Joint venture partners Covalent Lithium, Wesfarmers and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) have opened of the Mt Holland lithium mine and concentrator project. The Mt Holland lithium project consists of an open-cut mine and concentrator, located 110km southeast of Southern Cross in the Wheatbelt region, and a refinery currently being constructed in the Kwinana Industrial Area. With an expected cost of $2.6 billion, the project is supporting 1,000 jobs during construction and 350 jobs during operations. Mt Holland will produce 380,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year, which will be refined into 50,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium hydroxide.…
BMG Resources Limited has announced promising results from its ongoing exploration review of the Dragon project neighbouring WA1 Resources’ site in the West Arunta region of Western Australia. Multiple targets showing structural and magnetic features have been identified at the Dragon Project — features similar to those that represent mineralised carbonatites at WA1 Resources’ ground and the nearby Aileron Project of Encounter Resources. BMG’s Dragon Niobium-REE Project is immediately adjacent to and shares a 30-kilometre-long border with the West Arunta Project of WA1 Resources. BMG Non-Executive Chairman John Prineas said: “Our ongoing review of exploration data for the West Arunta…
Pantera Minerals Limited has announced a substantial expansion of its Smackover Brine Project in North America, with the acquisition of 3,553 acres, representing a 26 per cent increase in leased acreage. The company's total net leased acreage now surpasses 17,000 acres. The bulk of the new acreage comes from a key lease with a mineral owner covering 2,194 acres, placing Pantera in a unique position of strength. This expansion not only enhances the project's scalability but also consolidates Pantera's control, with 100 per cent ownership of the project now under its purview. Pantera, the sole junior company listed in the…
A West Australian-based lithium explorer looks well-positioned to capture significant upside when the alkali metal’s market moves into its anticipated recovery mode. In 2023, Global Lithium Resources Ltd (ASX:GL1) spent a great deal of its corporate time sizing up its wholly-owned outcropping Manna pegmatite project in its home state of WA, completing a large-scale 60,000 metre reverse circulation and diamond drilling campaign which covered infill and extensional targets. The junior also started metallurgical and geotechnical programs that have since carried over into 2024. Located around 100 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the state’s Goldfields, Manna currently enjoys an indicated and…
Hillgrove Resources has commenced production of its first copper concentrate from the Kanmantoo mine in South Australia, following the successful completion of the processing facility; both milestones were met within the company's target timeframe of Q1 2024. The transition from explorer to producer makes Hillgrove Resources one of only a few copper producers on the ASX. Hillgrove Resources CEO and Managing Director Lachlan Wallace said: “Operations will be bedded down at Kanmantoo as we ramp up to steady stage production and our attention will turn to growing the business by converting future exploration and development opportunities.” “The project is well-positioned…
In mid-February a Perth-based dual-listed resources house took a major step towards establishing a sovereign national graphite project which entailed a ‘mine to market’ capability and integrated operations located within its home state of Western Australia. In doing so, it moved further towards its goal of becoming a significant player in the global processed graphite market. International Graphite Ltd (ASX: IG6) has just completed the successful wet commissioning of its new $1.5 million, 200 tonnes per annum graphite micronising plant in the coal mining town of Collie in WA using imported graphite concentrates. To be known as the Collie BAM…
An ASX-listed junior is looking to expeditiously dual-track its two lithium projects during the coming year, with the Perth-based Future Battery Minerals Ltd (FBM) targeting deposits in both Western Australia and the US state Nevada. In WA, the prize is its wholly-owned Kangaroo Hills, located just 17 kilometres south of the historic gold town of Coolgardie, where a high grade lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatite discovery has so far returned an assay of 29 metres at 1.36 per cent lithium. Meanwhile, in southern Nevada, the aptly-named Nevada Lithium Project (NLP), in which the junior has an 80 per cent interest, is a large-scale…
Australian precious metals mining exploration company, Prospech Limited, has received 18 rock chip samples taken from outcrop and spoil heaps, located within the company’s Pukanec exploration licence, which is part of its 100 per cent owned Nova Bana project in Slovakia. Prospech’s Nova Bana project is a package of three licences totalling 45 square kilometres situated on the western flank of the Hodrusa caldera. Of the 18 rock chip samples assayed, the company outlined that eight returned gold grades over 1 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold (Au) and of these, the average was 12.1 g/t Au. 10 of the…
Rafaella Resources Limited has contracted Geotech Limited to conduct a helicopter-borne survey over the recently acquired Midrim and Laforce claims in the Belleterre-Angliers Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada. The survey is anticipated to commence early next month and, subject to weather conditions, should take two weeks to complete. Rafaella states that the Versatile Time-Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM™ Max) combined with Groundfloor EM is excellent for locating discrete conductive anomalies as well as mapping lateral and vertical variations in resistivity. The VTEM™ Max provides the industry’s highest signal/noise ratio and spatial resolution of conductors, offering excellent depth of penetration and high resolution.…
In December 2020, Syrah Resources Limited announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global solar power company, Solar Century Africa Limited, to progress a solar and battery storage hybrid power system at the Balama Graphite Project in Mozambique. The solar and battery storage system aims to reduce CO2 emissions and operating costs at Balama, which is the largest integrated natural graphite mine and processing plant globally as measured by annual flake concentrate production capacity. Syrah Managing Director and CEO, Shaun Verner, said: “Progression of a large-scale solar and battery installation will reduce the operating cost base at Balama and further…
Eagle Mountain Mining Limited has announced further assay results from its recent drilling program at the company’s 80 per cent owned Oracle Ridge Mine Project in Arizona, USA. Assay results from selected zones within drill holes WT-20-06, WT-20-07, WT-20-09, WT-20-11 have been received and were reported in an announcement on 18 December 2020. Initial observations from hole WT-20-10 were also provided. Notably, WT-20-06 lead to the discovery of quartz-breccia grading 6.67 per cent copper (Cu), 63.5 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) and 0.87 g/t of gold (Au) over 2.95 metres at 210 metres downhole. The company advised that a wide…
This week the Innu communities of Uashat mak Mani-utenam and Matimekush-Lac John signed a Reconciliation and Collaboration Agreement with the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). The agreement was named 'Ussiniun', which means 'renewal' in the Innu language. The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) is a joint venture between Rio Tinto (58.7 per cent), Mitsubishi (26.2 per cent) and the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Corporation (15.1 per cent). The IOC’s operations are integrated across a mine and processing plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador; a port and stockpile in Sept-Iles, Quebec; and a 418-kilometre railway that joins…
The Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) is proposing to develop the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposit (Pebble Deposit) in southwest Alaska as an open-pit mine, with associated infrastructure. On 25 November 2020, Pebble Partnership CEO, John Shively, issued a statement regarding the decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to deny the Clean Water Act 404 permit for the project. The proposed mine would have been located 100 air miles and 230 river miles from Bristol Bay, the world’s most productive salmon fishery, which generates US$1.5 billion in annual revenue and 14,000 jobs. Salmon have also sustained the subsistence culture…
Specialty metals explorer and developer Pan Asia Metals Limited has provided an update on the drilling program at the Khao Soon Tungsten Project (KSTP) located in southern Thailand. KSTP is one of PAM’s key assets and a significant historical producer. Modern exploration has discovered potentially world-class, district-scale tungsten mineralisation across numerous prospects. PAM outlines that reconnaissance diamond drilling conducted by the company has intersected robust widths and grades associated with strong surface anomalies, from which Exploration Targets have been estimated. PAM has completed 11 holes for a total of 880m over both prospects. At the Target 2 Prospect, nine holes…
