Public Company News

With “hematite” iron ore discoveries slowing to a trickle, billionaires and others are turning to the once-maligned poor cousin of the iron ore industry “magnetite” that comes with almost biblical scale.

This week’s Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is … Green Critical Minerals. The critical mineral explorer picked up some new groundbreaking graphite technology that can produce high-thermal conductivity material. Li-S Energy ran hard after revealing improvements to its lithium-sulfur battery tech, while other movers and shakers this week were Asian Battery Metals and Red Mountain Mining.

Titanium Sands has won approval from Sri Lanka’s Geological Survey and Mines Bureau to consolidate the five main licences at its Mannar mineral sands project to assist the process of obtaining an industrial mining licence. The consolidation is a requirement of the country’s “Board of Investment” in order to seek foreign investment approval for the project.

St George Mining has received the backing of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais via a Memorandum of Understanding to assist with fast-tracking its Araxà niobium-REE project in Brazil. The MoU covers assistance with regulatory approvals and will see both parties collaborate on other areas that will support the domestic supply chains for niobium, rare earths and related downstream products.

Octava Minerals is preparing to kick off a gravity and seismic program ahead of a drilling campaign at its Yallalong project 220km northeast of Geraldton in Western Australia in the hunt for antimony. Following earlier mapping and rock-chip sampling, the company will conduct detailed geophysical surveys aimed at identifying shear zones and rock boundaries, key indicators for unearthing mineralised fluid pathways.

88 Energy has wrapped up a successful 2D seismic program across its petroleum exploration licence in Namibia’s Owambo Basin with initial analysis picking up significant subsurface structures. The company will soon begin crunching the processed data in collaboration with joint venture partner Monitor Exploration and look to produce an independent prospective resource estimate by April next year.

It feels like Groundhog Day after Strickland Metals served up yet another massive drill hit from its Serbian copper-gold Medenovac prospect within the company’s Rogozna project. The latest drill campaign has thrown up a significant 223m intersection grading 1.7g/t gold equivalent from 179m including 43m at 4.6 g/t gold equivalent from 357m. The mineralisation now strikes for 150m.

ABx Group's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary ALCORE has made significant strides in its efforts to produce high-value hydrogen fluoride from waste after reporting its highest-ever recovery from its single stage fluorine reactor. The company reported a massive 97 per cent fluorine recovery from its 2-stage fluorine reactor, including an 85 per cent recovery from first stage processing of waste produced from the aluminium smelting process confirming a lucrative commercial pathway for the company.

Meeka Metals' Murchison gold project, 50km north of Meekatharra, is ahead of schedule with its 136-man camp and haul road nearing completion, targeting a mid-2025 first gold pour. And with 88 of the 136 accommodation rooms now fully commissioned, Meeka has importantly, created the opportunity to save some valuable time by ensuring space for the expanding workforce on-site.

Infinity Lithium non-exec chairman Adrian Byass will step up into the roles of executive chairman and interim CEO as the company shifts its operational focus to Spain for its San José lithium project. Infinity has been pushing hard to obtain the relevant project approvals and is working with the Mines Department to establish a public consultation period, hoping to work with stakeholders and finalise the approval process.

Led by a refreshed management team including the return of prodigal son and founder, managing director Jeromy Young, video technology innovator Atomos has posted a remarkable 72.5 per cent year on year improvement in gross profit margin. The company has also confirmed a six per cent lift in sales growth over the previous corresponding period driven by strong uptake of its revamped Ninja and Shinobi II core products.

Red Metal has been knocked over by punters in the rush for shares after its latest share purchase plan received applications totalling $6.6 million blowing an initial target of $2 million out of the water. The company’s exploration plans at its Sybella rare earths project in Queensland and drill programs at its other prospective targets are now fully-funded for the next year.