Matt Birney

ASX-listed 3D printing specialist Aurora Labs has officially opened its new head office premises in the Perth suburb of Canning Vale, Western Australia, from where the company will continue its push to bring a new generation 3D laser printer for industrial metal components to the market. The company has said the move will enable it to achieve long-term cost savings of up to $240,000 a year.

Horizon Minerals has racked up a pile of high-grade gold hits from infill and extensional drilling at its Kalpini project about 65km north-east of Kalgoorlie in WA. The company’s drill program returned better intersections of 12m grading 5.57 g/t gold from 203m including 2m at 12.92 g/t from 211m and 5m going at 10.21 g/t from 70m including 1m at 28.83 g/t from 72m.

Blackstone Minerals has tabled a pre-feasibility study projecting very strong profits for downstream processing of its nickel concentrate products in Vietnam. The study is based on construction of a refinery close to its developing Ta Khoa operations which will produce a nickel-cobalt-manganese product for use in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries and could deliver revenues in excess of $19 billion over an initial 10-year period.

Mineral sands producer Image Resources is turning its attention to gold exploration, with results from drilling at the company’s King prospect in Western Australia bringing home the bacon. The company’s recent exploration over the discovery has delineated high-grade mineralisation along more than 400m of strike, with results including 10m at an impressive 8.4 grams per tonne gold from only 47m down-hole.

ASX-listed Troy Resources has tabled a maiden ore reserve for the Smarts underground project at its Karouni gold operation in central Guyana. The company sees the 89,400-ounce reserve supporting production for at least 2.5 years while it explores for potential extensions. Mineralisation is said to remain open below the calculated reserve of 1,082,000 tonnes grading 2.6 grams per tonne gold.

ASX-listed 3D metal printing specialist Aurora Labs is making strong progress in its plans to develop faster and higher quality laser printing for heavy industry components, hitting the third milestone on its ‘pathway to commercialisation’ of its flagship 3D printer. Hitting its ambitious target would set Aurora apart from competitors in terms of production speed and power.

Trigg Mining has released a maiden indicated resource statement for its high-grade Lake Throssell sulphate of potash project in WA as it looks to advance a scoping study on a possible project development. In the wake of recent trench brine pumping testing of a surface aquifer, the company says it upgraded more than 13 per cent of the Lake Throssell deposit’s previously announced inferred resource.

Victory Mines continues to hit paydirt in Western Australia with ongoing drilling at its Coogee project south of Kalgoorlie returning anomalous gold intercepts. The company’s third phase of drilling has successfully intersected mineralisation along strike from the historical Coogee open pit, with results including 8m at 3.64 grams per tonne gold from 172m down-hole.

Venus Metals has delivered a broad platinum group element drill intercept at its Youanmi PGE and base metals project in the Murchison district of Western Australia, with a 30m hit grading 0.95 grams per tonne combined platinum, palladium and gold, 0.22 per cent copper and 0.24 per cent nickel from 40m extending mineralisation some 50m west of a previous thick intercept.

Askari Metals is on the verge of kicking off a maiden round of reverse circulation drilling at its flagship Burracoppin gold project in WA. The company has now finalised plans for the initial 2,000m program and will be looking to follow up on a slew of historical high-grade drill results and vector in on gold mineralisation below a line of old artisanal mining shafts.

ASX-listed mining technology company K2fly has laid out plans for an executive changing of the guard with Chief Commercial Officer and veteran industry leader Nic Pollock to take the helm as Chief Executive Officer from the start of September this year. Current CEO Brian Miller says he remains committed to the company and will continue as an Executive Director.

ASX-listed junior explorer Valor Resources says a recently completed airborne geophysical survey has exceeded its expectations, pointing to historical uranium occurrences and new targets across its Hook Lake project in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Follow-up field exploration work has been earmarked to kick off this month and the Perth-based company hopes to be drilling priority prospects in the venerated Athabasca Basin region later in the year.

ASX-listed biotechnology company PharmAust has filed a patent for the use of its monepantel anti-cancer drug to treat viral diseases, having previously said the drug had a positive anti-viral effect on cultured cells infected with COVID-19. The company is developing monepantel as a novel, safe and effective treatment for cancer in humans and animals and is also testing its efficacy in neurodegenerative disease.

Askari Metals has undertaken an initial field reconnaissance program at its Burracoppin gold project about 20km east of Merredin in WA’s eastern Wheatbelt region prior to its planned inaugural reverse circulation drilling program kicking off next week. The company says during the reconnaissance work several old shallow artisanal mining shafts that are prevalent along an interpreted strike length of about 1.6km were given a once-over.

ASX-listed Coda Minerals says it is unlocking the potential of its newly discovered Emmie Bluff IOCG deposit in South Australia’s Gawler Craton, with new directional diamond drilling intersecting copper sulphide zones broadly comparable to the recently announced discovery hole. The new intercepts are reportedly dominated by high-tenor copper sulphides including bornite and covellite suggesting Coda is closing in on a large-scale mineralised structure.

Hydrometallurgical testing by King River Resources has delivered 99.73 per cent pure titanium dioxide product from its 100 per cent owned Speewah specialty metals project in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The company is aiming to develop a process flowsheet at the project that will produce high-purity vanadium and titanium products for use in vanadium flow batteries, master alloys and titanium oxide pigments.

Vietnam-focused Blackstone Minerals has confirmed independent production and verification of a battery-grade nickel-cobalt-manganese 811 sample using nickel from its Ban Phuc project on the eve of delivering a much-awaited pre-feasibility study on nickel refining in northern Vietnam. The ASX-listed company says the precursor sample achieved a purity above 99.7 per cent.

Aspiring London-based Balkans precious and base metals producer Adriatic Metals has been given the nod to start trading on OTC Markets Group’s premier “OTCQX Best Market”. Adriatic management says upgrading to the OTCQX offers its existing and prospective US shareholders improved market visibility, increased trading liquidity and the most up-to-date information otherwise not found on the Pink market.

Venus Metals and joint venture partner Rox Resources have drilled high-grade gold some 80m outside of the existing resource base at their Youanmi gold project in the Murchison district of Western Australia with a 6.8m intercept returning a stellar 11.98 grams per tonne gold from 264m. Drilling continues as the partners seek to grow the 1.66-million-ounce resource at the project.

Lithium Australia has gained admission to the coveted Global Battery Alliance, an international collaboration between public and private organisations dedicated to ensuring sustainability in the battery value chain. The company will now have direct access to experts and key participants in the global battery recycling industry, enhancing its aspirations to vertically integrate lithium extraction, production of battery materials and battery recycling.

Wiluna Mining has pumped out a solid 12 months of gold production at its Wiluna operation in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields with the performance complemented by a cracking average price on gold sales. The company reported June quarter production of 12,524oz from Wiluna at all-in sustaining costs averaging an impressive $1,371/oz, taking the full financial year production total to 51,552oz at average all-in sustaining costs of $1,794/oz.

Todd River Resources has divested 100 per cent of the Manbarrum zinc-lead-silver in the Northern Territory to Boab Metals. Under the agreement Todd River will be issued with A$500,000 of Boab shares and retains a 1.25 per cent net smelter return royalty. The strategic sale paves the way for Todd River to focus on developing other key assets including the Berkshire Valley nickel-copper-PGE project in Western Australia.

Central Africa lithium developer AVZ Minerals hopes to secure an all-important mining licence for its advancing flagship Manono hard-rock lithium and tin project in the DRC in the not-too-distant future as it builds relationships with the newly formed Congolese Government. The company says some timelines for regulatory approvals have been prolonged due to the change in the country’s government earlier this year.

Oar Resources has launched field exploration at its Crown nickel-copper-PGE and gold project just 9km west of Chalice Mining’s heralded Julimar discovery in Western Australia. Geological mapping and outcrop sampling will look to assess about 20 identified target areas, with systematic soil sampling set to follow. A maiden drilling program is planned for later in the year.

ASX-listed Wiluna Mining continues to deliver impressive drilling results in areas targeted for expanding underground production at its namesake operations in Western Australia. Ongoing diamond drilling across the East and Happy Jack lodes has turned out a welter of new high-grade intercepts grading up to 773 g/t gold in the Happy Jack area.

ASX-listed Galan Lithium has hit the go-button on a scoping study into the potential development of its Candelas lithium brine project in the Catamarca, Argentina, sector of South America’s “lithium triangle”. Candelas lies south-east of and in the same fertile salt flat terrane as the Perth-based company’s flagship Hombre Muerto West brine project, which was the subject of an impressive scoping study last year.

ASX-listed Image Resources is on track to beat its 2021 heavy mineral concentrate production guidance after reporting record June quarter output from the wholly-owned Boonanarring operation, 80km north of Perth in Western Australia. The company says surging ilmenite, rutile and now zircon prices are set to boost its full-year heavy mineral concentrate sales and strengthen its pursuit of growth options.

Neometals is edging closer to demerging its significant Mt Edwards nickel sulphide project near Kambalda in Western Australia into a new company, Widgie Nickel, which is targeting a September listing on the ASX. Existing Neometals shareholders are set to get a free piece of Widgie proportionate to their current shareholdings. A new board of directors has now been appointed for Widgie.

Junior explorer Latitude Consolidated has scored a high-grade gold hit at the St Anne’s prospect just 3km south of its existing 610,000-ounce Turnberry open-pit deposit, which forms part of its Murchison gold project in WA’s Murchison Goldfields. The latest drilling highlight from the company’s recently completed reverse circulation program was an intersection of 5m grading an average 6.77 grams per tonne gold from 103m depth.

Venus Metals has pounced on a hefty 546 square kilometres of ground prospective for nickel, copper, platinum group elements, gold and rare earths in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Two of the new licences, one granted and one under application, adjoin tenure hosting a 1km-long outcropping structure where rock chip samples have returned 1 per cent copper and 0.6 per cent nickel.

Adriatic Metals has successfully cleared the final major regulatory approval hurdle that now opens the way for it to start construction of its proposed Vares silver-zinc-lead mining and processing operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina later in the year. The company says it clinched the exploitation, or mining, permit for the project’s keystone Rupice underground deposit from the country’s Federal Ministry for Energy, Mining and Industry.

Australian Bauxite’s 87 per cent owned chemical refining subsidiary, Alcore, appears to have made a significant technical breakthrough with its proprietary mineral production process used to produce commercial-grade aluminium fluoride from metal refining waste known as “dross”. The company believes its process can deliver substantial economic and environmental benefits for Australasian aluminium smelters reliant on imports of the material.