Public Company News

Askari Metals is pulling out all stops as it hunts lithium at its Uis project in Namibia that adjoins Andrada’s 71.5 million tonne lithium-tin mine. The company has wrapped up the acquisition of a 90 per cent interest in the 114 square km exploration licence with a binding agreement to purchase the rest. RC drilling has kicked off after project wide mapping and sampling identified new pegmatite drilling targets.

Neometals has increased its ownership in joint venture company Recycling Industries Scandinavia AB (RISAB) up to 72.5 per cent as it moves towards developing Finland’s first vanadium recovery project. The remaining 27.5 per cent of RISAB equity is held by unlisted Australian mineral development company Critical Metals.

Conico is set to feed more thick high-grade nickel-cobalt-manganese-scandium hits into an imminent updated mineral resource estimate on its Mt Thirsty nickel-cobalt project near Norseman. Recent drilling has pulled up a clutch of significant hits including 10m running at 0.09 per cent cobalt, 0.71 per cent nickel, 0.38 per cent manganese and 23 grams per tonne scandium.

ASX-listed Godolphin Resources believes maiden metallurgical results from independent laboratory ANSTO have confirmed the low-cost development potential of its Narraburra rare earths project in New South Wales. The company says a recovery rate of 92 per cent of the key magnet rare earths praseodymium, neodymium, terbium and dysprosium, puts the project in a good position ahead of larger-scale testing and a bulk sampling program.

With iron ore prices hovering around US$120 per tonne (A$178) Venture Minerals is seriously considering restarting its Riley iron ore mine in Tasmania which has been on care and maintenance since September 2021. At the time of its closure, the price of iron ore was in free-fall plunging to US$80 per tonne (A$118) in late 2021.

Surefire Resources is growing in confidence that a large gold mineralised system is emerging at its wholly-owned Yidby project, after finding sulphide-rich quartz porphyry in all 25 of its most recent RC drillholes. Visible gold was also seen in several locations at the project, 350km north-east of Perth in the Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt. Samples from all holes are now being analysed.

Venus Metals Corporation and Rox Resources are headed for a mineral resource upgrade at their Youanmi gold project after impressive new drill results, including a 4m hit at 14.85 grams per tonne gold from 298m. The joint venture partners say the high-grade results confirm significant gold endowment at the project that sits about 480km north-east of Perth.

Kairos Minerals is far from resting on its glittering gold laurels as the company zeros in on a boost to its existing 1.1-million-ounce resource at its flagship Mount York project in WA’s Pilbara region. Management says it has landed wide hits including 82m at 0.57g/t gold from 104m, which contained 11m grading 1.25g/t from 135m and 17m running 1.03g/t gold from 169m.

Chimeric Therapeutics will showcase its cutting-edge cell therapy work before the world’s leading cancer specialists in the United States in June, joining a select cohort picked from more than 6500 entries. The Melbourne biotech will outline its new clinical trial, designed to test its potential treatment for brain cancer, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Buru Energy is forging ahead in its bid to unlock the massive potential of its Rafael 1 well, east of Broome in WA’s Canning Basin, by taking another important step on its pathway to production. Buru has lodged a declaration of location application with the State Government – a move described as a key step towards the commercialisation and monetisation of its gas and condensate resource.

Diversified explorer Askari Metals has backed its bold claim to be leading the charge for lithium out of Namibia by grabbing the final 10 per cent of an exclusive prospective lease at its Uis project. The news comes just days after the company revealed it had acquired an 80 per cent interest in an adjoining tenement for about $1.8 million.

Kairos Minerals has vowed to expand its lithium, gold and base metal targets after confirming a “compelling” 2.8km-long lithium anomaly and a nearby 2.3km gold anomaly at its Roe Hills project near Kalgoorlie. The company sees the anomalies as high-priority targets for spodumene lithium-bearing pegmatites akin to Global Lithium’s nearby Manna deposit containing 32.7 million tonnes at 1.0 per cent lithium oxide.