Pic: Via Getty
Mining
Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Thursday May 25.
(Up on no news)
GSM is hunting for tier 1 gold and lithium discoveries across three large scale greenfields projects: Yule, Paynes Find and Southern Cross.
Its main focus right now is Yule, which is 35km from Port Hedland and 13km from De Grey Mining’s (ASX:DEG) world class Hemi gold discovery.
Yule is under 15m-20m of cover which has hidden any discoveries from previous explorers.
That project now has +55,000m of systematic, mostly-aircore drilling into it, which has uncovered several exciting gold and lithium targets, the most advanced of which is a 2km long lithium prospect called ‘Nomad’.
A 2000m drilling program at Nomad is pencilled in for July.
Yesterday GSM picked up more ground adjacent to Nomad, taking its ground position at Yule to ~766sqkm.
READ: Golden State is ticking all the right boxes for anyone looking for a monster scale lithium-gold play
AUG listed this morning following a $10m IPO with 3600sqkm of ground in the red-hot Gascoyne region of WA.
The Gascoyne has been in the headlines for a slew of lithium and rare earths discoveries, most notably Delta Lithium’s (ASX:DLI) ‘district scale’ Yinnetharra play.
As an early mover into the Gascoyne, AUG was able to pick up some prime ground along the Ti Tree shear zone:
The company has a bunch of high priority lithium, REE and copper targets to test with planned extensive drilling campaigns.
It is led by senior Hastings Tech Metals (ASX:HAS) alumni Andrew Reid and Andrew Ford “who have led the way in developing what is only the third ex-China rare earths mine in the world”, AUG says.
“The interest and activity in the Gascoyne region geologically is backed by at least a dozen companies actively exploring, with several of them embarking on major drill outs to define and increase Mineral Resources from recent discoveries,” MD Andrew Reid says.
(Up on no news)
The formerly nickel-focused explorer is now hunting lithium across its WA portfolio.
Assays are pending for a 121m pegmatite hit from 631.2m to 752m downhole at the Manta prospect, part of the Mt Alexander project.
There are also additional pegmatite intervals of varying widths, with a total of 225m of pegmatite intersected in the hole.
Mt Alexander is down the road and along strike from Delta Lithium’s (AS:DLI) 12.7Mt @ 1.2% Li20 Mt Ida project.
A 20,000m drilling program in progress, with assays pending. Geological logging indicates multiple pegmatites are being intersected, SGQ says.
Rare earths drilling at M24’s Hyden project in WA has now hit very wide and shallow significant clay hosted TREO mineralisation over 2km by 1km area.
Highlights include 32m @ 1,480 parts per million (ppm) REE from 16m to end of hole, including 12m @ 1,899ppm.
Of the 58 holes completed, 45 intersected significant (+500ppm TREO) mineralisation, with 26 holes ending in mineralisation, the company says.
Clay REE orebodies often grade between 700–1500ppm.
“This highlights not only that the mineralisation is very widespread, but it is also remarkably consistent within the mineralised intervals,” MD Mike Dunbar says.
“While we have been surprised by the width and consistency of the mineralisation, it is also surprising that the mineralisation is so shallow, with little to no surficial cover.”
M24 has previously said the source of the TREO in the clay could be a nearby hard rock system (either REE pegmatite or a carbonatite).
“While the bedrock source of the mineralisation has not yet been identified, the additional geochemical data collected will be used to identify and hopefully vector into the bedrock source and will assist in determining the mineralogy of the REE mineralisation,” Dunbar says.
All-important metallurgical test work is underway.
VAR is about to release a maiden JORC-compliant resource for the historical San Jose zinc-lead mine in northern Spain.
“Following our latest round of successful drilling results and recent fund raising, we’ve completed a comprehensive review and validation of our drill-hole database in preparation for mineral resource estimation and a mine restart concept study at the San Jose Mine,” VAR boss Stewie Dickson says.
“As a result of this work the quality of the database has improved significantly and highlights the in-mine and near-mine exploration upside.
Underground targets are expected to be drill-tested “as soon as practicable” with step-out surface drilling to be conducted in H2 of this year, Dickson says.
“This in-fill drilling, off the back of recently reported successful step-out drilling, will address strategic spatial gaps which could yield further tonnage.
“All of these results and activities contribute positively to the delivery of our key objectives; a JORC compliant mineral resource estimate and the mine restart concept study at the San Jose Mine.”
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