Welcome to a roundup of some of our financing, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com over the last week. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing and M&A
Over the last seven days, St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has announced a A$3M strategic investment by Amperex Technology Limited for lithium exploration in Western Australia. ATL has agreed to invest A$3M in Lithium Star Pty Ltd, one of St George’s subsidiary companies, which has 100% ownership of seven prospective hard rock lithium projects in Western Australia.
Furthermore, ATL will acquire a 10% direct equity stake in Lithium Star with St George holding the remaining 90%; the company can increase its stake in Lithium Star with further investment on terms to be agreed.
New funds will be used to accelerate exploration at Lithium Star’s highly prospective lithium projects in Western Australia with field work commencing this month at the following priority projects:
- Split Rocks Project: located ~25km north-west of the Earl Grey lithium deposit, which has a resource of 189Mt @1.50% Li2O2, owned in joint venture by Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) and SQM (NYSE: SQM)
- Buningonia and Buningonia North Projects: located in the same lithium province as Global Lithium’s (ASX: GL1) Manna Project (32.7Mt @1.0% Li2O) and the operating Bald Hill Mine (26Mt @ 1% Li2O)
- Myuna Rocks Project: located along the lithium belt that also hosts Allkem’s (ASX: AKE) operating Mt Cattlin Mine (12.1Mt @1.3% Li2O)
Steppe Gold Limited (TSX: STGO | OTCQX: STPGF | FSE: 2J9) has provided an update on its Phase 2 expansion at the ATO Mine.
The company has drawn down US$9.6M from a US$150M financing package in October to accelerate the construction and development of the Phase 2 Expansion.
EPC arrangements are in the final stages, partnering with leading international engineering firms and construction teams in Mongolia. EPC arrangements and selected parties will be announced shortly, with long lead items to be ordered this November.
New exploration and development
Also, Intrepid Metals Corp. (TSXV: INTR | OTCQB: IMTCF) has continued compilation work and drill planning on its 100% controlled Corral Copper Project, in Arizona, USA following its recent option agreement to acquire the MAN Property.
With the addition of the MAN Property, the Corral Copper Project contains a 3km trend of pre-established mineralization with several high-grade historical diamond drill hole results. The area includes 50,000m of historical drilling data, with shallow high-grade mineralization of copper, gold, and silver.
The Corral Copper Project is a district scale advanced exploration and development opportunity in Cochise County, Arizona. Corral Copper is located 15 miles east of the famous mining town of Tombstone and 22 miles north of the historical Bisbee mining camp which has produced more than 8Blbs of Cu with grades of up to 23%.
North Arrow Minerals Inc. (TSXV: NAR) has discovered new spodumene mineralized pegmatites at its wholly-owned LDG and MacKay Lithium Projects, Northwest Territories.
Ken Armstrong, president, and CEO of North Arrow, commented, “Recent exploration of North Arrow’s LDG and MacKay Lithium Projects has resulted in the discovery of new spodumene mineralization at both properties and increased our confidence in the size potential of this new spodumene-bearing lithium pegmatite field. Ground magnetic, high-resolution drone imagery and bedrock mapping surveys will significantly aid in ongoing interpretation and modelling of priority pegmatites, including planning for exploration drilling in 2024.”
At the LDG property, field work was focused on lithium pegmatites in the SD2 and SD4 areas where previous sampling returned assays of up to 1.7% Li2O and 2.1% Li2O, respectively.
Drilling results
In drilling results, Freegold Ventures Limited (TSX: FVL), continued to successfully intercept higher grades at its Golden Summit Project in Alaska as two drill rigs continue to operate. In the Dolphin Cleary area, 34 holes have been completed since March with assays for 17 holes having now been reported. Six holes have been completed in the Saddle Zone and the assays are pending.
Several high-grade intercepts included:
- Hole GS2314: 113.3m grading 5.42g/t Au (uncut) including 3.1m grading 160g/t Au, also
- Hole GS2314: 2.4m grading 82.5g/t Au
- Hole GS2317: 181.9m grading 1.22g/t Au
The 2023 programme has multiple objectives: – delineating the extent of the mineralization to north of the Dolphin Cleary Zone, testing the potential for expansion to the west, expanding the higher-grade mineralization found within the Cleary Vein Swarm (CVS) and initial reconnaissance drilling of the Saddle Zone.
Other company news
Finally, Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp. (TSXV: LIT | FSE: OAY3 | OTC: PNXLF) has entered into a services agreement with Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. pursuant to which, among other things, RSFC has agreed to provide certain promotional services to the company in accordance with Policy 3.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange.
RCFS’ engagement is for an initial term of twelve months. The agreement shall be renewable on a month-to-month basis following the initial term unless the company or RCFS provides written notice of termination to the other of them at least 30 days prior to the end of the Initial Term or a renewal term, as applicable. For the Initial Term the company shall pay RCFS an aggregate fee of C$122,000 for the 12-month term.
RCFS provides promotional services on behalf of the company across the country. Through RCFS’ engagement, the company hopes to promote awareness of the company and its activities.
