Announcements

A 14-hole step-back diamond drilling program has rewarded Aurum Resources with a gold hit of 40m at 1.03 grams per tonne from 136m at its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire as it moves to develop a large-scale mine. The headline hit also features a 5m slice at 1.7g/t gold, with other results including 11m at 2.15g/t from 169m and 10m at 2.02g/t.

Lycaon Resources has engaged a renowned geophysical expert to help make its Stansmore project that sits in Western Australia’s West Arunta region the next cab off the niobium rank to follow other nearby recent success stories. Both WA1 Resources and Encounter Resources captured the market’s attention after identifying niobium and rare earths mineralisation associated with a carbonatite intrusive in the same region.

Local rare earths explorer ABx Group and TSX-listed Canadian firm Ucore Rare Metals have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to forge a binding offtake agreement for the supply of a mixed rare earths carbonate –enriched in the valuable dysprosium and terbium metals – sourced from the former’s Deep Leads project that sits 45km west of Launceston in northern Tasmania.

Meeka Metals has slotted in the final piece of the approvals puzzle from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS), allowing it to launch full-scale development of its Murchison gold project in Western Australia. With the green light now shining brightly, Meeka has quickly moved from planning to construction and is targeting its first gold pour by July next year.

Aurum Resources has secured the renewal of its Boundiali South exploration licence, which hosts its advanced high-grade Nyangboue gold deposit, in the centre-north of the prospective West African country of Côte d'Ivoire. Boundiali South is one of four exploration tenements comprising Aurum's Boundiali gold project and hosts three prime gold prospects – Gbemou, Nyangboue and Nyangboue South.

Ora Banda Mining has unveiled a fresh haul of strong gold drilling results from its Riverina underground mine just outside of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. More than 100 holes have returned 10-gram metres of gold, including a 2.7m hit at a juicy 65.9g/t, while the company has also launched into its second underground operation at Sand King to the south.

American West Metals has jagged a 13.5 per cent copper hit in resource upgrade drilling at the Cyclone deposit within its Storm project in Canada – and it has also identified a new target 1.4km to the south. The company identified the new copper target while drilling the first hole south of the southern graben fault to test a geophysical anomaly, 450m south-west of its Thunder prospect.

Meeka Metals has secured a $73 million funding war chest, paving the way to finalising the development and production ramp-up at its 100 per cent-owned Murchison gold project in Western Australia. The funding comprises a $26 million gold loan and a $12 million gold stream from Auramet International, in addition to a $35 million institutional placement that includes a $5 million equity investment from Auramet.

Aguia Resources is charging towards production at its Santa Barbara gold project in the Columbian State of Bolivar following key project procurements ahead of underground developments slated for later this year. The company believes that for relatively little capital expenditure, it can be producing first gold at the high-grade, low-tonnage operation by as soon as next year’s first quarter.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Elevate Uranium’s 2m strike at 1482ppm uranium oxide in Namibia. We also take a close look at other drill hits reported by Dateline Resources from its Colosseum project in California and from New World Resources at its Antler play in Arizona.

A leadership restructure at Atomos and a new product suite has led to a 5.1 per cent increase in sales and lifted gross margins to 40 per cent as part of a solid financial turnaround for the video technology innovator. It comes on the back of a 22 per cent cut in fixed operating costs following a $15 million loss in the past year.

Ardea Resources has hit a major milestone in the development of its Goongarrie Hub nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia after executing a binding agreement with a giant Japanese consortium. It now locks away a 50:50 joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation in a deal where the consortium has committed to funding a $98.5 million definitive feasibility study to earn into the project.

Strickland Metals has nailed more stellar gold hits from extensional drilling at the Warmblood prospect within its Horse Well camp near Wiluna in Western Australia. The company has extended the high-grade mineralised plunge at the site by an additional 170m, with a drill intersection of 7.9m at 9.7 grams per tonne peaking at a grade of 22g/t across 3.2m.

Chariot Corporation will take a 24.1 per cent stake in Mustang’s 10.1 million tonne lithium carbonate equivalent Horizon resource after its subsidiaries repossess the Horizon and Halo lithium projects in USA.Mustang’s wholly-owned subsidiaries are reclaiming full ownership of their Horizon and Halo lithium projects in Big Smoky Valley, Nevada.

As part of an extensive exploration program at the Egina Gold Camp, Novo Resources and billionaire “prospector” Mark Creasy have stretched the strike extent at the joint-ventured Nunyerry North gold prospect in WA’s Pilbara region to 500m after some solid drill hits, including 13m at 2.68g/t from 66m, 11m at 2.20g/t from 84m and 17m at 1.85g/t from 25m.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … MC Mining. The South African-focused coal producer inked a US$90 million cash injection into its coal operations. Also, Actinogen Medical received renewed support upon revealing analysis showing its Xanamem therapeutic to effectively treat depression, while other movers and shakers this week were Kalina Power and Felix Gold.

In the high-stakes world of high-tech, Atomos had not so long ago lost its way. But with a new product suite and a new-old boss, the company appears to be surging back towards a healthy financial future. It comes on the back of returned managing director Jeromy Young’s restructuring of the company and its share price is now riding high on the promise of elevated sales.

Buxton Resources has revealed a 54m graphite zone, with 20m estimated to be grading more than 10 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC), in a maiden drillhole at its Ranger prospect in Western Australia’s Murchison region. Sitting within the company’s Narryer project, the discovery has bolstered its efforts to expand its graphite footprint, complementing the promising nearby Graphite Bull project.

Horizon Minerals has kicked off mining activities at its recently-approved Boorara gold development operation that sits adjacent to Northern Star’s massive Super Pit mine in the regional WA city of Kalgoorlie. Management last month gave approval for the mining of four open pits containing 1.24 million tonnes of ore grading 1.24g/t gold for 49,500 ounces and says it has already kicked the plan into action.

Carnaby Resources has jagged 3m at 3.2 per cent copper and 2.2 grams per tonne gold – including 1m at 7.6 per cent copper and 3.8g/t gold – at the Lady Fanny prospect within the Greater Duchess joint venture (JV) with Latitude 66 near Mt Isa in Queensland underlining the prospectivity of the deposit to host a greater resource than its 46,500 tonnes of copper equivalent.

Reach Resources has identified new high-priority targets rich in niobium and rare earths after nailing down a comprehensive mapping and sampling campaign at its Wabli Creek project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. The company plans to use the results gleaned from its latest work to plan a drilling program that it expects to roll out towards the end of this year.

Surefire Resources has executed a joint co-operation agreement with WA’s Mid West Ports Authority to define the best pathway forward for exporting magnetite product from the company’s Victory Bore operation. Management’s aim is to secure port access for 1.25 million tonnes per annum to be shipped to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where the ore will be processed into a suite of valuable products.

Higher silver and zinc prices have led Horizon Minerals to dust off the mothballed Nimbus project that sits adjacent to its flagship Boorara gold operation, some 17km from Kalgoorlie in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region. The company has set a big exploration target to chase in a drilling campaign planned for next year as it looks to ramp up its resources for an upcoming feasibility study.

Dateline Resources drilling has reeled in two giant hits going 1g/t gold, including a richer zone of 10.7m of 8.17g/t, as it works to bring its Colosseum project in California back into production. The company says its first two diamond drillholes show 203.6m grading 1.03g/t gold and 192m running at 1g/t, confirming the potential for expanded mineralisation at the site.

Galan Lithium has signed a memorandum of understanding with China-based Chengdu Chemphys Chemical Industry Co., paving the way for a US$40 million funding and offtake package at its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine project in Argentina. The package, subject to due diligence, will be in exchange for a five-year purchase agreement for Galan to deliver a total of 23,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent material.

St George Mining has added yet another highly-credentialled local advisor for its new niobium-rich Araxá rare earths project in Brazil by locking in the country’s former Minister of Mines, Adolfo Sachsida. The well-known business leader will join two other recent in-country niobium industry expert additions as St George completes its acquisition of the Araxá project that sits in the State of Minas Gerais.

White Cliff Minerals has unveiled extraordinary silver grades in rock-chip samples from its Great Bear Lake project in northern Canada, with assays reaching as high as a lab-shaking 75,439 grams per tonne – or 7.54 per cent. The company’s managing director Troy Whittaker probably put it best when he said, “Well, this is not something you see every day”.

Surefire Resources has inked an agreement with DRA Global for a full-service engineering package to develop its 100 per cent-owned Victory Bore vanadium-iron project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The signed heads of agreement charges DRA with taking the Victory Bore project from feasibility to construction and finally, into planned dual-country operations in Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Santana Minerals’ spectacular intercept of 41.6m at 8.6g/t gold from 164.4m. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week as reported by Lightning Minerals in Western Australia and Winsome Resources at its Adina project in Quebec.

Allup Silica has secured the services of a leading international mining consultant to conduct a prefeasibility study on its at-surface McLaren heavy minerals project outside of Norseman in Western Australia. The company has engaged IHC Mining for the work less than a month after it acquired the advanced-stage project that boasts an impressive 280 million-tonne resource grading 4.8 per cent heavy minerals.

Latitude 66 has started turning the diamond drill bit at the K South prospect within its Kuusamo Schist Belt gold project in northern Finland. The company says the initial focus will be on its K9 and K8 targets, with the drilling program set to extend up to a total of 2000m in a bid to unlock further high-grade hits of the yellow metal.

Javelin Minerals has increased the JORC resource estimate for its Coogee gold-copper project near Kambalda in WA by 158 per cent to 3.65 million tonnes at 1.08g/t gold and 1.01 million tonnes at 0.41 per cent copper. The significant upgrade relates to a revised gold content of 126,685 ounces and was determined from an independent review of historic estimates, assumptions and drilling.