Azure Minerals Reports More Impressive Lithium Results from Andover

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Just to underline why it was a worthy winner of The Graig Oliver Award at the RIU Explorers Conference, Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) reported more lithium intersections from its Andover project in Western Australia.

Azure Minerals released assays it said continued to demonstrate drilling success at Target Area 1 (TA1) with the intersection of numerous exceptionally thick spodumene-bearing intervals within the AP0011 pegmatite.

Multiple broad (>100m) mineralised intersections were returned from AP0011 pegmatite, including:

ANRD0154
112.9 metres at 1.63 per cent lithium oxide (Li2O) from 408.5m (~107.0m True Width), including 24.6m at 2.17 per cent Li2O from 424.7m (~23.3m True Width);

ANDD0309
152.3m at 1.15 per cent Li2O from 330.7m (~137.1m True Width), including 34.7m at 1.73 per cent Li2O from 331.6m (~31.2m True Width); and

ANDD0334
112.0m at 1.24 per cent Li2O from 299.1m (~73.5m True Width), including o 40.6m at 1.55 per cent Li2O from 360.1m (~26.6m True Width).

“The latest assay results from diamond drilling of the AP0011 pegmatite have returned some of the thickest and highest-grade mineralised intersections received to date,” Azure Minerals said in its ASX announcement.

“Importantly, these assayed intervals correlate very strongly with previously reported visual spodumene observations.”

Azure has eight drill rigs currently operating at the project’s TA3 target to continue extensional drilling to define the extents of the mineralised pegmatites and infill drilling to provide sufficient density to support a maiden Mineral Resources Estimate.

A ninth diamond rig is still turning at AP0011 to undertake large diameter core drilling to provide bulk samples for the metallurgical test work program.

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

 

Will Lithium Money Funnel Back to Gold?

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: The lithium price rout and associated decline in equities could be an opportunity for the long-struggling junior gold space. By Kristie Batten

That was the view of the Canaccord Genuity team during the opening panel discussion at the RIU Explorers Conference in Fremantle.

While the price of lithium declined by 85% in 2023 and has continued to decline, the gold price was the second-best performer (behind uranium) and has tested new highs already this year.
Canaccord is bullish on gold for 2024.

“The macro paints a reasonably strong picture for it to be potentially reaching new highs this year,” Canaccord gold analyst Tim McCormack told delegates.

McCormack sees little chance of US debt dropping and gold had typically performed well coming out of an interest rate-hike cycle.

He also noted that while the Australian dollar gold price was up $500 an ounce over the past year, the share prices of the larger ASX-listed producers were flat to slightly lower.

“There’s a really big disconnect in those prices,” McCormack said.

“You kinda scratch your head about that a bit.”

McCormack said the average generalist fund remained underweight gold.

“You’re having a situation where there has been a very legitimate pool of money into other sectors – lithium and things like that – and that is diminishing in my view,” he said.

“And hopefully that results in a focus back into the gold sector and will funnel money back into that sector as well.”

On lithium, Canaccord analyst Tim Hoff said pricing could remain depressed for the next 9-12 “or maybe 15” months due to a “wave of supply”.

However, he said demand was still strong, albeit potentially delayed.

“The thematic is still in place,” Hoff said.

Hoff said the mainstream media was running the line that the electric vehicle revolution was dead.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.

Hoff added that the notion that hydrogen would be used for transportation and displace lithium was “absolute rubbish”.

Meanwhile, McCormack said that attending conferences like RIU provided a potential opportunity to be ahead of the market, though it was difficult.

“The reality is the Azures, the Gruyeres, the Tropicanas don’t come around often,” he said.

McCormack said he was early into De Grey Mining in late 2019/early 2020 but it wasn’t a regular occurrence.

He noted most investors were late to the party on discoveries and didn’t catch on until the share price had doubled or tripled.

“Don’t be put off by that if it’s a true tier one discovery,” McCormack said.

McCormack looks out for three key factors when looking at mining stocks: asset, management and jurisdiction.

Canaccord has been supporters of leaders like Bill Beament, Raleigh Finlayson and Mark Clark.

“You sort of close your eyes and say ‘take my money’ – those guys deserve it,” McCormack said.

 

Azure Minerals Wins Prestigious Craig Oliver Award

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THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Lithium takeover target Azure Minerals has been named as the recipient of the 2024 Craig Oliver Award. By Kristie Batten

The award, handed out this morning on day one of the 2024 RIU Explorers Conference in Fremantle, is in honour of mining executive Craig Oliver, who died in a plane crash in 2010.

His youngest daughter Sascha was on hand to present the award.

Azure Minerals managing director receives the award from Sascah Oliver flanked by Jaxon Crabb and Stewart McDonald of the RIU Explorers Conference 

Azure beat out other nominees Genesis Minerals, Boss Energy and Santana Minerals.

Accepting the trophy, Azure managing director Tony Rovira pointed out that the award wasn’t for exploration or production but a true all-rounder award.

“I think Azure this year has certainly met the criteria,” he said.

Azure had been exploring in Mexico for many years but pivoted back to Western Australia in 2020 with the Andover nickel-copper project, a 60:40 joint venture with legendary prospector Mark Creasy.

“For a company to be successful, you need a vision,” Rovira said.

The vision switched to the lithium potential of Andover, and as they say, the rest is history.
Andover has an exploration target of 100-240 million tonnes at 1-1.5% lithium oxide, which, if realised, would make the deposit globally significant.

Previous winners of the Craig Oliver Award are OZ Minerals (2023), De Grey Mining (2022), Bellevue Gold and Chalice Mining (2021), Stavely Minerals (2020), MOD Resources (2019), Pilbara Minerals (2018), Evolution Mining (2017), Metals X (2016), Doray Minerals (2015), Northern Star Resources (2014), Sirius Resources (2013), Silver Lake Resources (2012) and Independence Group (now IGO, 2011).

OZ, MOD, Doray and Sirius have since been acquired, while Silver Lake is now merging with Red 5.

Azure is also subject to a A$1.7 billion takeover offer from Chile’s SQM and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.

It’s rare for large companies to pounce on a pre-resource explorer but they clearly see Andover’s potential.

Azure reinforced that potential today by announcing new drilling results including 112.9m at 1.63% lithium oxide; 152.3m at 1.15% lithium oxide; and 106.1m at 1.3% lithium oxide.

A maiden resource estimate is due by mid-year.

 

Brightstar Resources Encounters High-Grades Drilling at Menzies

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Brightstar Resources (ASX: BTR) received assays from a recently completed RC drilling program at the Link Zone and Aspacia deposits at the company’s Menzies gold project in Western Australia.

Brightstar Resources completed a 28-hole RC drilling program at the Aspacia deposit, with best intercepts including:

MGPRC068
1 metre at 18.88 grams per tonne gold from 56m;

MGPRC078
1m at 13.91g/t gold from 60m;

MGPRC086
1m at 13.03g/t gold from 84m; and

MGPRC069
1m at 9.55g/t gold from 88m.

The company said the intercepts highlight the high-grade narrow vein nature of the mineralised system at Aspacia that is typical of the rich Menzies goldfield.

Brightstar has commenced work to deliver a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate for Aspacia targeted for released in Q1 2024.

Link Zone assays continued to demonstrate shallow mineralisation with potential for near-surface open pit extraction opportunities, including:

MGPRC096
7m at 1.74g/t gold from 16m; and

MGPRC103
1m at 3.93g/t gold from 35m.

“The RC drilling results returned at Aspacia continue to show strong continuity along strike and at depth, with multiple lodes of high-grade, narrow vein gold mineralisation delineated over a significant strike length of over 600m,” Brightstar Resources managing director Alex Rovira said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“This drilling program was designed to test along strike and down dip from known previous drilling intercepts and historical mining records, in preparation for delineation of a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for release later this quarter.

“This mineralisation style is common for the Menzies Goldfield and the Aspacia deposit, where the underground workings were historically mined at +30g/t gold.

“It is encouraging to see the consistency of the gold-bearing structures and intercepts across a strike length of 600m and up to 180m down dip and still open across the deposit.

“We are also encouraged by Link Zone also delivering economic (+0.5g/t gold) hits in twelve of fifteen holes drilled in late 2023 complementing the existing results announced on 22 January 2024.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

 

Tennant Minerals Hits High Copper at Bluebird

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Tennant Minerals (ASX: TMS) reported further drilling results from the Bluebird high-grade copper gold discovery within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Barkly project in the Northern Territory.

Tennant Minerals’ latest drilling results include an exceptional intersection of:

BBDD0045
61.8 metres at 2.3 per cent copper, 0.4 grams per tonne gold from 149.2m.

The company described this as an “intensely mineralised intersection, from the western extension of the Bluebird discovery”.

The intersection included a very high-grade zone of 9.6 per cent copper over 13.2m, and a massive chalcopyrite interval grading 17 per cent copper over 6.85m.

Gold grades of up to 14.7g/t gold were also identified.

Two bulk composite samples; one from BBDD0045 and another from a second hole BDD0046 and are undergoing metallurgical test-work.

The test-work includes flotation tests to recover the copper sulphide mineralisation (predominantly chalcopyrite, chalcocite and bornite) and gravity concentration tests will aim to recover native copper and free gold.

The metallurgical testwork results are expected to be available in March.

“This latest exceptional intersection of copper with gold at Bluebird has extended and confirmed the continuity of the high-grade massive copper sulphide zone, which remains open at depth,” Tennant Minerals CEO Vincent Algar said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“It follows the intersection of significant visible copper mineralisation in two wide-spaced holes at the Bluebird East discovery, which indicates potential for the Bluebird mineralisation to continue from surface to more than 400m depth and link with Bluebird East over a strike-length of more than 800m.

“Every hole we drill gives us more encouragement that Bluebird is an exceptional emerging copper-gold discovery which will continue to grow with further exploration.

“We can now look forward to launching our next drilling program, aiming to define and extend the enlarged mineralised footprint and define a maiden Mineral Resource to support a stand-alone mining and processing operation to help meet growing global demand for copper and gold.”

 

 

Venture Minerals Scores Record Jupiter TREO Drill Hit

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Venture Minerals (ASX: VMS) will be requesting punter form an orderly queue at its RIU Explorers Conference booth following this morning’s announcement.

Venture Minerals announced the first batch of assay results to be received from a recently completed Stage One Resource definition drill program at the large-scale, clay hosted Jupiter Rare Earths Elements (REE) prospect at the company’s Brothers project in the Mid-West region of Western Australia.

Venture Minerals declared the results validate its geophysics while covering only a fraction of the 40 square kilometres Jupiter target.

The headline drilling result of:

BRRC 71
48 metres at 3,025ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO)

…was claimed by Venture as being the highest grade, clay hosted REE intersection in Australia.

Other high-grade results were encountered, including assays up to 10,266ppm and 20,538ppm TREO, with the latter, again being claimed by Venture, as one of the highest clay hosted REE assay results in Australia to date.

“These record breaking ultra-high grade REE clay results, for Jupiter, place us well above our peers in terms of both grade and scale,” Venture Minerals managing director Andrew Radonjic said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“What’s incredible is that these results are not isolated.

“They confirm consistent grades over 2,000ppm TREO in broad widths of 20-30 meters in 96 per cent of the holes and that is sitting within zones of around 60 metres over 1,000ppm TREO.

“We have lots of news flow to come, with further results pending for our Maiden Resource drill program.

“This drilling is widely spaced and down the track we will be working on infill drilling with the potential to uncover more impressive grades.

“Most drilling will be shallow aircore and RC, so its highly cost-effective.

“Keep in mind that these results cover a small area of our enormous, 40 square kilometres target and you can certainly understand that Jupiter is shaping up to be an incredibly impressive project.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

 

Si6 Metals Acquires Brazilian Exploration Portfolio

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Si6 Metals (ASX: Si6) will have plenty to talk about next week at the RIU Explorers Conference after completing acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in a portfolio of exploration licences in Brazil.

Si6 Metals struck the deal with Foxfire Metals, a diversified exploration company focussed on the discovery and development of critical minerals in underexplored regions of Brazil.

With the Acquisition done and dusted, representatives of Si6 Metals’ subsidiary company, Brazilian Ventures will sit down with Foxfire Metals for an inaugural meeting of the Joint Venture Operating Committee with a view to approving an initial budget and exploration program.

Exploration in Brazil is scheduled to commence this month with an initial focus on the Caldera project in South Minas Gerais.

Foxfire Metals has been appointed as the manager of the JV.

Brazilian Ventures has committed to spend $1 million in the first year of the Joint Venture and free carry Foxfire Metals until completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study.

“This is a great milestone for Si6 and its shareholders, which now include Foxfire Metals, who we welcome and look forward to working with,” Si6 Metals managing director Jim Malone said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“The company is excited about commencing the initial exploration program at the highly prospective Caldera REE project located close to significant REE discoveries by ASX-listed companies, Meteoric Resources (ASX: MEI) and Viridis Mining and Minerals (ASX: VMM).

“This program will be closely followed by a program in the Lithium Valley which is host to Latin Resources (ASX: LRS) and Sigma Lithium Corporation (NASDAQ: SGML), to name a few success stories.

“The Lithium Valley program will take place close to S-Type G4 supersuite granites that are typically known to host lithium in spodumene bearing pegmatites.

“We look forward to emulating the success of our peers in both the Caldera area and the Lithium Valley.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Coda Minerals Consolidates Ownership of Cameron River

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Coda Minerals (ASX: COD) is set to acquire 100 per cent-ownership of the Cameron River project in the Mt Isa region of Queensland.

The Cameron River project consists of 35 square kilometres of copper, gold, uranium, and rare earths exploration tenure spanning two Exploration Permits (EPMs 27042 and 27053).

The tenure is in an ideal neighbourhood being located approximately halfway between Mt Isa and Cloncurry, and immediately north of the historic Mary Kathleen uranium mine.

In 2021, Coda Minerals entered a binding Farm-In and Joint Venture Agreement receiving the right to acquire up to an 80 per cent ownership in the Cameron River project.

Coda has now executed documents with Wilgus Investments to consolidate 100 per cent-ownership of the tenure.

Wilgus retains the right to a 1% NSR payable on any mineral products mined from the tenure on terms customary for this form of transaction.

“This consolidation is a logical next step for both parties and will simplify ongoing exploration and commercialisation of Cameron River,” Coda Minerals CEO Chris Stevens said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“Elizabeth Creek is clearly our first priority; however, Cameron River remains highly prospective exploration tenure located in an area famous for copper, gold, uranium, and rare earth elements.

“We look forward to reporting the results of current review and exploration work to the market later in the quarter.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

 

Kin Mining Completes Sale of WA Gold Deposits to Genesis Minerals

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Kin Mining (ASX: KIN) completed the sale of selected gold deposits within the company’s Cardinia gold project in Western Australia to Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMD).

Kin Mining first announced the deal was to be done in December 2023 when it agreed to sell the tenements hosting the Bruno, Lewis, Kyte and Raeside deposits, which collectively contain JORC compliant Mineral Resources totaling 610,000 ounces, to Genesis for consideration comprising $15 million in cash and approx. 22 million un-escrowed Genesis shares based on a 5-day VWAP at the time, valued at $38.5 million.

The total transaction of $53.5 million means Kin is now well-funded with $80 million in cash and liquid assets (assuming a GMD share price of $1.615ps), which the company indicated will assist in its pursuit of a range of strategic opportunities.

“We are very pleased to announce the completion of this transformative transaction, which crystallises significant value for our shareholders from the company’s efforts over the years to build a substantial resource inventory at the Cardinia gold project,” Kin Mining executive chairman Rowan Johnston said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“Kin is now in an enviable position in the junior resources space, with a very strong balance sheet and the ability to move forward with a range of exciting strategic opportunities.

“In the near term, we are excited to be drilling and testing the newly discovered VHMS horizons at Cardinia and then moving on with commencing drilling for deeper and higher grade gold targets.”

 

 

Miramar Resources Identifies Uranium Targets at Bangemall

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Miramar Resources (ASX: M2R) has added uranium to the suite of commodities it is chasing within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Bangemall projects, in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

Miramar Resources reported identification of numerous large uranium targets within the Bangemall project area.

The targets emerged via regional radiometric data the company said to show multiple large and high-amplitude uranium anomalies that stretch over at least 100 kilometres of strike and across several of Miramar’s tenements.

Miramar has defined a 60-kilometre-long uranium anomaly within the Cheyne Springs target towards the northern edge of the Edmund Basin, at the contact with the older Ashburton Basin rocks.

The company explained the large radiometric anomaly has been virtually unexplored except for a few wide-spaced historic rock chip samples.

Miramar is now working towards grant of the tenement applications at Cheyne Springs, and the adjacent Blue Bar target.

“Our Bangemall landholding has potential for multiple commodities and deposit types,” Miramar Resources executive chairman Allan Kelly said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“Proterozoic orogens throughout Australia and worldwide host many large base and precious metal deposits, and we believe the Capricorn Orogen should be no exception.

“Whilst our current focus is on exploring for Norilsk-style nickel, copper and platinum group elements at our Mount Vernon and Trouble Bore projects, we have a very long list of attractive exploration targets we aim to systematically explore.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE