Public Company News

Lithium Australia’s patent application to take waste rock from a lithium mining operation and turn it directly into a lithium phosphate product suitable for making battery cathodes received a shot in the arm this week. An international examiner has determined the process is “novel, involves an inventive step and is applicable to industry”.

ASX-listed gold hopeful, Middle Island Resources, looks to have struck paydirt at one of its new satellite deposits at its historic Sandstone gold project in WA, returning bonanza RC drill hits from the Ridge prospect that appears to be shaping up as an open pit ore source in its own right.

TNT Mines has delivered a set of smoking hot uranium samples to its assay lab in the USA where they were rejected due to their uber-high levels of radioactivity – a nice problem to have for a uranium explorer. The samples will now be assayed at an alternative lab in Canada that is better equipped to handle them.

ASX-listed gold developer Calidus Resources has taken multiple steps towards gold production at its flagship Warrawoona project in WA’s East Pilbara region with environmental approvals clearing the way for early construction items to be built at the planned $116 million development. The company plans to commence early capital works – including an access road and a 240-person accommodation village – as soon as next month.

Novo Resources has pulled a rabbit out of a hat by snapping up Millennium Minerals and its Golden Eagle gold processing plant at Nullagine in WA. The bold move sets the stage for the company to become Australia’s first conglomerate gold producer.

Great Southern Mining continues to churn out the high-grade drill hits at its historic Cox’s Find gold project near Laverton in WA, this time outside of the interpreted main lode extension. Better assays from recent RC drilling at Cox’s Find included 9m going 5 g/t gold from 142m, within a broader zone of 16m at 3.7 g/t from 138m, and 2m at 14 g/t from 146m.

The results of unlisted Barton Gold’s latest geophysical survey nearby its soon to be restarted Tarcoola gold project in South Australia are pulse-quickening. The company says it has identified a 3.5km-long trend or geological “channel” that may be harbouring look-alike gold deposits to the existing Perseverance open pit at the rapidly developing Tarcoola gold project.

ASX-listed aspiring manganese developer, Element 25, has ticked a major box at its proposed low-CAPEX Butcherbird project in the Pilbara, this week declaring the site has sufficient process water supply to support production. The company says it successfully pump tested a water bore within a shallow aquifer and determined the project has enough water for proposed production operations.

ASX-listed Troy Resources has returned multiple hits at its Karouni gold project in Guyana, South America, with its Smarts underground prospect throwing up drill numbers like 19m at 9.15 g/t gold from 173m down hole, including 5m going 24.24 g/t gold. Troy has also produced almost 13,000 ounces of gold from its open pit operations since mining re-commenced in January this year.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia, via its subsidiary, the Very Small Particle Company or “VSPC”, has refined the process for the production of its lithium ferro phosphate battery cathode powders, reducing the chemical input costs by 20 per cent in the process. Lithium phosphate raw materials produced using VSPC’s optimised process returned excellent electrochemical results, according to the company.

ASX-listed Canada gold explorer, Ardiden, is gearing up for a very detailed airborne geophysical survey of the New Patricia prospect at its high-grade Pickle Lake gold project in north-western Ontario in Canada as the historic mining area gets its first taste of aerial survey work in 45 years.

Neometals has joined forces with multi-billion-dollar German metallurgical powerhouse, SMS Group, to develop the company’s proprietary lithium battery recycling technology. Under the terms of the joint venture, the companies will form Primobius GmbH to commercialise Neometals’ lithium-ion battery recycling technology with the recovered product set to be used in the growing battery supply chain.