Recently listed True North Copper (TNC) has encountered large zones of visible copper sulphide mineralisation near its great Australia resource on its Cloncurry project in Queensland.

An initial two-hole drilling program (totalling 820m) targeted extensions to the existing great Australia resource and potential continuity to the greater Australian target.

Drilling of the two holes identified large zones of visible copper sulphide mineralisation.

Hole GAD014 detected about 180 metres of consistent mineralisation and multiple zones of chalcopyrite mineralisation while hole GAD015 encountered multiple zones of chalcopyrite mineralisation.

Managing director Marty Costello said drilling was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the greater Australian target.

“Our recent great Australia resource drilling program was undertaken to help us understand how we would undertake potential extension of the great Australia resource towards the greater Australian target,” he said.

“We have recently completed an induced polarisation (IP) survey of the greater Australian target area. We believe IP is an effective tool for targeting potential copper mineralisation.

“We remain excited about the exploration potential at the great Australia resource especially considering that historical drilling has been limited and shallow.”

Samples have been sent to ALS Global Laboratory for analysis and results are pending.

The post True North Copper encounters visible copper sulphide zones at Cloncurry appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

Prodigy Gold restarts exploration following Northern Territory wet season

Prodigy Gold (ASXPRX) has restarted operations at the Tanami North project following the end of the Northern Territory wet season.

Work is co-funded under the Northern Territory Government’s round 15 resourcing the Territory grant.

Drilling is now underway at the Boco North prospect with 20 reverse circulation holes designed to test a geophysical target below an unmineralised cover sequence.

Work will aim to open up an unexplored greenfields area along the significantly mineralised Suplejack shear zone (SSZ).

Due to the presence of an overlying unmineralised cover, Boco North has not been effectively drill tested and is a geochemically blind target.

Managing director Mark Edwards said the company is excited to begin drilling at Tanami North,

“Prodigy Gold is excited to start the drilling campaign at the Tanami North project area after the delays of the last wet season limited our ability to get to site,” he said.

“Now the rig is on site and drilling, we expect to keep it busy in the area for the next few months.”

Once drilling wraps up at Boco North, the drill rig will move to the Tregony deposit to test down dip and down plunge of the current mineral resource.

Some holes will also be drilled to tighten the drill spacing and add confidence in the current mineral resource and confirm the existing geological model.

When drilling is finished at Tregony, the rig will move to the Hyperion deposit to test the higher-grade mineralisation zones.

Drilling will also provide samples that can be used for the initial phase of benchscale metallurgical testwork to confirm the deposit’s suitability to be processed in a carbon-in-leach processing facility.  

The post Prodigy Gold restarts exploration following Northern Territory wet season appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

Environmental scoping study completed at Ark Mines’ Sandy Mitchell project

An initial environmental scoping study (ESS) has been completed Ark Mines’ (ASX:ARK) Sandy Mitchell rare earths and heavy minerals project in Queensland.

Terra Solutions completed the study in partnership with Northern Environmental Testing and Compliance (NETC).

The surveys collected samples from ground and surface water and a suitability assessment was completed to assess the native flora and fauna habitats with respect to threatened species.

NETC also carried out an initial study of the aquatic ecosystems to set the baseline survey requirements for water testing. Work is continuing to collect a 12-month sample of data.

Results will provide Ark guidance on the required aquatic and terrestrial ecological assessments as well as the development of monitoring solutions and environmental management plans.

Ark will use the data to develop its on-site monitoring solutions and environmental management plans. Both are central to the mine development approval process.

Executive director Ben Emery said the completion of the study is a significant milestone for the company.

“The completion of this environmental scoping study is an important milestone, and we’re very pleased with the work carried out to date,” he said.

“The commissioning of the study was done in line with the company’s near-term strategy to expedite the development of this project by completing the full baseline environmental survey and accelerating the approval process.”

Completion of the ESS marks the next phase of development at Sandy Mitchell and follows the completion of the recent phase one drilling program.

The post Environmental scoping study completed at Ark Mines’ Sandy Mitchell project appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

Warriedar Resources Limited (ASX: WA8) has reported high-grade gold intercepts from its ongoing Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program at the Rothschild prospect, which is part of the Fields Find Project located in the Murchison province of Western Australia.

The drilling program was designed to test the scale potential of the existing deposit including depth extensions, repeat parallel lodes and satellite lodes. The program has extended the known high-grade zone at Rothschild by over 100m at depth.

The first assay results from the Rothschild drilling program have returned significant high-grade intercepts, including 11m @ 3.39 g/t Au from 197m, 10m @ 1.63g/t Au from 202m (including 3m @ 3.12g/t), and 9m @ 1.85g/t Au from 150m.

Other notable intercepts include 7m @ 1.71 g/t Au from 184m, 6m @ 1.29 g/t Au from 135m, and 2m @ 2.43 g/t Au from 153m. These results demonstrate the targeted depth extension to the deposit with multiple parallel lodes and evidence that the high-grade core is potentially sustained with depth.

The Rothschild prospect was selected as the first area to drill within the Fields Find Project because the existing deposit lies on a Mining Lease (ML), and the historic drilling data showed gold mineralisation extending along strike for up to 1 km.

The high-grade core of the mineralisation also appeared to remain open both at depth and along strike. The Phase 1 program at Rothschild comprised 5,000m of drilling and was designed to assess the scale potential. The program was extended to a targeted 7,750m as a result of the identification of strong quartz-sulphide mineralisation in geological logging of deeper retrieved drilling chips.

The drilling program was undertaken by contractor Challenge Drilling, and to date, 6,024m has been drilled of the upscaled 7,750m RC program at Rothschild. Warriedar currently has another 4,332 samples in the lab, from drilling across the Projects, and further assay results are expected in the coming weeks.

Warriedar Resources Limited is an advanced gold and copper exploration business with an existing resource base of almost 2 Moz gold across Western Australia and Nevada. Its focus is on rapidly building its resource inventory through modern, innovative exploration.

The TopDrill rig at Golden Range is currently drilling at Riley North, having recently completed drilling Stage 1 holes at Bugeye North. Ground EM surveying and drilling continue at both the Golden Range and Fields Find Projects.

The post Warriedar Resources’ Rothschild Drilling Program Delivers High-Grade Gold Extension appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The drilling is being conducted as part of the Prefeasibility Study (PFS) of the Mallina Gold Project.

Brolga was identified, along with Diucon and Falcon, in a Scoping Study released in October 2021 as one of the early proposed production sources for the Project. Resource definition drilling allows more of the Brolga resource to be classified as JORC Indicated mineralisation. This increases the potential production target and Ore Reserve for the PFS and provides increased confidence in the Project’s projected cashflow from early production sources.

Resource definition drilling at Brolga has focussed on the proposed Stage 1 pit from the Scoping Study. The Hemi maiden Mineral Resource contained within the Brolga Stage 1 pit comprised 1.29Moz @ 1.3g/t Au.

The strip ratio of the Brolga Stage 1 pit was 2.1:1 including the pre-stripping of un-mineralised transported sediments.

Proposed production from Brolga is a key factor in the payback period of the Project of less than two years identified in the recently announced Scoping Study.

Drilling at Brolga will also be extended to the south and southwest and at depth of the Stage 1 pit with the aim of extending mineralisation and increasing the resource.

Selected intervals estimated at a 0.3g/t Au cut-off grade, including higher grade intervals reported at a 0.5g/t Au lower cut-off grade include:

Section 30600E include: ? 193m @ 1.7g/t Au from 40m in HEDD218 including 10.4m @ 5.5g/t Au from 42m ? 123m @ 1.9g/t Au from 33m in HMRC054 including 51m @ 3.8g/t Au from 88m ? 43m @ 0.9g/t Au from 62.7m and 75m @ 1.1g/t Au from 120m and 19.3m @ 1.1g/t Au from 303m in HEDD217 ? 136m @ 1.2g/t Au from 38m in HMRC055 including 93m @ 1.6g/t Au

Results on section 30520E include: ? 72m @ 1.9g/t Au from 36m in HMRC139 including 19m @ 3.7g/t Au from 68m and 32m @ 1.9g/t Au from 68m ? 153m @ 1.0g/t Au from 45m in HMRC140 including 13m @ 1.8g/t Au from 58m and 42m @ 1.3 g/t Au from 69m and 12m @ 1.6g/t Au from 129m ? 147m @ 1.0g/t Au from 45m in HMRC141 including 85m @ 1.3g/t Au from 63m ? 154m @ 0.9g/t Au from 62m in HMRC142 including 28m @ 1.2g/t Au from 86m and 60m @ 1.4g/t Au from 130m ? 94m @ 1.0g/t Au from 114m in HMRC298 ? 69m @ 1.5g/t Au from 176m in HMRC300

“These new resource definition drilling results at Brolga, including 193m @ 1.7g/t Au in diamond drill hole HEDD218, successfully demonstrate the continuity of mineralisation within the proposed Brolga Stage 1 starter pit and reduce project risk associated with early production,” General Manager Exploration, Phil Tornatora, said.

“Resource extension drilling to the southwest of the proposed Brolga starter pit is in progress. Exploration drilling continues across both Greater Hemi and Regional areas. Resource definition drilling is nearing completion and rigs will then be targeting further resource extensional and discovery drilling within the Greater Hemi region.”

The post DeGrey Obtains Impressive Resource Definition Drilling Results At Brolga appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The intersection in ML343M included a high-grade zone of 23.2 m @ 1.6% Sn and 0.03% WO3 from 75.8 m or 3 m @ 4.1% Sn and 0.1% WO3 from 90 m.

The drill program, designed to confirm the continuity of high-grade zones and provide additional metallurgical samples, is part of the company’s updated Feasibility Study for an underground mine.

The significant intersections from ML343M included:

• 2 m @ 0.8% Sn and 0.2% WO3 or 1.0% Sn Eq from 75.8 m including 45 m @ 1.0% Sn and 0.2% WO3 or 1.2% Sn Eq from 147 m,
• 2 m @ 1.6% Sn and 0.03% WO3 or 1.7% Sn Eq from 75.8 m,
• 9 m @ 2.5% Sn and 0.03% WO3 or 2.6% Sn Eq from 90 m,
• 3 m @ 4.1% Sn and 0.1% WO3 or 4.3% Sn Eq from 90 m.

The outstanding assays from the rest of recently announced ML340M have now been received increasing the original intersection of 147 m @ 1.0% Sn and 0.2% WO3 (

“The new drilling at Mount Lindsay continues to deliver outstanding tin intersections within the high-grade MacDonald Shoot beneath historical tin workings,” Managing Director, Andrew Radonjic, said.

“The value of Mount Lindsay today continues to grow having already more than 80,000 tonnes of tin metal in JORC complaint resources at a time of record Tin prices.

“Venture looks forward to completing this Feasibility Drilling shortly and ramping up our exploration efforts with drilling scheduled to test multiple high priority targets over the coming months within Australia’s premier tin district on the West Coast of Tasmania.”

The underground Feasibility Study will advance previous scoping study work and includes additional drilling (currently in progress) to further confirm the continuity of the High-Grade MacDonald Shoot in the Main Skarn, and the High-Grade Radford Shoot in the No.2 Skarn.

Current drilling will also provide material for finalising a cost effective, gravity-focused, processing flowsheet to concentrate the high-density minerals cassiterite (tin oxide – 79% Sn) and scheelite (81% WO3).

The company recently engaged BHM Processing Consultants to manage the Metallurgical part of the Study. Additional work will include further detailed engineering studies to firm up the mine design and updating of the permit to reflect the change in mining and processing strategies.

Venture continues to build a dedicated team to manage the Study program and to that end has just engaged a Resource Development Geologist.

The Mount Lindsay Project is already classified by the Australian Government as a Critical Minerals Project2 with an advanced Tin-Tungsten asset, which is significantly enhanced by the recent discovery of two new skarn zones, one within the Renison Mine Sequence in the Mount Lindsay area and the other along strike from Mount Lindsay’s main tin deposits.

Mount Lindsay is already one of the largest undeveloped tin projects in the world, containing in excess of 80,000 tonnes of tin metal and within the same mineralised body a globally significant tungsten resource containing 3,200,000 MTU (metric tonne unit) of WO3.

The Australian Government is supporting the Critical Minerals Sector through several initiatives including the establishment of a A$2 billion finance facility announced in September to be administered by Export Finance Australia which Venture is working to access for the project.

Tin is now recognised as a fundamental metal to the battery revolution and new technology.

The International Tin Association is predicting a surge in demand driven by the lithium-ion battery market, of up to 60,000tpa by 2030 (world tin consumption was 328,400t in 2020).

The post Mt Lindsay Continues To Produce “Exceptional” Tin Intersections For Venture appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

“Austex’s analysis of Appendix 5B Reports illustrates industry’s commitment to finding new mines to create jobs, royalties and benefits to the local community,” said Warren Pearce, CEO of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC).

“Total Australian mineral exploration expenditure continues to grow, demonstrating the strength of Australia’s mineral exploration industry, the record capital raising combined with the record exploration spend will lead to more discoveries.”

Total capital raisings increased to a record A$3170 million, a 37% increase from the A$2312 million raised in Q3 2021 and A$1823M in Q4 2020.

Austex Resource Opportunities founder Rob Murdoch said the significant growth in capital raisings is a promising indicator of the ongoing strength of the resources sector, investors’ confidence in future discoveries being made, and is in response to a rising string of demand for resources of all types.

The 733 ASX listed companies earnt a total revenue of A$1,278 million in the quarter. Total production costs incurred was A$736 million, resulting in a total cash flow gain from revenue producing activities of A$542 million.

“Greater investment, combined with more funds in reserve show these companies have the potential to make further discoveries, and are better positioned to further develop their projects. Continued investment into the sector is needed to ensure that these projects can progress, to create new jobs and provide ongoing benefits to the Australia economy,” said Mr Pearce.

The Total Expenditure was A$$974 million with A$316 million of that total booked under Operating Cashflows and A$658 million under Investment Cashflows.

With respect to Total Expenditure, 15 companies spend more than A$10 million on exploration led by ASX-DeGrey at its Hemi Gold discovery with A$31 million.

243 more companies spent more than A$1 million on exploration thereby in AUSTEX view maximising their opportunity to advance their flagship Project for shareholders.

620 companies spent in excess of $100K. Close to 100 companies spent less, some of which are quite inactive and clearly need new projects, management and direction.

The post Australian Exploration Spending At Boom Levels appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The post Kopore Metals to acquire project in uranium-rich Niger appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

The funding, administered through the Collaboration Exploration Initiative (CEI), aims to support Queensland’s resource exploration companies by providing grants to encourage exploration, particularly in frontier and greenfield areas.

Queensland Exploration Council chair Kim Wainwright says she expects competition to be strong, based on the response to previous rounds, and welcomes the latest round of $2.5m in funding for this CEI round.

“The CEI has provided $10 million worth of funding to more than 190 explorers over the past 14 years,” she said.

Ms Wainwright said Queensland’s CEI led to more than 50 significant mineral deposit discoveries in that time in under-explored areas of Queensland, including significant silver, lead and zinc deposits as large as South 32’s Cannington mine.

“Funding received through a previous CEI round also contributed to Australia’s largest discovery of a copper-cobalt resource by Aeon Metals,” she said.

“Another great example is the $200,000 in funding awarded to Red Metal to use magnetotelluric survey equipment to undertake detailed mapping of known zinc, lead and silver deposits in and around the old Century Mine near Lawn Hill.”

Round 5 is currently open for submissions until 21 May 2021. Future funding rounds are scheduled to open April 2022 (round 6) and April 2023 (round 7).

The post Queensland exploration funding round opens appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.

Initial work will focus on the Mt Dove project, which includes testing for intrusion-related gold mineralisation.

Sayona Mining managing director Brett Lynch says the company is excited to launch this exploration program.

“A recent assessment identified a number of targets across our 100% owned Pilbara gold portfolio,” he said.

“The Hemi discovery has highlighted the region’s potential and we look forward to unlocking the prospectivity of our large tenement holding for the benefit of shareholders, adding to our flagship Authier Lithium Project and other lithium projects in Canada and WA.”

De Grey Mining’s Hemi discovery is a large-scale, high-value, near-surface gold discovery.

The gold price has reached above US$2000poz and Goldman Sachs forecasts price to reach US$2300 in 2021.

Sayona Mining is an emerging lithium miner with projects in Quebec, Canada and WA, including its fully-owned 824m² Pilbara gold and lithium tenements.

The post Mt Dove project spreads wings appeared first on The Australian Mining Review.