Public Company News

Classic Minerals has been given the green light to begin production at its Kat Gap gold mine near Southern Cross after officially receiving WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety approval. The Kat Gap deposit hosts almost 93,000 ounces of an inferred mineral resource at 2.96 grams per tonne gold and is the principal contributor to the company’s total gold inventory of more than 400,000 ounces.

Gold and nickel explorer Metal Hawk says RC drilling at its Berehaven project, about 25km south-east of Kalgoorlie, has extended the Torana prospect’s target zone after hitting new zones of disseminated nickel sulphides. The open strike length of the targeted ultramafic unit now extends to almost 1km and downhole electromagnetic surveys are underway to refine targets for more drilling.

Empire Energy has notched up another milestone in the Beetaloo sub-basin with ongoing production testing of its Carpentaria-2H well in the Northern Territory delivering a 30-day average of 2.4 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. The company says its new data suggests the well’s gas is endowed with a low impurity composition that could support low carbon development opportunities.

Mineral explorer Aurumin’s winning run continues from diamond drilling at its Central Sandstone project 130km west of Leinster in WA as the company aims to extend the mineral resource at the site. The final assay from the program returned a 242.7m intersection going 1.2 grams per tonne gold from 203.1m including an 8.3m at 4.82 g/t gold from 214.2m. The campaign sought to test the northern section of the project’s Two Mile Hill deposit.

Silica sand explorer Allup Silica has applied for two new exploration projects, Blue Vein in WA and Trigger Fish in the NT. The company is also looking to beef up its Dune Buggy project lodging an application to expand its tenement just 15km from the port of Esperance in WA. Since listing in May, Allup’s strategy has been focused on projects, purity and ports.

Classic Minerals’ share price skyrocketed over 290 per cent during intraday trading after news the company had secured a cash injection worth up to $10 million to take its flagship Kat Gap gold project in WA to production. The deal saw over 200 million securities exchange hands, representing nearly all of its shares on offer as punters clamoured to get in on the action.

Battery metal explorer Askari Metals has completed another round of field mapping and sampling at the company’s Barrow Creek lithium project located in the NT’s Arunta pegmatite province. The field program was designed to identify and sample outcropping pegmatites in the previously unexplored south-central portion of the project.

A bone cancer treatment technology licenced by ASX-listed Radiopharm Theranostics has been granted orphan drug designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The approval is for a tumour-killing antibody known as DUNP19 that targets LRRC15, a substance produced by aggressive cancer cells in the surrounding micro-environment, but not healthy normal tissue.

Mineral sands producer Image Resources has executed a land access agreement that will allow it to extend mining operations at its wholly-owned Boonanarring project near Perth in WA. The deal enables the miner to access raw material from the operation’s south thereby curtailing a production gap brought on by relocating processing equipment to its Atlas deposit that is next in line to be brought into production.

West Cobar Metals has inked binding agreements to acquire private company Salazar Minerals and its clay-based rare earth elements project located 120km north-east of Esperance in WA. The Salazar project is hailed as one of Australia’s most advanced rare earths assets of the clay variety and boasts an inferred resource of 43.5Mt at 1192ppm total rare earths oxide with low levels of uranium and thorium.

Kairos Minerals is set to begin drilling at its Lucky Stump prospect where spodumene pegmatite samples grading up to 1.9 per cent lithium oxide were discovered near the company’s Mt York project in the Pilbara. The 16-hole RC drilling campaign is planned to cover 2400m and target multiple spodumene pegmatites that form part of a larger swarm at Mt York only 4km south of Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum mine.

New assay results from diamond drilling at American West Metals’ Storm project in Canada have confirmed the continuity of shallow, high-grade copper at a highly prospective zone dubbed “2750N”. Headline results include a 57m parcel grading 2.5 per cent copper from 8m embracing a 1m intercept running an eye-catching 21.9 per cent copper from 14m downhole.