Public Company News

Twigger’s Tales (aka Argonaut Deputy Chair Liam Twigger) talks “corporate governance” and the brow-furrowing list of boxes the modern day non-executive director has to tick before the shareholder even gets a look in.

Battery materials recycler Neometals says purification testwork on its pilot proprietary “ELi” lithium production process removes more than 97 per cent of brine feed-source impurities, creating a solution suitable for electrolysis. The company says the level of purification in the clean brine solution meets the specification required for the electrolytic stage in its majority-owned and trademarked ELi process.

Lycaon Resources has set a new focus on what it believes is a “fertile nickel copper system” at its Bow River project in Western Australia’s East Kimberley region after diamond drill samples threw up visible nickel-copper sulphides. The company says results from a third of its latest samples showed more than 300ppm nickel, with peaks of 742ppm nickel and 744ppm copper.

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.