Public Company News

Empire Energy Group says it has received binding commitments to raise a hulking $46.8 million from new and existing institutional shareholders, including two United States-based oil and gas heavyweights. The company will be extremely well-funded after the raise and will use its new “cash stash” to drill a 3km-long development well at its Carpentaria pilot project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-basin.

Meeka Metals has unveiled a 60 per cent boost for its St Anne’s gold resource in Western Australia’s Mid West region, increasing to 40,000 ounces at more than 3 grams per tonne. The resource forms part of the company’s 1.23 million-ounce Murchison gold project that sits in the area bearing the same name, about 650km north of Perth.

Strickland Metals has entered the lucrative Serbian gold game after acquiring the Rogozna project that already boasts a whopping resource of 5.44 million JORC-compliant ounces of gold equivalent. The company says advanced exploration targets at Rogozna offer near-term growth, with diamond drilling outside of the existing resource going as high as a staggering 352m at 2.1 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 240m.

Thunderbird Resources has assembled a surprising array of interesting-looking uranium and lithium targets in some of the hottest mineral territories in the world, including Canada’s Athabasca uranium basin. The Athabasca basin is remarkable for its average uranium grades of about 2 per cent and its massive-scale deposits – and Thunderbird appears to have picked the eyes out of it.

Gold Mountain has revealed encouraging anomalous lithium results from a stream sediment sampling program carried out at its Campo Formoso project in Brazil. The company says six strongly and nine moderately anomalous samples were returned from an area overlying a granite body considered to be of similar age and setting to the prospective Jaguar pegmatite to the north.

Everest Metals Corporation has identified 10 big uranium and base metal geophysical anomalies within its 100 per cent-owned Georgina and Amadeus projects centred on Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Management has moved swiftly since securing its Top End exploration package last year and has engaged a speciality geophysical company to model and interpret existing geophysical data over the Georgina and Amadeus operations.

Askari Metals has tabled a maiden resource of 1.32 million tonnes running at 1.52 grams per tonne gold at its flagship Burracoppin project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region, some 20km to the east of Merredin. The defined resource includes mineralised zones across multiple deposits and Askari notes that there is potential for significant resource expansion between the lodes, with additional possible down-dip extension.

Terrain Minerals is preparing to stare directly into a Nova-style “eye” magnetic feature at its Lort River project, with a detailed airborne electromagnetic survey slated to kick off early next month. The company identified the intriguing feature just eight weeks ago and is wasting no time in refining the target, which displays stark similarities to IGO’s Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper-cobalt deposit in Western Australia’s prospective Albany-Fraser Belt.

Lycaon Resources has secured a crucial tick of approval from WA’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister to kick off exploration at its Stansmore project in the West Arunta region – near WA1 Resources' notable niobium discovery. The highly-coveted mining entry permit paves the way for the company to land boots on ground, with a heritage survey planned before it plunges the drill bit into alluring magnetic anomalies.

Aurumin is looking to join the ranks of Western Australia’s coveted million-ounce gold club after completing its latest reverse-circulation drill program at its Central Sandstone project, 520km north-east of Perth. Drilling was completed for 38 holes and tested seven new open-pit targets, as part of the company’s bold push to extend its current 946,000-ounce gold resource.

88 Energy has delivered a second light oil surface flow discovery peak of 50 barrels per day from the SMD-B reservoir within the Hickory-1 well at its Phoenix project in Alaska – importantly, with little to no measurable associated gas flow. The SMD-B discovery follows hot on the heels of a deeper reservoir in Hickory-1 that previously surface flow-tested 70 barrels per day of light oil.

Venus Metals’ hunt for lithium at its Penny East project in Western Australia’s Mid West region – within ground initially secured for gold and base metals prospectivity – has revealed encouraging soil geochemical results. The company says it identified an anomalous area measuring about 800m by 600m, while a second 800m-wide anomaly is open to the north. Further soil sampling and shallow drilling is planned.