Bulls N' Bears (Commercial Content)

An independent carbon capture and storage study on Buru Energy's Canning Basin blocks has strengthened the “commercialisation pathway” for it to develop its Rafael conventional gas and condensate discovery. Buru's subsidiary GeoVault recently found the blocks to be capable of holding significantly more carbon dioxide than Rafael is modelled to produce, supporting the company's development strategy for the field.

Following several recent divestments, Aurumin has made good its promise to home in on its 946,000-ounce Sandstone gold project in Western Australia's Mid West region after revealing it had secured three new exploration licences. The move more than doubles the company's presence in the central project area as it gets closer to eradicating an overhanging $6.4 million debt relating to its Sandstone acquisition last year.

American West Metals has confirmed outstanding grades of 38.2 per cent copper and 30.87 per cent zinc from geochemical sampling at the Tempest prospect that forms part of its greater Storm project in Canada. The results came from surface gossan rocks at the underexplored site, which have been mapped for more than 4km and are about 40km south of copper targets drilled earlier this year.

This week's Bulls N' Bears profiled ASX runner is… Chariot Corporation. Its shares doubled this week to join movers including Pure Resources, Sunshine Metals and Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies.

Aurumin has continued to level its exploration and financial focus further on its Sandstone gold project in Western Australia after selling the iron ore rights at its Mt Dimer operation to a subsidiary of Mineral Resources. It will retain exposure through progress and royalty payments as part of a $250,000 sale to Polaris Metals for iron ore rights at four of its Mt Dimer tenements.

Strickland Metals has emerged as one of the ASX's runners of the year, jumping 400 per cent to an 11-year high of 20 cents on Thursday, on the back of more drilling at its Marwari gold prospect near Wiluna in WA. Led by entrepreneurial boss Andrew Bray, Stickland sits as the lone gold explorer among a sea of lithium hopefuls leading this year's ASX charge.

Chimeric Therapeutics' mission to beat cancer with its “natural killer” therapy has hit a new high point, with test-tube studies showing a 300 per cent increase in its ability to kill the pancreatic form of the insidious disease. The company's latest revelations also show its off-the-shelf “CLTX CAR NK” cell therapy recording a 260 per cent jump in killing ovarian cancer.

Software provider K2fly has initiated a sweeping strategic review of its operations in a swift boardroom move designed to maximise the full potential of its innovative resource governance software solutions. After posting 13 quarters of increasing revenue on the trot, K2Fly has vowed not to sit on those laurels and has appointed Argonaut PCF and Atrico as joint advisors to steer its review.

Infinity Mining's recent drilling in a big swarm of stacked Pilbara pegmatites has yielded assays of up to 2.1 per cent lithium oxide and supportive rubidium, caesium and tantalum values, with more work to come. The company says its campaign of eight reverse-circulation drillholes for 834m at its Tambourah South project in Western Australia produced several outstanding shallow lithium-caesium-tantalum intercepts.

Askari Metals has jagged a high of 24.5g/t gold in one rock-chip sample from its Myrnas Hill project in Western Australia's East Pilbara region, while soil samples yielded up to 2g/t, 1.37g/t and other lower gold and nickel spikes. The company says the campaign also recorded elevated nickel responses of up to 1280 parts per million.

ASX-listed Gold Mountain has identified a series of lithium anomalies from stream-sediment sampling at its Logradouro project in Brazil, where the company has mapped 250 pegmatites across its two-tenement site. Management says the sampling results indicate the presence of lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatites within the operation, with soil sampling set to follow up on selected anomalies to define drill targets.

Gold Mountain is aiming to more than double the size of its Green River copper-gold project in Papua New Guinea after lodging an application for a 552sq-km tenement adjacent to a previous 501sq-km application. Management says high-grade copper-gold and lead-zinc rock-chip samples have been found in the tenements by previous explorers, with target areas for follow-up exploration already identified.

A research and development tax rebate of nearly $5 million from the Australian Government will boost Radiopharm Theranostics' mission to further develop its suite of diagnostic and therapeutic products aimed at beating the cancer scourge. The refund recognises the company's R&D activity during the 2023 financial year and comes as it prepares to run clinical pancreatic cancer trials in New York.

Aruma Resources says it has uncovered the presence of a high-grade gold-bearing structure in the latest phase of drilling at the company's Salmon Gums project in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields region. Assay highlights returned a 5.9m intercept grading 10.5 grams per tonne gold from 38.4m, including 2.6m going 9.85g/t gold from 38.4m and 0.85m at an impressive 40.9g/t gold from 43.4m.

Two diamond-core holes drilled by Alma Metals into the central zone of its Briggs porphyry copper-molybdenum project in Central Queensland have defined thick mineralisation extending from surface through almost the full 200m hole depths. The company says its latest results further support the possibility for bringing to life its previous visions of a shallow, high-grade initial open pit.

Buru Energy's wholly-owned hydrogen-chasing business 2H Resources has picked up hydrogen and helium-prospective ground in South Australia – right next to the nation's first discovery well for the natural gas. The company is now the preferred applicant for seven petroleum and two gas exploration licences in SA, with its WA helium and hydrogen hunt expanding into six new “special prospecting authorities with an acreage option”.

ChemX Materials has received more than $900,000 through a research and development tax incentive rebate payment for developing its high-purity manganese and alumina projects during the past financial year. Administered by AusIndustry and the Australian Tax Office, the rebate is available for companies investing in research and development programs aimed at sustainably producing critical minerals for the future.

Reach Resources has sprung back into drilling action at its Morrissey Hill lithium project in Western Australia's emerging Gascoyne region to double down on the area's pegmatite potential following phase-one drill results. Its 9000m RC program will test the extension of multiple thick, stacked lithium-bearing pegmatites at its Bonzer prospect, in addition to six of 50 undrilled pegmatite targets mapped during fieldwork.

Chimeric Therapeutics expects a phase-1B clinical trial into its “natural killer” cell therapy for newly-diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia to be open for new enrolments before the end of the year. The study, which has received investigational new drug clearance from the USFDA, is designed to enrol up to 20 patients who are not eligible for intensive chemotherapy or allogeneic stem cell transplant.

ABx Group has pumped its mineral resource estimate up to 52 million tonnes at 817 parts per million TREO after management completed a block model for its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound rare earths deposit in Tasmania. The company says the resource model is based on data from 407 drill holes across the resource area and covers 39 per cent of the identified mineralised outline.

Gutsy copper-gold extensions have emerged at Queensland's Greater Duchess joint venture project – held by DiscovEx Resources and Carnaby Resources – following a new, seven-hole diamond drilling campaign. The JV says results associated with an “intensely strong” downhole EM conductor at its Chalcus lode were highlighted by an 87m hit going 2.3 per cent copper and 0.5g/t gold from 550m.

A world-first audio-frequency-magnetic survey flown by Estrella Resources over its flagship Carr Boyd nickel-copper project near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia's Goldfields region has zeroed-in on nickel-sulphide drill targets to 600m depth. The company says the helicopter-borne survey has given it a vastly better understanding of the project's geology and includes “industry-leading vision” of its highly-prospective host rocks.

This week's Bulls N' Bears profiled ASX runner is… Kula Gold. Its share price jumped more than 184 per cent to join other impressive companies including MetalsTech, Firebrick Pharma and Cooper Metals.

After completing a massive infill and extension campaign at its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia, Xanadu Mines has shifted its focus to new discoveries outside the site's current mineral resource. The company is now operating three diamond drill rigs at Kharmagtai, with four deep holes planned to target mineralisation below its biggest deposit identified to date at White Hill.

Infinity Mining has stretched its Pilbara lithium tenure to a whopping 795sq km after securing a contiguous fourth exploration licence, adding to its strategically-located ground 30km west of Marble Bar in Western Australia. And in addition to lithium, the company says its Panorama project area is also prospective for intrusive-related nickel-copper, shear and conglomerate-hosted gold systems and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide base-metal deposits.

Galan Lithium has secured a binding offtake agreement with mining giant Glencore for the supply of up to 100 per cent of lithium products from phase-one production at its Hombre Muerto West project in Argentina. As a sweetener to the deal, Glencore has offered to provide a secured financing prepayment facility for US$70 million (AU$107 million) up to US$100 million (AU$154 million), subject to conditions.

A $5 million placement has helped Buru Energy advance preparations for its mission to appraise its 100 per cent-owned wet gas and condensate Rafael discovery in Western Australia's Canning Basin after the end of the Kimberley wet season mid-next year. It has now ordered long-lead items, advanced detailed well design and discussions with potential rig providers and has 3D seismic data processing on schedule.

Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has launched an earlier-than-expected RC drill-testing program at its Pinjin project in Western Australia's Laverton Tectonic Zone in a move designed to ramp up its search for shallow, high-grade gold. Pouncing on the chance to get a drill rig this week, the company's program at its Providence deposit has been crafted to follow up last month's gold drill hits.

Aurumin is sharpening its focus on its Sandstone gold project in WA after selling its Mt Dimer ground in a strategic decision that has edged it closer to wiping out an overhanging $6.4 million debt. It will pocket $3 million from Beacon Minerals for the sale of Mt Dimer, leaving just $1.4 million to pay to remove a convertible note relating to its Sandstone acquisition.

Infinity Lithium has taken another step forward with its proposed San José lithium project in Spain after the Cáceres Local Government deemed the operation compatible with local urban legislative requirements. The project, near Cáceres in the Extremadura region, boasts one of Europe's leading JORC-compliant hard-rock lithium deposits, with a total indicated and inferred resource base of 111 million tonnes at 0.61 per cent lithium oxide.

First-pass reverse-circulation drilling by Novo Resources at its Nunyerry North deposit in Western Australia's Pilbara region – near De Grey Mining's 11.5-million-ounce Hemi gold play – has turned-up drill hits of up to 7.42 grams per tonne gold. The company says results from the program included intersections of 11m at 1.98g/t gold and 4m at 4.15g/t, with follow-up testing plans already in place.

Meeka Metals has tabled a solid set of initial assays from shallow infill drilling at its Turnberry deposit within its flagship Murchison gold project in WA. Broad zones of oxide gold running up to an eye-catching 8.53g/t were unearthed from the first 19 holes, with assays expected soon from the remaining 32 holes, which are largely located around the periphery of the designed open pits.