Public Company News

Aruma Resources is heralding the potentially “company-changing” acquisition of two copper operations in Queensland and a highly-prospective iron oxide-copper-gold and uranium play in South Australia. As part of a share acquisition agreement with NHM Holdings, the company has picked up the Wilan project near Olympic Dam in SA, while also adding the Fiery Creek and Bortala copper operations near Mt Isa in Queensland.

Neometals is looking to stage a US$10 million ($AU15.1 million) cash-and-shares payment to grab an 80 per cent share in a United States-based company which has developed a hydrometallurgical process that selectively recovers precious metals from industrial waste streams. The company says it has secured an option for the acquisition, believing its expertise could increase production by further refining the pilot-plant process.

King River Resources has pocketed a timely R&D tax rebate of more than $361,000 as it ramps up spending on a 10,800m reverse-circulation drill program at its prospective Tennant Creek East copper-gold project in the Northern Territory. The program, which kicks off this week, was delayed for several months due to flooding rains, but will now test 13 prospects at the company’s Top End projects.

Terrain Minerals says the latest gallium and rare earths hits at its Larin’s Lane project have provided more compelling evidence of an emerging mineralisation province in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The company’s air-core sample assays show total rare earth oxides (TREO) to a high of 3254ppm and surprisingly-elevated gallium signatures to a maximum of 53.74ppm gallium oxide.

In this week’s edition of Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits, we unravel some of the more curious drill intersections revealed on the ASX last week, including Turaco Gold’s long 105m hit at 1.61 grams per tonne gold from 135m. We also take a close look at other notable drill hits from Everest Metals Corporation, Toubani Resources, Venture Minerals and Aurum Resources.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Strategic Energy Resources. Its share price jumped more than 170 per cent to join fellow movers and shakers Gibb River Diamonds, Sierra Nevada Gold and Charger Metals.

Aurum Resources’ diamond drilling efforts at the company’s Boundiali gold project in West Africa’s northern Côte d'Ivoire have continued to deliver big gold hits – this time 74m grading 1g/t from 167m. The latest set of assays included a 1m high-grade chunk going 24.73g/t as Aurum chases shallow mineralisation at depth with three diamond rigs to support a maiden mineral resource estimate for later this year.

Image Resources has edged a step closer to its mining plans at its high-grade Atlas mineral sands project 90km north of Boonanarring in Western Australia after securing environmental approval for the proposed development. Atlas’ 18 million-tonne resource features a heavy mineral grade of 6 per cent, including 9.3 per cent zircon, 46 per cent ilmenite, 4 per cent leucoxene and 6.5 per cent rutile.

Quantum Graphite’s JV partner Sunlands Energy has secured a patent green light for its thermal energy storage graphite cell technology from the powerful US Patent and Trademark Office. Management says the patent ensures its participation in the world’s biggest energy storage market. Thermal energy storage cells are devices that temporarily store energy to be used later for power generation.

Buxton Resources is dialling in on geophysical anomalies it believes may be iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) ore deposits as it prepares for fieldwork at its 100 per cent-owned Centurion project in Western Australia’s West Arunta region. Neighbouring tenements have thrown up significant rare earths enrichment, including niobium, at WA1 Resources’ Luni and Pachpadra carbonatite discoveries – and they have no shortage of head-turning assays.

Askari Metals has revealed some tantalising high-grade copper-silver mineralisation in rock chip sampling at its Callawa project in WA’s Pilbara region, jagging a top hit of 6.78 per cent copper with 2.34g/t silver. The headline result is supported by a second sample that produced 4.35 per cent copper with 8.25g/t silver and a third offering of 2.02 per cent copper with 6.42g/t silver.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has hit thick, near-to-surface gold running as high as 28m at 1.27g/t from 36m in air-core drilling at its Pinjin play near Kalgoorlie in WA’s Goldfields. The company believes it may be onto an extension of a bigger system being mined in adjacent ground by Hawthorn Resources, where 62,000 ounces have been pulled from open pit operations and 157,000 ounces sit underground.