Public Company News

Galan Lithium says extensional drilling at its wholly-owned Hombre Muerto West lithium project in Catamarca Province, Argentina, has further underlined its status as a major lithium brine resource. The company said the probe has extended the project’s resource to the east and enriched its hydrogeological model which could lead to production upside.

Okapi Resources has swelled its North American energy ground after entering into a binding agreement to pick up a 51 per cent interest in the Hansen uranium deposit in Colorado. The deal stretches the company’s resources at its Tallahassee project by 81 per cent to 49.8 million pounds of triuranium octoxide and boosts the grade by 10 per cent to 540 parts per million triuranium octoxide.

Altech Chemicals says recent drilling at its wholly-owned Kerrigan deposit, about 20km south of Hyden in Western Australia, has delivered a “fresh” kaolin resource boosting its current mineral resource estimate by 47 per cent to125 million tonnes at an ISO brightness of 85.2 per cent. The probe was initially completed to validate earlier drilling and collect samples for test work.

First ore should be pushed through Calidus Resources’ Warrawoona gold plant in the Pilbara by month’s end, with the company tipping its maiden gold pour to follow in mid-May. It said the SAG mill is now ready for commissioning by EPC contractor GR Engineering Services. Mining contractor Macmahon Holdings has also ramped up activities with the main mining fleet now onsite and in operation.

In the heart of the Northern Territory’s highly prospective Arunta pegmatite province, junior explorer Askari Metals has spotted and sampled major outcropping pegmatites in the latest field campaign at its Barrow Creek lithium project. The end of March saw Askari strap its boots on for another foray into the field intent on identifying and sampling outcropping pegmatites in the project’s previously unexplored southeastern region.

ASX-listed Indonesia-focused explorer Sihayo Gold appears to be homing in on more high-grade mineralisation after the company bagged surface samples yielding up to 36.6 g/t gold and 8.29 per cent copper in North Sumatra. Sihayo says the findings continue to support the South Block’s potential for high-grade gold and copper targets and discoveries.

Meeka Gold has revealed total rare earth oxides up to 633 parts per million in leached and oxidised surface horizon auger samples at its Cascade project near Esperance in WA. Total rare earth oxides above 400 parts per million were present within a 250 square km area and Meeka speculates that the large cerium anomalies point to possible deeper rare earths enrichment. Drilling is planned for later this year.

ASX-listed battery metal player Lithium Australia is a step closer to the development of a 10,000 tonne per annum lithium ferro phosphate manufacturing facility after its wholly-owned subsidiary VSPC appointed engineering and project delivery outfit Lycopodium to drive a definitive feasibility advancing the proposal towards reality.

Blackstone Minerals has delivered nickel-cobalt sulphides from its Ban Phuc mine in Vietnam to consultant, ALS in Perth, as part of a trial of its Ta Khoa nickel refinery pilot program. The company has a plan to become a globally significant producer of high purity NCM811 nickel precursor products for the lithium-ion battery industry and it is building an integrated mining, ore processing and downstream refinery business in Vietnam.

Murdoch University’s Hydrometallurgy Research Group has kicked off a research project that will look to develop a new roasting process for ASX-listed King River Resources’ massive Speewah vanadium, titanium and iron deposit in WA’s Kimberley region. Speewah boasts a cocktail of metals including high purity alumina that are part of the new energy and battery revolution.

While White Cliff Minerals is encouraged by results from the first look at its Hines Hill rare earths project 200km east of Perth. Mother Nature is still holding out on the geological origins of the exciting rare earth oxide anomalies that have been showing up in field work at the project and White Cliff will now get stuck into more geochem sampling ahead of its first air core drilling program.

Mineral explorer Panther Metals has gold in its sights after launching a 2500m RC drill program at its Eight Foot Well prospect near Laverton in Western Australia. According to the company, the campaign will see it kick off infill and extensional drilling as it looks to vector in on the region’s historic gold trend in search of a mineral resource.