Doug Bright

Prospective ground secured by Buxton Resources in WA’s West Kimberley in 2015 is now looming as a company game-changer – for more reasons than one as it continues to foster a relationship with mining giant IGO. New nickel-copper sulphides potential revealed today from the joint venture’s Quick Shears project could be just the tip of the iceberg for a burgeoning partnership that also includes international exploration.

Terrain Minerals has set its sights on two priority polymetallic targets – which evoke the style of the giant nearby Golden Grove deposit – that have been defined from MMI geochemistry at its Smokebush project north of Perth in Western Australia. The company’s geochemical sampling yielded a 1100m-long polymetallic anomaly in the north of the grid and a new 900m-long polymetallic anomaly at the grid’s southern extent.

Pancreatic cancer patients have been delivered fresh hope following the United States Food and Drug Administration’s decision to clear the way for Radiopharm Theranostics to run clinical trials to address an area of “unmet need”. The imaging trials are designed to detect lesions in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the first patient is expected to receive dosage by the end of this month.

A geophysical survey at DiscovEx Resources’ Sylvania project near Newman in Western Australia has identified potential south-east extensions to two lodes within the previously defined 2.8-million-tonne Prairie Downs zinc-lead-silver resource. The survey was designed to test for potential sulphide mineralisation related to the Prairie Downs fault and also defined a target area centred about 10km north-west along strike of the resource at the Husky prospect.

Brightstar Resources says an independent $60.9 million valuation of its gold plant and infrastructure in WA’s far northern Goldfields represents significant development advantages ahead of a mining restart at its Menzies and Laverton gold projects. Management says the estimation outlines expenditure the company will not have to pay and the time it will save during the building process because it already has the existing infrastructure.

Strickland Metals is galloping along at its Horse Well prospect in the Warburton mineral field, near Wiluna in Western Australia, with more solid gold hits from drilling. Management has today revealed new intercepts of 4m at 1.7g/t gold from 2m in near-surface laterite and an impressive 58m at 1.7g/t gold from 17m, including 10m at 4.2g/t gold, largely in the weathered oxide zone.

ABx Group has unearthed rare earths grades it believes are “unrivalled” for clay-hosted mineralisation in Australia at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound prospect in Tasmania, with an eye-watering result of 17,333 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO). The results came from a program 2km west of a hole that yielded the company’s previous best assay result with a top value of 4444ppm TREO.

ABx Group has strengthened its grip on a significant area of Tasmanian rare earths potential with the granting of two new exploration licences covering 483 square kilometres for an initial five-year term, extending its recent Portrush discovery. The company also has an application in train to secure intervening ground between its established Deep Leads and Wind Break prospects.

Independent testing by Novonix Battery Technology Solutions has found Lithium Australia’s lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) cathode material to be of high quality – either matching or exceeding competitor products across the key parameters of capacity, stability and high temperature performance. Tests suggest the company’s product is an attractive alternative in the existing LFP supply chain, which is heavily concentrated in China.