Public Company News

Chimeric Therapeutics will showcase its cutting-edge cell therapy work before the world’s leading cancer specialists in the United States in June, joining a select cohort picked from more than 6500 entries. The Melbourne biotech will outline its new clinical trial, designed to test its potential treatment for brain cancer, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Buru Energy is forging ahead in its bid to unlock the massive potential of its Rafael 1 well, east of Broome in WA’s Canning Basin, by taking another important step on its pathway to production. Buru has lodged a declaration of location application with the State Government – a move described as a key step towards the commercialisation and monetisation of its gas and condensate resource.

Diversified explorer Askari Metals has backed its bold claim to be leading the charge for lithium out of Namibia by grabbing the final 10 per cent of an exclusive prospective lease at its Uis project. The news comes just days after the company revealed it had acquired an 80 per cent interest in an adjoining tenement for about $1.8 million.

Kairos Minerals has vowed to expand its lithium, gold and base metal targets after confirming a “compelling” 2.8km-long lithium anomaly and a nearby 2.3km gold anomaly at its Roe Hills project near Kalgoorlie. The company sees the anomalies as high-priority targets for spodumene lithium-bearing pegmatites akin to Global Lithium’s nearby Manna deposit containing 32.7 million tonnes at 1.0 per cent lithium oxide.

Middle Island Resources has named Roland Bartsch, a geologist with 35 years’ experience, as its new CEO. The industry veteran will lead the company’s copper-gold hunt at its flagship Barkly project in the Northern Territory. With its maiden drilling program delivering the trademarks of an iron oxide-copper-gold-style mineralisation, the company has plucked a CEO with a background of developing and managing similar projects.

Infinity Mining plans to dig deeper for gold at its Victor Bore project in the Central Goldfields after new drill results highlighted an 8m hit at 3.46 grams per tonne gold from 56m, including 1m going a solid 21.86g/t gold from 57m. A total of 13 of the 16 holes drilled at Victor Bore returned anomalous results of more than 1g/t gold.

ASX-listed oiler 88 Energy has hit the pay zone after successfully drilling at its Alaskan Hickory-1 oil well. After reaching a total depth of 3,246 metres and through all levels, the explorer discovered a new oil reservoir as it hunts for a potential billion-barrel resource. The news sent the share price 33 per cent higher by the close of day’s trading.

A women’s hospital in India has delivered good news for reproductive biotechnology innovator Memphasys, reporting the first successful birth for the company’s “Felix” sperm separation system. Memphasys has also scored a separate win with its first commercial sales in another key market – Japan. India offers Memphasys a $50 million opportunity, while Japan is twice that size.

Conico expects to transform the economics at its Mt Thirsty cobalt-nickel project near Norseman in WA by adding high-pressure acid leaching and a lithium-ion battery cathode precursor plant in an updated scoping study. The company also plans to reveal an updated mineral resource estimate ahead of an initial public offering to come later this year.

Venus Metals Corporation has upgraded the mineral resource estimate for its Bellchambers gold deposit in WA’s Goldfields region with a 35 per cent increase in tonnage and a 40 per cent rise in gold ounces. The updated JORC-compliant resource now sits at 722,000 tonnes at 1.31 grams per tonne gold for a total of 30,500 ounces at a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t gold.

Javelin Minerals’ latest testwork program has confirmed the presence of both gravity-recoverable gold and free-milling gold at its Coogee project near Kalgoorlie. Latest results also show copper can be recovered separately. Further testing will continue at the project, which last year unveiled a new gold mineral resource estimate of 1.42 million tonnes at 1.07 grams per tonne gold for a total of 49,000 ounces.

Infinity Mining has secured a five-year licence extension for its Strelley Gorge project in the Pilbara that is considered prospective for volcanic-hosted massive sulphide-style copper-zinc mineralisation. Just last year the company completed a helicopter electromagnetic survey across the site with initial data showing several conductive targets. Follow-up testing is planned for later this year.