Public Company News

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.

A leadership restructure at Atomos and a new product suite has led to a 5.1 per cent increase in sales and lifted gross margins to 40 per cent as part of a solid financial turnaround for the video technology innovator. It comes on the back of a 22 per cent cut in fixed operating costs following a $15 million loss in the past year.

Ardea Resources has hit a major milestone in the development of its Goongarrie Hub nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia after executing a binding agreement with a giant Japanese consortium. It now locks away a 50:50 joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation in a deal where the consortium has committed to funding a $98.5 million definitive feasibility study to earn into the project.

Strickland Metals has nailed more stellar gold hits from extensional drilling at the Warmblood prospect within its Horse Well camp near Wiluna in Western Australia. The company has extended the high-grade mineralised plunge at the site by an additional 170m, with a drill intersection of 7.9m at 9.7 grams per tonne peaking at a grade of 22g/t across 3.2m.