St George Mining Defines New Lithium Targets at Mt Alexander

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has made a further lithium targeting advancement at the company’s Mt Alexander project in Western Australia.

St George Mining has already mapped over 500 pegmatites at Mt Alexander to date.

Samples the company has taken from many of these outcrops have recorded highly anomalous lithium values providing strong encouragement for the potential of lithium mineralisation at the Project.

St George engaged external consultants to review the lithium potential at Mt Alexander and assist with definition of new drill targets.

Following a detailed review of drilling and other project data a field assessment was carried put, which included ground-truthing, lithological and structural mapping and geochemical analysis.

This field work included recording the potassium (K) and rubidium (Rb) values of feldspar within numerous outcropping pegmatites using a portable XRF analyser.

“Drilling at Mt Alexander has already confirmed the presence of high-grade lithium mineralisation – up to 1.8 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O) – and very thick pegmatites up to 121 metres thick,” St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“The latest targeting work with external consultants at ERM has been focused on finding the most likely areas with potential for significant lithium mineralisation.

“The new gold targets are also compelling gold exploration opportunities in their own right – and made more exciting given the known correlation between lithium and gold occurrences at the neighbouring project of Delta Lithium.

“Four areas standout as priority targets across our large landholding.

“This is an exciting development in lithium targeting at Mt Alexander and we look forward to drilling these targets soon.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Larvotto Resources Reports High-Grade Gold Results from Hillgrove

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Larvotto Resources (ASX: LRV) had to wait until Day Two of the RIU Sydney Resources Roadhouse to throw a spanner amongst the pigeons.

Larvotto Resources presented on Day One, but was hamstrung by a self-imposed trading halt from releasing some exciting drilling results from the Bakers Creek deposit within the company’s recently acquired Hillgrove gold and antimony mine, near Armidale in New South Wales.

The diamond drilling program targeted the lower level of gold mineralisation at the Hillgrove Mine area at Bakers Creek with results confirming and extending known gold mineralisation at Hillgrove.

High-grade intercepts include:

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31 metres at 65.8 grams per tonne gold from 244m, including 5.3m at 220g/t gold from 245m and 4.75m at 161g/t gold from 255.1m;

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3.5m at 9.55g/t gold from 161m, including 0.5m at 49.6g/t gold from 162.6m; and

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13.1m at 3.61g/t gold from 346m, including 4m at 8.11g/t gold from 349m.

“The drilling program at Bakers Creek yielded exceptional high-grade intercepts, returning significant high-grade results,” Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“This work highlights the wealth of mineralised structures within the Hillgrove field.

“Bakers Creek has historically produced over 300,000 ounces of high-grade gold.

“From our interpretation of these mined areas, we concluded there should be further extension to the ore shoots.

“The standout result of 31m at 65.8 grams per tonne gold has clearly demonstrated that the mineralisation does extend to depth while maintaining excellent grades.

“We believe that other adjacent mineralised zones will also extend to depth in a similar way, and we look forward to testing these with upcoming drill programs, providing confidence that we can add further resources at Hillgrove from deeper zones.

“These stunning results also provide the Company with positive momentum as we near completion of the metallurgical study and the release of our initial Ore Reserve Estimate for the Hillgrove project.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Higher Incentive Prices Needed Ahead of Supercycle

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Euroz Hartleys senior analyst Michael Scantlebury says “sensationalist” headlines about the end of mining are grossly exaggerated. By Kristie Batten

Speaking on the opening day of the RIU Sydney Resources Round-up, Scantlebury said we are likely “in the foothills” of the energy transition supercycle.

While grim headlines about mining were the norm back in 2016 when large companies like Glencore were at its knees due to a heavy debt load and slumping commodity prices, Scantlebury pointed to a headline as recently as last month which stated Australia’s resources exports would plummet by more than $100 billion by the end of the decade.

The headline was based on the latest forecasts from the Australian government’s Office of the Chief Economist.

“You think from reading that the mining industry is all over but what does that actually assume in those numbers that they have the revenue falling by over A$100 billion?” Scantlebury said.

That forecast assumes an iron ore price of US$75 per tonne, down from its current price of US$110/t.

“If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say that iron ore was going to be heading back to US$75 per tonne in the last 10 years, I’d be a very rich man,” Scantlebury said.

The government also forecasts gold to pull back to less than US$2000 an ounce from US$2300/oz and thermal and coking coal to each shed more than US$50/t to sub-US$100/t and sub-$200/t respectively.

“And we’ve got copper staying at US$9300 per tonne – just flat through to the end of the decade,” Scantlebury said.

“No incentive pricing, but don’t worry, we’ll just increase copper supply by 30 per cent.

“There’s truly crazy demand for copper, but there’s no forecast for incentive pricing to bring on that new supply.”

Scantlebury said it got him thinking about consensus pricing for commodities which he acknowledged sounded like a boring topic but was very important.

“And why does it matter? Because these price assumptions feed into analysts’ models,” he said.

“Pricing forecasts that will feed into the evaluations, earnings forecasts, and it can be a key driver of equities in the market.

“And if you think that that doesn’t really matter, you can look at Liontown, for example.”

In January, a consortium of lenders pulled a $760 million debt package to fund Liontown’s Kathleen Valley development due to lithium price forecasts by Wood Mackenzie.

In March, the company secured a smaller ($550 million), shorter-dated loan to complete the project.

Scantlebury pointed out that when the lithium price surged in 2021-22, analysts forecast “stronger for longer” pricing.

“What happened was the complete opposite – the price got absolutely crushed and now we’re on the back end of it and people are calling for lower prices for longer,” he said.

“Consensus forecasts are reactive and not proactive.”

Scantlebury turned his attention to copper, the price of which he said throughout the last decade was consistently overcalled amid overcapacity in the sector.

“We’re almost in the opposite scenario as we speak right now,” he said.

“You’ve got forecasts out there for how much money needs to be spent in the copper space to increase supply to feed into this energy transition.

“However, I don’t believe you just get this increased spending in capital without incentive pricing.”

Copper is currently trading at around US$9800/t after briefly eclipsing US$10,000/t last month.

Goldman Sachs has forecast an average copper price of US$15,000/t for 2025.

“That’s the kind of incentive pricing required to draw in fresh capital from outside the resource sector to expand supply,” Scantlebury said.

Last month, BHP made a $60 billion takeover offer for Anglo American with the focus being Anglo’s substantial copper portfolio.

Scantlebury said it was interesting that BHP was willing to pay a 19 per cent premium over Anglo’s median net asset value among analysts.

“Why are BHP paying a premium to what the analysts are saying it’s worth?” he posed.

“The only read-through on that would be they’re assuming a higher copper price assumption in their models.

“And I’m not one to one to give BHP credit but you’d hope the second largest copper producer on the planet would know a thing or two about the copper price going forward.”

 

ACDC Metals Confirms Heavy Mineral Strandline Discovery at Douglas Project

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: ACDC Metals (ASX: ADC) reported confirmation of the discovery of a new strandline at shallow depth at the company’s Douglas heavy mineral sand project in Victoria.

ACDC Metals received assay results from a follow-up drilling program completed during March 2024 that produced results of:

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21 metres at 4.73 per cent total heavy minerals (THM) from 21m, including 4.5m at 11.34 per cent THM from 21m and 1.5m at 18.15 per cent THM from 24m;

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33m at 3.19 per cent HM from 9m, including 7.5m at 7.91 per cent HM from 19.5m and 1.5m at 15.28 per cent THM from 24m; and

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30m at 4.14 per cent HM from 12m, including 10.5m at 7.52 per cent HM from 18m and 1.5m at 15.16 per cent from 22.5m.

ACDC declared the results to have confirmed the discovery of a new strandline system, located approximately 2km west of the previously known Acapulco strandline deposit that partly sits within the company’s exploration licence area (EL7544).

“Our 2024 drilling campaign keeps on delivering great results across our project portfolio, and the new assays from our Douglas project are no exception,” ACDC Metals CEO Tom Davidson said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“These results confirm new strandline style mineralisation in a region that has seen prior mining by Iluka Resources.

“Given the positive results, our exploration team is mobilising quickly to execute another campaign this month to understand the extent and potential or this discovery.

“We look forward progressing this project and will update the market following our upcoming drilling program.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

New World Resources Secures Third Drill Rig for Antler Copper Project

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: New World Resources (ASX: NWC) has added a third drill rig to accelerate the drilling program it has underway at the company’s Antler copper and Javelin VMS projects in northern Arizona, USA.

New World Resources has had the exploration drilling program in operation for some time, during which it has defined more than 16 high-priority targets it considers to hold potential to discover high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralisation at the two projects.

The third drill rig is scheduled to arrive at the Antler project later this month and is expected to be used for both ore reserve-definition drilling as well as resource expansion drilling.

Last year, NWC completed an Updated Scoping Study that outlined healthy economics around the potential development of the high-grade Indicated and Inferred Resource base at the Antler copper project, which currently comprises:

11.4 million tonnes at 2.1 per cent copper, 5 per cent zinc, 0.9 per cent lead, 32.9 grams per tonne silver and 0.36g/t gold (11.4Mt at 4.1 per cent copper-equivalent).

The company is close to finalising a Pre-Feasibility Study on the development of the project targeted for completion in June 2024.

“We are pleased to be committing to a third rig to accelerate our ongoing drilling program,” New World Resources managing director Mike Haynes said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“We have now defined more than 16 high-priority, untested exploration targets across our Antler and nearby Javelin VMS projects.

“These warrant concerted drilling in their own right.

“And with the mine schedule for the PFS all but finalised, we also want to be in a position to advance Ore Reserve definition drilling concurrently.

“Having a third drill rig on site gives us the flexibility both to get ore reserve definition drilling underway while also being able to swing that rig to help advance exploration drilling, as appropriate.

“This will help us further de-risk the project from a technical standpoint as we continue to move towards production – so that we convert Mineral Resources to Ore Reserves and, at the same time, work to expand the Resource base so we can continue to be confident that we are optimising the ultimate scale of the project development.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

 

Kairos Minerals Delivered Encouraging Roe Hills REE Metallurgical Recoveries

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Kairos Minerals (ASX: KAI) has received results from metallurgical tests carried out on drill samples of rare earths-mineralised clay from the Black Cat rare earths prospect within the company’s Roe Hills project in Western Australia.

Kairos Minerals reported a return of very high extraction rates using hydrochloric acid leach.

“Before we drill for a large resource, we need to make sure we can beneficiate or upgrade the mineralisation to a saleable product for the market and these early tests demonstrate that there are no refractory components to the mineralisation that are often seen with clay-hosted REE project,” Kairos Minerals managing director Dr Peter Turner explained in the company’s ASX announcement.

Kairos submitted samples of REE-mineralised lower saprolite clays with representative grade of mineralisation that were collected and composited from two RC drillholes (RHRC136 & RHRC158) completed during the company’s 2023 campaign.

Total rare earth leach recoveries were very high at 89.9 per cent to 97.4 per cent for the four composite samples with total rare earth oxide (TREO) ranges of 2,072ppm to 5,685ppm.

“We now have good reason to be very confident with our Roe Hills REE project, with high in-situ grades of the clay-hosted mineralisation and large areas interpreted from the gravity results to be underlain by enriched syenites that will be tested in the next round of cost-effective aircore drilling,” Turner said.

“The leaching characteristics are first-class with truly high recovery rates between 90-97 per cent using hydrochloric acid.

“Several samples also show the REEs reporting to the finer fraction of the clays, especially in the valuable rare earths samarium (Sm), neodymium and praseodymium (Nd&Pr).

“This gives us encouragement to review a second stage of test work.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Dreadnought Resources Yields High Quality, Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Dreadnought Resources (ASX: DRE) received encouraging results from test work undertaken by Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

Dreadnought Resources had given ANSTO a sample of monazite concentrate taken from the Yin deposit within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Mangaroon rare earth element (REE) project in Western Australia.

ANSTO put the sample through metallurgical testing hoops via a conventional acid bake/leach process to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC).

MRECs are used as raw materials for midstream processors to separate individual rare earth oxides, in this case neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr).

Applying a conventional low-temperature acid bake/leach process, ANSTO achieved the following results:

o approx. 94 per cent recovery of Nd and Pr from concentrate through to MREC;

o MREC grade of 60.7 per cent total rare earth oxide (TREO) containing 16.3 per cent Nd2O3 and 4.4 per cent Pr6O11; and

o The NdPr oxide ratio is high at 34 per cent of the total TREO.

“This is a significant milestone for Dreadnought and the Yin REE project,” Dreadnought Resources managing director Dean Tuck said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“ANSTO is a world-leader in its field and has demonstrated that the monazite concentrate has excellent metallurgical recoveries using a conventional process that results in a high quality MREC.

“Ongoing metallurgical optimisation work is expected to further improve these results.

“With these results in hand, we are well placed to advance discussions with a range of downstream partners.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Brightstar Resources to Commence Menzies and Laverton Drilling Program

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Brightstar Resources (ASX: BTR) is about to commence a +30,000 metres reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling across the company’s portfolio of gold projects in Western Australia.

Brightstar Resources is drilling to target resource upgrades and extensions in conjunction with feasibility workstreams at Menzies and Laverton, as well as the Second Fortune and Jasper Hills gold projects of Linden Gold.

In March 2024, Brightstar announced the off-market takeover of the unlisted Linden Gold Alliance Limited which is currently operating the underground Second Fortune Gold Mine south of Brightstar’s Laverton project area.

The RC program will kick off at Menzies, where Brightstar aims to increase geological confidence of the Lady Shenton system into Measured and Indicated status, thereby de-risking early stages of mining and providing information for mine planning purposes.

In accordance with the company’s September 2023 Scoping Study, approximately 100,000 ounces of gold are to be mined from open pits within the Lady Shenton system across two virgin pits and a cut-back of the existing Lady Shenton mine.

While all this is happening, Brightstar will be drilling the St Francis prospect not far from the Selkirk deposit, which recently generated $6.5 million profit to the company.

Further RC along with diamond drilling is planned at Cork Tree Well and Linden Gold’s Second Fortune and Jasper Hills (Fish and Lord Byron deposits) projects to target both high-grade underground gold resources and baseload feed open pit targets.

“This drilling program is the start of an aggressive exploration campaign by Brightstar, including deposits within the recently announced Linden Gold merger,” Brightstar Resources managing director Alex Rovira said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“Beyond the initial RC campaign at Menzies, the drill rigs will then head to Brightstar’s Laverton Hub with the view to complete diamond and reverse circulation drilling programs across the enlarged Brightstar portfolio.

“We expect these holes to deliver valuable information for geological, mine planning, geotechnical and metallurgical purposes ahead of the combined pre-feasibility study to be released by the end of the year.

“We’re also targeting greenfields exploration growth at the St Francis and Delta 2 prospects within the Menzies and Laverton gold projects respectively, with both highly compelling targets identified for drill testing.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Ardea Resources Provides Nickel Sector Lifeline

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Ardea Resources (ASX: ARL) is keeping the Australian nickel sector alive with the announcement of a Joint Venture to develop the Goongarrie Hub within the company’s Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) in Western Australia.

The Kalgoorlie Nickel Project hosts one of the largest nickel-cobalt resources in the developed world hosting 854 million tonnes at 0.71 per cent nickel and 0.045 per cent cobalt for 6.1 million tonnes of contained nickel and 386,000 tonnes of contained cobalt.

Ardea claims this places the company in prime position to provide essential supplies of ESG-compliant nickel and cobalt, along with other critical minerals such as scandium.

The Goongarrie Hub is located just outside the Western Australian mining heart of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and is armed with resources of 584 million tonnes at 0.69 per cent nickel and 0.043 per cent cobalt for 4 million tonnes of contained nickel and 250,000 tonnes of contained cobalt.

Ardea Resources has entered into a binding Cooperation Agreement with a consortium of Japanese companies: Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd (SMM) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC).

SMM is a pre-eminent Japanese nickel-cobalt laterite development and production company, operating the Coral Bay and Taganito HPAL nickel operations in the Philippines and the Niihama Nickel Refinery and Harima Refinery in Japan.

MC is one of Japan’s largest and premier general trading and investment companies with decades of experience in investing in the Australian resources sector.

Together with the consortium, Ardea will form a 50:50 incorporated JV to develop the KNP – Goongarrie Hub under the moniker of Kalgoorlie Nickel Pty Ltd (KNPL), which is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Ardea.

Ardea views the transaction as a successful conclusion of the company’s Strategic Partner process labelling it a major milestone for the development of the KNP – Goongarrie Hub into a globally important nickel-cobalt operation.

“The Ardea team have been focused on aligning the company with the best possible strategic partners to assist in realising the full potential of the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project – Goongarrie Hub,” Ardea Resources managing director and CEO Andrew Penkethman said when announcing the deal.

“Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation are high quality partners that can bring leading expertise to continue to drive the project forward.

“Sumitomo Metal Mining is a leader in developing and operating nickel laterite projects and is fully integrated within both the stainless steel and lithium-ion battery sectors.

“Mitsubishi Corporation has decades of resources sector experience within Australia and has been a significant investor and contributor to the Australian economy.

 

“Ardea acknowledges Japan as a well-respected partner of Australia and looks forward to being part of the growing relationship between the two nations, as they progress their commitment to the global energy transition.

“This is especially relevant with nickel and cobalt classified as Critical Minerals by both nations.”

Under the terms of the transaction, KNPL will manage the DFS process, for which the consortium will stump up 100 per cent of the funding up to a budget of approximately $98.5 million via staged equity contributions over approximately 18 months.

Ardea and the consortium will provide technical and commercial input into the DFS.

At the conclusion of the DFS spend, the consortium will have subscribed to a 35 per cent ownership in KNPL and retain the right to increase its ownership in KNPL to 50 per cent upon a positive FID decision by the consortium.

“Once in production, the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project – Goongarrie Hub is expected to be one of the largest nickel-cobalt producers in Australia,” Penkethman continued.

“The project will meet the high ESG standards expected from modern society and be a leader in responsible resource project development, as demonstrated by Ardea’s 2023 Pre-Feasibility Study.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Si6 Metals Increases JV Ownership on Future Brazil Acquisitions

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THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Si6 Metals (ASX: Si6) has amended its original Joint Venture terms with its Brazilian Joint Venture partner Foxfire Metals.

Si6 Metals reached an agreement with Foxfire to amend the JV in relation to any future licenses acquired by the JV.

In February this year, Si6 finalised the acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in Foxfire’s Brazilian exploration portfolio.

The portfolio included 10 licenses comprising approx. 17,000 hectares in Brazil.

Under the amended JV any new projects acquired by Si6, its wholly-owned subsidiary Brazilian Ventures, or its wholly-owned subsidiary in Brazil, Brazilian Mining Ventures, will be incorporated into the partnership on the basis that Si6 will hold a 70 per cent and Foxfire 30 per cent JV interest in the acquired project (previously 50% Brazilian Ventures, 50% Foxfire).

Additionally, any expenditure incurred on new projects acquired will be included as part of Si6’s minimum $1 million expenditure commitment in the first 12 months of the JV.

“We are pleased to both improve our JV terms on future projects and strengthen our relationship with Foxfire as we jointly seek to align our shareholders’ interest to achieve the most rewarding outcome for both partners,” Si6 Metals managing director Jim Malone said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“Our joint plan is to grow our presence in Brazil by expanding the current exploration portfolio and capitalising on Foxfire’s expertise and in-country knowledge to identify opportunities that usually require significant time and capital to achieve in Brazil.

“The amended JV terms strengthen our position in Brazil where we are currently exploring for REE at REE-rich Poços de Caldas as well as lithium and REE in the Lithium Valley.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE