It’s possible that a domestically-listed gold explorer, which boasts a not-too-shabby evolving flagship project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, may be looking to lithium to help boost its languishing market valuation. No doubt the WA-based junior is also hoping that a farm-in agreement it made back in 2022 with a fellow exploration house will garner some much-needed shareholder interest sometime in the future. When Austgold Ltd (ASX: AUC) presented at Vertical Events’ RIU Explorers Conference in February last year, its share price was around the 0.05 cents mark, giving it a market capitalisation of $105 million. By the same time this…
A West Australian junior involved in a number of exploration projects is confident it has come across an iron oxide-gold-copper (IOCG) deposit in its home state. Late last year, Miramar Resources Ltd (ASX:M2R) said that a review of historical drilling data had “potentially” revealed very significant magnetite iron opportunities at its wholly-owned Whaleshark project, which sits within the Carnarvon Basin in WA’s Ashburton region. Field work conducted in the area by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) in the 1990s whilst exploring for an IOCG intersected significant widths of magnetite-rich banded iron formation (BIF) averaging above 25 per cent iron beneath younger…
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…
Pan Asia Metals Limited (PAM), has today provided an update on the drilling program at the Khao Soon Tungsten Project (KSTP) and has reported that a drill rig has been mobilised to the Reung Kiet Lithium Project, both located in southern Thailand. KSTP, located approximately 600 kilometres south of Bangkok, is one of PAM’s primary assets and a significant historical high-grade producer. PAM outlines that modern exploration has discovered potentially world-class district-scale tungsten mineralisation across numerous prospects. Today PAM announced that drilling of Priority One holes at the Than Pho West (TPW) Prospect have been finalised. Ten holes were drilled…
Rio Tinto has agreed to a new electricity agreement with Meridian Energy that allows New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) to continue operating the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter until 31 December 2024. The extension provides certainty to employees, the local community and customers while providing more time for all stakeholders to plan for the future. NZAS is New Zealand’s sole aluminium smelter. It commenced production in 1971 and produced 353,293 tonnes of aluminium in 2019. NZAS is 79.36 per cent owned by Rio Tinto and 20.64 per cent owned by Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Company. In July 2020, Rio Tinto announced the…
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…
