Public Company News

Buru Energy and Sipa Resources are continuing their foray into base metals, kicking off diamond drilling at the joint venture's Barbwire Terrace project south-east of Broome in Western Australia. The 50/50 split operation plans to sink up to four holes at nominal depths of up to 500m as they look to test targets along the south-western margin of the Fitzroy Trough.

Calidus Resources has identified strong gold-in-soil anomalies in samples taken across a 3km strike length in historically mined sections of its Blue Spec project near Nullagine in WA’s Pilbara region. The program targeted the untested western end of the Blue Spec fault zone associated with gold mineralisation. Preliminary fieldwork is underway to identify drill targets in addition to areas for program of work applications and heritage surveys.

Podium Minerals has officially added rhodium and iridium to its mineral resource estimate at the company’s Parks Reef project in WA — creating what it says is Australia’s first defined 5E PGM resource. 5E PGM represents a combination of platinum, palladium, gold, rhodium and iridium. Podium says its updated inferred resource is now 52.2 million tonnes at 1.64 grams per tonne for three million ounces of 5E PGM.

Xanadu Mines has completed metallurgical recoveries of up to 91 per cent gold and 46 per cent copper from preliminary glycine and cyanide leach testing at its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia. The tests were performed on partially oxidised material from surface to 30m depth and returned head grades between 0.52 and 2.25 grams per tonne gold and from 0.12 up to 0.67 per cent copper.

A strategic alliance between CZR Resources and Red Hill Iron has been forged to co-operate on developing shared haulage and port infrastructure that supports the companies neighbouring Pilbara iron ore developments. CZR says an agreement has been signed in a bid to lower capital costs as it steers towards releasing a definitive feasibility study on its Robe Mesa iron ore deposit.

Ora Banda Mining has reduced the assumed gold price used to calculate its ore reserve figures at the company’s Davyhurst gold project near Kalgoorlie as it focuses on higher-margin ounces and increased quality from deposits. The change to the price assumption means the company will target higher gold grades to improve the economic viability of each of its deposits at Davyhurst.

Kairos Minerals has nailed a suite of high-grade lithium hits at its Mt York project in WA’s Pilbara region after hyperspectral and X-ray diffraction analysis on rock samples from the operation’s pegmatites. The results ran up to 1.91 per cent lithium oxide and were found a mere 4km from Pilbara Minerals’ revered Pilgangoora operation.

Conico is set to spin the rods this week on a 5800m drilling probe at its Mt Thirsty multi-metal project as it seeks to extend Galileo Mining’s major discovery at Callisto that sits only 200m from its fence line. Conico is keen to test the underexplored mineralised horizon on its patch of dirt that has recently delivered a slew of head turning results for its neighbour, only 16km from Norseman in Western Australia.

Blackstone Minerals is quickening the pace of development of its Ta Khoa green battery metals processing project in Vietnam by focusing on critical activities, such as a review of key infrastructure and prioritising test work, piloting and approvals as it works towards starting production within three years. The company has recently held strategy meetings with prospective technology and off-take partners and has a definitive feasibility study in the works.

Middle Island Resources has revealed a strong iron oxide-copper-gold-style alteration in its first diamond drill hole at Crosswinds in the Northern Territory East Tenant region. The hole was drilled to 808.4m and intersected increasing veining, brecciation and alteration at depth. The current exploration campaign is targeting previously uncovered aeromagnetic and induced polarisation geophysical anomalies beneath a trench sample of 130m at 0.75 per cent copper.

In a transformative shift, Africa-focused bauxite explorer Lindian Resources has inked a deal to acquire the globally significant Kangankunde rare earths elements project in Malawi for US$30 million. Kangankunde has been hailed as one of the world’s largest rare earths operations outside of China. The acquisition is in line with the company’s pursuit of African projects.

Geological mapping at Galan Lithium’s Greenbushes South project in WA’s South West has led to the discovery of a significant new pegmatite outcrop that runs over 500m in strike length and alluringly remains open. The campaign follows previous exploration at the site that unveiled the operation’s first pegmatite lens in a highly prospective area coined “GS11”.