Resources Top 6: Everyone wants lithium in WA, but has unheralded Industrial Minerals outfoxed the big dogs to claim hidden Pilbara pegmatites?

Industrial Minerals is a +100% gainer so far today on a lithium project nab in the Pilbara
Torque shifts gears, mobilising a second drilling rig at its New Dawn lithium project
Calidus announces strong maiden gold resource near one of the hottest places on the planet

Here are the biggest resources winners in early trade, Friday October 27.

Industrial Minerals (ASX:IND)

Industrial Minerals is in the business of developing high purity silica sand and quartz in WA to supply the solar PV industry. But… that’s not why it’s storming up the ASX so far today with a +100% gain at the time of writing.

It’s now a lithium play. The $72m market capper has inked binding terms with North West Quarries for the exclusive option to acquire the Pippingarra lithium project in the Pilbara.

The option is for an 80% interest in the non-construction material mineral rights (including lithium and High Purity Quartz (HPQ) to the operating Pippingarra Quarry (Granted Mining Lease, M45/258), near Port Hedland.

#ASXNews$IND.AX has secured an exclusive option to acquire an 80% interest in the non-construction material mineral rights, including #lithium and High Purity #Quartz, at the Pippinagarra Quarry Project near Port Hedland.https://t.co/DJy8QRxQ5R#IND #ASX pic.twitter.com/j4ej75qLqv

— Industrial Minerals Ltd (@industmin) October 26, 2023

IND does already hold a number of tenements in the region that are prospective for HPQ and lithium, so this addition, notes the company, is a logical expansion of IND’s activities in the Pilbara.

In addition, IND has also recently applied for further tenure in near the Pippingarra.

The project has decent form.

Previous drilling has defined over 2km of flat-lying pegmatite, on average 200m wide and 20m thick, under very shallow cover and remains largely untested for lithium despite historical mining of beryl and columbite – indicator minerals of LCT-type pegmatites.

The 2km-long peggie remains open in all directions and of the the 38 diamond holes drilled by previous owners, only one drill hole was assayed for lithium, intersecting 6m at 3.73% Li2O from 26m in a vertical diamond hole.

And the fact it’s on a granted mining lease is a big deal. Investors love that because mining leases are getting longer to approve from WA’s snowed under mines department, and the native title situation is already sorted.

There is form in the region for the sort of old mine to shock lithium discovery IND is presumably keen to engineer – take the year’s biggest bourse success story Wildcat Resources (ASX:WC8) for instance, currently flying high on a near 4,000% gain as drill hits show potential in its theory the old Tabba Tabba tantalum mine near Port Hedland could be a sleeping lithium beast.

Pippingarra Quarry and Associated Infrastructure. Source: ASX announcement

IND share price

 

Torque Metals (ASX:TOR)

Lithium-hunting junior Torque has bounced up nicely around midday after news has spread it’s accelerating its inaugural reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign at its New Dawn lithium project in WA, mobilising a second rig to site.

We have the full deets in our special report here, but just quickly, the highlights:

TOR is mobilising second rig to New Dawn project, just 600m along strike from Bald Hill lithium mine
The company is confident drill-proven pegmatites could be extension of the producing mine
Two rigs will now drill pegmatite bodies simultaneously
All RC holes drilled (three currently completed), have intersected multiple, vertically stacked pegmatites, indicating the best stuff is deeper down

#ASXNews$TOR.AX has accelerated its inaugural RC drilling campaign at the New Dawn #Lithium Project, in the heart of WA’s Goldfields.

An additional RC rig has been mobilised to New Dawn with two #drilling rigs now testing multiple pegmatite targets.https://t.co/iiSvwjsJqT pic.twitter.com/WwROSO5FT1

— Torque Metals (@Torque_Metals) October 27, 2023

Torque’s MD Cristian Moreno, said:

“Initial diamond drilling results demonstrated positive lithium and tantalum grades that parallel the early stages of exploration recorded at the adjacent Bald Hill mine.

“One of the emerging, standout features of the New Dawn Lithium Project is the presence of multiple, vertically stacked pegmatites, these geological formations holding the key to potentially proving up significant pegmatite volumes. Much like the Bald Hill mine, New Dawn’s vertically stacked pegmatites are potential hosts for spodumene lithium mineralisation.”

TOR share price

 

Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI)

Minerals explorer Calidus has been in the news lately, somewhat connected to the lithium takeover excitement happening in the Pilbara.

Calidus currently retains a 40% stake in the Pirra lithium project that Chilean lithium giant SQM (which has been very busy indeed in Australia of late) is looking to muscle its way into with a 40% holding of its own. So that’s already big stuff.

But there’s fresh news afoot for CAI regarding its gold exploration, and that’s shaping as very significant for the company indeed.

Calidus has just announced an 832,00t maiden inferred 111,000-ounce gold mineral resource, grading 4.1g/t at the historic Bulletin mine in the Bamboo Creek goldfield. That’s northwest of the company’s Warrawoona mine near Marble Bar – the hottest place in Australia, if you didn’t know.

Western Australia’s Pilbara, a favorite field site of #AskAstrobio guest Dr. Bonnie Teece, is home to Marble Bar, which claims to be the hottest city in Australia. What is Marble Bar’s record for most consecutive days over 100°F?

Vote before the Oct. 25 show:… pic.twitter.com/2gbNBXcJvd

— NASA Astrobiology: Exploring Life in the Universe (@NASAAstrobio) October 24, 2023

Calidus has a 60:40 split on Bulletin’s profit with Haoma Mining (ASX:HAO) on gold from Bamboo Creek.

The company notes that Bulletin is completely open at depth, having only been drilled to 100m below surface and potentially extends along strike to the east.

Calidus MD Dave Reeves said:

“This strong maiden Resource at Bulletin is another example of the substantial upside we are establishing at Warrawoona through our strategy to bring satellite deposits into the project.

“This approach stands to deliver significant growth in production and mine life while leveraging our existing processing infrastructure.

“Bulletin is a remarkably high-grade deposit that not only outcrops at surface but is more excitingly, completely open at depth. We will immediately mobilise a drill rig to undertake confirmatory drilling and commence testing the depth potential of the deposit.”

CAI share price

 

Terrain Minerals (ASX:TMX)

REE and gold explorer Terrain is up more than 20% at the time of writing after announcing this morning it’s raised more than $430k in a non-renounceable entitlement offer, which closed on October 24.

The company says 15.85% of shareholders (187) participated in the offer with a recorded unallocated shortfall of ~$355k.

In September TMX raised ~$785k through a placement to sophisticated and professional investors.

In other recent news for the company, it’s been making good progress at its Lort River for REE hunting…

Rare Earth Element (REE) Mineralisation Intersected across the Lort River project area

Read it here: https://t.co/LdKMKRZqr4$TMX $TMX.AX #TMX #ASX #TerrainMinerals #ASXAnnouncement #RareEarths

— Terrain Minerals (@TerrainMinerals) October 23, 2023

… and for copper, nickel, gold and silver at its Larins Lane extension program at the company’s Smokebush project some 350km north of Perth.

Larins Lane – MMI Extends & Identifies New Copper/Nickel/Gold & Silver Anomalies

Read it here: https://t.co/Uwgk7FYvfc$TMX $TMX.AX #TMX #ASX #TerrainMinerals #ASXAnnouncement #Copper #Nickel #Gold #Silver

— Terrain Minerals (@TerrainMinerals) October 23, 2023

TMX share price

 

Heavy Rare Earths (ASX:HRE)

(Up on no fresh news)

Heavy Rare Earths is trading in the right direction today, probably still on the good vibes from its Cowalinya clay-hosted rare earths project in WA.

A handful of days ago, the company announced a sizeable exploration target of 280-1,390Mt at 330-1,330 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) at the project.

And that’s on top of the project’s recently upgraded resource of 159 Mt at 870 ppm TREO, a 468% jump from the previous resource.

The resource has a desirable rare earth composition with 28% containing the highly sought after valuable magnet rare earths and 23% the strategic heavy rare earths.

These magnet rare earths – in particular neodymium and praseodymium – are in high demand due to their use in electric vehicles and wind turbines, as well as a myriad of other critical technologies used in modern society.

Read our October 23 special report on this for more.

Summary of our recent exploration activity at Cowalinya Project #HRE #coffeewithsamso #ASX #RareEarths #MiningNews https://t.co/aGaI1cqK7d

— Heavy Rare Earths Limited (@hreltd) October 25, 2023

HRE share price

 

Bougainville Copper (ASX:BOC)

One more? Go on then, just quickly…

Papua New Guinean-focused copper hunter BOC is up on the news that “good progress has been made with the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG)” regarding Judicial Review proceedings in the company’s plan to gain an exploration licence for the Panguna copper project.

According to an announcement today, some of the b/g on this is:

“In January 2018, the ABG refused an extension EL01 with [Bougainville Copper Limited] maintaining that the application process had been undermined by third parties with vested interests in [the company’s] mineral rights. This placed both the ABG and [Bougainville Copper Limited] in an unenviable position.”

The update notes that the company and the Bougainville government “have been engaged in constructive dialogue with the mutual aim of amicably resolving the issue”.

The two parties have reportedly agreed on terms for a Deed of Settlement to end the Judicial Review proceedings “with parties fulfilling their if respective undertakings”.

BOC share price

 

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