Matt Birney

Perth-based Valor Resources has identified seven high-priority uranium targets at its Cluff Lake project in the western Athabasca Basin in Canada after an extensive data review. The company says it is well advanced and can start a ground exploration program this month, including mapping and sampling, in addition to planning a drilling campaign.

ASX-listed Okapi Resources is all set to launch an 11-hole diamond drilling program at its wholly-owned Enmore gold project in NSW within the next three weeks. Okapi plans to follow up last year’s RC drilling campaign at the Sunnyside gold prospect that returned exceptional gold assay results. The company says mineralisation at the prospect remains open at depth and along strike.

Junior explorer Aurumin has intersected multiple pegmatites with indications of lithium after RC drilling at the company’s Mt Palmer gold project in Western Australia. Anomalous lithium and pathfinder elements were uncovered in the first-pass drilling, with up to 370 parts per million lithium detected across several samples in Aurumin’s 12-hole program.

Ongoing work at Asra Minerals’ Mt Stirling project in the eastern Goldfields region of WA has delivered another stunning set of high-grade gold intercepts that has also extended the operation’s mineralisation down-dip. The Perth-based company says recent drilling at the Estera prospect has delivered some of its best results so far across the operation’s southern tenements.

Valor Resources’ recent decision to add the 60 square kilometre Charaque project to the company’s portfolio in Peru is paying off with high-grade silver hits more than 900 grams per tonne from rock and soil samples. Other strong results from its existing Picha project 30km away has spurred Valor to kick off a 5000m first-pass diamond drilling program across its prospective acreage.

Middle Island has unveiled a couple of drill-ready targets at its Crosswinds copper prospect in the Northern Territory after a five-line Induced Polarisation survey at the site. The company says the zones are supported by ground-based gravity work and regulatory assessments are the only thing standing in the way of an imminent probe.

King River Resources will begin RC drilling at its Tennant Creek gold project in the NT at the weekend, focusing on the Kurundi Main prospect where recent rock chip samples returned gold hits. Multiple samples at the prospect returned results of up to 17.25 grams per tonne gold along a 2km mineralised trend that has never been explored.

ASX-listed Blackstone Minerals has landed a new massive sulphide discovery with portable-XRF readings of up to 20 per cent nickel at its Flagship Ta Khoa nickel project in northern Vietnam. Several nickel targets have been identified at the project including massive and semi-massive and net-textured sulphides. The standout results saw a 2.95m intersection of sulphides, with portable XRF readings indicating the presence of up to 20 per cent nickel.

Only one month after its first gold pour at the company’s Warrawoona gold operation, Calidus Resources is looking at its Blue Spec East prospect as an open pit operation following strong drilling results. The move could boost throughput at its nearby plant in the Pilbara. The company produced first gold last month with a 33kg pour and aims to ramp up to 90,000 ounces per year.