Public Company News

The race is still on for companies trying to crack the exploration code within Western Australia’s rugged Albany-Fraser Orogen in the ongoing mission to reproduce the area’s renowned – and only – Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper find. Despite some firms claiming to have defined the geological silver bullet they believed would shoot them to fame, the search for the elusive prize continues.

Surefire Resources’ soil sampling at its Yidby East gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region has identified anomalous base metals similar to of the nearby Golden Grove style of volcanogenic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposit. The company’s Phat Boy target sits about 50km south/south-east of 29Metals’ world-famous Golden Grove and other nearby VHMS deposits in the same belt.

A 14-hole step-back diamond drilling program has rewarded Aurum Resources with a gold hit of 40m at 1.03 grams per tonne from 136m at its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire as it moves to develop a large-scale mine. The headline hit also features a 5m slice at 1.7g/t gold, with other results including 11m at 2.15g/t from 169m and 10m at 2.02g/t.

Lycaon Resources has engaged a renowned geophysical expert to help make its Stansmore project that sits in Western Australia’s West Arunta region the next cab off the niobium rank to follow other nearby recent success stories. Both WA1 Resources and Encounter Resources captured the market’s attention after identifying niobium and rare earths mineralisation associated with a carbonatite intrusive in the same region.

Local rare earths explorer ABx Group and TSX-listed Canadian firm Ucore Rare Metals have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to forge a binding offtake agreement for the supply of a mixed rare earths carbonate –enriched in the valuable dysprosium and terbium metals – sourced from the former’s Deep Leads project that sits 45km west of Launceston in northern Tasmania.

Meeka Metals has slotted in the final piece of the approvals puzzle from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS), allowing it to launch full-scale development of its Murchison gold project in Western Australia. With the green light now shining brightly, Meeka has quickly moved from planning to construction and is targeting its first gold pour by July next year.

Aurum Resources has secured the renewal of its Boundiali South exploration licence, which hosts its advanced high-grade Nyangboue gold deposit, in the centre-north of the prospective West African country of Côte d'Ivoire. Boundiali South is one of four exploration tenements comprising Aurum's Boundiali gold project and hosts three prime gold prospects – Gbemou, Nyangboue and Nyangboue South.

Ora Banda Mining has unveiled a fresh haul of strong gold drilling results from its Riverina underground mine just outside of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. More than 100 holes have returned 10-gram metres of gold, including a 2.7m hit at a juicy 65.9g/t, while the company has also launched into its second underground operation at Sand King to the south.

American West Metals has jagged a 13.5 per cent copper hit in resource upgrade drilling at the Cyclone deposit within its Storm project in Canada – and it has also identified a new target 1.4km to the south. The company identified the new copper target while drilling the first hole south of the southern graben fault to test a geophysical anomaly, 450m south-west of its Thunder prospect.

Meeka Metals has secured a $73 million funding war chest, paving the way to finalising the development and production ramp-up at its 100 per cent-owned Murchison gold project in Western Australia. The funding comprises a $26 million gold loan and a $12 million gold stream from Auramet International, in addition to a $35 million institutional placement that includes a $5 million equity investment from Auramet.

Aguia Resources is charging towards production at its Santa Barbara gold project in the Columbian State of Bolivar following key project procurements ahead of underground developments slated for later this year. The company believes that for relatively little capital expenditure, it can be producing first gold at the high-grade, low-tonnage operation by as soon as next year’s first quarter.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Elevate Uranium’s 2m strike at 1482ppm uranium oxide in Namibia. We also take a close look at other drill hits reported by Dateline Resources from its Colosseum project in California and from New World Resources at its Antler play in Arizona.