Public Company News

Quantum Graphite and its joint venture partner Sunlands Energy are a step closer to securing a US$300 million funding solution to fuel their quest aimed at feeding high-purity graphite into the American economy. The partnership has confirmed it has received a letter of interest regarding the significant financing commitment from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).

White Cliff Minerals says it has now uncovered four visible iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) systems during the company’s initial field program at its promising Great Bear Lake project in northern Canada. One of the four hydrothermal system discoveries has been dubbed the “Cleaver” target and, according to management, it has a gossanous zone so extensive that it is identifiable via satellite.

Legend Mining has reignited its search for nickel and copper at the Octagonal prospect within Western Australia’s rugged Fraser Range, launching a new electromagnetic survey following a four-month bad weather delay. The company has confirmed the program at its Rockford project is now firmly back on track and will explore a strong conductive zone on the eastern flank of the prospect.

Aurumin has unmasked what it says is a “real” high-grade iron ore discovery with the potential for significant scale at its flagship Sandstone gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company has confirmed high-grade rock chip assays up to 67 per cent iron in banded-iron formations within a discontinuous strike of about 6km at the site.

Latitude 66 has unveiled 20 new gold-copper targets at its Peräpohja Schist Belt (PSB) project in Finland as it ramps up efforts to prove the potential for a lookalike to its nearby flagship operation in the Scandinavian nation. Management says geophysical surveys, geological mapping and rock sampling at PSB suggests similarly significant mineralisation to its Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) play.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has extended a prospective gold strike at its Pinjin project in Western Australia to 21km after being granted a new 3.5-square-kilometre parcel of contiguous ground at the site that sits 140km north-east of Kalgoorlie. The ground is centred about 3.75km south along strike from the company’s Wessex target and about 8km north along strike from its Kirgella Gift and Providence gold prospects.

Terrain Minerals is poised to launch a multi-mineral exploration mission at two projects in Western Australia after bolstering its bank balance with a timely $1.045 million raise from sophisticated and professional investors. The raise, including $102,000 from executive director Justin Virgin, smashed its original $750,000 target out of the park as investors scrambled to be involved in the company’s upcoming exploration plans.

Buxton Resources has kicked off Aboriginal heritage surveys at its 100 per cent-owned greenfield Centurion prospect in Central Australia as it seeks clearance to fuel its aim to discover a significant iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit at the site. The critical surveys are being carried out by members of the Parna Ngururrpa and Ngurra Kayanta traditional owner groups that hold the cultural authority over the land.

Altech Batteries says cells for its “Cerenergy” sodium chloride battery prototypes have shown “higher-than-expected” energy capacities during a testing program at several Fraunhofer IKTS facilities in Germany. The company has today confirmed it has completed the fabrication, assembly and initialisation of all 240 cells for the first prototype at its pilot plant and expects to mount the finished modules into a full “BatteryPack” next week.

ABx Group has polished off a 37-hole air-core drilling campaign that explored a previously-untested north-west area of its Deep Leads rare earths project sitting 45km west of Launceston in northern Tasmania. Previous success at ABx’s high-grade Deep Leads target has led it to interpret the area as prospective for rare earths and the latest drilling has yielded 316 samples that have been sent for analysis.

Meeka Metals has secured a greater-capacity ball mill than envisaged in its definitive feasibility study in May for its Murchison gold project in WA, paving the way for significantly enhanced economies of scale. The company says the $318,000 purchase reduces its DFS mill capex by 75 per cent, lifts processing capacity by 30 per cent to 640,000 tonnes per annum and increases ore processing options.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we examine some of the notable drill intersections revealed on the ASX, including Encounter Resources’ 46m at 3.1 per cent niobium pentoxide from 60m to hole end at 106m. We also take a close look at other interesting drill hits from last week as reported by Future Battery Minerals, Riversgold and Spartan Resources.