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…
Rio Tinto has approved an additional investment of almost $200 million to progress the next stage of the development of the lithium-borate Jadar project in Serbia. This will primarily fund the feasibility study, including the completion of detailed engineering designs, as well as permitting and land acquisition by the end of 2021, in line with the initial project schedule. Rio Tinto Energy & Minerals Chief Executive Bold Baatar said the project pipeline is an important part of the company’s vision to pursue opportunities which are part of the transition to a low-carbon future. “We look forward to working closely with…
Australian critical minerals company, Lynas Corporation Limited, has advised that Phase 1 work on a heavy rare earth separation facility in Texas has advanced to the contract phase and that Lynas and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) have signed a contract for this work. Phase 1 funding provided by the DoD will enable Lynas and its U.S. partner Blue Line to complete a detailed market and strategy study as well as detailed planning and design work for the construction of a heavy rare earth separation facility. In line with DoD Phase 1 milestones, Lynas expects this work to be…
Endeavour Mining has made further success from its ongoing exploration program at the La Plaque discovery, part of its flagship Ity mine in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, with a 43 per cent increase in Le Plaque’s Indicated resource and the confirmation of mineralisation for seven additional nearby targets. In the first half of 2020, exploration efforts continued to be focused on the Floleu license, located only 6km south of the processing plant, which hosts the Le Plaque discovery, with a total of 67,195 metres drilled. This amounts to 188,600 metres drilled on the licence since the discovery was made in…
Rio Tinto will soon commence planning for the wind-down of operations and the eventual closure of New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) following the conclusion of its strategic review which highlighted that the business is no longer viable given high energy costs and a challenging outlook for the Aluminum industry. As a result, NZAS has given Meridian Energy Limited notice to terminate the power contract, which will end in August 2021, when the wind-down of operations is expected to complete. The strategic review concluded that the smelter, which has made Rio Tinto an underlying loss of NZ$46m in 2019, is not…
Norwegian-based international energy company, Equinor, is leading a project to develop one of the UK’s – and the world’s – first at-scale facilities to produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The project, called Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend), provides the beginnings of a decarbonised industrial cluster in the Humber region, the UK’s largest by emissions. H2H Saltend supports the UK government’s aim to establish at least one low carbon industrial cluster by 2030 and the world’s first net-zero cluster by 2040. It also paves the way for the vision set out by…
Following the recently completed resource estimation for the Santa Comba tungsten and tin project in Spain, Rafaella Resources Limited has updated the mineral resource estimate for the project by 103 per cent. The increase demonstrates the outstanding potential of the Project and underpins the mine plan and feasibility studies currently underway. The company intends to recommence drilling numerous prospects once the feasibility study is completed to add both tonnage and grade to feed the future expansion of the project. Rafaella’s Managing Director Steven Turner said the resource update significantly increases the level of confidence in the Santa Comba Project and…
Rio Tinto, Turquoise Hill and the Government of Mongolia have reached an agreement on the preferred domestic power solution for Oyu Tolgoi that paves the way for the Government to fund and construct a State-Owned Power Plant at Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia. The agreement, which is a revision of the Power Source Framework Agreement (PSFA) signed in 2018, states that the parties will work towards finalising a Power Purchase Agreement by the end of March 2021. In addition, the amended PSFA sets a proposed timetable for development, with the construction of the coal-fired power plant set to begin no later than…
