drilling blitz across a string of projects and capitalise on the booming precious metals and new energy markets.

ASX-listed Okapi Resources has upped the ante at its North American uranium play after signing an agreement with Canada’s ALX Resources to secure a portfolio of six advanced exploration projects in the Athabasca Basin. Collectively, the projects house 75 granted mineral claims across 55,000 hectares and sit in the world’s premier uranium district according to the company. Okapi will initially probe two projects with superior exploration potential.

Askari Metals has got its hands on a considerable parcel of sought-after lithium ground after acquiring the Barrow Creek Lithium project in the NT on the back of an oversubscribed $2.6 million capital raise. The fertile ground forms part of the Arunta Pegmatite Province and is considered highly prospective for lithium-tin-tantalum mineralisation. The project also borders major lithium players such as Lithium Plus and Core Lithium.

White Cliff Minerals has wrapped up a first pass RC drilling program at the company’s Cracker Jack prospect, part of its larger Reedy South gold project in WA’s Murchison Goldfields, following the completion of seven holes. The milestone earmarks the opening play of an expansive 74-hole probe totalling 4,440 metres that also takes in the nearby McCaskill Hill prospect.

Gold and critical minerals explorer Tambourah Metals has identified multiple airborne gravity anomalies indicative of denser rocks that may host nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation at its Bolgart and Tolarno projects approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Perth. A follow-up ground based moving loop electromagnetic survey has now been planned to test the gravity targets located near Chalice Mining’s monster Julimar PGE-nickel-copper-cobalt project.

Clinical-stage cell therapy group Chimeric Therapeutics has snapped up a US patent for its cancer fighting CLTX CAR therapies. According to the company, the United States represents the single largest global market for biopharmaceutical products and the patent will add further protection to its burgeoning roster of intellectual property. The move follows a recent patent grant for the technology in Europe.

Mining software solutions provider K2fly has released impressive second quarter results for the 2022 financial year showing strong annual recurring revenue and order book growth combined with increasing deal size. K2fly also had its largest ever contract win signing Rio Tinto to a $3.44 million contract whilst Glencore also renewed an existing contract. Invoices were up 58.5 per cent from the same quarter last year.

ASX-listed Trigg Mining has more than doubled the strike length and area of its Lake Throssell sulphate of potash project. Four new areas were granted to Trigg, giving the company the potential to expand resources and the projected mine life of what could be a global top ten producer. Pivotal agreements with traditional owners facilitated the grant of the new tenements.

Aldoro Resources could be onto lithium at its Niobe project in Western Australia after a phase one RC drilling program intersected two thick pegmatite intervals below surface. The company says each of the 17 holes plunged into Niobe struck significant pegmatite bodies, validating and extending historic drilling results. The campaign forms part of a larger 64-hole investigation of the project’s landholdings.

Estrella Resources is zoning in on more nickel-copper targets at its developing T5 discovery near Kalgoorlie in WA after the company spotted a suite of down-hole geophysical anomalies begging to be drilled. The anomalies lie tantalisingly close to the T5 deposit and suggest known mineralisation is open to the north and south, throwing up a plethora of new targets that the company will now target.

Altech Chemicals has launched and registered the product name “Silumina Anodes” for its breakthrough proprietary HPA coating technology that combines silicon particles, treated with its innovative technology and routine battery grade graphite to engineer a lithium-ion battery electrode containing a composite graphite-silicon anode. According to the company, the process produces lithium-ion battery anode materials with a 30 per cent higher retention capacity than existing materials.

Brightstar Resources has continued its run of solid drill hits at its flagship Cork Tree Well prospect near Laverton where ongoing gold intersections have confirmed the high-grade nature of the system. Notable intersections from the latest round of RC drilling include a 12 metre intersection grading 3.47 grams per tonne gold from 157m downhole and a 9m hit going 1.46 g/t gold from 178m downhole.

ASX-listed PolarX is gearing up to drill test further gold-silver prospects at its Humboldt Range Project in Nevada, USA, with a 3000m reverse circulation drill program planned to start in the next few weeks. Ten holes will test three targets in the Fourth of July claims, with another ten holes planned for targets at Star Canyon.

With the green energy revolution and particularly hydrogen gathering momentum at the same time that oil prices are enjoying a resurgence, many traditional oil and gas firms are conflicted in terms of priorities. The storage and sale of hydrogen is best undertaken by oil and gas firms and whilst many are attempting to dip their toe in the water, others are once again fixated on the burgeoning oil and gas price.

ASX-listed King River Resources is progressing its High Purity Alumina Project towards a May 2022 delivery of a definitive feasibility study for the proposed 2,000 tonne per annum HPA production facility. The company says global HPA demand is expected to grow at 30 per cent per annum until at least 2028 with high demand spread across the LED lighting, semiconductor and electronics, optics and battery industries.

Torian Resources has tabled further exemplary gold drill hits adding more value to a rapidly growing gold repository at its flagship Mt Stirling project, some 40 kilometres north-west of Leonora in WA. The latest set of results include a 19 metre section grading at 1.16 grams per tonne gold from 72m downhole with an internal metre going 3.53 g/t gold from 90m.

Gold explorer Meeka Gold has intersected laminated hydrothermal veins typical for gold mineralisation in all six diamond drillholes from a recent campaign at its Andy Well prospect within the Murchison gold project in WA. Meeka says the lode is typically between 10cm to 40cm in width and remains open at depth and along strike to the north and south as drilling continues.

Superior Resources appears to have tapped into the outer edges of a large, buried porphyry system at the company’s Bottletree copper prospect in Queensland. Assay results from the first of three diamond drill holes targeting an induced polarisation anomaly have returned a massive 552.5 metre intersection at 0.16 per cent copper with peak grades of 4m returning 1.32 per cent copper.

Cancer fighting biotech, Radiopharm Theranostics has taken full ownership of the intellectual property rights of three cancer-fighting nanobodies that target a range of solid tumors including breast cancer. Radiopharm had held the licence to use the assets in its studies, however following the purchase, it now has exclusive world-wide use of the technology that is used in the diagnosis and treatment in a range of cancers.

BMG Resources has seemingly upped the ante at its Abercromby gold project in the north-eastern Goldfields of WA after scooping a fleet of wide gold hits from a recent RC drilling campaign. The notable strikes are underlined by a series of scintillating results that include 6 metres at 19.8 grams per tonne gold from 83m with a 1m section grading 100.39 g/t gold at the same depth.

Gold and nickel explorer Tambourah Metals has lined up a drill rig to follow up a series of new significant gold targets identified through geophysical surveying and a historic data review at its flagship Tambourah gold project in the Pilbara. A review of the mineralisation at Tambourah by geophysical consultants using high resolution airborne magnetic data identified three potential targets in the area with plans for a 30 RC hole campaign underway.

Estrella Resources has delivered another set of nickel and copper sulphides at its blossoming T5 discovery located at the company’s Carr Boyd project near Kalgoorlie in WA. Estrella plunged a diamond drill hole below the discovery and intercepted a brace of separate of nickel and copper sulphide zones it says confirms the continuation of nickel-copper sulphides below the Carr Boyd mine’s old workings.

Aurum Resources has launched a 5,000 metre drilling assault at its Penny South project in WA targeting structural anomalies that bear similarities to the nearby, high grade Ramelius Resources’ owned Penny West and Penny North gold projects. The Penny West deposit produced 154,000 tonnes at 18.0 grams per tonne for 89,000 ounces gold in the 1990’s and Aurum plans to sink 18 holes into its project attempting to home in on the most prospective areas of the tenure following up earlier work.

ASX-listed Emu NL has its sleeves rolled up busily working away in the field across its nickel-copper and platinum group element projects completing various follow-up exploration activities including soil sampling and geophysical surveying. Soil sampling targeted base and precious metals at its Badja project near Golden Grove and ongoing geophysical surveying is targeting a suite of battery metals in the southwest within the same terrain as Chalice’s monster Julimar project.

Venture Minerals’ JV earn-in with market darling Chalice Mining is off to a flyer after the latter generated seven new electromagnetic, or “EM” targets from a ground-based survey at the duo’s South West Nickel-Copper-PGE Project 240 kilometres south of Perth. The company’s latest work is focused on Venture’s Thor target, a 20km-long magnetic anomaly that has drawn comparisons to Chalice’s revered Julimar discovery.

ASX-listed Strickland Metals has obtained heritage clearance from Tarlka Matuwa Piarku Aboriginal Corporation for almost all of its planned exploration throughout 2022. Obtaining heritage clearance was the final critical step towards commencing exploration at Yandal and for the planned resource extensional drilling at Millrose. A drill rig is ready to start this week.

Toronto-listed Novo Resources has received some stunning high grade assay results back from its recently completed 15,000m reverse circulation drill program at its Parnell-Vulture prospect in WA. In total, 83 holes were drilled for a total of 5,200m at the project area, handily located only 45km from the company’s Golden Eagle processing facility. Results include 4m at a seriously good 10.19 g/t gold from 31m.

Gold developer Calidus Resources is delivering on its environmental initiatives after executing an agreement with Zenith Pacific to install a solar farm and battery storage system to help power its flagship Warrawoona gold project in WA’s Pilbara. The 4MW solar farm is the cornerstone of the company’s carbon reduction plan at Warrawoona where Calidus is expected to churn out up to 105,000 ounces of gold annually.

Metal Hawk Limited has launched back into RC drilling at its Berehaven nickel project, 20 kilometres southeast of Kalgoorlie. Drilling has commenced at its Commodore South prospect located approximately 500m southwest of a discovery hole that intersected a one metre section going a whopping 5.89 per cent nickel last year. The company also hit 3.4m going 2.32 per cent nickel from 203.8m at the same prospect late last year.

Alumina technologist and rare earths explorer ABx Group has chosen the CEO of its subsidiary, Alcore, to run the ASX-listed parent. The move comes after long time ABx leader Ian Levy said he was stepping down from the 1st of February. Dr Mark Cooksey previously held the position of CEO of Alcore, an ABx company that has been developing an aluminium fluoride refinery in NSW.

Goldfields focused Ora Banda Mining increased gold production in the last quarter after producing 17,192 ounces of gold, the company’s best quarterly performance since the re-start of its Davyhurst operation in WA. 18,806 ounces of gold were sold for the quarter at an average price of $2,472 per ounce resulting in the operation turning cashflow positive for November and December.