Matt Birney

Venus Metals Corporation has bolstered its already overflowing suite of high-grade gold hits with a series of solid gold intercepts from recent resource drilling at its Youanmi gold joint venture project in WA. Notable results include 3m grading 7.2 grams per tonne gold from 131m downhole, 2m going 8.16 g/t gold from 183m and 2m at 6.78 g/t gold from 127m downhole.

Mineral exploration company, Coda Minerals has delivered more cracking copper hits at its exciting Emmie Bluff Deeps IOCG-style copper discovery in South Australia. New intercepts from one hole returned two mineralised intervals of 26.9m grading 1.95 per cent copper from 803.5m and 41.8m going 1.21 per cent copper from 911.5m to grow the high-grade bornite zone at the prospect.

Horizon Minerals’ toll milling of stockpiled low-grade ore from its Boorara open pit mine in the historic WA Goldfields has yielded profitable results, with the company banking $770,000 from the initial campaign of 69,700 tonnes milled at a reconciled grade of 0.92 grams per tonne gold for 1,857 ounces. It said its second campaign was underway and due to be completed in January.

Lithium Australia’s battery recycling venture took a critical step forward after its 90 per cent owned subsidiary Envirostream was given the all-clear to open a second battery recycling plant in Laverton, Victoria. According to the company, its latest work puts it ahead of demand for electric vehicles and energy-storage system battery dismantling.

Middle Island has kicked off a detailed magnetics and radiometrics survey over its prospective Barkly copper-gold project area located in the emerging Tennant Creek mineral hub in the Northern Territory. The company is also marching forward with the Crosswinds copper discovery, also in the NT having recently completed a 2 kilometre IP survey following up on initial copper oxide mineralisation identified in October.

St George Mining has brought forward a drilling campaign designed to pierce two recently identified high priority nickel-copper sulphide targets at its Mt Alexander project in the north-eastern Goldfields of WA. According to the company, both deeper seismic targets have a geophysical signature consistent with its Investigators prospect where shallower drilling recently returned a sizzling 8.49m hit grading 5.8 per cent nickel and 2.6 per cent copper.

Superior Resources has intersected sulphide mineralisation in its third consecutive drill hole targeting a large, induced polarisation anomaly at the company’s Bottletree Copper prospect within its Greenvale project in Queensland. The company believes it may be onto a potential porphyry system west of the induced polarisation anomaly indicated by an enormous 1.5km by 1km intense copper and gold soil anomaly coincident with a large magnetic feature.

White Cliff Minerals has wrapped up the heritage survey over its 100 per cent owned McCaskill Hill and Cracker Jack prospects, with further sampling and drilling planned for the wider Reedy South Gold Project. The company is planning to assemble a number of mineable ore bodies in the Reedy’s South Gold Project area, which can collectively underpin commercial operations.

Perth-based gold-miner Wiluna Mining is ringing in the new year with the successful commissioning of the sulphide ore concentrate plant at its namesake project in WA. As part of its major production ramp-up plan the company is looking to treat 750,000tpa through the plant as it targets 90,000-100,000ozpa of gold in concentrate production by the end of the 2022 financial year.

Venus Metals Corporation has uncovered anomalous rare earth, gold and palladium mineralisation at its Mangaroon North project abutting Dreadnought’s prospective nickel-copper-PGE rich tenure in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Initial geochemical reconnaissance surveying has outlined multiple target areas that Venus is planning to extensively explore through geochemical sampling, geophysical surveying and drill testing during 2022.

Oar Resources says the maiden exploration program at its Douglas Canyon Gold Project in the US has yielded “very encouraging” initial results which included intersecting a massive 213m silica matrix brecciated quartz vein. Laboratory results from Douglas Canyon, located in the prolific Walker Lane Gold-Silver district of Nevada, are expected in the new year.

The boards of St Barbara Ltd and its smaller peer Bardoc Gold Ltd have announced a $157 million buyout of Bardoc with St Barbara now set to acquire all the shares in Bardoc by way of a scheme of arrangement, at an almost 30 per cent premium to last Friday’s closing share price. Bardoc’s proposed Woodie Woodie manganese spinout would still proceed, according to the companies.

Brightstar Resources continues to deliver sparkling results with significant shallow gold intercepts at its flagship Cork Tree Well prospect near Laverton in WA. The latest strikes include 26m going 2.97 g/t gold from 111m downhole and 17m at a respectable 3.09 g/t gold from 139m. These intersections are wider than the previous intercepts but still maintain similar metal tenor.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has spied out a gold target east of Kalgoorlie that it identified through geophysical interpretation. The same areas have recently turned up some cracking gold nuggets and the company is now planning a 3,000 metre-plus RC drill program to test the new target area. It also plans to drill test other established gold prospects that showed promising first pass drilling results.

Horizon Minerals has reached an agreement to acquire the remaining 50 per cent of the high-grade Penny’s Find gold project from Labyrinth Resources. Horizon will transfer $500,000 cash, $250,000 worth of Horizon shares and a series of smaller payments including net smelter royalties pending Horizon bringing the project into production which lies 50 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie.

Altech Chemicals has attained a “Medium Green” rating for its proposed battery materials coating plant in Germany from independent Norwegian outfit, the Centre of International Climate and Environmental Research. A medium green classification potentially qualifies the plant as suitable for future financing through green bonds – a type of fixed-income instrument specifically earmarked to raise capital for projects that generate climate and environmental benefits.

After three years of R&D development, including bench and pilot trials, feasibility studies and engineering investigations, Neometals and its joint venture partner, engineering colossus SMS Group, have successfully commissioned its first commercial lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Hilchenbach, Germany with operations to start early next year. The plant will process up 10 tonnes per day of battery-grade metal sulphate chemicals safely recycled into new battery production.

In the lead up to Christmas, Coda Minerals has delivered a gift of its own – a maiden mineral resource for the Emmie Bluff Copper-Cobalt deposit at its Elizabeth Creek project in South Australia. The company calculated a resource of 43 million tonnes going at 1.3 per cent copper, 470 ppm cobalt and 11 g/t silver cementing its position amongst the largest known sediment hosted copper deposits in Australia.

In a milestone achievement, Memphasys has landed the first sale of the company’s revolutionary trademarked Felix bio-separation technology placed by a women’s centre in Coimbatore, India. The centre will be the first to use the system for clinical IVF with the order including a Felix console plus an initial supply of single-use cartridges. The Felix business model is based on recurring sales of the cartridges so the initial sale may represent ongoing business.

Aircore drilling by mineral exploration company, Strickland Metals has unearthed a hefty 1.3km long gold trend lying along strike to its multi-deposit Horse Well resource in Western Australia where about 129,000 ounces of contained gold have been defined. Stand out hits from the drilling include 8m at 3.3 grams per tonne gold from 40m that also takes in a higher grade 4m interval going 6.3 g/t gold.

Buru Energy continues to press hard in its hunt for Canning Basin oil having just spudded another well at the producing Ungani field in WA’s Canning Basin. Surrounded by almost all the necessary infrastructure, Buru will be aiming to boost production and sales from Ungani 8H whilst the oil price remains relatively strong.

DiscovEx Resources could be gearing up for a busy new year after drilling at its 17.5 per cent owned Greater Duchess project near Mt Isa in Queensland intersected a 34-metre zone of copper sulphides including a 24m section of predominantly semi massive copper sulphides.

Radiopharm Theranostics’ fight against cancer has taken a vital step forwards after the completion of a phase 1 imaging study of 40 breast cancer patients in Shanghai. According to the company, the procedure delivered uniformly excellent and easy to interpret results. Radiopharm is now looking to accelerate the development of its “RAD201” process and fire up a new therapy study for its RAD202 product.

Toronto-listed gold miner and explorer, Novo Resources has unleashed the rig for a 2,000m drilling blitz to test a plethora of targets at its 50 per cent owned Malmsbury gold project in Victoria. The project hosts more than 1,500 historical gold workings with past drilling at the tenure returning significant mineralised intercepts including an impressive 4.1m grading 13.1g/t gold at the Leven Star trend.

West Cobar Metals has landed a grab bag of significant thick intersections of copper, silver, lead and zinc mineralisation at its Bulla Park prospect in NSW with drill hits spanning over a 1 kilometre strike. Significant assays returned include a 22 metre intercept grading 1 per cent lead and 20 grams per tonne silver from 253m downhole.

Chimeric Therapeutics has ticked off a new milestone in its battle against an aggressive cancer called “glioblastoma” after the successful completion of a second dose trial following a phase 1 dose escalation study near Los Angeles. The company says all patients dosed as part of the trial have now advanced past the 28 day follow-up period without experiencing any dose limiting toxicities.

Kula Gold is back at work at its Marvel Loch-Airfield project in the Southern Cross region of WA. The company’s 62-hole RC drilling onslaught of its kaolin and halloysite ground at the Boomerang prospect is again springing to life. Management says the campaign is aimed at defining the geographic extent and assessing the resource potential of the area.

Aurumin Limited has racked up a gold hit of nearly three ounces to the tonne at its Mt Dimer project approximately 120 kilometres northeast of Southern Cross in Western Australia. The 90.7 g/t hit was included in a broader 8m intersection grading a solid 15 grams per tonne gold from 71m downhole. The Mt Dimer historical production centre has previously produced over 125,000 ounces of gold.

Valor Resources says it is encouraged by results from ongoing geochemical and geophysical surveys in its hunt for Peruvian copper and silver at its Picha project after the company nailed a 1.2km by 2km open geophysical anomaly. It said the anomaly identified by the Induced Polarisation survey potentially represents a large porphyry copper system, which remains open to the south.

Empire Energy is now planning a follow up fraccing program with its US consultants to test a 192m long horizontal drill section at its recently completed Carpentaria-2H well in the Beetaloo Basin’s Velkerri Formation. The 192m section is thought to be the longest ever horizontal well ever drilled in the Beetaloo Basin’s Velkerri Formation. Carpentaria-2H is already showing early signs of liquids-rich shale gas.

Barton Gold has completed a first phase trial of next-generation portable exploration technology developed by the CSIRO at the company’s Tarcoola gold project in SA. The revolutionary new technology returns gold values in the field in as little as 8 hours versus several weeks for conventional laboratory-based assays. The trial is co-funded by the SA Government, who kicked in an extra $100,000 under its Accelerated Discovery Initiative.

Manufacturer and distributor of well-known home and hygiene products, ASX-listed Pental Limited could be in for a cracking lift in earnings after releasing its guidance to the market for the first half of the 2022 financial year. It expects underlying EBIT for the half year to clock in at about $6.5 million, a spectacular 53 per cent uplift on the previous corresponding period.