Public Company News

Twigger’s Tales (aka Argonaut’s Liam Twigger) regales readers with fond memories of the tsunami of foreign banks – and some not so foreign that fell victim to the Bell/Bond debacle of the 80s and 90s. The legal fights that followed spawned the term “just bill it to Bell” among St Georges Terrace lawyers who pulled up short of their weekly billing targets.

Interim feasibility work by Estrella Resources has confirmed the viability of a simple decline and two-level underground mine for its 5A nickel deposit at the company’s Spargoville project near Kambalda in WA. Management has estimated the mine’s capital and operating costs at $11 million, which can be represented as $US3.20 ($AU5.60) per pound of nickel produced. The current price is hovering at about $US8.30 (AU$13.30).

Askari Metals is preparing its backhoe for trenching across four LCT pegmatites in a bid to reveal more battery minerals potential at its flagship Uis lithium project within Namibia’s Uis-Cape Cross pegmatite belt. The company will dig 111 trenches to try and deepen its knowledge of the surface expression and mineralisation of the highly-fractionated pegmatites within the anomalous corridor that hosts Andrada Mining’s tin mine.

Gold Mountain has completed a mapping and sampling program across its major lithium projects in Brazil in a precursor to kickstarting a comprehensive drilling program in the South American nation. The company has been completing due diligence fieldwork across its tenements ahead of a shareholder vote next month regarding its plans to take a 75 per cent share in its joint venture partner, Mars Mines.

A geochemical sampling program by Venus Metals at the westernmost licences within its Mangaroon North project in Western Australia’s emerging Gascoyne region has turned up two base metal anomalies that have been earmarked for further assessment. The company says it took about 1100 soil samples and 39 rock‐chip samples from across two of its tenements during the survey.

Surefire Resources is one step closer to a vanadium processing plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) after the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu pinpointed the Ras Al-Khair industrial region for the site. In August, the company sealed a pivotal MOU with the KSA, where it plans to process ore from its Victory Bore vanadium and high-purity alumina project in WA’s Mid West.

A geophysical survey at DiscovEx Resources’ Sylvania project near Newman in Western Australia has identified potential south-east extensions to two lodes within the previously defined 2.8-million-tonne Prairie Downs zinc-lead-silver resource. The survey was designed to test for potential sulphide mineralisation related to the Prairie Downs fault and also defined a target area centred about 10km north-west along strike of the resource at the Husky prospect.

A mining services company engaged in a deal with Novo Resources for 80 per cent of battery mineral rights at the Quartz Hill project has expanded the operation and increased the earn-in amount to $1.7 million. In line with the original arrangement, private company Liatam Mining has spent an extra $200,000 after choosing to increase its exploration ground from 615sq km to 818sq km.

American West Metals has delivered more shallow and high-grade copper results from its Storm project in the Canadian province of Nunavut, with peak assays including a 1.5m hit at 7.6 per cent copper from 77.7m. The impressive hit came from a drillhole sunk at the company’s Lightning Ridge prospect, which also recorded a 15.2m segment grading 2.3 per cent copper from 30.5m.

Prominent investor and prospector Mark Creasy’s Yandal Investments has entered into a subscription agreement with Zuleika Gold worth $3 million. While still subject to shareholder approval, the deal could see Yandal increase its voting power in Zuleika from 19.12 per cent up to 42.53 per cent after Mr Creasy’s company purchased 100 million shares in the explorer back in March last year.

Askari Metals has captured a battery metals-prospective permit via a corporate takeover to add to its growing flagship Uis lithium project that sits within Namibia’s Uis-Cape Cross pegmatite belt. The permit, which Askari gained through its full acquisition of Green Lithium, is along strike and juxtaposed next to Andrada Mining’s operating tin mine and Spodumene Hill discovery.

Strickland Metals has officially kicked off a heritage survey that is focused on large-scale prospects at its Yandal and Earaheedy projects in WA, where the company has identified two priority drill targets. Management believes successful clearance of the survey will allow it to expand on an ongoing air-core drilling program at its Horse Well prospect, with both new targets offering tier-one discovery potential.