Public Company News

Allup Silica has nabbed a prized at-surface heavy mineral sands project next to the Eyre Highway at Western Australia’s Eucla Basin in a bid to take advantage of a looming titanium shortage. The McLaren project, which has excellent road and rail access to the Port of Esperance, boasts a 2022 JORC-compliant resource of 280 million tonnes at 4.8 per cent heavy minerals.

A compelling prefeasibility study (PFS) for Larvotto Resources’ Hillgrove gold-antimony project in New South Wales shows the operation will spit out an EBITDA of $652 million during a seven-year mine life. Using conservative pricing estimates, the company also revealed a post-tax NPV of $157 million, a post-tax IRR of 50 per cent and a maiden ore reserve of 606,000 ounces at 6g/t gold-equivalent.

Strickland Metals has hauled in a whopping 89.7m running at 4 grams per tonne gold from 244m at its wholly-owned Rogozna project in Serbia. The spectacular intercept includes 24m averaging an impressive 10.5g/t gold from 296m. The well-funded Western Australian explorer has four rigs working around the clock targeting extensions to the existing 4.6 million-ounce gold equivalent Shanac resource.

Meeka Metals has appointed top-gun mine site executive Matthew O’Hara to lead the construction phase for its 100 per cent-owned flagship Murchison gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company has today confirmed that funding is imminent, site environmental permits have been secured and a bigger-than-planned ball mill will be delivered by September, bringing the project another step closer to production.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Alto Metals, after it revealed high-grade gold rock chips – and then also confirmed a takeover bid by Brightstar Resources. There is obviously a fair bit to unpack there, but we will do just that and also look at other companies that ran hard this week, including African Gold, Appen and Atomos.

Buxton Resources is setting out on the trail of encouraging results gleaned last year from its Dogleg nickel-copper-cobalt project in WA’s Kimberley region as the company kicks off its new field season with up to eight diamond drillholes. Management is also planning to run extensive moving loop electromagnetic surveys to detect conductivity anomalies that could be related to nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralisation away from previous drilling.

White Cliff Minerals has confirmed the locations of historical high-grade results for a suite of valuable minerals at its two key Canadian projects, defining multiple priority targets for early drilling after completing a maiden field work campaign. Field reconnaissance, mapping and sampling has identified four iron oxide-copper-gold targets at its Great Bear project and multiple styles of copper mineralisation at its Rae play.

Estrella Resources is continuing to deliver the goods at its Lautém project in virgin Timor-Leste, with the discovery of new supergene manganese mineralisation exposed from surface at its Sica prospect. The company also received “exceptional” assay results from grab samples taken at several nearby prospects, with grades reaching as high as 57 per cent manganese.

Triangle Energy Global’s hunt for onshore oil and gas in Western Australia has grown white-hot, with the spudding of its Booth-1 exploration well at the Booth prospect marking the launch of a highly-anticipated drilling campaign in the underexplored North Perth Basin. The drilling is targeting a hefty 279 billion cubic feet resource as part of Triangle’s joint venture agreement with Strike Energy and Echelon Resources.

Middle Island Resources has hit the ground running with the completion of the first of three diamond drill holes at its Flintstones-themed Georgina project in the Northern Territory where it is testing for iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential. The company recently kicked off its first round of drilling at Georgina and is expecting to drill three diamond drill holes between 600m and 650m deep.

Image Resources is continuing its push towards the construction of its Atlas heavy mineral sands project in Western Australia’s North Perth Basin after sealing State Government approval for its mining proposal. The approval from the WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety is another step forward along the development path for the project located 170km north of Perth.

Triangle Energy says its recent $4m capital raise was well supported by financial institutions and sophisticated investors as the company prepares to break out the drill rig for the first time in years in the Perth basin. Triangle is pivoting out of its near depleted Cliff Head offshore oil well and back into exploration with two interesting looking Perth Basin oil and gas plays.