Matt Birney

A successful geophysical survey program has highlighted a number of highly prospective nickel sulphide targets for St George Mining at the company’s Mt Alexander project near Leonora in Western Australia. Using a combination of seismic and electromagnetic surveys St George has highlighted three anomalies consistent with massive sulphides with one specific target, named the Manta prospect, to be prioritised for drilling.

Horizon Minerals has acquired the remaining 50 per cent of ASX-listed Labyrinth Resources’ high-grade Penny’s Find gold project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields for a package of $500,000 in cash and $250,000 in shares. Horizon now owns 100 per cent of the high-grade gold project and associated tenements via its wholly owned subsidiary Black Mountain Gold.

Handheld XRF readings from Buru Energy and JV partner Sipa Resources’ first diamond drill hole at the duo’s Barbwire Terrace project has turned up sniffs of lead-zinc near Broome in WA. The partnership deemed the program’s first diamond hole a “technical success” after it intersected a geological package consistent with significant lead-zinc deposits in the area.

After poring over historical data mineral explorer Aurum Resources has confirmed the company’s flagship Penny South gold project in WA’s Mid West is also prospective for nickel along with a potential side of silver and zinc. Aurum intends to re-assay drill holes that were only ever assessed for gold as it looks to quantify the project’s base metal potential.

Meeka Metals’ Turnberry prospect has given up more high-grade gold with assay results from seven diamond drill holes including 1 metre at 28.23 grams per tonne gold and 1m going 15.6g/t from 305m. One drill hole also revealed nuggety visible gold and the company says the drilling program returned both high-grades and broad mineralised zones.

Askari Metals has embarked on another round of field mapping and sampling at the company’s Barrow Creek lithium project located in the NT’s Arunta pegmatite province. The field program is designed to identify and sample outcropping pegmatites in the previously unexplored south-central portion of the project. Previous phases of exploration across the area identified fertile pegmatites with lithium oxide values of up to 817 ppm.

Altech Chemicals has expanded its research and development centre in WA in order to produce a new range of high-performance batteries using its innovative anode technology. The company is looking to integrate its battery boosting Silumina Anodes mixture into the batteries’ graphite anode to produce a more powerful end product.

AVZ Minerals has completed eight more extensional diamond drill holes at the company’s Manono lithium project in Democratic Republic of the Congo as it looks to significantly increase its lithium resources and reserves. The eight holes constitute about a tenth of the total metres planned in the ongoing 15,000m program at the project’s Roche Dure deposit with 40 more holes at a minimum depth of 200m to follow.

Results from recent RC drill work by mineral explorer Aurumin indicate a continuity of gold between two deposits at the company’s 784,000-ounce Central Sandstone gold project near Leinster in Western Australia. The RC program included nine holes for 1245m drilled and returned significant assays including 7m going 5.78 g/t gold from 137m downhole and 8m at 4.99 g/t gold from 80m.