Public Company News

Aruma Resources’ deep dive into its Saltwater project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region is tossing up a myriad of intriguing high-grade polymetallic targets from first-pass rock-chip sampling. The company’s latest results have returned high-grade manganese peaking at 40 per cent, in addition to anomalous vanadium, uranium, iron, lead and zinc tipping into the melting pot of previously-reported anomalous copper, cobalt and rare earths.

ASX-listed Aurumin looks set to pocket $3 million and a 2 per cent net smelter royalty from the Mt Dimer gold mining tenements after entering into a binding sale agreement for the site with Beacon Minerals. Beacon has also agreed to take $500,000 worth of Aurumin’s fully-paid ordinary shares within five days, in exchange for an exclusivity period.

Ora Banda Mining has made a solid start to the financial year with gold production rising 39 per cent to 16,952 ounces and sold gold increasing by 35 per cent to 16,319 ounces compared to the previous quarter. It finished the September quarter with $22.7 million, despite spending $11.2 million on the development of its Riverina underground gold mine and $2.8 million on exploration.

After some unforeseen hiccups, Conico is now charging towards completion of a scoping study, which it says will now include new project optimisations aimed at enhancing economics at its Mt Thirsty project. While high workflow levels for key consultants slowed the study process, it expects it to be finished next month, with an updated mineral resource also on the way.

Buoyed by encouraging early results from a maiden drill campaign at its Nunyerry North gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, Novo Resources has expanded the program by another four holes. The company has received results from the first six reverse-circulation drill holes with highlights showing a 13m hit at 1.18 grams per tonne gold from surface and 7m going 1.12g/t gold from 38m.

Massive lithium battery maker Amperex Technology has picked up 10 per cent of St George Mining’s seven hard rock lithium projects in WA with a $3m punt into a St George subsidiary. Amperex is the world’s leading producer of lithium-ion batteries and is potentially a significant ally for St George as it looks to develop its suite of battery metals projects.

Pancreatic cancer patients have been delivered fresh hope following the United States Food and Drug Administration’s decision to clear the way for Radiopharm Theranostics to run clinical trials to address an area of “unmet need”. The imaging trials are designed to detect lesions in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the first patient is expected to receive dosage by the end of this month.

Infinity Mining has enlarged its lithium footprint at three Tambourah South prospects in Western Australia’s East Pilbara region after discovering more pegmatites through field mapping and confirming lithium prolificacy through rock-chip and drill-sampling assays. Rock chips recorded a best value of 3.7 per cent lithium oxide and eight RC holes cut 23 pegmatites with a maximum thickness of 25m.

Twigger’s Tales (aka Argonaut’s Liam Twigger) regales readers with fond memories of the tsunami of foreign banks – and some not so foreign that fell victim to the Bell/Bond debacle of the 80s and 90s. The legal fights that followed spawned the term “just bill it to Bell” among St Georges Terrace lawyers who pulled up short of their weekly billing targets.

Interim feasibility work by Estrella Resources has confirmed the viability of a simple decline and two-level underground mine for its 5A nickel deposit at the company’s Spargoville project near Kambalda in WA. Management has estimated the mine’s capital and operating costs at $11 million, which can be represented as $US3.20 ($AU5.60) per pound of nickel produced. The current price is hovering at about $US8.30 (AU$13.30).

Askari Metals is preparing its backhoe for trenching across four LCT pegmatites in a bid to reveal more battery minerals potential at its flagship Uis lithium project within Namibia’s Uis-Cape Cross pegmatite belt. The company will dig 111 trenches to try and deepen its knowledge of the surface expression and mineralisation of the highly-fractionated pegmatites within the anomalous corridor that hosts Andrada Mining’s tin mine.

Gold Mountain has completed a mapping and sampling program across its major lithium projects in Brazil in a precursor to kickstarting a comprehensive drilling program in the South American nation. The company has been completing due diligence fieldwork across its tenements ahead of a shareholder vote next month regarding its plans to take a 75 per cent share in its joint venture partner, Mars Mines.