Matt Birney

Legend Mining looks to be tugging on the tail of a tiger in WA’s coveted Fraser Range with drilling continuing to expand the footprint of its exciting Mawson nickel sulphide discovery. An innovative blend of geophysics and deep diamond core drilling has outlined three new nickel targets, which extend over more than 3 kilometres of strike.

ASX-listed Buru Energy is set to kick off a multi-well drilling campaign across its JV ground in Western Australia’s oil-rich Canning Basin around mid-June this year after tying up a suitable drill rig with the grunt to drill both the deep exploration target at its Rafael oil prospect and go horizontally in a new Ungani oil field production well.

Horizon Minerals has returned an impressive initial batch of high-grade gold hits from a reverse circulation and diamond drilling campaign at the joint-ventured Penny’s Find underground gold project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields. Better assays include 0.85 metres grading an average 23.56 grams per tonne gold from 216.75m, 1.67m going 17.91 g/t from 178.91m and 1.85m at 13.95 g/t from 251m.

XRF scans of diamond core recovered from deep beneath the earth at St George Mining’s Mt Alexander nickel-copper sulphide project in WA’s Goldfields have turned up some scintillating nickel-copper sulphides with one drill hole delivering 10.96m of continuous nickel-copper sulphides from 333.6m downhole with XRF readings as high as 7.34 per cent nickel and 2.94 per cent copper between 342.1m and 343.4m.

The rods continue to spin for Oar Resources at the Gibraltar halloysite-kaolin discovery in SA with assay results now eagerly awaited from drilling to the north of the original discovery that netted high-grade halloysite with grades of up to 20 per cent in grade. Infill drilling has now commenced and regional exploration is set to follow and the granting of the Crown tenement in WA is also imminent.

Troy Resources appears to have steadied its gold production to “normal levels” at the Karouni gold mine in Guyana, South America. The news comes after setbacks last year revolving around the coronavirus pandemic, higher-than-average rainfall and a shortage of mechanical supplies. The Perth-based company managed to eke out 7,333 ounces of production in the recently completed March quarter compared with 4,195 ounces for the preceding quarter.

ASX-listed explorer, PolarX is getting down to business at its newly acquired Humboldt Range gold-silver project in a multi-million-ounce mining region of Nevada. In-field drill-targeting has commenced at the Fourth of July and Black Canyon landholdings where off the chart samples going as high as 3,384 grams per tonne gold and 2,837 grams per tonne silver were previously recorded.

Things are starting to get interesting for Impact Minerals in its copper-gold porphyry hunt in NSW. An ongoing drilling campaign at the Apsley prospect has identified characteristics similar to Alkane Resources’ revered Boda discovery that hit a 1,167m mineralised drill intersection grading 0.55 g/t gold and 0.25 per cent copper. First assays out of Apsley are anticipated in three weeks.

ASX-listed Australian Bauxite’s 87 per cent-owned chemical refining subsidiary, Alcore may be on the cusp of turning aluminium smelter waste into treasure after producing aluminium fluoride samples from waste known as “dross” in recent test work. The Sydney-based company says the ability to recycle the waste by-product has the potential to significantly improve the base-line economics of producing aluminium fluoride in Australia.

ASX-listed 88 Energy has spied evidence of oil in multiple reservoir sandstone samples recovered downhole after logging multiple potential pay zones from its Merlin-1 test well drilled on Alaska’s oil-rich Arctic North Slope. The downhole samples recovered from Merlin-1 show strong evidence of being saturated with oil as the crude oil in the sandstone exhibits fluorescence under ultraviolet light.

Coda Minerals has completed its earn in over the Elizabeth Creek JV in SA after spending over $8.6 million on exploration since the farm-in agreement with Torrens Mining was consummated in 2017. Coda now speaks for 70 per cent of the rapidly developing copper project where it is eyeing an extensive new resource at the Emmie Bluff discovery.

Todd River Resources has kicked off a highly anticipated round of drilling at its Berkshire Valley nickel-PGE find in WA. Aircore drilling has now commenced in earnest at the central project area where Todd River is targeting a series of geophysical anomalies that also exhibit a pronounced nickel, copper and platinum group element anomalism at surface. The anomalism extends along an impressive 5 kilometres of strike.

Sihayo Gold says it has strengthened its case to unearth a “bulk tonnage” gold deposit in Indonesia after its air core scout drilling campaign hit consistent lower grade gold in Sihayo’s attempts to open up a second major project area about 6km south-east of its existing 1.5m ounce gold resource at the Sihayo Starter Pit project. The company also says the Indonesian government has signed off on its DFS for the Sihayo Starter Pit project.

Aspiring Central African lithium developer, AVZ Minerals’ resource drill out has reeled off a further batch of stunning broad pegmatite drill hits from beneath the Roche Dure open-pit floor at its Manono hard-rock lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The company says it has now kicked off an update of the existing mineral resource estimate for the massive Roche Dure deposit.

Torian Resources’ drilling campaign continues to impress with another clutch of encouraging gold hits at its Mt Stirling project in WA. The company says it expects to complete an interim mineral resource update for the project’s Mt Stirling deposit by month’s end. The existing inferred resource estimate for the deposit stands at 727,021 tonnes of ore going 1.45 g/t gold for 33,893 ounces of contained gold.

Buru Energy has completed its first oil lifting for the calendar year with 70,000 barrels of crude oil from its Ungani oil field in WA’s top end leaving the port of Wyndham and netting the debt-free company approximately A$2.5m. Buru said Ungani continues to produce oil in line with predictions despite some disruptions to operations due to seasonal rains in WA’s top end.

Neometals has reported encouraging results from preliminary metallurgical test work done on mineralisation from the Armstrong deposit at its Mt Edwards nickel sulphide project near Kambalda in WA that points to “commercial grade” nickel concentrate. The test work returned a 48.8 per cent recovery for nickel, an enhanced nickel grade of 12.8 per cent, a 55.4 per cent recovery for palladium and a resultant palladium grade of 20.4 g/t.

ASX-listed nickel explorer, Estrella Resources has recently completed an “experimental” seismic survey over the major basal contact at its Carr Boyd nickel project about 80km north-north-east of Kalgoorlie. The Perth-based company described the survey as a necessary de-risking tool it says will increase the success rate of deeper drilling targeting the basal contact for nickel sulphides.

Things are starting to get spicy for Hot Chili in its copper hunt in South America. Already boasting a 724 million tonne resource grading 0.48 per cent copper equivalent across its Costa Fuego suite of tenements in Chile, the company has defined what appears to be a second large porphyry copper system at the newly acquired Santiago Z tenure.

After two successful years of mining, the zircon-rich Boonanarring deposit in the North Perth Basin, mineral sands miner Image Resources has an eye to the future as it looks to bring the 9.5 million tonne Atlas project into production. A mining lease for Atlas has now been granted with transition to the project predicted for the December quarter next year.

ASX-listed clinical-stage oncology company, PharmAust has pocketed $755,594 after the ATO accepted its application for a Research and Development rebate in recognition of the innovations under development by the company’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Epichem and Pitney Pharmaceuticals. PharmAust said it plans to plough the cash straight back into ongoing clinical trials of its therapeutics on humans and animals.

ASX-listed pharmaceutical company, PharmAust continues to kick goals in its endeavours to develop antiviral treatment and prevention therapeutics for COVID-19. The company has once again demonstrated that its lead drug candidates monepantel and monepantel sulfone appear to show protection against cell death in non-human primate systems. Human clinical trials are now on the cards with production of the drug suitable for human consumption having already commenced.

Torian Resources has extended the interpreted strike length of the gold-bearing zone at its Mt Stirling gold project near Leonora in WA to more than 1.1km. It comes in the midst of the company’s ongoing drilling push aimed at building on an existing resource for Mt Stirling of 727,021 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.45 g/t for 33,893 ounces of contained gold.

St George Mining’s ongoing exploration at its Mt Alexander project in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields is gradually painting a picture of what could be a significant mineralised system. Its latest efforts saw multiple down-hole EM conductors light up adjacent to diamond drill holes positioned on the north-western extension of the Cathedrals Belt prospect. The company also has two sets of drill rods spinning simultaneously targeting more massive sulphide mineralisation.

Aspiring iron ore producer, CZR Resources has pegged and lodged a mining lease application taking a key step in bringing the 89.1-million-tonne Robe Mesa iron ore deposits into production in the Pilbara. DFS works are accelerating following the recent release of a PFS which demonstrated the economic potential of the project underpinning the drive towards production.

Calidus Resources says it has inked final agreements with Macquarie Bank for project loan facilities totalling $110 million in relation to its developing Warrawoona gold mine in WA’s East Pilbara. Under the terms of the debt funding package, the company also locked in a mandatory hedging arrangement covering the delivery of 125,000 ounces of forward gold sales from Warrawoona across the 3.25-year tenor of the loan facilities.

K2fly has partnered with Griffith University and The Keeping Place to deliver a new cultural heritage management system designed to map ancient indigenous rock art. Spanning Cape York Peninsula’s enormous Laura Sandstone Basin, the region hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia. The joint project aims to record the rock art for future generations and help provide a framework for its sustainable management.

Novo Resources has tabled a “preliminary economic assessment” over its Beatons Creek conglomerate gold mine in WA. Figures from the study underline the profitability of leading-edge discovery, with the mine set to produce more than 100,000 ounces of gold per annum at a cash cost of US$702 per ounce, delivering an extremely healthy profit over a projected 6-year mine life.

Surefire Resources has unleashed a second drill rig on the exciting Yidby Road gold prospect at its Yidby Road gold project in WA. The company’s current RC drilling campaign comes on the back of its recent initial spectacular, thick drill hits of 40m at 3.01 g/t gold from 24m including 4m at 26.57 g/t, and 56m at 1.97 g/t from 44m including 4m at 14.47 g/t.

Godolphin Resources has been buoyed by a promising start to its resource definition drilling program at its Lewis Ponds polymetallic project in NSW’s venerated Lachlan Fold Belt region. The stand-out drill intersection from the company’s first diamond hole at Lewis Ponds was 18.6m grading 1.38 g/t gold, 55 g/t silver, 5.4 per cent zinc and 1.8 per cent lead for a gold equivalent grade of 6.72 g/t from 72m.

Image Resources has revealed a raft of resource upgrades across its heavy mineral sands projects in WA’s Mid West region, including the delivery of a massive 102 million tonne resource for its Bidaminna project. The company also continues to process and export a wealth of high-grade zircon-rich ores from its Boonanarring mine whilst it eyes a move into mining at its Atlas deposits in the north of the basin.

ASX-listed CZR Resources is gearing up for a maiden round of reverse circulation drilling next month at its Buddadoo gold project east of the 1.2-million-ounce Deflector gold-copper mine in WA’s Murchison region. CZR’s ground straddles the under-explored Gullewa greenstone belt where multiple targets that have been lit up by high-resolution magnetics are also coincident with soil and rock chip samples that returned anomalous gold readings.