Public Company News

In tough recent times for many junior mining companies on the ASX, luring a financially-powerful “big dog” onto the share register to provide some much-needed muscle has become a common boardroom pursuit. In this second part of an occasional series, Bulls N’ Bears takes a look at some of those companies which have prospered after jumping into the business bed with a major partner.

Horizon Minerals has secured the green light to start gold mining at Phillips Find in WA, less than a week after mining the first ore from its Boorara mine that also sits in the State’s Goldfields region.

Askari Metals has further bolstered its uranium foothold in the world-class exploration jurisdiction of Tanzania by acquiring the prospective Eyasi project in the nation’s north. The 292-square-kilometre project – which the company pounced on following detailed in-house geotechnical reviews in collaboration with its Tanzanian partners – strengthens its position in the white-hot Tanzanian uranium sector, complementing its recently-staked Matemanga project in the south.

Meeka Metals says recent metallurgical results from its Meekatharra project in Western Australia, including 95.5 per cent gold leach recovery, will allow the inclusion of its Turnberry underground resource into a looming DFS. The testwork explored conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) recoveries at three grind sizes and gravity recovery at two grind sizes, reporting optimal recoveries at 106 microns for both methods.

Larvotto Resources is set to fast-track the development of its Hillgrove gold-antimony mine in NSW after appointing a manager to crunch the numbers for a definitive feasibility study by early next year, in a bid to start production in late 2025. MACA Interquip Mintrex will look after the metallurgical testing and necessary plant design modifications to optimise the 500,000 tonnes per annum processing plant.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some notable drill intercepts revealed on the ASX, including Barton Gold’s 7m at 9.63g/t gold from 67m at its Tarcoola project in South Australia. We also take a look at other interesting drill hits reported from American Rare Earths’ Cowboy State Mine project in the US and Lunnon Metals’ Kambalda play in WA.

Thunderbird Resources has revealed recordings of elevated radioactivity levels up to 597 counts per second using a downhole gamma probe in a maiden drilling campaign at its 100 per cent-owned Hidden Bay uranium project in Canada’s Athabasca Basin. The recordings came in the fifth and final drillhole of the program that bore through 1781m in the renowned region.

Reach Resources has launched its maiden reverse-circulation drilling program at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Wabli Creek project in WA’s Gascoyne to probe fresh niobium and rare earths targets. Intriguing and anomalous results previously taken from 74 surface samples during the company’s latest mapping and sampling program set the train in motion and the drill rig is now poised to test what lies beneath.

White Cliff Minerals has kicked up a swag of uber high-grade copper sniffs, tipping the scales at a record-breaking 64 per cent, giving hints of a large-scale copper discovery at its Rae project in northern Canada. The latest haul follows a suite of extraordinary silver grades the junior explorer recently racked up, reaching as high as an eye-boggling 75,439 grams per tonne, from its nearby Great Bear Lake project.

Buxton Resources drilling at its Narryer project in WA’s Murchison region has intercepted 20m at a grade of 9.06 per cent total graphitic carbon in a 60m thick zone, indicating a possible new graphite province. The discovery, accompanied by recently-acquired electromagnetic (EM) signatures, indicates the existence of near-surface graphite which may have unveiled a new graphite province within the company’s ground.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Hydration Pharmaceuticals. The company sold its non-US assets for a sum equivalent to, quite incredibly five times its market capitalisation. Also, Odessa Minerals ran hard after raising more than $1 million to drill its Lyndon uranium project in WA, while other movers and shakers this week were Nyrada and Australian Rare Earths.

GreenTech Metals has ramped up the copper-zinc-gold hunt at its Whundo project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region after appointing experienced mining executive Julian Hanna as a technical advisor. The company says Hanna will bring 35 years’ worth of experience in the discovery, early development stages and corporate management of significant copper, nickel and gold deposits and their associated companies.