Public Company News

Meeka Metals has added new impetus to Australia’s growing rare earths sector after unveiling 10 square kilometres of high-grade clay-hosted mineralisation at its Circle Valley project in WA. It will declare an initial resource in June after drilling gave grades up to 3084 parts per million total rare earth oxides with consistently high neodymium-praseodymium assays of up to 34 per cent of the TREO values.

Infinity Mining says it has uncovered a “lithium-rich system” during a maiden scout drilling program at its Tambourah South project in the Pilbara, with more than 50 samples returning results above 0.2 per cent lithium oxide. Highlights include a 4m hit at 0.573 per cent lithium oxide from 32m, while the widest section showed a 9m intercept going 0.332 per cent lithium oxide from surface.

Neometals has struck a binding take-or-pay offtake agreement, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Australian Titanium, with Chinese partner Jiuxing Titanium Materials for both direct shipping ore and titanium-rich mixed gravity concentrates. The company says it now plans to update a recent prefeasibility study to reflect the potential for a lower-capital development of its Barrambie titanium and vanadium project near Sandstone in Western Australia’s Murchison region.

Legend Mining has highlighted two significant nickel-copper sulphide targets ready for diamond drilling at its Octagonal prospect in Western Australia’s Fraser Range after analysis of 3D seismic and additional data sets. Octagonal forms part of the company’s Rockford project and sits within the same structural corridor as IGO’s game-changing Nova-Bollinger deposit.

Alaskan authorities have awarded 88 Energy the entire 10,291-square-kilometre Project Leonis lease area, south of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field and north of its existing Phoenix operation and Hickory-1 well. Leonis sits near oil fields that successfully exploit the USB oil reservoir. In the project area, more than 60m of prospective oil zones were found in the Hemi Springs Unit 3 well.

Valor Resources has completed its second anniversary payment as part of a farm-in agreement in Canada, where it is aiming to take an 80 per cent stake in the Hook Lake uranium project. Valor’s expenditure has reached C$3.5 million (AU$3.9 million) over a three-year period as required by the deal and it is finalising cash and share commitments to complete its second earn-in milestone.

Godolphin Resources has set a maiden JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource at its Narraburra rare earth project in NSW, with a massive 126 per cent increase in resource grade compared to its previous JORC 2004 estimate. The updated estimate sits at 94.4 million tonnes at 739 parts per million total rare earth oxides, with 50 per cent of the resource now defined in the indicated category.

White Cliff Minerals is eyeing a maiden JORC resource at its Hines Hill rare earths project near Merredin in WA, with a shallow air-core drill program underway following solid results from last year’s campaign. It is targeting ionic absorption clay mineralisation in the top 20m of the project across a strike of 1km and a width of 800m, with some 90 air-core drill holes planned.

Classic Minerals has forecast a start to gold production in June after completing bulk earthworks for the tailings storage facility at its wholly-owned Kat Gap gold mine, which is under construction 170km south of Southern Cross in WA’s Central Wheatbelt. The facility will be ready for use in May after the company installs a liner and monitoring bores.

Venture Minerals is keen to get its drill bits spinning in search of rare earths elements in WA after adding two new Mid West projects to its portfolio and identifying two new targets at its existing Kulin deposit, south-east of Perth. The diversified minerals explorer has developed a strategy to expand its exposure in the rare earths space with a bias for clay-hosted mineralisation.

Buru Energy is pressing the pedal to the metal on its Rafael gas discovery in the Kimberley following a tick of approval on introducing a floating liquified natural gas (FLNG) facility into the processing chain. But Buru believes the value of its prefeasibility study extends wider than just a nod to the FLNG, claiming an innovative partnership could bring Rafael to reality.

Everest Metals has completed a swag of deals to formally acquire 51 per cent of the Mt Edon lithium project and the Revere gold project. The package includes joint ventures across both projects with the privately-owned Entelechy Resources, along with farm-in deals and royalty agreements. The arrangements allow Everest to move towards 100 per cent ownership.