Announcements

Buru Energy has moved to fast-track the phase-one small LNG plant development at its Rafael gas-condensate project in Western Australia’s Kimberley region by launching a pre-front end engineering design (FEED) study. Part of a multi-pronged strategy to monetise the asset, it is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, with the final FEED to follow soon after.

Emu NL has tabled anomalous rare earths results in 33 of 34 air-core holes sunk at the company’s Condingup project near Esperance, with assays as high as 2513 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO).

Triangle Energy has casing and wellheads lined up for two of three high-value wells it will drill at its onshore Perth Basin areas in the first half of next year. The company has received regulator approval to farm out a 50 per cent interest in its permits, which will see some $20 million enter the company’s coffers to offset drilling and seismic processing costs.

ASX-listed junior GreenTech Metals is leaps and bounds into a project-scale field program targeting historic lithium and recently-identified soil geochemical anomalies in Western Australia. The company today revealed it had identified nine broad lithium soil anomalous zones across its West Pilbara licence package, which covers a total area of 32 square kilometres and has more than 60sq km that are still to be mapped.

Buru Energy has started the hunt for an ally to help develop its Rafael conventional gas and condensate resource in Western Australia’s Canning Basin after appointing Miro Capital as a key advisor for its strategic partner selection process. With the Canning Basin’s first significant gas discovery, Buru believes the scope of its project will hep create a long line of suitors for Miro to assess.

Infinity Lithium’s bold plans for its San José project in Spain have been buoyed after the Regional Government of Extremadura revealed key stimulus measures stemming from changes to its “Lithium Decree Law”. In a further boost to the operation, management says the Federal Constitutional Court has declared exploitation of lithium resources in Extremadura as projects of “general and regional interest”.

Horizon Minerals has managed to get its foot on two lithium prospect areas with exquisite proximity to Greenbushes – the biggest hard-rock lithium mine in the world. The company says it paid just $225,000 in cash and shares to a private operator to get within about 10km of and along strike from Greenbushes, which has long been revered as the best lithium mine in the world.

Lindian Resources has unveiled a massive exploration target for its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi, with the upper echelon of the figure more than three times its already-significant mineral resource. The company recently revealed its maiden mineral resource estimate for Kangankunde, outlining 261 million tonnes at an impressive grade of 2.19 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO).

Mineral explorer Emu NL has kicked up a collection of intriguing rocks during a maiden foray into to its Georgetown project in Queensland, returning a staggering 18 per cent copper, 35.4 ounces silver and 26 per cent lead – while also mapping out a 2km-long pegmatite. Emu has secured the right to earn up to 80 per cent in the trio of exploration permits.

Everest Metals has a nice problem – there is too much visible nuggetty gold in the reefs at its Revere gold project and it will turn to a bulk sampling program to get a better handle on tonnes and grade. Everest says it might be able to mine Revere courtesy of a simple mobile “Gekko” mining plant and has wrapped an exploration target around the project.

Si6 Metals has kicked off a combined reverse-circulation and diamond drill campaign at its Airstrip copper-silver project – one of its three flagship operations in the African nation of Botswana. Historic drill results from Airstrip show some incredibly high-grade figures including up to 60.98 per cent copper and 2833 grams per tonne silver, which management says is associated with massive copper sulphides.

Estrella Resources has utilised a next-generation helicopter-borne electromagnetic geophysical system to identify several new conductor anomalies at its Carr Boyd project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. Multiple anomalies through a 5km strike length along the Colreavy komatiite have been recognised and, importantly, the “Target EM” system has also identified a new 3km linear zone under cover to the south of the Carr Boyd intrusion.

The dust has settled and the rods have been pulled on Aurum Resources’ maiden 74-hole air-core drilling campaign at its Ryans Find gold project, north-east of Koolyanobbing in WA’s illustrious goldfields. Drilling was designed to test the source of a suite of alluring gold and base metal anomalies etched out over a prospective – and under-explored – greenstone sequence.

Galan Lithium and ASX-listed joint venture partner Redstone Resources have snatched up a pair of exclusive projects in two of Canada’s premier lithium provinces – a 5400-hectare patch in the rapidly-emerging James Bay region that is home to Patriot Battery Metals’ gigantic Corvette deposit, and a 1400ha lot in Ontario’s evolving “Electric Avenue”, which houses Frontier Metals’ massive PAK lithium discovery.

Xanadu Mines has wrapped up a massive 48,000m infill drilling campaign at its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia and has unveiled some impressive early results from the company’s White Hill prospect. The program is aiming to provide an updated mineral resource before year’s end as Xanadu continues exploration with four diamond rigs investigating shallow targets and one drill rig targeting deep mineralisation.

Aruma Resources has completed the latest phase of drilling at its wholly-owned Salmon Gums gold project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region, with an initial assessment of drill core showing mineralised quartz veins at the company’s high-grade Thistle prospect. Assays from seven competed drilllholes have been sent for laboratory assessment and management is now eagerly awaiting the results.

Early boots on ground at Reach Resources’ White Castle manganese project in WA’s Gascoyne region have been handsomely rewarded with high-grade manganese readings up to an eye-catching peak of 48 per cent. The company has amassed an impressive foothold in the emerging critical metals province after acquiring an additional exploration licence from Firebird Metals and extending its tenure to 70km at the prospective Edmund Basin.

ASX-listed Neometals has achieved lithium recoveries of greater than 93 per cent from trials of a new process at its Primobius hub plant, in a move expected to offer savings in both operating and capital costs. Primobius is a joint venture (JV) company owned equally by Neometals and SMS group, which has installed plants in nearly every country in the world.

Classic Minerals appears set to fully own its Forrestania gold project, south of Southern Cross in Western Australia, after it entered into an agreement with Hannans subsidiary Reed Exploration to purchase the final 20 per cent of the operation. Combined with its Kat Gap project, the company’s total resource around Forrestania comes to 8.41 million tonnes at 1.45g/t gold for 391,417 ounces.

Lithium Universe is another step closer to establishing its proposed Quebec lithium processing hub after securing global consulting heavyweight Hatch to undertake the engineering study for its downstream lithium carbonate refinery in Canada. The first part of the study will be to determine the ideal location for the 16,000 tonnes per annum lithium carbonate refinery and the estimated capital and operating costs.

Toro Energy has kicked off its Lake Maitland extension study, which will also include uranium-vanadium ore from its Lake Way and Centipede-Millipede deposits that sit some 30km south-east of Wiluna in Western Australia. The company’s new assessment is aimed at adding considerable value to its original scoping study that forecast an annual EBITDA of $101 million during a 17.5-year mine life.

Altech Batteries has notched up a win that will see permitting for its 100MWh battery project in Germany go through State approval, bypassing the more complex Federal process and expediting its mission. The company is in joint venture with Fraunhofer IKTS to commercialise the battery plant, which is designed to meet the demands of the stationary energy storage market.

Legend Mining has launched a high-power fixed loop electromagnetics survey to identify conductors below 600m at its Octagonal prospect that forms part of its greater Rockford project in Western Aus

Galan Lithium has upped the ante, with its phase-two DFS into its Hombre Muerto West project in Argentina projecting an annual average EBITDA of US$374 million (AU$588 million) for an astounding 40 years. Hot off the heels of its phase-one DFS, the company is looking to boost production at its flagship project, which is estimated to deliver a whopping US$2 billion (AU$3.1 billion) NPV.

Buru Energy has acquired some 200 square kilometres of high-resolution 3D seismic data within and around its 100 per cent-owned prodigious Rafael gas-condensate project in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. Once the data, which also includes several 2D lines in an adjoining permit, is processed and interpreted by year’s end, it will provide enhanced clarity on the subsurface structure and will drive appraisal drilling for next year.

Twigger's Tales (aka Argonaut’s Liam Twigger) tackles the big issues around the green energy and critical minerals revolution and the paltry sum of money committed by the Australian Government when compared to the USA’s big, bold cheque. It is time for Australia to have its own “Oppenheimer moment” to cement its place in the vanguard of the critical minerals charge.

Strickland Metals is galloping along at its Horse Well prospect in the Warburton mineral field, near Wiluna in Western Australia, with more solid gold hits from drilling. Management has today revealed new intercepts of 4m at 1.7g/t gold from 2m in near-surface laterite and an impressive 58m at 1.7g/t gold from 17m, including 10m at 4.2g/t gold, largely in the weathered oxide zone.

ChemX Materials has confirmed the significant 4N (99.99 per cent) purity results from its 100 per cent-owned high-purity alumina “micro-plant” in Perth’s southern suburbs in Western Australia. The results were determined across an impressive spectrum of 66 elements and represent a key milestone for the company – achieved within just a year of commissioning its HPA facility ¬– on its pathway to 5N purity.

Lithium Universe is one step closer to establishing its proposed Quebec lithium processing hub after appointing Primero Group as the lead manager to design its multi-purpose, stand-alone concentrator in Canada. Management says the appointment follows an extensive process to procure a contractor with suitable experience and capabilities to undertake the design of a stand-alone concentrator to process one million tonnes per year of spodumene ore.

Earlier this year, the US State of Nevada overtook Western Australia as the world’s No.1 mining jurisdiction, according to the Fraser Institute’s latest annual survey of mining companies. But just down the road, Arizona – a long-time mining frontier ¬– has also been attracting significant interest from several ASX-listed exploration companies such as Riedel Resources, Eagle Mountain Mining and Patriot Lithium.

ABx Group has unearthed rare earths grades it believes are “unrivalled” for clay-hosted mineralisation in Australia at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound prospect in Tasmania, with an eye-watering result of 17,333 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO). The results came from a program 2km west of a hole that yielded the company’s previous best assay result with a top value of 4444ppm TREO.

Strickland Metals continues to deliver from drilling at its Horse Well project after recording a 39m hit at 6.1 grams per tonne gold from 25m at its Palomino prospect, including 7m going 22.2g/t gold from 45m. The latest drilling is targeting southern extensions to the Marwari target discovery hole that recorded a 31m intercept grading 5.6g/t gold from 72m.