Announcements

American West Metals has revealed a sizeable new copper target at its Storm project in Nunavut, Canada, with historical drill tests intersecting visual copper sulphides at its newly titled Midway prospect. The company says a 2018-hole intersected 58m of visual sulphides, primarily chalcocite, with intervals containing up to 2.5 per cent estimated sulphide content.

With upgrades almost completed and a first gold pour under its belt Aguia Resources is about to kick off a 2500m diamond drill campaign targeting down-dip extensions to the vein systems at the company’s Santa Barbara gold project in Colombia. Aguia aims to deliver a maiden JORC resource for the project by year’s end. The company has also received government approval to sell its gold.

This edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits singles out an exceptional recent hit. Patriot Battery Metals’ latest caesium discovery in Quebec, Canada, includes a best hit of 5m at 13.2% caesium oxide, while another hole produced a top grade in 1.1m at 26.61% caesium oxide.

Fear or fortune? Bulls N’ Bears takes a look at some ASX-listed companies trading at sub-1c a share that are flying under the radar despite doing interesting things after Trump’s tariffs sent the market sharply south. Should they indicate fear or point to fortune? You be the judge.

Dateline Resources has kicked off a bankable feasibility study at its 1.1-million-ounce Colosseum gold project in California, aimed at transforming the deposit into a long-life, high-margin open pit operation. By planning a two million tonnes per annum process operation, the company is targeting 75,000 ounces of gold production per year across 8.5 years, all as gold prices soar past US$3400 per ounce.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Grand Gulf Energy, after it acquired an option over a billion-barrel oil prospect off the coast of Namibia. Meteoric Resources announced a maiden resource for its ionic clay deposit in Brazil, Aus Strategic Materials flourished under US rare earths supply concerns following Chinese export bans and NeuroScientific Biophamaceuticals acquired an innovative and life-changing stem cell technology company.

Image Resources has shipped its first heavy mineral concentrate from its new Atlas project in the Dandaragan shire, 170km north of Perth, under an existing off-take agreement used for its previous Boonanarring project. The company shipped a nominal 10,000 tonnes of wet HMC from the port of Geraldton last week, just two months after commissioning the plant.

In a dramatic plot twist, Xanadu Mines has indefinitely postponed a shareholder meeting to approve a 25 per cent sell-down of its massive 4.7- million-tonne copper and 11-million-gold-ounce Kharmagtai project in Mongolia to Zijin Mining. The company says the delay will allow both parties to discuss a range of potential corporate outcomes. The big question is: What’s brewing behind the scenes?

Strickland Metals jumped 21% to 11c after securing $5M from Chinese mining giant Zijin to turbocharge drilling at its 7.4M-ounce Rogozna project in Serbia. The strategic placement gives Zijin a 2.4% stake and adds firepower to Strickland’s drill blitz, including a fast-track push to deliver a maiden resource at the high-grade Gradina gold deposit. Zijin already operates major copper-gold projects in Serbia, adding weight to the new alliance.

GreenTech Metals has hailed significant results from its first two diamond drill holes at its Whundo volcanogenic copper-zinc project south of Karratha, including 7.14m at 1.46% copper and 1.23% zinc from 277.16m. That intercept from the company’s unmined Austin conductor target includes 6.3m going 1.84% copper and 1.4% zinc from 278m, including 3.45m assaying 2.42% copper and 2.41% zinc from 278m.

Galan Lithium has announced a transformation partnership with US lithium expert Authium for a funding and offtake package that will propel its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project toward first production. The deal includes a fully funded and operated plant to be supplied by Authium, eliminating a substantial US$41.5 million (A$65.5M) in capital expenditure for Galan.

In a major step toward its clean energy pivot, Pilot Energy has secured $5 million via a heavily oversubscribed placement priced at an impressive 100 per cent premium to its last trade. Pilot will use $4.5M to shore up the acquisition of a remaining 82 per cent stake in the Cliff Head oil project from Triangle Energy.

Ardea Resources has secured a pivotal $4.6 million strategic placement from Japanese joint venture partner Sumitomo Metal Mining to progress the company’s mammoth Kalgoorlie Nickel project in Western Australia. The cash injection will primarily fuel working capital, ensuring Ardea’s expert team continues to drive the ongoing $98.5M definitive feasibility study, which Sumitomo will pay for.

Aurum Resources has smashed out another big gold hit in West Africa, striking a massive 89 metres at 2.42g/t gold from 213m at its Boundiali gold project in Cote d’Ivoire. The standout hit came from its BDT1 deposit, which makes up part of Aurum’s 1.59-million-ounce gold JORC resource. The drill bit also picked up sections of 7m at 14.46g/t gold and 6m at 9.01g/t gold in the hole.

Askari Metals’ recent trawl through a historical exploration database at its Uis project in Namibia has identified significant tin, tantalite and rubidium mineralisation within its licence area. The review reveals “exceptionally high” tin, tantalum and rubidium responses from a 492-sample rock chip database, with assays including 3.17% tin oxide, 5226ppm tantalum pentoxide and 0.87% rubidium oxide.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has struck gold up to 9m grading 3.52 grams per tonne from 58m in fresh rock at its Lighthorse project near Pinjin, 140km northeast of Kalgoorlie. The company says the first-pass reverse circulation drill program appears to have cracked the code by confirming high-grade primary mineralisation exists below a shallow supergene blanket that was discovered two months ago.

St George Mining plans to start a maiden drill program within weeks focussing on expanding a 40.64Mt rare earths resource estimate from early April for its Araxá project in Brazil. The company’s mineral resource estimate for the venture came in at 41.2Mt and 0.68 per cent niobium pentoxide and 40.6Mt and 4.13 per cent total rare earths oxides.

Strickland Metals has hit top gear at its monster 7.4-million-ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project in Serbia by mobilising a sixth diamond rig to fuel what the company says is the biggest drilling campaign in the project’s history. The fresh rig is hard at work at the gold-rich Gradina deposit as part of Strickland’s effort to deliver a maiden resource at the prospect by the end of the year.

Aurumin Limited has wrapped up its latest RC drill program at the company’s Johnson Range project, which is part of its wider Central Sandstone gold project in the WA Goldfields, as it aims to ramp up its existing 64,700-ounce resource. The project is on a granted mining lease and near multiple processing centres, potentially enabling near-term development and mining opportunities to cash in on a roaring gold price.

Triangle Energy has started drilling its hotly anticipated Becos-1 oil exploration well in Western Australia’s Perth Basin. The rods for the conventional well started spinning two days ago to target a fault-trapped rock layer called the Bookara Sandstone from the Triassic period. The company estimates there could be 1-21MMbbl in the pay zone, with a best guess of 5MMbbl.

Javelin Minerals has kicked off its maiden drill program at the company’s recently acquired Eureka gold project, 50km north of Kalgoorlie, targeting extensions to mineralisation outside its existing 112,000 gold-ounce resource. The company has hit the ground running and has already completed four holes at the southern end of the Eureka pit and plans to test several high-grade targets to the pit’s north.

Ardea Resources has completed a 287-hole infill reverse circulation drilling program to support potential resource classification upgrades at its vast Goongarrie Hub nickel project, 5km south of Menzies. The company drilled 186 holes at its Big Four prospect for 10,238m, while 101 holes were put in at Scotia Dam for 6332m. Ardea has sampled a total of 16,570m of vertical holes at 2m intervals over their full depths.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is… Osteopore Ltd after its 3D-printed bone regrowth implants were approved by the European Union for distribution. Leeuwin Metals’ historical gold results unveiled extensive shallow high-grade mineralisation over 3km at its new Marda project in WA, Golden Horse Minerals returned stellar gold extensions at its WA project and Pivotal Metals ran up on no news other than renewed interest in its Canadian copper project with a sizeable resource.

As Larvotto charges ahead with a definitive feasibility study at its Hillgrove gold-antimony project in NSW, the company has now opened a new community hub in Armidale to keep locals in the loop. Larvotto says the Hillgrove Hub will deliver on its commitment to locals by offering a front-row seat to the project’s progress while fostering open dialogue with the community.

Aurumin Limited's first RC drilling program, along with pulp re-sampling of old holes, has thrown up some high-grade iron hits at its Central Sandstone project in WA’s Mid West region, including a best 10m at 62% iron. The 2000m drilling campaign across two of Aurumin’s three granted mining leases was co-funded as part of private company Newcam Mineral’s due diligence before exercising its option to enter a joint venture with Aurumin.

Lindian Resources has kicked off early site works at its world-class Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, marking a major step towards production. A new 5km access road is already well underway, allowing the company to mobilise earthmoving equipment and begin ground preparations. The move is part of a fast-track strategy to accelerate stage one construction at one of the world’s top rare earth deposits.

Neometals has responded to the current heady gold prices and somewhat lukewarm battery metals market with a strategic re-evaluation of its Barrambie gold project in WA’s Murchison region. The company says it has identified “a compelling opportunity” to use its in-house expertise, infrastructure, strategic position and existing Barrambie exploration target to bring a gold prospect to a decision to mine status in the second half of 2026.

American West Metals has entered into a partnership and funding agreement for the development of its 2200-square-kilometre Storm copper project in Nunavut, Canada, which will underpin the project’s long-term future. The binding agreement with Ocean Partners Holdings includes an US$2M (A$3.32M) private placement, provision of up to 80% of initial capital for project development and Ocean Partners’ offtake of 100% of the project’s copper and silver production.

Thunderbird Resources’ joint venture partner Firetail Resources is ramping up exploration efforts at their Picha JV copper project in Peru, ahead of maiden drill testing set for the second half of this year. Firetail is upping its game with geophysics, soil sampling and structural mapping underway to unlock the region’s substantial copper porphyry potential.

Reach Resources has unveiled a shallow, high-grade and open-pittable resource of 61,300 gold ounces at its Blue Heaven deposit, part of the company’s Murchison South project in Western Australia. Independent consultancy Mining Plus has put its stamp of approval on a mineral resource of 681,000 tonnes grading 2.8g/t gold from an optimised pit design at the company’s Blue Heaven deposit.

The United States Interior Department has reconfirmed ASX-listed Dateline Resources’ rights to mine and explore for gold and rare earths at its flagship Colosseum project in California. The long-awaited decision paves the way for a dual-commodity future for the company, just 10km from the US’s only operating REE mine, Mountain Pass.

Aurumin has launched a 1250m reverse circulation drilling program at the 64,700-ounce Gwendolyn gold deposit in its Johnson Range project, between Southern Cross and Sandstone. The validation and infill campaign is the first drilling undertaken since 2013 at the 803,000-tonne, 2.51g/t resource and, in the current heady gold price market, it has the potential to prove up an impeccably timed resource development opportunity.