Public Company News

After completing a second phase of soil sampling, Aurumin Limited is gearing up for a reverse circulation drilling program in search of lithium at its Mt Palmer project in Western Australia. The campaign is set to start next week and will feature up to 1500m of drilling into targets where pegmatites of up to 50m in width have been intercepted in historical exploration.

Mineral exploration company Aruma Resources has identified a high-grade lithium-rubidium pegmatite at Mount Deans near Norseman WA. Drill assays were up to 1.14 per cent lithium oxide and 1.05 per cent rubidium oxide and included 10m at 0.62 per cent lithium oxide with 0.57 per cent rubidium oxide. The high value of rubidium gives the project a multiple metal focus going forward.

WA-based explorer Askari Metals has kicked off a project-wide lithium exploration campaign at its Yarrie project in Western Australia’s East Pilbara region. The program is designed to field test high-priority zones including a major target area measuring 32km by 13km. The company will start by mapping in addition to collecting stream sediment and rock chip samples.

ASX-listed mineral developer Technology Metals Australia has produced remarkable vanadium recoveries of up to 96 per cent from batch kiln roast-leach test work of its Yarrabubba composite ore. According to the company, the work completed by star kiln supplier FLSmidth has validated the suitability of the ore to be treated via its Gabanintha processing facility 40km south of Meekatharra in Western Australia.

Lithium Australia NL is now the sole owner of battery recycling venture Envirostream after sweeping up the final 10 per cent of the enterprise. According to the company, its subsidiary is the country's only Environmental Protection Agency permitted and licensed recycler of mixed and lithium-ion batteries and its acquisition adds an invaluable strategic asset to its portfolio.

Explorer Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has almost doubled the strike length of its La Mascotte prospect at the Bulong Taurus project to more than 500 metres after its recent diamond drilling program 35km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The company’s standout results include a two-metre gold hit going 16 grams per tonne, with more assays in the pipeline from the campaign.

Venus Metals and joint venture partner Rox Resources have unveiled a significant boost of the mineral resource estimate for their Youanmi gold project near Mt Magnet in WA. According to the company, it has lifted the operation’s near surface resources by 204,000 ounces to more than 1 million ounces and lifted the project’s total gold resource to 3.2 million ounces through extensive exploration.

Godolphin Resources is lining up an 80-hole 4000m drill program at its Narraburra rare earths project within NSW’s highly-prospective Lachlan Fold Belt with the drill bit expected to start spinning this month. The program is designed to support the reclassification of the existing resource estimate of 73.2Mt at 1250 g/t zirconium oxide and 327 g/t rare earths oxides for 91,500t of contained zirconium oxide and 23,950t of rare earths oxides.

Adriatic Metals has agreed ‘heads of terms’ with four international commodities trading and smelting companies for the purchase of zinc and silver-lead concentrate from its Vares silver project in Bosnia. The company says its aim is to maximise revenues whilst reducing the ongoing risk associated with turbulent freight markets and the impact of the evolving European energy crisis amidst the conflict in Ukraine.

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.