Public Company News

Diamond drilling by PolarX at its high-grade Caribou Dome copper prospect in Alaska has intercepted massive sulphides in the opening holes of its 1500m diamond drilling program. Several 2m - 11m thick zones of possible copper-bearing massive sulphides were logged in the first three drill holes of the drill program that is designed to test three new targets and provide fresh samples for metallurgical test work.

Native Mineral Resources has successfully completed a four-hole diamond drill program and is set to deliver a thousand tonne bulk quartz gold vein sample to a toll treater from its Music Well project in WA with a view to determining the extent and grade of its exciting quartz vein target. The drilling was co-funded under WA’s government-backed Exploration Incentive Scheme.

After a significant weather-related exploration setback at its exciting Yidby gold discovery in the Murchison region of WA, Surefire Resources is back in the field with a turbocharged exploration program that will look to follow up on prior stellar drill results. The drill rods are set to start turning again in September, a drone survey has been commissioned and a 500-strong soil sampling campaign has now been completed.

Aldoro Resources has its sights on a potential world-class rubidium resource at its Niobe prospect in WA’s Mid West. It has defined an early target of 33,000-150,000 tonnes rubidium oxide, a commodity that sells for more than A$1.4 million a tonne. Aldoro is keen to start the drills spinning in September at the pegmatite project, which will also target lithium potential.

ASX listed Valor Resources has finalised the evaluation of targets at its Cluff Lake uranium project in Canada and will kick-off a boots-on-ground exploration program in September to further assess the highest priority targets. Initial exploration targeting was conducted using all available geological and geophysical datasets to prioritise areas for further ground reconnaissance to be completed.

ASX-listed junior explorer Okapi Resources has finalised the purchase of a portfolio of high-grade uranium projects in the United States in a deal it says is transformational. The Perth-based company assumes 100 per cent ownership of the brownfields uranium assets following the recent completion of an all-scrip acquisition of private Australian group Tallahassee Resources.

ASX listed Legend Mining has boosted the known extent of the mineralisation at its flagship Mawson nickel-copper sulphide project in WA. The mineralised intrusive footprint at Mawson now extends more than 1.4 kilometres, with gravity modelling suggesting the intrusion potentially extends across more than 3 kilometres of strike and importantly, there is a big increase in the size of the magnesium-oxide rich ultramafic core.

ASX-listed explorer Victory Mines has delivered further encouraging results from a recently completed drilling campaign at its Coogee gold-copper project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia where a 1km strike length has now been identified. Latest hits include a broad 32m intercept going 1.44 g/t gold and 8m at 3.59 g/t gold. Assays from 17 holes are pending.

ASX-listed aspiring Vietnam nickel developer Blackstone Minerals has engaged the Korea Development Bank and corporate adviser BurnVoir Corporate Finance to jointly pull together a debt funding package for the development of its Ta Khoa nickel project about 160 kilometres west of Hanoi. Perth-based Blackstone is currently contemplating a potentially “vertically integrated” upstream and downstream lithium-ion battery metals processing operation at Ta Khoa.

ASX-listed premium potassium mineral fertiliser hopeful Trigg Mining is edging closer to finalising a scoping study on the proposed development of its high-grade Lake Throssell sulphate of potash project about 170km north-east of Laverton in Western Australia. The Perth-based company, which recently tabled a maiden indicated resource estimate for Lake Throssell, says it aims to wrap up the study by the end of next month.

Element 25 has completed its ramp up to Stage 1 production levels at the company’s flagship Butcherbird manganese mining operation in Western Australia. The company says the mine has now achieved a “steady state” of manganese output and is looking to manufacture a high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate product for use in the burgeoning lithium-ion battery market.

Blackstone Minerals has tabled a head turning 375 metre nickel sulphide intercept from recent drilling at its Ban Phuc deposit in Vietnam. The company’s ongoing diamond drilling program is designed to upgrade much of the existing resource to the coveted “measured and indicated” status, however exploration now appears to be also extending the ore system at depth.