Public Company News

Valor Resources has entered into a binding agreement with Firetail Resources to offload an 80 per cent interest in its Peruvian copper assets for an upfront cash payment of $750,000 and 15 million shares in the junior explorer. The raised funds will be used to accelerate Valor’s uranium hunt in Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin at a time of rising uranium prices and surging investor interest.

American West Metals’ Storm project in Canada has continued to deliver high-grade, near-surface copper intervals at its 4100N zone. Its latest assays results include 15.3m at 1.6 per cent copper from 59m, containing 3.1m going 4.8 per cent copper from 64m. Management says its expanding copper footprint remains open in all directions and a diamond drilling campaign will start soon.

Classic Minerals has officially begun wet commissioning of the processing plant at its Kat Gap gold project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, with first ore expected to be produced this month. Management says it will use part of its bulk sample ore to complete the commissioning phase before processing the balance through its gravity circuit.

Perth-based oil and gas explorer Buru Energy has taken a significant step in progressing its 2021 Rafael gas discovery towards production after being granted State Government approval for its hydrocarbon Declaration of Location application. It marks a significant milestone for the project, signposting the company’s commitment to developing its Rafael resource and providing a clean-energy solution for Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

Askari Metals has increased the size of its Uis project in Namibia by 68.2 square kilometres by securing full ownership of a new tenement in an area known for lithium, tantalum, tin and rubidium mineralisation. Management says its strategic purchase takes the company’s total landholding in the area to about 380sq km … and it is still on the lookout for more acquisitions.

Oil explorer 88 Energy has bought into more West Texas oil acreage, further expanding its Longhorn project footprint. The company’s new oil-producing fields will be further drilled to bring its Longhorn production to 500 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the year. The company’s non-operating interest in Longhorn will support its exploration activities further north in Alaska.

Infinity Lithium says recent meetings with newly-elected regional political leaders have emphasised and reinforced the continued collaboration driving the advancement of its San José lithium project in Spain. The project, near the town of Cáceres in the Extremadura region, boasts one of Europe's leading JORC-compliant hard-rock lithium deposits, with an indicated and inferred resource base of 111 million tonnes at 0.61 per cent lithium oxide.

Galan Lithium’s DFS shows its Hombre Muerto West lithium brine play in Argentina churning out an average annual EBITDA of AU$124 million a year for 40 years … and that’s just “phase one”. The company says initial annual production targeting a high-quality lithium chloride product will deliver a US$460 million (AU$692 million) net present value and pave the way to fund further significant expansions.

European-focused Altech Batteries has engaged a group of suppliers with extensive backgrounds in automation and robotics to help power its move into the next phase of plant construction as part of its Cerenergy battery project in Saxony, Germany. Management says the design of the plant is aimed at completing one battery cell every 45 seconds as the project’s definitive feasibility study continues to gather momentum.

St George Mining has fired up the drill rig in its maiden nickel-copper hunt at its Ajana project east of Geraldton in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company is plunging about 3000m into a duo of intriguing geophysical anomalies in the heart of the underexplored Northampton mineral field that is prospective for Julimar-style intrusive-related nickel-copper-platinum group mineralisation.

AVZ has reeled in monster lithium hits from the final 36 holes of a 53-hole resource drill-out of the Roche Dure deposit at its Manono project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The latest results include an extraordinary 342m at 1.86 per cent lithium oxide from 208m. The remarkable ore body stretches more than 1.8km and remains open along strike and at depth.

Classic Minerals’ Kat Gap processing plant in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region has secured a key endorsement for its efficient approach to gravity gold recovery after an independent evaluation of the company’s circuit design. An independent reviewer found that the company’s bench and pilot-scale tests indicate its current configuration is well suited to maximise the recovery of gravity-recoverable gold.