Public Company News

Against a backdrop of increasing prices and market appetite for rare earth elements, Australian Bauxite is looking to build on a recent discovery of rare earth elements accumulations within its DL130 bauxite project in Tasmania. The company says the discovery appears to increase in grade in an arc from west to north-east with the latest hole drilled in the arc yielding an eye-catching grade of 301ppm neodymium oxide.

Aldoro Resources continues to expand its strategic ground-holding across the Windimurra-Narndee terrane east of Paynes Find after the company put its foot on additional prospective lithium tenure adjacent to its existing permits in the region. Aldoro has signed a heads of agreement with privateer Mining Equities to acquire exploration licence E 58/571 which sits next to the company’s Wyemandoo and Windimurra permits.

ASX-listed 88 Energy appears to have detected additional upside at its Umiat oil field on the North Slope of Alaska, immediately south of its Project Peregrine where it recently spudded the Merlin-1 well. The company says that analysis of Umiat 3D seismic data, together with post-well testing of Merlin-1, has revealed potential for additional reservoir sands at Umiat.

Zuleika Gold has continued its high-grade run of drill hits north-west of Kalgoorlie, with exploration at its Credo project notching up a string of eye-catching drill intercepts. Reverse circulation drilling over the Credo gold structure has returned results as high as 7 metres at 5.22 grams per tonne gold including 2m at an impressive 14.92 g/t gold from 89m down-hole.

ASX-listed Lithium Australia’s wholly owned subsidiary VSPC has been granted an Australian patent for its proprietary nanotechnology process of manufacturing phosphate-based battery cathode materials for use in lithium-ion batteries. Perth-based Lithium Australia says the cost of producing nickel-free and cobalt-free battery cathode powders can potentially be significantly reduced by using VSPC’s technology.

Barton Gold has landed a $300,000 grant from the South Australian government to ramp up exploration at the company’s Tarcoola gold project. The funding further validates Barton’s strategic position in the Gawler craton where the state government is looking to reinvigorate exploration across the fertile mineral terrane. The company says the funding will be used to expedite additional geophysical surveying and drilling.

Strickland Metals is set to kick off reverse circulation and aircore drilling programs this month at a keystone deposit and an emerging prospect at its Horse Well gold project in WA. The company says its recently launched gravity geophysical surveying work has turned up several “look-alike” targets near the anchor Dusk Til Dawn deposit that it intends probing with a round of RC drilling.

ASX-listed Blackstone Minerals’ board of directors has given the green light to a definitive feasibility study on a proposed downstream processing refinery and a related downstream pilot plant at its flagship Ta Khoa nickel-copper-PGE project in Vietnam. The move comes after the company tabled a “compelling” pre-feasibility study on hydrometallurgical processing of nickel sulphide concentrate to produce a battery-grade nickel-cobalt-manganese for use in lithium-ion batteries.

ASX-listed PharmAust Ltd subsidiary Epichem OHD has hit a milestone in its development of technology to turn waste into fuel on an industrial scale, after the company completed the build of a benchtop scale reactor that will enable research, development and promotion of its potentially disruptive technology. The reactor turns biomass waste from a wide range of sources into fuels, fertiliser, agricultural growth stimulants and even ethanol.

Bardoc Gold has pivoted towards front-loading gold production and cash flows into the first five years of its proposed Bardoc mining and processing operations in WA. The company says it has kicked off a cash-flow optimisation study that will run the ruler over increasing the projected annual gold production rate, margins and free cash flows across the first five years of Bardoc’s forecast life of mine.

Lithium Australia, through its 90 per cent owned recycling division Envirostream Australia, has filed a patent application related to its alkaline battery separation process used in fertiliser micronutrients, as it looks to secure intellectual property protection for its battery recycling technology. The company recently launched an expanded field trial using the process to generate samples for manganese-deficient soils across four sites in WA and one in SA.

St George Mining appears to be onto a new high-grade nickel trend at its Mt Alexander project in Western Australia. Soil sampling over the Carnac trend, about 14 kilometres north of St George’s nickel sulphide discoveries on the Cathedrals Belt, is producing anomalous nickel and copper along more than 1,600 metres of strike with drilling now scheduled to kick off in the weeks ahead.