Public Company News

Auric Mining is set to become WA’s next gold producer after executing a 150,000 tonne gold ore toll milling agreement with the Greenfields Mill at Coolgardie for its Jeffreys Find gold deposit near Norseman. In a major milestone for the company mining will commence in early April with the 150,000 tonnes of ore to be delivered to the mill. Processing will then be completed and its gold delivered by the end of September 2023.

ASX-listed ChemX Materials has signed a memorandum of understanding to work towards an offtake deal from its high-purity manganese project in South Australia with US battery technology company C4V. The non-binding agreement is based around the potential supply of high-purity product from ChemX’s Jamieson Tank project on the Eyre Peninsula and is a significant step in the company’s plans to become a sustainable and reliable global supplier of battery materials.

Image Resources has found a silver lining in unforeseen delays caused by a labour shortage, revealing it has used the extra time to consider adding a mineral separation plant to its Bidaminna mineral sands project. The company says the delays have slowed its prefeasibility study, but also allowed it to assess the potential production of only heavy mineral concentrate at the operation, with positive results.

Oil producer Triangle Energy Global has wrapped up the acquisition of two highly-prospective oil and gas permits in WA’s Perth Basin, handing over 31.3 million shares to Key Petroleum to seal the deal. The company previously held a major stake in both assets and mopped up the balance in exchange for $600,000 in cash and $500,000 in shares to be issued by June 30.

Infinity Mining is eyeing drill targets at its Hillside and Panorama tenements in the Pilbara after beginning a cultural heritage survey with the Nyamal Native Title Group at the two exploration licences. Hoping to start its first Pilbara drilling program for the year, the company has engaged Heritage WA and the traditional owners group to seek clearance for heavy equipment access and pad clearing.

American West Metals is set for an exploration blitz with a new rig at its Storm copper project on Somerset Island in Canada and has scheduled a 10,000m RC and diamond drill campaign to begin within days. The company says its initial drilling phase is designed to define maiden JORC resources within the 4100N, 2750N and 2200N zones where high-grade copper mineralisation starts from surface.

Multinational explorer Askari Metals has expanded its exploration hopes in Namibia after acquiring a key patch of dirt abutting its Uis lithium project, bringing its strategic footprint to more than 308 square kilometres in the distinguished mineral postcode. The company is midway through a 3000m RC drilling program targeting outcropping pegmatites at depth where the rods have already pulled up many thick pegmatite hits.

Horizon Minerals has raised $3.34 million to further develop its proposed high-grade Cannon underground gold mine near Kalgoorlie, hoping to soon tap into Australia’s recent record gold price hikes. The company has reported strong support from new and existing Australian and international institutional and sophisticated investors and now plans to accelerate resource extension drilling at its Cannon and Penny’s Find gold deposits.

With mapping now completed, new outcropping identified and geophysics kicking off before a diamond drilling campaign next quarter, Everest Metals is getting closer to full ownership of its Mt Edon project in WA. The company says its most recent mapping program, covering over 192.4 hectares, delivered another surprising exploration windfall, with several new lithium-ceasium-tantalium pegmatites and quartz bearing veins identified this time, all of which were not previously known to the company before.

Empire Energy says it has boosted production ambitions by lifting its average 30-day gas flow rate by more than 17 per cent in initial tests held at the NT’s Beetaloo Basin. It says a new rate of 2.81 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) per day at its first horizontal well represents a normalised flow rate of more than 3mmscf a day per 1000m of horizontal section.

Image Resources is fast approaching ‘mission complete’ at its high-grade Boonanarring mineral sands project 80km north of Perth with the company expecting the ore reserves to be depleted by mid-year. The company has had a stellar run at the project, generating a tidy $50m bank balance while eliminating its debt ahead of schedule and paying out a maiden dividend to shareholders in the process. Image now has its eyes firmly trained on its next target, the Atlas mineral sands deposit near WA’s Wheatbelt town of Cervantes.

ASX-listed 88 Energy has quickly escalated its chase for a lucrative 647 million barrels of oil by tapping into the giant Alaska North Slope basin with drills intersecting three primary reservoirs at its Hickory-1 well. Early interpretations allude to a hydrocarbon pay that will be further assessed by wireline logging and a coring program, as drilling continues to target two deeper secondary reservoirs.