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…
A selection of the finest rough diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Australian and Canadian mines will be tendered to diamond specialists from around the world in October and November. Headlining Rio Tinto’s forthcoming ‘Specials’ Tender, which showcases rough diamonds greater than 10.8 carats, is Lot number 1, Diavik Helios, a 74.48-carat Fancy yellow diamond. The Diavik Helios takes its name from the pure yellow sunlight emitted by the mythical Greek God of the Sun. Fancy yellow diamonds are rare finds from the Diavik diamond mine in the remote Northwest Territories of Canada which primarily produces high-quality white diamonds. Patrick Coppens, General Manager,…
Pan Asia Metals Limited (PAM) has held positive discussions with the Phang Nga Provincial Government regarding its exploration, mining and mineral processing aspirations in Thailand. PAM was recently invited by the Chief Executive Offer of the Phang Nga Provincial Administrative Organisation (PAO), a Phang Nga Provincial Government coordinating body, to present the Reung Kiet Lithium Projec, located approximately 70 kilometres northeast of Phuket in the Phang Nga Province in southern Thailand. In brief, the PAO wants to ensure that the requirements of the project are incorporated into the Phang Nga New Town Planning Committee’s zoning plans to ensure it can…
Eagle Mountain Limited intends to develop a low-cost mining operation which means increasing the resource base both within its 80 per cent owned Oracle Ridge Mine Project in Arizona, USA and in the near-mine vicinity. Diamond drilling commenced at Oracle Ridge in early September and was designed primarily to target extensions of the high-grade portions of the existing Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). Five of the six drill holes completed intersected skarn-hosted copper mineralisation. Additionally, mineralisation has been encountered in the Leatherwood granite, which opens up the prospectivity of this rock unit. Samples have been submitted to the laboratory and assay…
Barrick Gold Corporation has advised that plans to extend the life of the Hemlo gold mine in Canada by transitioning it to a modernised Tier Two [1] asset with a purely underground operation are 'well underway' as open-pit mining at the mine starts winding down. The Hemlo open pit has been mined since 1989 and has produced over 2.8 million ounces of gold. It was originally used to produce blasted rock for the backfilling of the mine’s underground stopes but in 2002 a truck fleet and key personnel were seconded from Barrick’s Nevada mines to establish the pit as a…
Endeavour Mining (Endeavour or the Company), has announced that mining operations have successfully restarted at its Boungou open-pit gold mine in Burkina Faso, following the mobilisation of the West African mining contractor and completion of infrastructure and operating improvements. Endeavour has also confirmed potential annual synergies of $35 to $40 million during its SEMAFO integration process. The identified synergies are in the areas of procurement and supply chain optimisation, corporate and in-country G&A savings, centralisation of technical services and functions across the group. It is estimated that 60 per cent of these synergies will be progressively unlocked by year end…
Rio Tinto and China Baowu Steel Group have celebrated a significant milestone reached by its landmark Bao-HI Ranges iron ore joint venture (JV) with more than 200 million tonnes of iron ore now shipped from the Pilbara to mills in China. The 200 millionth tonne of iron ore sold under the partnership was mined at Eastern Range, located approximately 10 kilometres south of Paraburdoo. It departed Rio Tinto’s Cape Lambert port on board the Baosteel Li Da last month before arriving at Majishan, China, on 19 September. The shipment followed a broader milestone for Rio Tinto with the company shipping…
Australian Strategic Materials (ASM), through its partner Ziron Technology Corporation (Ziron Tech), has successfully produced 8.6kg of a high purity zirconium metal at its commercial pilot plant in South Korea. The planned flowsheet for ASM’s 100 per cent owned Dubbo Project, located in central-western NSW, incorporates the production of both industrial-grade zirconia and dehafniated zirconia (ZrO2) and hafnium oxide (HfO2) using a process patented by Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) with ASM having an exclusive global licence. Successful production of this high purity zirconium metal from commercial-grade zirconia is an important milestone for ASM. ZironTech has received confirmation…
