Announcements

Buru Energy is looking to end the year on a high following a flurry of activity across its WA-based oil and gas portfolio over the past few months including a successful November crude oil lift of 73,000 barrels which added $3.8 million to its bottom line. The deal marks the company’s third and final delivery for the year for a total exported volume of roughly 220,000 barrels.

After a round of infill drilling Blackstone Minerals has confirmed high grades of up to 4.3 per cent nickel, 4.73 per cent copper and 18.2 grams per tonne platinum group elements at the company’s Ta Khoa nickel project in Vietnam. The assays come from the company’s recently completed campaign of resource definition drilling at the project’s King Snake massive sulphide vein deposit.

ASX-listed Terrain Minerals is set for an exploration blitz across its wholly owned Lort River project near Esperance where the company is chasing clay-hosted rare earth elements. The company has engaged Cube Consulting to assist with a strategic exploration plan as Terrain looks to define a maiden resource at the site as soon as possible.

Estrella Resources has signed an offtake and ore processing agreement with Glencore subsidiary Murrin Murrin Operations for 2000 to 4000 tonnes of bulk metallurgical sample from its 5A nickel mine near Kambalda. The company says a positive process outcome from the bulk metallurgical sample will give Estrella a strong base from which to fully develop the 5A nickel mine using simple pit cutback methods.

ASX-listed Neometals has completed pre-feasibility study for production of titanium and iron-vanadium concentrate at its wholly owned Barrambie titanium and vanadium project near Sandstone, Western Australia. Results from the study confirm the viability of commercialising the project with the potential to supply in excess of 500,000 tonnes per annum of high-quality supply constrained ilmenite in the first 10 years of the project.

White Cliff Minerals has commenced a high-resolution magnetic and radiometric survey at its Yinnetharra lithium and rare earths project about 100km north-east of the Gascoyne Junction in WA. Previous rock chip sampling at the site has returned grades of up to 924 ppm total rare earth oxides and the in-progress geophysical campaign is aimed at refining and generating new targets at the site.

Shares in ASX-listed mineral explorer Emu surged 60 per cent during intraday trading after it lodged applications to extend its prospective Condingup project to an overall tenement area of 734 square kilometres. The company has also applied for another three new tenement packages in the broader area totalling a further 304 square kilometres. The latest land grab will substantially increase Emu’s exposure to rare earths by capturing more of the prospective Booanya granites.

Legend Mining’s board has got its boots on the ground at the company’s Rockford project in the Fraser Range to view field activities on-site including an ongoing 3D seismic survey of its Octagonal prospect. The company recently engaged hard rock seismic solutions company HiSeis to define the structure of the Octagonal intrusive complex at Rockford to a minimum depth of 1500m below the surface where it is targeting nickel-copper mineralisation.

Lindian Resources is off to a promising start with early samples from its maiden drill program at the Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi showing continuous visible monazite from surface to current depth. The company says monazite is the rare earths bearing mineral Lindian is targeting at the project and mineralisation is consistent with expectations indicated from surface mapping.

Valor Resources has successfully deployed radon-in-soil surveys at its Hidden Bay uranium project and identified priority targets located close to the historic Rabbit Lake mine in the Athabasca Basin, Canada. The surveys were designed to follow up on prospective targets previously identified by the company. The area of interest is situated close to the Athabasca unconformity with the potential for both basement-hosted and Athabasca sandstone-hosted uranium deposits.

Empire Energy has shattered another record in the Beetaloo sub-basin with a 2632m horizontal section of its Carpentaria-3H gas well in the Northern Territory cementing itself as the longest well section drilled in the zone to date. The company says over 90 per cent of its latest interval penetrated the hydrocarbon-rich Velkerri-B shale formation where strong gas shows were observed.

Internationally recognised lithium expert Joe Lowry expects the price of battery quality lithium carbonate to continue its upward trajectory into 2027 before hitting highs of US$97,000 per tonne as the supply and demand curve starts to invert. Speaking at this year’s Lithium Update by the Experts at Perth’s Hyatt Hotel, Lowry dubbed lithium the “irreplaceable element” in the new energy transition and says the balance of power in the industry has switched from China to Australia and South America.

WA-focused gold explorer Classic Minerals has received final approval from the state regulator to produce gold from the company’s flagship Kat Gap project south of Southern Cross in WA. The company says over the coming months it will move from a pure explorer to gold producer. Classic intends to take a staged mining approach at Kat Gap as it looks to reduce early overhead costs and mitigate risk.

Buru Energy has stepped up its commercialisation efforts associated to its Rafael gas development in WA’s Canning Basin by signing an agreement with Transborders Energy to conduct a pre-feasibility study for an LNG plant solution. The company says the Kimberley-based facility could promote a swifter, simpler and more capital efficient mechanism to liquify and export its resources.

Following rolling success across its reinvigorated battery metals and rare earth-focused portfolio, White Cliff Minerals has offloaded its non-core Gardener Dome rare earths project in WA to ASX-listed explorer Black Cat. The transaction will see the company pocket a non-refundable deposit of $5,000, followed by $45,000 in cash and $150,000 worth of fully paid ordinary shares in Black Cat upon the deal's completion.

Surefire Resources has achieved excellent gold recoveries of between 97.6 per cent and 99.5 per cent from gravity and cyanide leach tests on samples from the company’s Yidby gold project in the Murchison district of WA’s Mid West. The metallurgical test work was designed to provide greater insights into Surefire’s potential overall gold recovery and processing options for the project.

After an initial phase of reconnaissance, Askari Metals has uncovered high-grade spodumene-hosted lithium within extensive pegmatites at the company’s recently acquired Uis lithium, tantalum and tin project in Namibia, Africa. Results up to 2.1 per cent lithium oxide were returned from 196 rock chip samples collected as part of the company’s due diligence evaluation of the advanced project.

Blackstone Minerals has validated its process for the company’s proposed Ta Khoa nickel refinery project in Vietnam after its metallurgical test work program was successful in producing battery-grade nickel and cobalt sulphates in addition to processing third-party cobalt supply. The findings come from batch test work and commissioning of piloting equipment completed in August as part of a definitive feasibility study into the company’s Ta Khoa nickel project and its namesake refinery.

JV partners Triangle and Pilot Energy could lodge a formal application to use the company’s Cliff Head oil reservoirs as carbon storage tanks in the next few weeks after finalising the regulatory approval data required for the submission. The producer’s oil fields are currently churning out about 700 barrels of oil per day but once depleted it is hoped they will be used to progress the partnership’s clean energy initiatives.

BMG Resources has extended the mineralised footprint of its Abercromby gold project near Wiluna out to 1.3km after receiving assay results from the company’s recent diamond drilling campaign. Assay highlights include a 5.56m hit at 3.5 grams per tonne gold from 400m whilst a second hole recorded a 6m intercept going 2.79 g/t gold from 171m.

As the price of gold continues to recover lost territory, Surefire Resources has wrapped up a five-hole diamond drilling program at the company’s Yidby gold project in the Murchison district of WA’s Mid West. The campaign was designed to reveal structural and lithological information as the explorer looks to home in on the project’s broad gold mineralisation and localised high grades. The drill core has been transported to a laboratory in WA and is currently under the geological microscope.

West Perth-based Asra Minerals has appointed experienced geologist and mining executive Rob Longley as its new Managing Director. Longley was General Manager Geology for Sundance Resources in Africa from 2007 to 2015 and CEO and MD of Helios Gold. His most recent position was CEO and MD of minerals explorer Ardiden and he is also a non-executive director of Green Technology Metals.

Shares in mineral explorer Tambourah Metals shot up over 83 per cent this morning after multiple prospective pegmatites were confirmed across a strike length of 500m at the company’s Russian Jack lithium project in WA’s Pilbara region. The explorer also excited the market by claiming a small yet highly prospective tenement in the Pilbara’s latest lithium hotspot.

The Cliff Head joint venture between Triangle and Pilot Energy continues to deliver the goods with the duo completing its fourth tanker load of 26,500 barrels of oil onto the AB Paloma vessel at the Port of Geraldton in WA. Triangle Energy holds a 78.75 per cent share in the partnership and says the ship is now stocked with 53,000 barrels of oil and is on its way to a refinery in Asia where it will be sold.

The recently released Federal Budget has highlighted the importance of the mining and resources industry to the Australian economy with a particular focus on the critical minerals sector. One of the most important commodities to the current market is lithium due to the importance of the metal to the electric vehicle and battery sector.

Shares in Venture Minerals vaulted over 30 per cent in intraday trading after the company doubled its rare earths portfolio through a new discovery at its Golden Grove North zinc-copper-gold project in WA’s Mid-West. Results from a surface sampling campaign at the operation’s Vulcan prospect graded up to 12.5 per cent total rare earth oxides and follow the recent detection at the company’s Mount Lindsay project in Tasmania.

As it looks to table an updated mineral resource, Australian explorer Godolphin Resources has confirmed rare earths mineralisation in a four-hole diamond drill program completed in July at the company’s Narraburra rare earths project in NSW. All holes in the 285.6m-long campaign intercepted rare earths across the project in both weathered surficial material and in underlying fresh rock with a peak grade of 1027ppm TREO.

Askari Metals has expanded its lithium foothold in WA’s Pilbara region by entering a binding agreement to acquire all of the shares in private company, Greenstone Lithium, in exchange for an upfront consideration of $250,000 in cash and shares. The 65-square-kilometre project is considered prospective for lithium, tin and tantalum mineralisation and is comprised of one granted tenement and one tenement application.

Captivate Energy Alaska, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed oil and gas explorer 88 Energy could soon pick up ten leases spanning over 25,000 acres in Alaska's North Slope. The acquisition follows a formal bidding process in that saw the company win the rights to acquire the tenure that boasts historical hydrocarbon shows and an existing 3D dataset which could expedite future work.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has completed a heritage survey at its Perrinvale gold project about 80km west of Leonora in WA that paves the way for boots on the ground exploration work. Historical campaigns unveiled a suite of anomalous target zones that were not fully examined and the company now plans to double-back and assess the potentially gold-bearing prospects.

Newly listed lithium and gold explorer Octava Minerals has lit up a number of priority targets at the company’s Talga lithium project in WA’s Pilbara region after a preliminary portable XRF machine analysis of over 2000 soil samples. Whilst the company awaits its full laboratory results it already has identified multiple additional pegmatites and marked seven priority target areas for further field assessment.

Toro Energy has unearthed high-grade gold results from geochemical assays of rock chip samples collected to the south of the company’s Golden Ways target that forms part of its Yandal gold project. The company collected a total of 85 specimens in the recently identified New England target area about 2km south of Golden Ways with results returning impressive grades including one sample at 70.4 grams per tonne gold.