Matt Birney

Junior explorer Javelin Minerals has kicked off a 4000m air core drilling program at its Coogee project near Kalgoorlie in WA. Using a ‘lake drill rig’ the explorer will test gold and copper targets at its Coogee West area, including a 3km gold trend containing bottom-of-hole anomalous results of up to 0.47 grams per tonne gold. The project covers an area of about 17 square kilometres.

Australia’s first five-element platinum group metals mine is one step closer to reality after historic samples were resampled, showing high-grade rhodium and iridium at Podium Minerals’ Parks Reef PGM project in Western Australia, lifting the value of an ounce from the project by 30 per cent with the addition of the two valuable metals.

Blackstone Minerals has secured Vietnamese approval to take its drills to the highly-prospective Chim Van target. The company says geophysical modelling suggests Chim Van is a concealed ultramafic target similar to the Ban Phuc disseminated sulphide deposit, however significantly it registers a magnetic signature that is an order of magnitude larger. Blackstone is currently wheeling the rig to the site, about 7km northwest of Ban Phuc.

Godolphin Resources has struck multiple mineralised copper veins with its first hole in search of a large porphyry copper-gold system in NSW. The explorer kicked off a two-hole diamond-drill program at its Yeoval porphyry copper-gold project on April 4 and now is shooting for possible extensions to the south of its current resource hoping its second hole will make it two from two.

The first holes drilled into the Amy Clarke target in more than 25 years have yielded high-grade gold hits for Great Southern Mining from an air core drilling program at its Duketon Gold project, near Laverton in WA’s Goldfields. Results included an intersection of 5 metres at 8.2 grams per tonne gold, including one metre at 33.5 g/t gold from 33m.

Chimeric Therapeutics has entered into a strategic manufacturing partnership with US-based biopharmaceuticals outfit WuXi Advanced Therapies to accelerate production of its cancer-fighting CAR T therapies. According to Chimeric, WuXi delivers extensive experience in Good Manufacturing Practices and analytical testing and it says the deal will allow it to scale up manufacturing support ahead of several clinical trial programs.

White Cliff Minerals has bolstered its battery metals ambitions after completing the acquisition of explorer Abraxis Mining and its trinity of WA-based tenement applications in the Pilbara that are prospective for lithium. According to the company, a subsequent review of remote satellite data has uncovered a network of pegmatite-rich target areas that will be further assessed through a maiden mapping and sampling program.

St George Mining has intersected nickel-copper sulphides in the second drillhole targeting an extension to its high-grade Stricklands deposit in WA. Nickel-copper sulphides were located from 102.7m to 106.3m downhole including 0.25m of massive sulphides abutting the granite contact from 106.05-106.3m. Drilling has confirmed a western extension of approximately 35m to the existing high-grade Stricklands deposit with mineralisation open down dip.

Junior explorer, Legend Mining has set the rods spinning with a diamond drilling program at its Mawson nickel, copper and cobalt discovery in the Fraser Range of Western Australia. The drilling program is designed to test the source of several intriguing seismic anomalies etched out from a recently completed 3D seismic survey.