Public Company News

Altech Chemicals has tabled an eye-catching set of numbers in its preliminary feasibility study for a 10,000 tonne per annum high-purity alumina coating battery material plant which it plans to build in the bustling Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park in Germany. The study estimates the plant will churn out US$63 million per annum once in operation on a capital investment of just US$95 million.

Deep diamond drilling by Podium Minerals has doubled the known depth of its Parks Reef orebody to more than 500m. According to the company, the three-hole program returned some of the highest platinum group metals assay grades achieved on-site, with two of the three intercept grades coming in well above the current mineral resource estimate. The highlight from the assays is a 1.4m hit running a huge 11.58 g/t 5E PGM.

A subsidiary of Buru Energy has been awarded $7 million in Federal Government grants for a feasibility study into potential greenhouse gas sequestration into geological reservoirs at the onshore Carnarvon Basin. The $7m needs to be matched by Buru’s wholly-owned Geovault subsidiary and is part of the Government’s plan to develop hydrogen and GHG storage hubs in Western Australia.

Well-known for its vanadium and gold, King River Resources is heading into the high purity alumina space, hoping to cash in on Federal Government’s addition of HPA to its critical minerals list. The company says it has made economic and environmental improvements in its process to produce 4N HPA to meet projected strong demand driven by its critical role in the manufacture of LEDs and lithium-ion batteries.

Surefire Resources has narrowed its focus on the vanadium market with the company set to dive into a diamond drilling program at its Victory Bore and Unaly Hill projects, about 560km north-east of Perth in WA. According to the company, it is also revising its economic parameters ahead of a planned prefeasibility study at the operation and has already kicked off discussions with potential partners.

Zuleika Gold says promising results from campaigns at its namesake Zuleika project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and its nearby Credo project with joint venture partner Torian Resources have delivered a solid platform to launch its next round of drilling. In the past year the company has sunk approximately 23,000m of air core and RC drilling at the ventures and is now looking to plunge a further 20,000m.

Strickland Metals has unearthed significant initial gold results from its Millrose project in the Yandal greenstone belt within WA’s Yilgarn Craton. A standout strike of 55m going 2.4 g/t gold from 86m was encountered in addition to visible gold in a diamond hole about 700m to the south. The explorer hails the results as outstanding and is growing confident Millrose is a substantial gold system.

Junior explorer Javelin Minerals has kicked off a 4000m air core drilling program at its Coogee project near Kalgoorlie in WA. Using a ‘lake drill rig’ the explorer will test gold and copper targets at its Coogee West area, including a 3km gold trend containing bottom-of-hole anomalous results of up to 0.47 grams per tonne gold. The project covers an area of about 17 square kilometres.

Blackstone Minerals has inked a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s Son La province to promote a cooperative framework for the development of the Ta Khoa nickel project in that region. The understanding reflects the Australian and Vietnamese governmental commitment to deepening two-way trade and facilitating investment projects in Vietnam, ultimately supporting the energy security of both countries.

Australia’s first five-element platinum group metals mine is one step closer to reality after historic samples were resampled, showing high-grade rhodium and iridium at Podium Minerals’ Parks Reef PGM project in Western Australia, lifting the value of an ounce from the project by 30 per cent with the addition of the two valuable metals.

Ora Banda Mining is planning to strip back its Goldfields Davyhurst gold mining operation to become a single deposit mine in the short term to maximise cashflows. Mining of the Riverina Stage 1 open pit will cease this quarter and the Sand King stage 1 pre-strip will be deferred until November as the company looks to turn the operation into a leaner, meaner cash cow in the short term.

Wiluna Mining Corporation has intersected a flurry of ‘outstanding’ gold results from a first-hole probe of its Bulletin North Discovery target at its namesake mine site, about 750km northeast of Perth in Western Australia. According to the company, the results include a 0.3 metre section grading a staggering 3270 grams per tonne gold from 634m and a 1.5m hit going 8.30 g/t gold from 570m.