Public Company News

Bulls N’ Bears takes a look at the listed companies that have enjoyed share price explosions on the back of 16-year high uranium prices. With lithium taking a breather, the uranium renaissance has filled a gap as demand for uranium to power a clean-energy future pushed the commodity’s fortunes and propelled it to US$106 per pound earlier this year.

ABx Group’s ambition to produce aluminium fluoride for the aluminium smelting industry have been given a shot in the arm with new testing showing 88 per cent fluorine recovery from aluminium smelter waste – the best result to date from its bath pilot batch reactor in New South Wales. The company says learnings from the latest round of testing will be incorporated into the design of its upcoming continuous pilot plant.

Ora Banda Mining continues to deliver impressive results at its Riverina underground mine near Kalgoorlie with diamond drilling returning high-grade hits including 1.6m at a whopping 105.4 grams per tonne gold. The company is making steady progress with the underground operation and its share price has been riding a wave since August last year from about 8c to 30c as it looks implement its detailed mine plan.

DiscovEx Resources will takeover a private company that has racked up a 650,000 ounce gold resource in Finland in addition to Europe’s second largest undeveloped cobalt resource. It also has some stellar exploration hits including a 22m intersection grading 98 g/t gold. The Finnish turf is currently owned by Australian company Latitude 66 Cobalt, which the DiscovEx board proposes to acquire by way of an off- market takeover.

Aurumin has kick-started its reverse-circulation drill campaign as it hunts for gold at its Sandstone project in WA. The program will consist of 40 drill-holes and test up to nine new open-pit targets. The existing resource is tantalisingly close to the magical one-million-ounce mark and the company will be looking for some solid results to help it burst through that all-important level.

As the gold price continues its meteoric rise, tipping over $3500 per ounce, Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has completed an interpretation of its Pinjin project in WA’s goldfields, revealing a clutch of compelling new targets. With the project nestled along strike from Ramelius Resources’ 1.1 million ounce Rebecca project, KalGold is set to spin the rods in a first-pass aircore program designed to test the targets.

Si6 Metals has secured a second license at its JV Caldera rare earths project in the mining region of Minas Gerais in Brazil and will charge a drill-rig into the area to kick-off its latest program. The newly granted land borders that of Meteoric Resources exciting Caldeira rare earths project, where high-grade ionic-clay rare earths have been discovered at grades that are generally considered to be amongst the best in the clay based rare earths sector.

Estrella Resources is wasting no time as it looks to explore the potential of its freshly minted 500 sq kms of tenure in Timor-Leste with a high-grade manganese rock chip sample peaking at 60.8 per cent already on the table. As the ink dries on the historical agreement with state-owned Murak Rai Timor, Estrella is making history as one of the first companies to receive exploration rights in the country.

Lindian Resources is fully permitted to begin the construction, mining and mineral processing steps at its massive Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi after receiving a permit to extract ground water at the site. The giant African operation currently holds 261 million tonnes at an impressive grade of 2.19 per cent total rare earth oxides, including 5.7 million tonnes of contained TREO in the inferred category.

Quantum Graphite has completed a detailed airborne electromagnetic survey over its Uley tenure on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The company is on a quest to boost its current Uley 2 resource of 6.3 million tonnes at 11.1 per cent total graphitic carbon for an inventory of 697,000 tonnes of the critical battery mineral.

Strickland Metals is ready to put its WA gold hunt into overdrive, as it prepares to drill a multitude of high-grade gold targets at its highly prospective Yandal project, about 85km north-east of the town of Wiluna. The company’s liquid assets are impressive, with $54 million in cash and Northern Star shares available to fund its exploration programs.

ASX-listed Gold Mountain is looking to significantly increase its rare earths holdings in the Brazilian State of Bahia after securing 41 new tenement applications covering more than 800 square kilometres. Dubbed the “Ronaldinho” project, the new applications cover ground adjacent to tenements held by the Gina Rinehart-backed Brazilian Rare Earths.