Public Company News

The third and final batch of assay results from ChemX Materials’ 2023 drilling campaign at its Jamieson Tank manganese deposit on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula have landed, including a headline 16m hit going 17.9 per cent manganese from 17m. The results will help bolster a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Perth-based high-purity critical materials company.

Brightstar Resources has extended its 252,000-ounce Cork Tree Well gold deposit, 30km north of Laverton, with 6000m of RC drilling giving best results of 10m at 4.54 grams per tonne gold from 192m, including 2m at 17.23g/t and 13m grading 1.83g/t from 143m. An updated resource estimate will inform mining feasibility studies due for delivery by the middle of the year.

American West Metals has been buoyed by visual analysis of its five latest RC drill holes sunk at the company’s Storm copper project in Canada that show thick copper-sulphide intercepts. The explorer says its initial phase of drilling is designed to define maiden JORC resources within the 4100N, 2750N and 2200N zones where high-grade copper mineralisation starts from surface.

Askari Metals has sealed a $2.5 million strategic equity investment by global battery materials supplier Huayou International Resources, with the funds to be used to turbocharge lithium exploration at its Uis project in Namibia. Management says it has issued Huayou 4.5 million fully-paid ordinary shares at an issue price of 55 cents, in addition to 1.5 million free attaching options.

Everest Metals has kick-started its latest 40-hole, 1000m drilling campaign at its Mt Edon LCT project, 5km from Paynes Find in Western Australia’s Mid West region, as it chases recently-observed underground pegmatites. Management says its latest deep-ground penetration radar work lit up a host of geophysical pegmatite targets, which it now plans to explore along with other previously-identified lithium, caesium and tantalum pegmatite structures.

Venture Minerals has continued its recent splurge on rare earths by signing a joint venture agreement designed to deliver the diversified metals explorer a majority stake in Sentinel Exploration’s Iron Duke project. Iron Duke is Venture’s third acquisition in Western Australia’s Mid West region in the past month. The company says it will get the drill bits spinning later this month.

A pancreatic cancer treatment developed by ASX-listed Radiopharm Theranostics has been granted crucial orphan drug designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration just weeks before clinical trials begin. The approval is for the company’s patented RAD301 integrin technology that aims to assist with the imaging and treatment of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Meeka Metals has played its trump card, revealing its highest rare earths mineralisation to date from the latest resource drill-out at its Circle Valley project near Esperance – Western Australia’s newest rare earths hotspot. The headline hit returned 4m running at 7475 parts per million total rare earths oxides, which will feed into a maiden mineral resource estimate due to be tabled next month.

Infinity Lithium is pushing closer towards mining licence and environmental authorisation submissions for its San José lithium project in Spain following positive government permitting recommendations. The finalisation of the Extremadura regional government’s Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Document, compiled by its General Directorate for Sustainability, classes the project as compatible with environmental and land use requirements.

DiscovEx is hunting an “enigmatic” gold source at its Edjudina project north-east of Kalgoorlie after recent drilling assays confirmed bedrock gold at all three prospects tested and ratified the continuity of mineralisation at the transition between weathered and fresh rock. All three targets displayed elevated gold results close to the bottom of hole and scale potential. The company’s chase for the source continues.

Octava Minerals is putting boots on the ground at its Yallalong nickel-gold project, 220km north-east of Geraldton – and the CSIRO has jumped in with funding to help lessen the impact of the imprint. The “green energy” metals explorer has snared exploration funding from the CSIRO’s Kick-Start program and will employ the agency’s leading-edge technology to optimise sample collection, while simultaneously reducing on-ground activity.

Lithium Australia will fill its coffers to the tune of more than half a million dollars after entering into a binding agreement to sell 70 per cent of its Lepidolite Hill lithium project to Eastern Resources. It will see Lithium Australia collect $550,000 in three tranches and allow it to put further focus on improving technology associated with the battery materials industry.