Announcements

Lithium Universe has cleared another key component in its plans to develop the proposed Bécancour lithium refinery in Canada after the successful completion of two environmental field studies at the site. In February, the company secured a prime location for its proposed refinery after executing an option agreement to purchase a commercial property in the province of Quebec.

Aurum Resources is building its bank balance ahead of a beefed-up exploration blitz across its Boundiali gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, with a maiden JORC resource expected before the year’s end. Management has received firm commitments from a $17 million two-tranche placement and is also offering eligible shareholders a shot at a $3 million share purchase plan in a bid to pocket about $20 million.

GreenTech Metals is putting the finishing touches on a new 2200m reverse-circulation drilling plan aimed at lifting the resource numbers at its Whundo volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit in Western Australia’s West Pilbara region. The move follows the company’s detailed review of the old Whundo and Ayshia deposits and other spatially or geologically-related targets identified between the two zones, primarily from fixed-loop electromagnetic geophysics

Middle Island Resources has secured the maximum $300,000 grant from the NT Government, which the company says is an endorsement of the significant targets at its Barkly copper-gold “super-project” in the Top End. The co-funded payment will enable the first-round testing of a spread of iron oxide-copper-gold targets at its Georgina project and one deep diamond-hole at its Bedrock prospect within the Barkly ground.

Triangle Energy expects to have the drill rods turning late next month at its Booth-1 well in the North Perth Basin after the company today confirmed the rig will soon be released to the joint venture project. Management says Booth hosts a prospective resource range of between 113 and 540 billion cubic feet of gas (Bcf), with a best estimate of 279Bcf.

Lindian Resources has shortlisted two experienced contractors to vie for the prize of designing and constructing a processing plant at the company’s hulking Kangankunde rare earths project in the south-east African nation of Malawi. Management, which is close to completing a stage-one feasibility study for the project, says both firms have a track-record of delivering significant-scale mining and processing operations in several African countries.

Classic Minerals has pumped up the combined indicated resources for its Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene deposits to establish a new mark of 69,966 ounces of gold at the company’s Forrestania project near Southern Cross in Western Australia. Management says its inferred resource for the two projects now shows more than 227,613 gold ounces, bringing the combined indicated and inferred resource to 297,579 ounces.

Reach Resources’ mission to find the mineralisation source at its Wabli Creek project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region appears to have paid off, with samples chipped off the bedrock at the site returning 17.65 per cent niobium oxide. A recent geophysical data review at the operation identified an oval-shaped magnetic intrusive it believes is linked to the source of niobium, yttrium and rare earths mineralisation.

Image Resources has launched the on-ground construction activity for its Atlas heavy mineral sands project in Western Australia’s North Perth Basin as management ramps up the operation’s proposed development. The company plans to soon start building a new accommodation camp at Atlas and will also dismantle and transfer the wet concentrator from its now-completed Boonanarring mining project.

Strickland Metals has launched into a new exploration campaign at its 5.44 million-ounce gold equivalent Rogozna project in Serbia, with two rigs kicking off a planned 60,000m of drilling and another two on the way. The infill, extensional and scout probing strategy devised by the company will be the biggest program ever committed to the project.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including WA1 Resources’ 40.1m at 3.2 per cent niobium pentoxide from 126m. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits in the past week from ACDC Metals, Iltani Resources, KGL Resources and Talisman Mining.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is … The Calmer Co International. Its shares jumped 185 per cent on the back of a significant spike in online and retail sales for its products to see it join fellow movers and shakers Firetail Resources, Osteopore and INOVIQ.

Gold Mountain has found thorium anomalies – which may indicate high-grade rare earths – in four areas up to 250m wide within its Brazilian ground after tests with a new state-of-the-art hand-held spectrometer. The results from the Ronaldinho project area peaked at about 640 counts per second thorium. Management says the hits are similar to those from known rare earths grading more than 4 per cent TREO.

The bright lights of a future Saudi Arabia are enticing Australian companies such as Surefire Resources to the Arabian Peninsula – and the company is looking to supply the minerals needed to build the Kingdom’s pipeline of significant projects planned for the coming decades. The super-wealthy country has openly acknowledged it needs help from “experienced mining heads” to help develop its fledgling industry.

A comprehensive analysis study by Askari Metals has identified seven new lithium pegmatite targets at the company’s Uis project in Namibia, with a detailed mapping and rock sampling campaign already underway. Management says its recently-discovered K10 pegmatite has an interpreted strike length of 3.1km, the GP target has an estimated length of 2.4km and its Tawny prospect extends for 2.2km.

Novo Resources has jagged some solid gold numbers from a six-hole, 2529m diamond drilling program at its Belltopper project in Victoria, with a highlight hit of 2m going 15.18 grams per tonne gold from 185m. The intersection flagged a previously undiscovered gold-bearing reef, while 430m further south, a second hole shows 4.25m going 5.88g/t gold from 274.75m with 2m running 11.15g/t from 277m.

Lithium Universe says it is making significant progress in definitive feasibility study work for its proposed Bécancour lithium refinery in Canada, with process flow sheets and stream tables already finalised. The company has plans for a 16,000 tonnes per annum battery-grade lithium carbonate refinery in the North American nation, with heavyweight engineering firm Hatch commissioned to undertake a comprehensive study for the refinery’s design.

ABx Group has confirmed that its “Alcore” technology has delivered its best fluorine recovery result to date, returning 93 per cent in testwork at its Technology Centre on the NSW Central Coast – increasing the company’s confidence in the commercial viability of the process. Management says detailed experimental work and an in-depth knowledge of the relevant process underpinned the impressive result.

88 Energy says its maiden net mean prospective resource estimate for its Leonis project on the North Slope of Alaska shows 381 million barrels (MMbbls) of recoverable oil from the Upper Schrader Bluff formation. The prospective estimate indicates an unrisked (3U) net high of 671MMbbls, a 2U best estimate of 338MMbbls and a 1U low of 167MMbbls.

Neometals has taken a first-hand look at the extraction of high-value metals palladium and gold from metallurgical testwork at the United State-based Precious Metals Recovery pilot plant as it considers taking an 80 per cent stake in the high-tech operation. A second trial has also now begun in a bid to replicate the success when using the preferred feedstock and re-agents process.

King River Resources has completed 11 reverse-circulation drillholes for 1824m at two of the company’s Langrenus gold targets within its Tennant Creek project in the Northern Territory and has sent some 1300 samples away for assay. Management now plans to move the rig to its Commitment deposit, then back to Langrenus to test the orientation of a new quartz-haematite target.

A four-stage plan has allowed Reach Resources to consolidate its share position, negotiate a farm-in deal, raise cash and focus its attention on multiple targets at its Wabli project in WA’s Gascoyne region. The strategic repositioning comes hot on the heels of the company identifying a magnetic intrusive it believes may be linked to the source of niobium, yttrium and rare earths at Wabli Creek.

St George Mining is planning to launch a grid-spaced gravity survey next month at its intriguing C1 rare earths prospect at the company’s Destiny project, about 100km south-west of the Western Australian mining town of Kambalda. The company will conduct a grid-spaced 200m-by-200m gravity survey that has been designed to home in on discrete targets within the prominent magnetic and gravity-high core of C1.

Perth-based explorer Thunderbird Resources is beefing up its bank balance to the tune of $4.1 million ahead of a 2400m drilling blitz targeting high-grade uranium at its flagship Hidden Bay project in the globally-renowned Athabasca Basin in Canada. Fieldwork programs are already underway, with the company’s drill-testing of multiple targets at the operation expected to kick off in August.

Red Metal has delivered a boost to its Sybella rare earths discovery in Queensland, with metallurgical testwork enhancing the prospects of a low-cost and low-capital heap leach processing operation. Management believes the results could pave the way for a process route that lifts revenue and lowers processing costs in a future mine at the project.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Southern Cross Gold’s 0.5m at 473g/t gold equivalent from 913.6m. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits in the past week from Falcon Metals, Flynn Gold, Northern Minerals and Austral Resources.

Estrella Resources’ hunt for manganese in Timor-Leste is heating up, with recent grab samples from riverbeds going as high as 58.4 per cent manganese at the company’s newly-coined Dasidara prospect. Management says geological reconnaissance across its 503.7 square kilometres of ground has defined mineralisation through 30km of strike length as proposals to kick off trenching and drilling are maturing.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week goes to … DY6 Metals, which hiked more than 505 per cent on the back of impressive historic rare earth assays at its Tundulu project in Malawi. It joins fellow runners Forrestania Resources, Nanoveu and DeSoto Resources.

ASX-listed Aurumin will focus its attention on its flagship Sandstone gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region after completing the last of its strategic divestments near Southern Cross in a deal with Kula Gold. The company has entered into a binding term sheet for Kula to acquire an initial 51 per cent interest in the Mt Palmer project for $250,000 in cash or shares.

Si6 Metals says it has discovered a 3km-by-800m pegmatite corridor at its Padre Paraiso project in the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil, with assays returning anomalous lithium from auger drilling and rock chip samples. The project sits 20km from Sigma Lithium’s renowned Grota do Cirilo operation that produces 270,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate.

Liatam Mining has today confirmed it will spend $6 million in a new hunt for lithium at the Quartz Hill joint venture project it shares with Novo Resources in WA’s Pilbara region. Exploration to date has extended the known hard rock lithium mineralisation at the JV’s Lepidolite Fields prospect, with sampling results reading as high as 2.71 per cent lithium oxide and 828ppm caesium oxide.

Scoping study details revealed today on the Carnaby Resources-DiscovEx Resources copper-gold joint venture in Mount Isa shows the operation will deliver $491 million in free cash during the project’s nine-year mine life. The study indicates that commercialisation of the project is viable by 2026 and also confirms that processing by a third party will be the best option.