Michael Philipps

The Nunuvut Planning Commission has given White Cliff Minerals the go-ahead to kick off exploration at its Coppermine project in Canada, where it will follow up on high-grade historical copper results. The company says it marks a major step in the permitting process and allows it to appoint contractors for this year’s exploration initiatives in the Canadian province of Nunavut.

Galan Lithium says it is just two weeks away from beginning the evaporation process at its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina with the initial filling of its first pond underway. The move marks the first major step of the long-term production schedule for the project where Galan is aiming to produce high-grade concentrate of up to 6 per cent lithium by the first half of 2025.

Xanadu Mines has entered into a binding term sheet to earn up to 80 per cent of the Sant Tolgoi project in Mongolia which hosts multiple shallow copper-nickel targets over several kilometres of strike. The deal adds to the company’s already significant presence in Mongolia which is home to its flagship Kharmagtai copper-gold project and its highly prospective Red Mountain operation.

St George Mining has expanded its footprint on the Ida fault in Western Australia’s Goldfields region after picking up a new exploration licence alongside its Destiny rare earths and lithium project. The recently acquired Prince of Wales tenement is considered prospective for lithium, nickel and gold mineralisation and covers about 8km of the Ida fault next door to Destiny’s 90km stretch of the geological feature.

White Cliff Minerals has added 3300sq-km to its Canadian portfolio after securing the Radium Point multi-element project in the Northwest Territories province that takes in several historical mining operations. The company is focussed on iron-oxide-copper-gold-uranium deposits and silver mineralisation in the area that hosts the historical Eldorado, Echo Bay and Contact Lake mines.

While 2023 saw explorers flock to the James Bay region of Quebec in Canada, a host of ASX-listed companies set their sights further north to the province of Nunavut to hunt for gold, copper and critical minerals. With Quebec becoming a little too popular, several hopefuls decided to roll the dice in the cold, but far less crowded province of Nunavut.

Galan Lithium is making impressive progress with the construction of its wholly-owned Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina, with its first evaporation pond almost complete and liner installation underway. Filling the initial pond is expected this quarter, with the evaporation process for the operation – the first major step of the company’s long-term production schedule – set to begin in the coming months.

Larvotto Resources has lit up a slew of new drill targets at its Mt Isa copper-gold-cobalt project in Queensland after collecting more than 6200 samples from a geochemical soil sampling program last year. Key areas highlighted for further exploration include the Ballara Saddle, Portal Creek, IXL and Psamathe targets, with a geophysical induced-polarisation survey already underway.

While some companies slow down at the end of each year, Valor Resources spent December building its lithium and uranium portfolio and also added a cool $1 million to its coffers through a successful placement. The first move it made in the last month of 2023 was entering into an exclusive option agreement to pick up three lithium projects in the Canadian province of Ontario.