Public Company News

Junior explorer Javelin Minerals has kicked off a 4000m air core drilling program at its Coogee project near Kalgoorlie in WA. Using a ‘lake drill rig’ the explorer will test gold and copper targets at its Coogee West area, including a 3km gold trend containing bottom-of-hole anomalous results of up to 0.47 grams per tonne gold. The project covers an area of about 17 square kilometres.

Blackstone Minerals has inked a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s Son La province to promote a cooperative framework for the development of the Ta Khoa nickel project in that region. The understanding reflects the Australian and Vietnamese governmental commitment to deepening two-way trade and facilitating investment projects in Vietnam, ultimately supporting the energy security of both countries.

Australia’s first five-element platinum group metals mine is one step closer to reality after historic samples were resampled, showing high-grade rhodium and iridium at Podium Minerals’ Parks Reef PGM project in Western Australia, lifting the value of an ounce from the project by 30 per cent with the addition of the two valuable metals.

Ora Banda Mining is planning to strip back its Goldfields Davyhurst gold mining operation to become a single deposit mine in the short term to maximise cashflows. Mining of the Riverina Stage 1 open pit will cease this quarter and the Sand King stage 1 pre-strip will be deferred until November as the company looks to turn the operation into a leaner, meaner cash cow in the short term.

Wiluna Mining Corporation has intersected a flurry of ‘outstanding’ gold results from a first-hole probe of its Bulletin North Discovery target at its namesake mine site, about 750km northeast of Perth in Western Australia. According to the company, the results include a 0.3 metre section grading a staggering 3270 grams per tonne gold from 634m and a 1.5m hit going 8.30 g/t gold from 570m.

Blackstone Minerals has secured Vietnamese approval to take its drills to the highly-prospective Chim Van target. The company says geophysical modelling suggests Chim Van is a concealed ultramafic target similar to the Ban Phuc disseminated sulphide deposit, however significantly it registers a magnetic signature that is an order of magnitude larger. Blackstone is currently wheeling the rig to the site, about 7km northwest of Ban Phuc.

A geochemical survey at Venus Metals Corporation’s Youanmi lithium project has backed up previous drilling, with the company hoping recently delineated lithium anomalies are an extension of the Manindi lithium discovery to the south that excited the market last month. Interestingly, the extensions appear to coincide with existing and known pegmatite outcrops.

Godolphin Resources has struck multiple mineralised copper veins with its first hole in search of a large porphyry copper-gold system in NSW. The explorer kicked off a two-hole diamond-drill program at its Yeoval porphyry copper-gold project on April 4 and now is shooting for possible extensions to the south of its current resource hoping its second hole will make it two from two.

AVZ Minerals’ ongoing development of its flagship Manono lithium and tin project, about 500km north of Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has received a major shot in the arm after acquiring a positive technical opinion from the Department of Mines, clearing the path for an imminent decision on its mining licence at the operation.

The first holes drilled into the Amy Clarke target in more than 25 years have yielded high-grade gold hits for Great Southern Mining from an air core drilling program at its Duketon Gold project, near Laverton in WA’s Goldfields. Results included an intersection of 5 metres at 8.2 grams per tonne gold, including one metre at 33.5 g/t gold from 33m.

Wiluna Mining Corporation has boosted its global ore reserves by 10 per cent, even after mining depletion, to 36.8 million tonnes grading 1.2 grams per tonne gold for 1.42 million ounces of gold at its namesake WA operation. The company posted an impressive 31 per cent increase in underground ore reserves to 861,900 ounces grading 4.11 g/t gold as it looks to focus on optimising Stage 1 development.

Chimeric Therapeutics has entered into a strategic manufacturing partnership with US-based biopharmaceuticals outfit WuXi Advanced Therapies to accelerate production of its cancer-fighting CAR T therapies. According to Chimeric, WuXi delivers extensive experience in Good Manufacturing Practices and analytical testing and it says the deal will allow it to scale up manufacturing support ahead of several clinical trial programs.