Public Company News

Aurum Resources has launched a scoping study to assess the development potential of its Boundiali gold project in Côte d’Ivoire after locking in metallurgical experts in a push to deliver a resource estimate by year’s end. After a recent raft of high-grade hits and strong metallurgical test results, the appointments also signal the next step in pushing the project quickly towards a prefeasibility study.

ABx Group says it has uncovered the potential for resource extension at its Deep Leads rare earths prospect in Tasmania after receiving the first 316 assays from its 37-hole maiden air-core drilling sortie. The company’s latest assay suite not only revealed thicker rare earths intercepts than usual, but also a high 4.3 per cent proportion of the high-value dysprosium and terbium elements.

Horizon Minerals is wasting no time getting the diggers to work at its Phillips Find gold project near Coolgardie in WA following a recent merger with Greenstone Resources. A joint venture agreement has been finalised with BML Ventures to mine 200,000 of ore, which will be toll treated at the nearby Greenfields Mill during the next 11 months to produce almost 15,000 ounces of gold.

Reach Resources says geophysics, geochemistry and rock microscopy have confirmed a 4.5-square-kilometre oval body as an alkaline intrusive and the likely source of big rare earths-niobium hits at its Wabli Creek project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. Wabli Creek is one of two exploration licences held by Reach in the highly-prospective Yinnetharra area that is well-known for its often unusual, but critical mineral assemblages.

St George Mining has swooped on the niobium-rich Araxá rare earths project in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, picking it up for US$21 million (AU$33 million) from Toronto-listed fertiliser specialist, Itafos. Sitting 5km south of the town of Araxá and 1000km north-west of Rio de Janeiro, the project boundary adjoins the high-grade CBMM mine that produces 80 per cent of the world’s niobium.

Buru Energy has locked in a local drilling company to drill two oil wells in Western Australia’s onshore Canning Basin that form the centrepiece of the company’s farm-in joint venture with Sabre Energy. The campaign is set to test the promising Rafael Shallow and Mars exploration wells and binding drill rig hire agreements are to be executed shortly to enable drilling to kick off in September-October.

Radiopharm Theranostics has banked US$2 million from American medical giant Lantheus for the sale of two preclinical antibody assets that target and help to diagnose aggressive cancers. Lantheus is also set to tip in a further US$5 million via a placement at 5c a share – a 42 per cent premium to today’s price – with an option for another US$5 million investment within six months.

Sabre Energy has agreed to stump up $6 million in drilling and testing costs at Buru Energy’s Rafael Shallow oil well in Western Australia’s onshore Canning Basin to earn 50 per cent of any commercial discovery and production. If the drilling leads to a commercial discovery, Sabre will also compensate Buru for its prior Rafael exploration expenses with a further payment of $1.5 million.

Terrain Minerals plans to test its promising Wildflower gold project in Western Australia later this month, with an air-core drill program for 41 holes comprising about 2100m. Drilling will test the company’s two priority targets, Wildflower and Cota, where previous drilling and soil sampling produced encouraging results that management is keen to pursue at the project that sits within WA’s Murchison gold province.

A Latitude 66 geophysics survey has identified strong conductors at the company’s K9 prospect in Finland that correlate with multiple conductors down-plunge from known gold-cobalt mineralisation and local shear zone orientation. The significance of the downhole electromagnetic results from two adjacent holes is that they confirm continuity of K9 mineralisation towards the south-west and north-east and also down-dip and down-plunge.

Allup Silica has nabbed a prized at-surface heavy mineral sands project next to the Eyre Highway at Western Australia’s Eucla Basin in a bid to take advantage of a looming titanium shortage. The McLaren project, which has excellent road and rail access to the Port of Esperance, boasts a 2022 JORC-compliant resource of 280 million tonnes at 4.8 per cent heavy minerals.

A compelling prefeasibility study (PFS) for Larvotto Resources’ Hillgrove gold-antimony project in New South Wales shows the operation will spit out an EBITDA of $652 million during a seven-year mine life. Using conservative pricing estimates, the company also revealed a post-tax NPV of $157 million, a post-tax IRR of 50 per cent and a maiden ore reserve of 606,000 ounces at 6g/t gold-equivalent.