Matt Birney

ASX listed Kula Gold has its foot on another couple of exploration licences that are contiguous with the central part of its broader WA Brunswick tenement and the company has already collected several high-grade rock chips from the newly acquired ground that contains the historic Donnybrook gold mine. Interestingly, the high grades correlate well with historic drill assays in the area which graded up to 9.92 grams per tonnes gold.

Aurora Labs has wrapped up a trial project that tested the company’s 3D metal printing technology’s ability to “print” stainless steel components for the construction of Australian Navy frigates. Aurora says the trial, under a collaboration with Australian defence contractor, BAE Systems Maritime Australia, has returned positive outcomes in terms of part quality, dimensional accuracy and build rate.

West Cobar Metals is set to pocket $5.5 million when it hits the boards at the ASX today and the rods are already primed to start turning at its exciting Bulla Park and Mt Jack copper-gold projects in and around the prolific Cobar basin of NSW. Initially the company is looking to drill test two enticing looking targets that were unexpectedly abandoned in historical drilling.

Galan Lithium has added further lithium brine potential to its Hombre Muerto West project in South America’s prolific ‘Lithium Triangle’ with a newly drilled bore hole revealing previously unrecognised brine bearing aquifers. The company says the discovery could provide a boost to future resource estimates for the project that already boasts 2.3 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

ASX-listed junior gold explorer Superior Resources has intersected some superb gold horizons at its wholly owned Steam Engine prospect in Northern Queensland with grades up to a dazzling 38.8 grams per tonne gold. The company says the results confirm a down-dip thickening and extension to the lode as well as the presence of additional shallow, high grade zones.

Barton Gold is eyeing the possibility of significant new discoveries, having identified a collection of shallow targets with its government co-funded ground penetrating radar survey over the Tarcoola Gold Project on the Gawler Craton in South Australia. The work is part of a systematic geophysical and drilling program with more refined target selection and follow-up drilling expected in coming months.

ASX-listed Hot Chili’s pre-feasibility study into its 100 per cent owned Costa Fuego copper-gold development in Chile is gaining momentum. A materials-handling scoping study has revealed significant time and cost savings when implementing a “rope conveyor” to transport ore downhill from Cortadera to Productora. A similar haulage system has been successfully employed at Teck and Newmont Goldcorp’s NuevaUnión project, 100km east-northeast of Costa Fuego.

ASX-listed junior explorer Great Southern Mining has defined several large kilometre scale gold anomalies within its Duketon tenements in WA from regional soil sampling and will be drill testing at the Amy Clarke prospect by the end of the year. A geophysical magnetic low channel associated with the gold anomalies can be traced 3km north to Regis Resources’ 322,000-ounce Erlistoun deposit grading 1.9 grams per tonne gold.

Mineral explorer Aldoro Resources has turned up some promising results from rock chip samples containing lithium, nickel, copper and gold at its Narndee and Wyemandoo prospects near Mt Magnet in WA. The company is now planning a round of detailed mapping and drilling to run the samples to ground. Results include high-grade rubidium and highly anomalous lithium, with the best results 0.8 per cent rubidium and 0.81 lithium.

ASX listed Emu NL has hit several stunning gold mineralised quartz vein intercepts from a reverse circulation drill program at its lode-gold style Gnows Nest project near Yalgoo in WA. Significant intersections include 2m at an impressive12.62 grams per tonne gold from 121m that hosted a 1m section grading an even more impressive18.57 grams per tonne gold.

Metal Hawk is onto a new high grade massive sulphide nickel strike in WA after a one metre hit went 5.89 per cent nickel from its maiden drilling campaign at the company’s Berehaven nickel project just east of Kalgoorlie. The high-grade intercept at the Commodore prospect has confirmed a new greenfields nickel discovery and the company is now set to unleash the drill rig to test its extents.

Torian Resources has extended its Mount Stirling gold system a further 280m southeast beyond the previous resource boundary with mineralisation now intersected over 1,040m along strike. The company has now increased the known gold mineralisation at various prospects across multiple gold domains. The drilling campaign is in full swing and the company says it has negotiated faster turnaround times for new assays.

Novo Resources’ aggressive exploration approach to its extensive 14,000 square kilometre land holding in WA’s Pilbara goldfields is turning up a slew of impressive shallow, high-grade intercepts. The latest round of drilling at the Talga Talga project has coughed up a striking 3m intersection going 25.5 g/t gold from 28m and 3m at 23.3 g/t gold from 11m.

ASX-listed Horizon Minerals has released a new mineral resource estimate for its Kalpini project about 65 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA. The revised resource weighs in at 1.87 million tonnes grading 2.33 grams per tonne for 139,000 ounces of the precious yellow metal. Kalpini is one of six key satellite gold deposits that underpins Horizon’s proposed flagship Boorara gold production hub about 15km east of Kalgoorlie.

ASX-listed Venture Minerals’ Tasmanian tin search continues to pay dividends with drilling at its Mount Lindsay project intersecting 11m of sulphide-rich skarn. The latest discovery follows the company’s recent success targeting extensions of the Renison mine sequence that coughed up a 16m interval of sulphide-rich magnetite skarn located some 12 kilometres along strike from the world-class Renison Bell tin mine.

AVZ Minerals has locked down US$400 million in funding, a new off-take partner and Chinese backers with very deep pockets and an intimate understanding of lithium battery manufacturing. It looks like it’s game on now for AVZ’s extraordinary Manono lithium project in the DRC after Suzhou CATH Energy Technologies agreed to pick up 24 per cent of the project for US$240 million and also stump up its share of the project’s CAPEX.

Empire Energy has massively boosted its Beetaloo Sub-basin oil and gas resources in the Northern Territory following a strategic takeover of Pangaea Ltd and EMG Northern Territory’s acreage in the basin. Empire trebled its gas resource and increased its liquids resource by 3,000 per cent when it pounced on Pangaea and EMG’s ground. The Beetaloo is believed to hold the largest undeveloped gas resource in Australia.

Kairos Minerals has followed up recent stellar gold hits in drilling at its Mt York project in the Pilbara, including a cracking 32m at 3.79 g/t gold. A suite of high priority greenfield targets have also been identified from a geochemistry sampling program. Assays up to 5.38 g/t were returned in soil samples, with drill testing due to commence next month.

Multi-metals exploration company, Conico Limited has wrapped up the field season at its Ryberg base and precious metals project on the east coast of Greenland with yet another sulphide intercept. The new hit at the recently discovered Cascata prospect follows several other exciting sulphide intercepts at the Miki prospect some 30 kilometres to the south-west and the Sortekap prospect about 30km to the north-west.

Venus Metals is collecting a lot of smoke as it searches for the fire under its Nickel-Copper-Platinum “Julimar look-a-like” targets at its Bridgetown East Project in WA’s fertile South West mineral terrane. The company reported polymetallic anomalies that are closely associated with a suite of prospective mafic-ultramafic rocks, some of which even coincide with an aeromagnetic high and a HEM anomaly.

Gold explorer Great Southern Mining has picked up some solid gold hits from a regional drilling program that tested a quartet of prospects within its Duketon gold project about 45km north of Laverton in WA. The most notable of the latest drill intersections were 5m going 3.3 g/t from 49m including 1m at 12.3 g/t and 8m at 2.1 g/t gold from 32m including 4m at 3.7 g/t.

Podium Minerals has unveiled a substantial increase in the inferred mineral resource estimate for its flagship Parks Reef multi-metals project in WA following a recently completed reverse circulation drilling campaign. The revised resource for Parks Reef’s platinum group metals horizon now stands at 40.2 million tonnes weighing in at 1.54 grams per tonne 3E PGM for 1.98 million ounces of contained platinum, palladium and gold.

Mineral exploration company, Twenty Seven Co has launched a geochemical sampling program to follow up on recently identified high-grade lithium occurrences at its 100 per cent owned Trident project near Broken Hill in New South Wales. A review of historical geochemical and sample data recently returned multiple lithium pegmatite showings at the project, including a cracking 7.63 per cent lithium oxide sample.

A maiden diamond drilling campaign by junior gold explorer, Native Mineral Resources has intercepted a new quartz vein below a gold rich outcropping vein at its 100 per cent owned Music Well project, north of Leonora in WA. Recent sampling of the outcropping vein returned an average 3.16 g/t gold from 128 samples, with one sample delivering an eye-catching 147 g/t gold.

Hot Chili has wrapped up a deal to acquire 100 per cent interest in the company’s world-class Cortadera copper-gold discovery in Chile. Hot Chili and the original project owner, SCM Carola, have now consummated to transfer 100 per cent ownership in the project to Hot Chili after the final instalment of US$15 million was paid by Hot Chili to SCM.

Sihayo Gold has produced encouraging metallurgical test work results that point to a potential increase in the all-important gold recovery rates at its developing namesake Sihayo “starter” gold project in North Sumatra in Indonesia. The company says average recoveries in its latest test work show an improvement of up to 25 per cent via the use of caustic pre-leaching on various refractory ore types from the project.

Okapi Resources has pressed ahead with its acquisition of the Enmore gold project about 30km south-east of Armidale in the New England fold belt in NSW after satisfying minimum expenditure and drilling requirements under the terms of the original purchase agreement. The company has elected to make the first milestone payment of $300,000 to the Enmore vendor through the issue of Okapi shares, subject to shareholder approval.

ASX-listed junior explorer Impact Minerals has unveiled a number of high priority targets following recently completed soil geochemical sampling work at its Arkun multi-metals project in Western Australia. The Perth-based company says it now has almost a dozen priority targets for nickel-copper-PGM mineralisation to follow up on and the same number of targets that are potentially prospective for lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites.

WA-focused exploration company, Aldoro Resources has delivered a thick 35.95m interval of disseminated magmatic sulphides, including 2.95m of massive to semi-massive sulphides at its flagship Narndee nickel, copper and PGE project. The new hit marks the seventh hole of seven to have intercepted sulphides at the VC1 prospect, with assays from the first two holes returning grades up to 1.05 per cent nickel and 2 per cent copper.

Manufacturer and distributor of well-known consumer goods, Pental Limited has pocketed nearly $4.5 million, more than double the amount intended, from a heavily oversubscribed share purchase plan related to its acquisition of e-commerce business, Hampers With Bite. The acquisition could transform Pental’s sales networks for many of its iconic brands that include Huggie, White King, Jiffy and Velvet to name just a few.

Aldoro Resources has completed a site visit to its newly acquired Niobe project area in WA and has defined the extent of the anticipated rubidium footprint over several pegmatite prospects. Rock chip samples collected were analysed with a portable XRF gun which confirmed elevated rubidium values associated with zinnwaldite mica. Sixty-six planned drill holes have been pegged for a reverse circulation drill programme scheduled to kick off in October pending access clearances.

ASX-listed Si6 Metals is neck deep in a ground geophysical survey at its Dibete, Airstrip and Maibele North prospects in eastern Botswana. Previous similar surveys have successfully mapped and extended existing nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation at Maibele North which boasts a 2.38 million tonne resource grading 0.72 per cent nickel and 0.21 per cent copper. Si6 is preparing a drill campaign to test the new targets.