Public Company News

Estrella Resources has confirmed the presence of a slew of multiple stacked, fractionating pegmatites during field work at its Carr Boyd project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Goldfields region. The company says the outcropping pegmatites can be traced for a few hundred metres before going beneath the cover again and a follow-up works program of mapping and sampling is already underway.

Bookbuilds and Banter with Boz (aka Shaw and Partner’s WA State manager Davide Bosio) draws on his years of capital-raising experience and deal-making in Perth to talk billionaires and battery metals as he laments the ultimate killer of the deal – time.

Global battery industry giant Shanghai Jayson New Energy Materials has become St George Mining’s biggest shareholder after grabbing $3 million worth of the West Perth-based lithium explorer’s shares. The company says the significant investment will enable it to better explore its portfolio of hard-rock lithium projects in Western Australia, with a priority focus on the flagship Mt Alexander operation.

Brightstar Resources has mined the first ore at its Selkirk deposit that forms part of the company’s Menzies gold project, with 1500 tonnes of ore at 3.01 grams per tonne gold stockpiled and ready for processing. Mining is being undertaken by Goldfields-based BML Ventures, which is part of a 50:50 joint venture with Brightstar to mine the Selkirk deposit.

ASX-listed Lithium Universe has decided on the perfect location for its 16,000-tonne per annum lithium carbonate refinery to service its Eastern Canadian lithium processing hub after assessing more than 20 prospective sites. The company appointed heavyweight engineering firm, Hatch, to undertake a comprehensive study for the design and location of the refinery in the Canadian State of Quebec.

Drilling and geophysical surveys at Venture Minerals’ new Jupiter prospect in Western Australia’s Mid West region has revealed the strong possibility it may contain a clay-hosted and deep intrusive rare earths resource that warrants early follow-up drilling. The diversified metals explorer says air-core drilling results include a hole that intersected 28m at 2246ppm total rare earth oxides in clays.

Infinity Lithium has splashed out a stunning EBITDA of US$16.7 billion (AU$26 billion) for its San José project in Spain in an updated scoping study that outlines a 26-year mine life and annual production of 33,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide. The company’s new study shows a post-tax net present value of US$2.87 billion (AU$4.47 billion) and an internal rate of return of 21.3 per cent.

Newly ASX-listed Chariot Corporation has embarked on an initial diamond drill program to hunt for hard-rock, pegmatite-hosted lithium oxide at its flagship Black Mountain project in central Wyoming. The company is well positioned as the biggest landholder of lithium exploration assets in the United States and has a wealth of prospective ground spread through Wyoming and the Nevada-Oregon area.

ABx Group has launched the operation of its new pilot batch reactor in a world-first process to produce hydrogen fluoride from bath, a fluoride-rich waste product from aluminium smelting, at its technology centre in NSW. The company and its subsidiary, Alcore, believe the process they have developed could have great potential for Australia, which currently imports all of its aluminium fluoride.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has stretched the boundaries of its Pinjin project, 140km east of Kalgoorlie, after securing a new license from the Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. The company has also lodged applications for two further tenements at the operation where it nailed gold hits last month including multiple intersections running between 10m and 15m wide and grading more than 5g/t.

Australian battery materials producer Neometals says its joint venture partner Primobius has produced industry-leading quality in trial production of battery-grade nickel sulphate from recycled lithium-ion batteries. The company believes the development, using Primobius’ patented technology, has immeasurable implications for sustainability through the recycling of expired batteries, which have largely unchanged components that can be recovered and turned into new batteries.

Infinity Mining will ramp up its search for a joint venture partner at its Hillside project, 50km south of Marble Bar in Western Australia, after unveiling new nickel assays with headline hits of 135m at 2189ppm from 64m and 95m at 2197ppm from 254m. Other significant results include 107m at 1727ppm from 235m, 52m at 1761ppm from surface and 16m at 2150ppm from 123m.