Matt Birney

Venus Metals Corporation has returned a swag of high-grade drill hits from its Youanmi gold project in WA. A relentless drilling campaign over the resurgent project continues to deliver an abundance of gold hits including 12 metres at 6.54 grams per tonne gold from only 28 metres and 2m at 11.81 g/t gold from 53m down-hole at the new the Link discovery.

ASX-listed Eclipse Metals has pounced on a unique opportunity in southern Greenland, securing ownership of the Ivittuut cryolite mine and its associated infrastructure. Cryolite is a specialty mineral that is used as a fluxing agent in the production of aluminium, greatly reducing energy consumption through the smelting process, however the deposit also contains a potential treasure trove of accessory minerals.

Emu NL has kicked off its 2021 drilling campaign at the Gnows Nest gold project in WA. The company has commenced a 9,000-metre reverse circulation across the historical mining area which is aimed at validating and building on the existing high-grade resource over the Gnows Nest mine and to begin testing the extensive gold mineralisation at the Monte Cristo prospect to the north.

ASX-listed gold and base metals explorer, Middle Island Resources has expanded its ground position surrounding the surface copper oxide mineralisation discovered at its 100 per cent-owned Barkly copper-gold project in the NT’s East Tennant mineral district. The company has broadened its footprint around the recent Crosswinds copper discovery by 26 per cent to a colossal 4,411 square kilometres by applying for two new tenements.

AVZ Minerals has taken another decisive step towards production, with the company’s metallurgical test work successfully generating a high-purity lithium sulphate product for potential use in the production of lithium-ion batteries. The current testing program forms a key part of the development program over its Manono lithium-tin project in the central Africa, which is also assessing the viability of downstream processing at the evolving operation.

Comet Resources has kicked an early goal in 2021 with initial field work across its Barraba base-metal project in NSW returning high-grade copper assays. Surface sampling at the historic Murchison mine has unearthed samples grading up to 4.6 per cent copper, 4.0 per cent zinc and 0.7 per cent cobalt, confirming the high-grade nature of the mineralisation across the prospect.

Calidus Resources has bought out another royalty tied to its developing Warrawoona gold project in WA’s East Pilbara region that it says will help boost cash flows from the new mining and processing operation. The company sewed up the 1.25 per cent profit royalty over the granted mining leases at Warrawoona, leaving one remaining 1.25 per cent profit royalty attached to the same tenements.

ASX-listed explorer, PolarX has struck a deal that gives it an exclusive option to acquire the historic Humboldt Range gold-silver project in north-western Nevada in the US nearby two producing mines. The Perth-based company says rock chip and grab samples taken at Humboldt Range between 2005 and 2009 maxed out at 3,384 grams per tonne gold and 2,836.6 g/t silver.

Surefire Resources is eyeing a rapid return to drilling at its Yidby gold project in WA’s Murchison region and is set to follow up on recent high-grade drill intercepts with a 40-hole, 6,000m reverse circulation drilling campaign in the coming weeks. Results from the prospect included an imposing 56 metres at 1.97 g/t gold from only 44 metres down-hole, proving ample incentive to accelerate the company’s exploration program over the discovery.