Petratherm has something new to get excited about. Pic: Getty Images
Resources Top 5: Petratherm heats up with high value titanium metals at Rosewood
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- Petratherm soars as testing proves titanium riches at Rosewood
- Aurora Energy Metals shuffles its uranium projects
- Olympio lands option to acquire Dufay copper-gold project
Your standout small cap resources stocks for Tuesday, November 19.
Petratherm (ASX:PTR)
It wasn’t all that long ago – September 2024 to be exact – that Petratherm found that its Muckanippie project in South Australia is prospective for heavy mineral sands after outcropping sampling returned between 10-50% titanium dioxide.
Re-assaying of historical, wide-spaced drilling quickly confirmed that HMS is indeed present and extends at least 6km to the north.
Now the market is all excited about the company’s metallurgical testing with heavy mineral separation test of composite samples collected from the historical holes returned HM concentrations of 12% and 12.5% from shallow depths.
Laboratory analysis confirms the HM fraction contains high titanium mineral content of up to 65% titanium dioxide, a finding that is unsurprising given the fraction hosts 19-21% rutile, 5-7% anatase and 68-70% pseudorutile, all of which are valuable titanium minerals.
“The initial metallurgical results from historic drilling at the Rosewood prospect are outstanding and beyond our expectations,” chief executive officer Peter Reid said.
“As the Muckanippie project evolves, it continues to surprise with emerging potential to be a significant source of high value titanium minerals and transformational for the company.
“This outcome is a massive step forward for the Muckanippie titanium project and supports our strategy to maintain momentum on activities over the coming weeks and months to determine the full potential of the project.”
Aurora Energy Metals (ASX:1AE)
Uranium-focused Aurora Energy Metals is shuffling its cards around entering into options to both sell the Aurora uranium project in Oregon, US, and purchase a portfolio of exploration tenements in WA.
The company will receive an initial share consideration of US$16m in Eagle Energy Metals upon proposed listing on a US Stock Exchange.
It will also receive further milestone payments of up to US$10m in two equal tranches on conversion of existing resources to SK1300 measured and indicated resources, and completing a positive pre-feasibility study.
A successful listing will see Aurora hold a 40% interest in Eagle Energy.
Meanwhile the agreement to acquire Metalbelt Holdings will give the company a number of granted exploration licences and applications across WA.
These tenements cover locations with uranium anomalies defined from airborne radiometric surveys within palaeochannel settings.
The option agreement provides Aurora with the opportunity to evaluate the exploration targets prior to any decision to exercise the option.
Olympio Metals (ASX:OLY)
Sometimes all it takes for a company to capture investor interest is to find and acquire the right project, which is exactly what Olympio Metals has done with its option to take up an 80% interest in the Dufay copper-gold project from private vendors.
The 60km2 project sits on the Cadillac-Lake Larder Fault Zone in Canada that is associated with world class endowments (>110Moz gold equivalent) of VMS and orogenic gold and copper mineralisation, and is 35km west of the Rouyn-Noranda mining centre and copper smelter in southwest Québec.
Multiple large gold-copper resources are present within 5km of the project, which contains numerous historical showings of chalcopyrite-rich quartz veining, including the Chevrier working that was mined briefly in the late 1920s.
Rock chip sampling across many prospect locations within the tenure returned high-grade copper including 7.66% at the Papitose prospect and up to 6.78% at the Chevrier prospect.
Most of the limited drilling at Dufay was drilled before 1945 with no drilling for the last 36 years.
An induced polarisation survey over the area in 2011 recorded a >1200m-long, high conductivity anomaly typical of copper sulphide mineralisation immediately adjacent to the syenite porphyry that has never been drilled.
The extensive IP anomaly and the Chevrier and Papitose prospects are immediate priority drill targets with the approvals process already underway for drilling planned to start in January 2025.
C29 Metals (ASX:C29)
(Up on no news)
C29 Metals recently secured category four approval and strong local support to start exploration at its newly granted southern and northern uranium tenements at Ulytau in Kazakhstan.
This clears the path for activities such as geophysical works, field mapping and soil sampling programs to take place on the newly granted prospective Uranium tenements.
Its geology team is already established on site with the impending initial diamond drilling program commencing shortly at Ulytau (#1860-EL) and will simultaneously start airborne geophysics programs on Ulytau and the southern tenement.
C29 recently entered into an MoU with Volkov Geology, a 100% owned subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s only uranium producer Kazatomprom, for the provision of oversight and technical geological services for upcoming uranium drilling at Ulytau.
Volkov is wholly owned by Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium producer and a company with 4500 employees and 75 years’ experience in uranium exploration and mining.
An independent drilling contractor is being appointed and C29 anticipates that Volkov’s scope of works will expand from oversight and technical geological services to include studies, geological modelling and resource estimation.
Viking Mines (ASX:VKA)
The start of drilling at Viking Mines’ First Hit gold project has delivered big trading volumes with more than 6 million shares changing hands on Tuesday.
Its Phase 1 program of ~5000m of reverse circulation drilling will test high priority gold targets across the project as part of a broader 20,000m program.
At Jana’s Reward, the drilling will test down dip and along strike from a 1m hit grading 36.49g/t gold and 1m at 17.83g/t gold while at First Hit North, it will test down dip from 2m at 9.67g/t gold.
Drilling at First Hit South will rest up and down dip from a previous 1m intercept at 7.66g/t gold while first pass drilling at the Northern Zuleika Duplex will test a high-priority target on the Zuleika Shear to identify mineralised structures.
The broader 20,000m program is focused on 25km strike of Zuleika Shear, which adjoins Ora Banda Mining’s >1.3Moz Riverina-Mulline Camp.
“With Viking’s cash position boosted by the recent placement, we are pleased to be in a stronger position to expand the First Hit Gold Project exploration program,” managing director Julian Woodcock said.
“Jana’s Reward is located only 1.5km from First Hit and has already demonstrated the potential for high-grade gold with hits up to an impressive 36g/t gold.
“The northern duplex target represents a parallel trend to the Riverina-First Hit mineralisation, with key structural and geochemical positions to be tested in this initial round of RC drilling.”
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Petratherm is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
