Public Company News

ASX-listed 3D metal printing group Aurora Labs has entered a pivotal point in its well flagged technology development pathway strategy as it prepares to take the next step towards commercialisation of its 3D printing technology. The Perth-based company says it is now on the verge of reaching the final technical milestone of the technology development pathway that signals commercial readiness of its suite of products.

Nickel exploration company, Estrella Resources has dished out numerous sulphide intercepts at its exciting T5 discovery near the historical Carr Boyd Rocks nickel mine north of Kalgoorlie in WA, where a discovery hole returned 13.9m at 1.07 per cent nickel late last year. The company is now set to launch a 7,500m drilling blitz that will look to grow the mineralised zone and test 3.5km of strike to the north.

Venus Metals and joint venture partner, Rox Resources continue to deliver the goods at their Youanmi gold project in the Murchison district of WA with latest drilling at the Link prospect striking more gold, including a bumper 7.25m intercept going 15.02 g/t gold. The duo is looking to uncover more ounces to add to the already impressive 1.66-million-ounce resource at the project.

Blackstone Minerals has continued to encounter massive nickel sulphide mineralisation at its Ban Chang prospect at the Ta Khoa project in northern Vietnam about 160km west of the country’s capital city of Hanoi as it heads towards a maiden resource estimate for the key deposit. The company says recent infill diamond drilling at Ban Chang intersected 5.35m of massive sulphide nickel in one hole within a broader 11.4m interval.

Toronto-listed conglomerate gold producer, Novo Resources is set to splash out a further A$2.5 million on near-mine exploration drilling as it looks to source more feed for its Golden Eagle processing facility at its Nullagine gold project in the Pilbara region of WA. The company has identified more than 20 drill targets within trucking distance of Golden Eagle that will be targeted by 25,000m of drilling by year’s end.

Budding gold producer Calidus Resources has been buoyed by visible gold seen in drill core from a quartet of recent diamond holes aimed at verifying its high-grade Blue Spec satellite underground gold resource in WA’s prolific Pilbara goldfield. The company is working towards finalising an updated mineral resource estimate for Blue Spec as part of its continuing definitive feasibility study on mining and processing ore from the deposit.

Strickland Metals is hammering through a multitude of exploration programs with two rigs on site now at its flagship Yandal project. Promising zinc-lead assay results from a completed soil and rock chip sampling program at Iroquois, near Rumble Resource’s famed zinc-lead discovery in the Earaheedy Basin, are also providing cause for pause. Additionally, Strickland has been undertaking a thorough review of the exploration potential around its Millrose mineral resource.

Si6 Metals has secured an aircore rig for a forthcoming drilling program at its Monument gold project about 40km west of Laverton in WA as it looks to build on its existing 150,000-ounce-plus resource position in the prolific Laverton gold district in the North-Eastern Goldfields. The company says it expects to kick off the 125-hole regional program totalling about 5,000m by the end of this month.

Aspiring Indonesian gold producer Sihayo Gold has been making solid progress on the ground at its developing Sihayo “starter” gold project in North Sumatra which is getting tantalisingly close to being “shovel ready”. An optimisation study on the proposed mine is also advancing towards tabling in the next quarter and the company says upgrades to an access road and an existing camp are now largely completed.

King River Resources says it is re-evaluating its DFS strategy that is currently considering large-scale production of high purity alumina at a manufacturing plant in Kwinana in WA. The company will now also look to leverage its proprietary processing technology to consider an initially smaller scale operation only producing high value aluminium precursor compounds used in lithium-ion batteries in order to slash the capital and operating costs of the venture.

ASX-listed, Venture Minerals’ tin search at its Mount Lindsay tenure in Tasmania is heating up with exploration drilling intercepting a 16m interval of sulphide rich magnetite skarn that is prospective for hosting tin mineralisation. The company is targeting extensions of the Renison Mine Sequence that contains one of the largest and highest-grade tin mines in the world some 12 kilometres along strike, the Renison Bell tin mine.

ASX-listed heavy rare earths player Northern Minerals has its sights trained on a new set of prospects at its flagship Browns Range project in WA’s East Kimberley region. The trio of targets were highlighted by preliminary field portable X-ray fluorescence hits the company says point to broad geochemical anomalies that it intends following up with more drilling shortly.