Public Company News

Prospective ground secured by Buxton Resources in WA’s West Kimberley in 2015 is now looming as a company game-changer – for more reasons than one as it continues to foster a relationship with mining giant IGO. New nickel-copper sulphides potential revealed today from the joint venture’s Quick Shears project could be just the tip of the iceberg for a burgeoning partnership that also includes international exploration.

Terrain Minerals has hit rare earths during a reconnaissance-scale air-core (AC) drill campaign at its Lort River project near Esperance, with high percentages of magnetic rare earth oxides up to 43 per cent. Assay highlights show a 3m intercept grading 919 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 23m, including a peak 1m hit going 1878ppm TREO.

Auric Mining has entered into the free-cash phase of gold production from its Jeffreys Find mine near Norseman in Western Australia following a remarkable project journey to date of just three years. The company’s first stage of mining has produced more than 7700 ounces of gold from the operation, with 5667 ounces sold for a gross revenue of $16.6 million.

An "unsolicited" lithium review at Estrella Resources’ Carr Boyd nickel project near Kalgoorlie has spun out new and historical pegmatite potential – but the extent and lithium content is not yet known. The company says the approaches from a “leading global mining group” to evaluate the possibilities for LCT-type pegmatites at Carr Boyd has only reconfirmed its belief in what it believes the project may hold.

Terrain Minerals has set its sights on two priority polymetallic targets – which evoke the style of the giant nearby Golden Grove deposit – that have been defined from MMI geochemistry at its Smokebush project north of Perth in Western Australia. The company’s geochemical sampling yielded a 1100m-long polymetallic anomaly in the north of the grid and a new 900m-long polymetallic anomaly at the grid’s southern extent.

St George Mining has kicked off a fresh lithium exploration campaign at its Mt Alexander project in Western Australia, with soil sampling, pegmatite mapping and outcrop sampling now underway at the operation. The program aims to test new lithium targets, in addition to an 8km-long zone around its Manta prospect where previous drilling by the company intersected a 121m-thick fractionated pegmatite.

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.