THE CONFERENCE CALLER: If it’s Monday in Kalgoorlie for the annual Diggers & Dealers Gabfest then the smart money moves to The Resources Roadhouse Steak Sandwich Showdown.
Rapidly emerging as a ‘must attend’ event at the annual forum, The Resources Roadhouse showcases junior exploration plays at the Showdown that are unable to elbow their way into the jam-packed three-day program.
While attendees masticate on their steak sandwiches this year, they will hear from the companies featured below.
Austral Resources (ASX: AR1)
Austral Resources recently achieved the production of the first copper cathode at the company’s Anthill copper mine, within the Lady Annie copper project in Queensland.
The production of copper cathode from Anthill completes a phase of intensive mine development and plant commissioning since the company listed on the ASX in November 2021.
Austral is confident this paves the way for it to meet its stated objective of producing copper cathode at a rate of 10,000 tonnes per annum from mid-2022.
Leading up to the cathode announcement, Austral inked reciprocal non-binding exploration earn-in agreements with MIM, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest mining companies, Glencore.
The deal will be a boon for the company’s upcoming exploration efforts that are being scaled up to discover and deliver new copper ore, including oxide exploration drilling at several prospects.
Cannon Resources (ASX: CNR)
Cannon Resources is working up two nickel projects in the northern Goldfields region of Western Australia, approximately 200 kilometres north-east of Leonora.
The Fisher East project hosts four high-grade nickel sulphide deposits: Musket, Camelwood, Cannonball, and Sabre, all located very close to each other with a combined JORC 2012 Mineral Resource containing 116,300 tonnes of nickel.
Recent assays achieved at the Sabre deposit confirmed the high-grade nickel content of the massive sulphide mineralisation developed on the northern margin of the Sabre channel.
The high-grade nickel mineralisation has over 250 metres of plunge extent and remains open across strike and up and down plunge.
The Collurabbie project contains a JORC 2012 Inferred Mineral Resource of 573,000 tonnes at 1.63 per cent nickel, 1.19 per cent copper, 0.082 per cent cobalt, 1.49 grams per tonne palladium, 0.85g/t platinum at the Olympia deposit.
Caspin Resources (ASX: CPN)
Caspin Resources has made healthy inroads at the company’s Yarawindah Brook and Mount Squires projects in recent times.
At Yarawindah Brook, Caspin has demonstrated evidence of edging closer to a major discovery at the Serradella prospect, where early drilling results encouraged the company to quickly commence planning a follow-up program.
Meanwhile, Caspin has opened a second exploration front at Mount Squires with drilling of the Duchess prospect, which has been on the drawing board for well over 12 months.
Caspin believes this soil anomaly holds unique characteristics unlike anything else in the region and importantly, potentially substantial scale.
Although at a very early stage, Caspin considers the high-risk exploration worth the effort as the potential large rewards could make it all worthwhile.
Dreadnought Resources (ASX: DRE)
Dreadnought Resources’ project portfolio currently boasts three diverse West Australian projects covering a mix of geological terrains and target commodities.
The Tarraji-Yampi copper-silver-gold-cobalt project is located in the West Kimberley, the Mangaroon nickel-copper-PGE-REE-gold project is located in the Gascoyne, and the Central Yilgarn project speaks for itself.
Earlier this year Dreadnought was able to commence exploration activities earlier than anticipated at the Tarraji-Yampi prospect, in the form of a low impact auger sampling system that was specially designed for Taraji-Yampi allowing the company to commence exploration earlier in the season before road access had been re-established.
Of seven quality targets identified, two were noted to be associated with outcropping mineralisation with others (OR3 and OR4) both associated with untested Fixed Loop EM conductors.
More recently, Dreadnought declared confirmation of genuine REE scale potential following RC drilling at the Yin prospect within the Mangaroon project after drilling identified mineralised ironstones over three kilometres of strike remaining open in all directions and at depth.
The company has to date, completed 67 RC holes, which besides providing confirmation of the REE ironstones, also include further evidence of parallel lodes along strike.
Miramar Resources (ASX: M2R)
Miramar Resources holds projects in the Eastern Goldfields, the Murchison and Gascoyne regions of WA.
The company’s portfolio of exploration projects has potential for new gold discoveries within trucking distance of existing operations and for the discovery of nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) mineralisation.
Three projects in the Eastern Goldfields are considered to hold potential for new gold discoveries within proximity to existing mining and/or processing operations:
Gidji JV (80%): a strategic land position within the Boorara Shear Zone, 15km north of Kalgoorlie;
Glandore: an underexplored project with high-grade drill results 40km east of Kalgoorlie; and
Randalls: a folded BIF adjacent to Silver Lake Resources’ Mt Belches gold operations.
The company has been actively exploring the Gidji JV Project since listing on the ASX in October 2020, resulting in the identification of several new targets which it believes could host a major gold discovery.
Peak Minerals (ASX: PUA)
Peak Minerals’ diversified multi-commodity portfolio of quality, under-explored Australian copper and gold assets is centred around prospective known copper and gold producing regions.
A focus of late has been the company’s Green Rocks project near Meekatharra in WA, which incorporates the existing Copper Hills and Lady Alma prospects.
A recent Phase 2 air core drill program confirmed the presence of intrusions at other targets, including Tal Val, Target C and Target B.
At Target B, broad zones of highly encouraging nickel intercepts were identified below the regolith/fresh rock interface.
Follow up RC and diamond drilling is now underway with the RC component looking to intercept shallow targets between a depth of 300 – 375m, particularly at Target B.
The holes are also targeting prospective geology and geochemical anomalies found during air core drilling and EM surveys at Rixon and Lady Alma.
The holes will be surveyed using DHEM to further resolve conductors, particularly those picked up by Moving Loop Electromagnetics (MLEM).
Meeka Metals (ASX: MEK)
Meeka Metals has a dual focus across the company’s 100 per cent-owned portfolio of Western Australia-based assets where it is exploring for gold and rare earths.
Meeka’s number one asset is the Murchison gold project in the Murchison Gold Fields that hosts a large high-grade 1.1 million ounces of gold JORC Resource, which the company is actively growingas it progresses toward production.
Meeka also owns the Circle Valley project in the Albany-Fraser Mobile Belt (home to the Tropicana gold mine that historically produced 3 million ounces of gold), where it has identified gold in four separate locations presenting a potential growth opportunity.
The company’s second focus is its Cascade rare earths project, from which it recently announced a neew batch of high-grade rare earth assays that have continued to affirm widespread rare earth mineralisation while displaying very high proportions of the valuable magnet rare earths, which is an important determinant in the economics of these deposits.
Turaco Gold (ASX: TCG)
Turaco Gold has the Eburnea gold project in central Cote d’Ivoire and three advanced and highly prospective projects in northern Cote d’Ivoire.
Recent activity resulted in gold assay results from its first reconnaissance style drilling undertaken at the Bouake North prospect, within the Eburnea project.
Turaco Gold had previously identified a large 7km by 4km gold-in-soil anomaly at Bouake North via auger drilling across the entire anomaly defining six in-situ gold anomalies.
Subsequent reconnaissance style drilling has to date tested just two of these targets and has returned high-grade, shallow gold.
Elsewhere within the portfolio, gold assay results were achieved from diamond core and AC drilling at the Nyangboue prospect, within the 89 per cent-owned Boundiali project in northern Côte d’Ivoire.
These assay results confirmed extensions to previously drilled mineralisation at the Nyangboue prospect, along with a new parallel zone of mineralisation at surface over 400 metres in strike.
Mineralisation remains open in all directions at Nyangboue.
ON THE BENCH
In these wild and wacky days of COVID, The Roadhouse likes to have reserves on hand should anything untoward happen to our presenting guests. Below are a couple of contenders who may get a run as medical subs, should the need arise.
Sunshine Gold (ASX: SHN)
Sunshine Gold has a portfolio of quality gold and copper projects in Queensland comprising a 100 per cent interest in the Ravenswood West gold-copper-rare earth project, the Triumph gold project, the Hodgkinson gold copper project, and the Investigator copper project.
Recent activity involved RC drilling at the Bank copper-gold-silver-molybdenum prospect at Ravenswood West.
This was the first drilling to be carried out for over 50 years at the Bank prospect, from which Sunshine Gold took great encouragement since all five reconnaissance RC holes intersected broad zones of disseminated and vein-hosted sulphides within intensely altered host granodiorite.
As is the usual stories with such excitement these days, assays are expected July-August 2022.
Not to be perturbed, Sunshine Gold has already outlined follow up drilling will be designed to test the porphyry contact and the zone between the soil and IP anomalism and will review the assay data, when it arrives, to refine further targets.
QEM Limited (ASX: QEM)
QEM Limited is exploring, with the view to development of, the company’s Julia Creek vanadium / oil shale project in North Western Queensland.
QEM describes the Julia Creek vanadium / oil shale project as being a unique world class resource with the potential to deliver innovative energy solutions, through the production of energy fuels and vanadium pentoxide.
The project’s JORC 2012-compliant Mineral Resource of 2,850 million tonnes at 0.31 per cent vanadium pentoxide, including 310 million tonnes in the Indicated category, is one of the single largest ASX listed vanadium resources that QEM views as a great opportunity for development.
