Matt Birney

Wiluna Mining continues to add grade at its Wiluna gold mining operation in WA. A suite of recent high-grade drill results headlined by 2.35 metres going 61.05 grams per tonne gold continue to demonstrate that Wiluna has ounce plus dirt on its hands at its namesake Goldfields project as it looks to eventually expand production to 250,000 ounces of gold annually.

Horizon Minerals has reported a string of bonanza gold drill hits from one of its core satellite gold deposits that form part of its proposed Boorara gold project development near Kalgoorlie. Drilling undertaken at the company’s Crake deposit delivered spectacular near-surface RC assays led by a 24-metre intersection at an average grade of 4.94 g/t gold from 32m including 1m at 57.17 g/t from 36m.

Wiluna Mining continues to tick boxes as it hurtles towards implementing its much-heralded production expansion plan at its Wiluna gold mining project that will see existing gold production double and then double again. Construction of a 750,000 tonne-per-annum flotation plant has now commenced as the company looks to grow gold production to 250,000 ounces annually.

ASX and Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed PharmAust has unveiled encouraging initial results from the continuing phase IIb clinical trial of its anti-cancer drug, Monepantel on pet dogs suffering from B-cell lymphoma. The Perth-based company says the first five dogs who have undergone treatment with Monepantel across five participating test sites show “minimal side effects”.

ASX-listed aspiring central African lithium developer, AVZ Minerals continues to attract offtake partners at its proposed Manono hard-rock lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Perth-based company has entered into a binding lithium offtake agreement for the sale of spodumene concentrate from Manono to another Chinese group, Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry Co.

K2fly continues to stamp its mark on the mining software market, topping off a record quarter with the purchase of specialist software provider, Decipher. The purchase of Decipher received final approval at a meeting of shareholders this week and delivers K2fly another significant software solution for mine rehabilitation and tailings management. Decipher provides the only end-to-end mining and tailings management solution in the current market, according to K2fly.

ASX-listed 88 Energy, is staring down the barrel of a potential oil discovery at its 600-million-barrel prospective oil target being drill tested in the frozen arctic ground of Alaska’s oil-rich North Slope. The company said its Merlin-1 drill hole has intersected multiple reservoir sandstone layers, within the target Nanushuk formation, with many exhibiting indications of the presence of oil, collectively referred to as “oil shows”.

Native Mineral Resources looks to have struck a chord at its Music Well prospect in WA, with the ASX-listed company’s recent exploration program delivering in spades. Samples from the new program showed visible gold which is always good cause for some in-field excitement and importantly, some assays weighed in at over 100 grams per tonne gold.

Eclipse Metals' ongoing interrogation of the data across its historical Ivittuut cryolite mine in Greenland is revealing a wealth of potential out-wide production opportunities, including high-purity silica for use in a range of existing and emerging technologies. Modelling of the rich ore system shows a distinct silica-rich core to the Ivittuut intrusion, with historical drill holes returning wide quartz-rich intercepts grading at over 97 per cent silica.

Buru Energy and its newest JV partner, ASX-listed mining and energy giant, Mineral Resources, have been awarded a new onshore oil and gas exploration license in WA’s Mid West to target traditional oil and gas plays in the area by targeting the deeper, under-explored rock formations of a similar geological age to Buru’s established targets to the north in the state’s Canning Basin.

AVZ Minerals has locked in yet another offtake partner relating to its proposed Manono hard-rock lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Perth-based company says it has struck a binding three-year offtake contract for the sale of 600 tonnes of tin concentrate per annum from the Manono project to Kalon Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered Noble Group Holdings.

Aspiring WA gold producer, Horizon Minerals is set for a $7m boost through the sale of its Janet Ivy and Otto Bore mining royalty streams from WA gold mines. The proceeds, of which at least $4m will be cash, will add to Horizon’s existing cash reserves of $9.8 million as the company advances a feasibility study at its Boorara mining hub in the Goldfields.

Major Chinese construction outfit, China Railway Seventh Group has completed a visit to Lindian Resources’ bauxite assets in Guinea, West Africa, as agreed under a memorandum of understanding executed earlier this year. China Railway Seventh Group is a key player in Lindian’s infrastructure grand plan and bid to bring its Guinean bauxite projects on stream in the near term.

Bardoc Gold has released a cracking definitive feasibility study on its proposed Bardoc gold mining and processing operation approximately 40 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie. The company says the recent financial study shows the Bardoc gold mine spitting out an average of $113 million a year in free cash flows based on a total recovered gold target of 1.1 million ounces across an initial processing life of about eight years.

Anglo Australian Resources continues to pump out high-grade gold hits, as it charges towards a maiden resource over its Mandilla gold project in WA. Drilling at Mandilla East has returned a series of impressive results, with the latest batch including an impressive 18 metres at 4.74 grams per tonne gold from 54m and 29m at 1.81 g/t gold from 105m down-hole.

Venus Metals has racked up encouraging near-surface gold hits from a second round of RC drilling at the Range View prospect nearby the Bellchambers deposit as part of its Sandstone gold project in WA. Better intercepts from the latest drilling were 6m at 2.06 g/t gold from 20m including 1m at 6.14 g/t and 5m at 2.76 g/t from 45m including 1m at 6.23 g/t.

Things just got interesting for King River Resources at its immense Speewah Dome project in the Kimberley region of WA with its share price soaring 27 per cent on the back of news the company has produced high purity alumina at greater than 99.99 per cent purity. The company is currently looking to finish its ongoing feasibility study over the project.

Ardiden’s three hard-rock lithium projects in north-west Ontario, Canada may be in play as the company weighs up options to advance its lithium asset portfolio. One of the projects already hosts a resource of 4.8 million tonnes of ore grading 1.25 per cent lithium oxide. Management says it is evaluating strategic alternatives for the projects including retention, potential sales, spin-offs, joint ventures or business collaborations.

TNT Mines is preparing to drill test its key, high-grade uranium targets at the East Canyon project in Utah. The company is paying the requisite bonds to the US government and entering the final phase of the permitting process, with initial drilling to focus on the historical mine workings in the north of TNT’s tenure, including the targets at None Such and Bonanza.

ASX-listed junior explorer, Kingwest Resources has finalised the acquisition of its advanced, multi-deposit Menzies gold project about 130 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and the greenfields Goongarrie gold project 90km north of Kalgoorlie. Horizon Minerals has now banked the last instalment of $1.625 million cash and 10.83 million Kingwest shares to complete the $8 million sale to Kingwest announced in 2019.

Neometals has highlighted the strong environmental credentials of its proprietary, patent-pending, vanadium recovery process flowsheet after an independently assessed, ISO-compliant, life cycle assessment showed potential to produce zero-carbon vanadium from the company's proposed Scandinavian vanadium recycling project. Neometals remains on track to deliver a ‘peer-reviewed’ PFS to recover vanadium from a vanadium-bearing steel making by-product, known as “slag”, by the end of June.

Aruma Resources has unveiled plans to undertake a maiden round of RC drilling at its Mount Deans lithium project approximately 10 kilometres south of Norseman in WA. The Perth-based company says the project should benefit from its location close to road and rail infrastructure that provides easy access to the Port of Esperance. Mount Deans contains a “swarm” of 71 recognised pegmatites covering 4.5km by 1.5km.

Zuleika Gold’s namesake project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields continues to deliver some tantalising results, with aircore drilling across the company’s Paradigm East discovery outlining gold mineralisation along more than 1.8 kilometres of strike. Results from the recent drilling program include 12 metres at 3.3 grams per gold, which included 4m at 6.0 g/t gold from 72 down-hole, pointing to the deeper potential of the extensive ore system.

Element 25 has wasted no time in laying the foundations for a “stage two” development at its new Butcherbird manganese mining and beneficiation operation in WA. The Perth-based company has just squared away a capital raise worth $35.5 million that it says will largely go towards a planned expansion of Butcherbird’s annual manganese concentrate output from about 365,000 tonnes to more than one million tonnes a year.

Wiluna Mining is edging closer to executing its expansion plans at its Wiluna mine. Firm commitments to raise $7.5m have been received as major shareholders and Wiluna’s Executive Chairman, Milan Jerkovic, line up to plough in another $14m. The money will be used to lift the mine’s production to 120,000 ounces of gold a year and study the potential for it to move to 250,000 ounces per annum.

ASX-listed Altech Chemicals’ 75 per cent-owned subsidiary, Altech Industries Germany has kicked off a pre-feasibility study for a 10,000 tonne per annum high purity alumina battery materials coating plant in Saxony, Germany. The PFS will integrate Altech’s “nano-layer” HPA coating technology with HPA produced at the company’s plant in Malaysia which will be fed from Altech’s kaolin deposit near Meckering in Western Australia.

Podium Minerals has tabled an array of high-grade intercepts from drilling at its Parks Reef PGM discovery in WA. Exploration across the central and eastern sectors of the emerging deposit has delivered some exciting results including 46 metres at 2.01 grams per tonne 3PGM from only 12m and 7m at 5.75 g/t 3PGM, which includes an impressive 1m at 25.74 g/t 3PGM from 89m down-hole.

Kingwest Resources has released a “strong economic case” for mining to kick off at its multi-deposit Menzies gold project in WA. The company’s scoping study on Menzies points to a proposed open-cut mining and toll treatment operation spitting out estimated net revenue of $330 million and free cash flows of between $64 million and $95 million across an initial project life of just over two-and-a-half years.

The rods are set to spin again for Oar Resources at the Gibraltar halloysite-kaolin project on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. A recently completed maiden air-core campaign netted kaolinite and high-grade halloysite up to 20 per cent in grade, with halloysite reported in 24 of the 59 holes drilled. An aggressive 2,500m air-core drilling campaign has commenced to follow-up on the intriguing discovery.

ASX-listed explorer, Venus Metals says latest drill hits have extended the known area of high-grade gold mineralisation at the exciting Grace gold discovery at its joint-ventured Youanmi gold project in WA by 100 metres to the south. Stand-out RC drill intersections received for three of 18 recently completed holes were 8m at 19.9 g/t gold from 68m including 4m at 38.3 g/t.

Novo Resources is set to pocket another $5 million in cash as the sale of its Blue Spec mine draws to a close. The company has offloaded the high-grade mine in the Pilbara to aspiring gold miner Calidus Resources, who has recently commenced construction of its Warrawoona mine and will use the ores from the mothballed operation to boost its own developing production profile.

Legendary former New Zealand national rugby team captain, Sean Fitzpatrick is about to become a regular at ASX-listed junior explorer, White Cliff Minerals. Fitzpatrick has been appointed as Strategic Advisor to the company in a deal that will see White Cliff pick up a slew of lucrative-looking gold projects in the land of the long white cloud.