Matt Birney

88 Energy looks set to tap its Merlin-2 well that it says is prospective for some 652 million barrels of oil, after inking a deal with Doyon Drilling to use the company’s Arctic Fox rig to test the well at its Project Peregrine in the North Slope of Alaska. The company says the appraisal well has been independently assessed to have a geological success rate of 56 per cent.

ASX-listed Neometals and its joint venture partner, mega German engineering firm, SMS Group, have successfully completed commissioning of their showcase lithium-ion battery recycling demonstration plant. All leaching, purification and recovery circuits of the “Stage 2” hydrometallurgical refinery have now been successfully wet commissioned. The plant trial on electric vehicle batteries will commence as scheduled in early November.

Surefire Resources has kicked off two separate phases of RC drilling that intersected broad zones of sulphides at its Yidby Road gold deposit near the 1.1-million-ounce Minjar gold project in WA. The company peppered Yidby with 22 RC holes totalling 2,298m with a view to extending the existing Yidby deposit. Previous hits at the deposit include 40 metres going 3.01 grams per tonne gold from 24m.

Si6 Metals wasted no time smashing through 4,198m of government co-funded drilling at its Monument gold project in Laverton where 50 per cent of direct billing costs, up to $75,000 will be reimbursed to Si6 by the WA Government. Of the 126 holes drilled, 50 holes intersected the targeted high-level felsic intrusive rock suite analogous to the seven million ounce Wallaby Gold Deposit, also in the Laverton Tectonic Zone.

Buru Energy has announced an unexpected gas show above its targeted reservoir section in the highly anticipated exploration well Rafael 1. According to the company, shows of natural gas and even hydrogen and helium in a thicker than expected Anderson Sandstone immediately above the crest of the targeted structure validate an active petroleum system and trapping mechanism at the Rafael location.

Indonesian-focused explorer, Sihayo Gold has delivered more solid gold hits from regional exploration drilling at its namesake project in North Sumatra. New hits at its Hutabargot Julu target area include 10.2m at 2.5 g/t gold from 153m at the Penatapan epithermal vein gold and silver prospect. The company is seeking to unearth more ounces to add to an already impressive 1.5-million-ounce gold resource base.

Brightstar Resources has picked up some prime geological real estate contiguous to its current gold exploration land holdings near Laverton, boosting the company’s holdings in the region to a solid 300 square kilometres. The acquisition comes off the back of a recent $2.3 million placement that has given it enough funding to drill test its significant landholdings in the region.

ASX-listed gold and base metals explorer Godolphin Resources has fired up the drill rig and kicked off a fresh round of RC drilling at its high-grade Gundagai gold project in the renowned Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. The company intends to plunge 11 holes into the project totalling 1,825 metres after an extensive review of historical data and rock chip sampling identified several walk-up drill targets.

Ora Banda Mining has now received all assay results from first-pass regional air-core and brownfields reverse circulation drilling programs conducted earlier this year at its Davyhurst project north of Kalgoolie. A spectacular 5m hit at almost an ounce to the tonne gold from 127m headlined the results at Victoria Workings approximately 300m north of the Mulline Rose pit.

Emu NL has unearthed a new high-grade gold discovery at the Watertank Hill gold prospect near Yalgoo in WA, representing a potential southern extension to its nearby Monte Cristo prospect. Significant gold hits at Watertank Hill include a 2 metre hit grading 9.94 grams per tonne gold from 51m including 1m grading a stellar 19.35 g/t gold from 51m.

ASX-listed Aldoro Resources says high grade rubidium and lithium has been showing up in rock chips collected from its Wyemandoo pegmatite prospect in Western Australia and rubidium values are comparable with the richest JORC compliant global rubidium deposit in Namibia. The anomalous assay data stretches over an area greater than 9km over four contiguous exploration permits which Aldoro has termed the Wyemandoo project.

DiscovEx Resources is onto some early signs of gold at its Sylvania project, 13 kilometres from Newman in WA after 90 per cent of assays returned from its phase two infill sampling program revealed several “kilometre-scale” gold anomalies with peak results of up to 0.5 grams per tonne. The company says the anomalies are coincident with favourable geology and it is now gearing up to complete additional infill and regional sampling.

Mineral exploration company, Great Southern Mining has commenced a moving loop electromagnetic survey that is looking to generate magmatic nickel sulphide drill targets across some 70 square kilometres of ground at its East Laverton nickel project in WA. The company believes the tenure to be prospective for hosting large nickel sulphide deposits geologically akin to several recent discoveries in WA, including the celebrated Nova-Bollinger discovery in the Fraser Range.

Quantum Graphite has wrapped up a diamond drilling program at its Eastern Conductor prospect near its Uley 2 resource in South Australia that it says is visually showing grades of up to 20 per cent in several drill cores. The program extends mineralisation to the east of the proposed Uley 2 pit that houses a 6.3m tonne resource grading a very respectable 11.1 per cent total graphitic content.

Buru Energy has been quietly weighing into the burgeoning hydrogen industry and has now amassed some 29,000 sq kms of ground in South Australia that it says is prospective for “natural” hydrogen. Better known for its Canning Basin oil and gas tenure, Buru’s hydrogen play in SA is unusual in that it is a naturally occurring energy source rather than a manufactured one.

Novo Resources has tabled several high-grade gold hits at its untested Genie lode-gold prospect, located within cooee of its operating Golden Eagle processing plant in the Pilbara. Best new intercepts include 8m at 4.6 g/t gold from just 26m. The new discovery may give Novo additional mill feed options at its nearby conglomerate gold mine as it awaits approval to mine the fresh rock from its Beatons Creek project.

Aruma Resources has received the tick of approval to drill its Mount Deans lithium-tantalum project after its “program of work” was approved for actioning. A heritage survey is now the final hurdle before Aruma can unleash a rig at the exciting WA lithium project. The project sits within WA’s ‘lithium corridor’ 120 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie that has previously identified spodumene mineralisation along 1.4km strike.

Junior explorer, Native Mineral Resources has put its foot on what looks to be a compelling exploration tenement prospective for copper, gold, zinc, lead and silver, some 100 kilometres west of Cairns in north Queensland. The property is host to a mineralised breccia pipe, curiously named the “Maneater Breccia”, where a single historical drill hole intercepted more than 300 metres of sulphides down-hole.

ASX-listed, Blackstone Minerals has teamed up with leading supply chain “traceability” provider, Circulor to launch a nickel and cathode precursor traceability system for its Ta Khao nickel operations in Vietnam. The collaboration will empower Blackstone to demonstrate its compliance with environmental, social and governance sustainability metrics, stretching from its mining operations through to the refined final products.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia is continuing to carve out an envious position in the white-hot lithium market after its 90 per cent owned subsidiary Envirostream, rubber-stamped a deal with Bunnings to collect spent batteries from its all its Australian stores and selected stores in New Zealand. The company says the agreement was reached in anticipation of the Battery Stewardship Council’s Battery Stewardship Scheme.

ASX-listed Globe Metals & Mining has applied for a novel patent covering its metallurgical technology that could slash operational and capital costs and improve recovery of niobium at its exciting Kanyika niobium project in Malawi. The company recently released jaw-dropping results from a feasibility study on the project where a total EBITDA figure of US$3.74 billion across an initial 23 year mine life was envisaged.

Barton Gold has teased out more gold around the northern edges of the Perseverance pit floor at the Tarcoola gold project in South Australia. The strikes continue a run of success for Barton following the gold zone discovered at Perseverance West last year. Notable shallow drill hits were recorded including 1m grading 2.51 g/t gold from 26m and 1m grading 7 g/t gold from 37m.

Victory Mines has continued to make the case for possible northern extensions to the gold lode that was mined some years ago in the old Coogee open pit at its Coogee gold project near Kalgoorlie. Latest assays include 4 metres going 9.34 grams per tonne gold from 175 metres that hosts a 2m intersection grading 16.15 g/t from 176m.

Blackstone Minerals has locked in Tier 1 engineering, mineral processing and metallurgical consultants Wood and ALS to perform critical roles in the delivery of a definitive feasibility study at its Ta Khoa nickel refinery in Vietnam. The consultants will aim to provide project management, engineering, cost estimation, execution planning services and hydrometallurgical testing for the Ta Khoa nickel refinery.

Perth-based Lithium Australia’s wholly owned subsidiary, VSPC is now producing commercial quality lithium titanium oxide lithium battery anode powder. VSPC says its LTO exceeds industry performance benchmarks and that further research and development, including work on niobium-based anode powders, is underway. Lithium Australia is building an armoury of lithium battery technology in readiness for the lithium boom.

ASX-listed explorer, Venus Metals has substantially extended its high-grade mineralisation at the Link prospect within its Youanmi project. Latest drilling has intercepted high grade gold intercepts 200m down plunge of the existing resource, demonstrating strong continuity of mineralisation. These results point to a potential increase to the current resource estimate with many drill results still pending.

Newly listed Askari Metals has nailed its first field campaign at the company’s Horry project in the mineral rich Kimberley region with high grade copper and gold rock chip samples that have allowed it to map initial copper mineralisation over 400m in one location. Best copper results were 3.67 per cent, 3.13 per cent and 1.12 per cent and one gold sample yielded 13 grams per tonne.

Empire Energy is ramping up its activities in the Beetaloo Sub-basin in the Northern Territory with its Carpentaria-1 well securing an encouraging post shut in average flow rate of 0.364 million cubic feet of gas per day. The result is up 45 per cent from the pre-shut in rate. The company says the results appear to underline the development potential of its Beetaloo Sub-basin acreage in the NT.

Horizon Minerals has officially taken control of Aurenne Group’s Cannon, Glandore and Cowarna gold projects, comprised of 22 granted tenement licenses covering approximately 180 square kilometres within a short trucking distance from Horizon’s 100 per cent owned Boorara gold project in Kalgoorlie. Resource and reserve models are well advanced at the Cannon underground gold mine providing a near-term development opportunity for the company.

Okapi Resources has wasted no time in producing a maiden uranium resource at its Tallahassee uranium project in Colorado, USA. The company only finalised the acquisition in August and has already announced a maiden resource of 25.4 million tonnes going at 490 ppm U3O8 for 27.6 million pounds of yellowcake. Plans are now underway to commence a 10,000-metre maiden drilling program to bolster the resource further.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining is set to pocket up to $12 million following the closing date of its initial public offering on the 26th of October. The company will use the money to follow up on some bonanza historical gold hits east of Kalgoorlie that inexplicably were never run to ground. Kalgoorlie Gold will spin out of Ardea Resources who has been quietly amassing some serious gold tenure amongst its massive nickel holdings.

ABx Group’s chemical refining subsidiary, Alcore has modelled up a processing flowsheet designed to produce aluminium fluoride using cheap smelter waste as the feedstock. Alcore’s engineers have proposed a commercial 10,000 tonne per year aluminium fluoride plant using the new technology’s proprietary process which the company believes will deliver benefits for Australasian smelters currently reliant on imports.