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…
Argosy Minerals Limited has successfully produced battery-grade life-cycle engineering (LCE) product from the Stage 1 Plant at the Rincon Lithium Project in the Salta Province of Argentina. [caption id="attachment_11937" align="alignleft" width="281"] Image courtesy of Argosy Minerals Limited.[/caption] The Australian owned company said that following the recent plant works at the site, approximately 30kg of LCE product was produced. The product was tested in-house and the results indicated that the product is a lithium carbonate content value of 99.6 per cent. “We are delighted at this significant milestone – to achieve such a result from our Stage 1,500tpa capacity plant is…
Canadian company McEwen Mining has just announced exploration results from their ongoing $15 million exploration program at the Black Fox Complex near Ontario in Canada. McEwen intends to grow its known deposits and will continue to make new discoveries that contribute to near-term gold production. The company recently completed a total of 39,300 metres of surface exploration drilling at the site, for a year-to-date total of 66,900 metres. “Our drilling continues to deliver very encouraging results, particularly from the three project areas highlighted in this release: Stock East, Froome and Gibson. Continued drilling success reinforces our view about the strong…
Mokran Solar Power Plants Complex was constructed in the eastern province of Kerman over a period of six months. The opening of the plant took place in the presence of Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, Deputy Minister and the Head of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency organization (SATBA) and other government officials, on Monday. The plant holds the capacity of approximately 20 megawatts and was built with an investment of US $27 million by Swiss company Durion, supervised by a German company, Adore. The plant includes a total of 76,912 solar panels, each producing 260 watts over an area of…
The companies behind the Zaldívar copper mine in Chile have plans to become the country’s first mine to operate with 100 per cent renewable electricity. The mine forms a part of a Joint Venture between the Chile-based copper mining group, Antofagasta PLC, and the Canadian gold-mining company Barrick. The Zaldívar copper mine is currently located in the Andean Precordillera in Region II of northern Chile, approximately 1,400 kilometres north of Santiago and 175 kilometres southeast of the port city of Antofagasta. If successful, the works at the Zaldívar copper mine will be able to replace greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to…
The announcement was made on July 21, that Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), ONGC, GAIL, Oil India Limited and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) have come together to sign a Joint Venture (JV) agreement for the execution of the North-East Natural Gas Pipeline Grid Project. The Joint Venture between the five companies was on the agreement to ‘develop, build, operate and maintain’ the new Natural Gas Pipeline Project which has plans to connect the Indian City Guwahati to other major North-Eastern cities, and major load centres such as Numaligarh Refinery. This agreement will also include the integration of the North-East Natural…
Mozambique-focused emerging mining company Mustang Resources (Mustang), has just agreed to merge their ruby interests with gemstone mining and marketing company, Fura Gems Inc (Fura). The agreement between the two companies was made for approximately A$10 million in Fura shares. Under the agreement, shares will be given in three tranches, over 20 months, and will give Mustang around an 8 per cent stake in the Canadian-based company, Fura, with this agreement excluding the percentage equity dilution from capital raised from today onwards. Fura is set to give Mustang shareholders a significant exposure to the rapidly growing ruby market via a…
Emerging West African gold developer, Golden Rim Resources, has just released news of a new gold discovery at Red Hill, which is located approximately 4.5km from their Kouri Gold Project in Burkina Faso (West Africa). Broad zones of significant gold mineralisation was discovered at Red Hill, approximately 4.5 km south west of the mineral resource at Kouri. Both of the drill holes completed at Red Hill returned gold intercepts that include: 11m at 2.2g/t gold from 77m, including 2m at 7.7g/t gold, and 1m at 6g/t gold from 114m in NKRC030; 16m at 1.8 g/t gold from 29m and 10m…
