Resources Top 5: Firetail heats up, lifting gold exposure with US tier-1 acquisitions

News.com.au

02-06-2025

Firetail has signed an option to acquire gold projects in tier-1 jurisdictions in the US
A 400kg bulk sample from Jupiter deposit in WA has been sent to the Centre of Science and Technology of Minerals and Environment in Vietnam.
Trigg Minerals reached a three-year high as it steps up quest for critical mineral antimony in the US
Your standout resources stocks for Monday, June 2, 2025
At a time of strong gold prices, Firetail Resources will increase its exposure to the yellow metal through an option to acquire two high-grade gold projects in tier-1 jurisdictions in the US.
Acquiring 80% of the Excelsior Springs project in Nevada and 100% of the Bella project in South Dakota will complement the company's flagship Skyline copper project in Newfoundland, Canada, and the Picha copper-silver play In Peru.
Investors have greeted the news enthusiastically, sending share prices as much as 36.67% higher to 8.2c with almost 40m changing hands.
Both gold projects have potential to stand on their own merits with Excelsior Springs sitting within the >40Moz Walker Lane Tectonic Zone and with historical production of 19,200oz at 41g/t gold from shallow underground workings.
Bella lies within the world-class Homestake Gold Belt with a gold endowment of ~85Moz and is just 20km along trend from the Homestake mine which has produced ~42Moz.
'The acquisition of such high-calibre gold assets will complement our current portfolio and leverages off the board's strengths, enabling us to diversify our exposure to the prevailing strong gold and copper prices,' FTL managing director Glenn Poole said.
FTL has the option to earn up to 80% in Excelsior Springs by paying the vendor an initial consideration of $200,000 in cash and 32m FTL shares along with a commitment to spend US$5m over a five-year period while for Bella, the company is paying the vendor $600,000 in cash and 17 million FTL shares with no work commitment.
Non-executive director Simon Lawson, who is also executive chairman of gold developer Spartan Resources, said securing gold assets of this quality in two of the premier gold belts in North America was a major coup for Firetail.
'From my recent experience at Spartan Resources, the opportunity to discover high-grade ounces close to high-quality infrastructure can be a major value driver for a junior resources company – and both of these projects offer that opportunity in spades,' he added.
Besides the historical production, drilling at Excelsior Springs also defined a gold mineralised zone striking >3km with a width of 200-400m across an east-west trend.
Notable results include:
51.8m grading 4g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 39.6m including 6.1m at 16.3g/t from 42.7m;
33.5m at 5.35g/t gold from 41.2m including 10.7m at 15.99g/t from 41.2m; and
32m at 2.45g/t gold from 44.2m including 6.1m at 10g/t from 45.7m.
Bella covers 110km of mapped banded iron formation with high-grade potential as evidenced by multiple >100g/t gold rock chip samples, similar to the main gold host at the Homestake mine.
Drilling at the historical Standby Mine returned results topping up at a massive 12.2m at 46.62g/t gold including 1.5m at 343g/t.
Channel sampling across the wider project returned multiple significant results such as 15m at 16g/t gold at the King of the West target, 10.7m at 13.3g/t (Yellow Bird), 29m at 11.3g/t (Gold King Mine) and 10.7m at 15g/t (Charter Oak Mine).
'The Excelsior Springs Project represents an advanced, drill-proven opportunity with gold from surface, and the mineralisation remaining open in all directions with the potential to deliver an expedited resource – reinforced by the presence of further historic mines within the mineral claim that highlight the potential precious metal endowment of the area,' Poole said.
'The Bella project sits in the shadow of a giant, with the Homestake mine being one of the most notable in modern history.
'The evidence we see on the ground – of extensive mineralisation-hosting Banded Iron Formation and multiple, significant grades occurring across the wider project area is highly encouraging.
'The opportunity to follow up on multiple, extensive, historically producing trends that have not been drilled in the modern era in a district known for its size and scale is hugely exciting.'
On completing the option to acquire Excelsior Springs, FTL plans to carry out an extensional RC drill program to define width and grade of mineralisation along the prospective strike.
Recent rock chip sampling returned assays of up to 6630g/t silver towards the eastern extent of the project area suggesting that a parallel structural trend supports a wider precious metal opportunity around the Blue Dick Mine in an area which is yet to be drill tested.
At Bella, the company will carry out detailed mapping, sampling and geological modelling on completion of the acquisition aimed at improving the understanding of potential targets identified from geophysical surveys and historical mining records.
Critica (ASX:CRI)
(Up on no news)
One of the strongest performers among junior resources stocks was rare earths explorer Critica, which jumped 76.92% to 2.3c with more than 129m changing hands.
It follows the company last week revealing that it has sent a 400 kg bulk sample from the Jupiter deposit in WA to the Centre of Science and Technology of Minerals and Environment (CSTME) in Vietnam.
This decision followed successful initial beneficiation work that achieved a better than 9x rare earth element (REE) upgrade.
CSTME will use the bulk sample to refine the beneficiation processes and produce material for initial leach test work.
The realisation of a 64% iron by-product via Wet Low Intensity Magnetic Separation, as part of the REE beneficiation process in CSTME's initial test work, also demonstrates the potential for by-product opportunities from Jupiter.
Critica will continue to assess and refine these opportunities as part of the REE bulk sample test programs.
The company also continues to receive support from Curtin University's Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer program.
Under this scheme, the company will submit a second bulk sample to the WA School of Mines at Curtin University to produce additional beneficiated material for future leach testwork.
The Jupiter deposit includes more than 280,000 tonnes of contained heavy rare earth elements and the company is committed to work focusing on the key HREE zones.
It is already Australia's largest and highest grade clay hosted rare earth deposit and is expected to see further resource growth as reconnaissance drilling tests numerous satellite targets within the province-scale Brothers REE project.
Jupiter deposit in the Yalgoo area of Western Australia about 250km east of Geraldton benefits from existing mining precinct infrastructure, including proximity to the sealed Geraldton-Mount Magnet highway and the mid-west gas pipeline.
The project, which contains low levels of thorium and uranium, is close to rare earth processing facilities, such as Lynas Rare Earths' concentrator at Mount Weld and Iluka Resources' planned facility at Eneabba.
The initial discovery was announced in late 2023 and comprises clay-hosted rare earth mineralisation.
In February 2025, Critica announced a global inferred resource of 1.8Bt at 1,700 ppm, including 520Mt at 2,200ppm total rare earth oxides. It contains 682,000t of magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) within the global resource.
Rare earth export controls were announced in early April 2025 by China as a response to the US tariff trade war, with new controls targeting seven REEs including the HREEs which Jupiter contains.
Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG)
(Up on no news)
As it steps up the quest for critical mineral antimony in the US, Trigg Minerals reached a new three-year high of 10.25c, up 26.55% on the previous close on volume of more than 67m.
The company is focused on the Antimony Canyon project in Utah with the intention of becoming a mainstay in the US critical minerals supply chain.
A US-based exploration team has been mobilised to the site with maiden exploration to target several high-priority areas within and beyond the existing resource at Antimony Canyon. The area contains several historical mines, including Emma-Albion, Mammoth, Stebinite, Gem, Pluto and more.
Trigg will assess potential of the historically productive antimony mines, which have had no modern exploration and very limited investigation along strike and at depth.
The company sees an opportunity to define a materially larger resource using contemporary exploration methods.
Alongside exploration, potential sites will also be assessed for the development of a smelter, as Trigg looks to secure its place in the US antimony supply chain.
Antimony Canyon previously played a major role in securing domestic antimony during periods of conflict and Trigg plans to become a vertically integrated and dependable supplier of the mineral to the USA and greater western economy.
Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY)
(Up on no news)
Locksley Resources was a stellar performer on the ASX during May, climbing from 1.8c on May 1, to 11.75c on the first day of training in June, a new high of almost three years. This was also an increase of 46.88% on the previous close with more than 57m changing hands.
The primary catalyst for the most recent gain was a strongly supported placement with 36.67 million shares issued at 4c each to sophisticated and institutional investors resulting in $1.47m.
Funds will be used to fund upcoming exploration, including drilling, at the Mojave rare earths and antimony project in California.
The company's exploration team is mobilising to site to confirm priority targets and prepare for drilling to start. It will confirm and peg drill collar locations and access routes while the company waits for Bureau of Land Management approvals to be granted.
Activities also include access routes and the engagement of earthworks and drill contractors to complete the drilling program.
In addition, the team will conduct follow-up mapping and rock chip sampling across high-priority antimony, REE, polymetallic and copper targets.
Further activities will include refining geophysical targets, additional surface sampling for geochemistry and structural mapping, and starting petrological studies to inform future metallurgical testing.
Drilling is expected to begin in the September quarter and will focus on the El Campo prospect where six holes will be drilled to test TREO of up to 12.1% and the Desert Antimony Mine with three holes testing high-grade antimony mineralisation of up to 46%.
Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR)
Also having a strong month, rising from 0.9c on May 1 to 17c on June 2, was Dateline Resources, and the latest rise was a 75.26% jump on the previous close with more than 219m shares changing hands
The latest rise was prompted by the start of a geochemistry and geophysics program at the Colosseum gold and rare earths project in California, USA, targeting new breccia pipes and REE bearing fenites.
This comes after recent fieldwork and data reviews expanded the geological understanding of the Colosseum deposit, which is less than 10km north of the Mountain Rare Earth mine.
A multi-pronged exploration program is being launched to 'stack the evidence' from geology, geochemistry and geophysics for drill targeting.
A grid-based soil and rock sampling program will begin in mid-June 2025, spanning about four weeks while the company has engaged a geophysics firm to complete a magnetotelluric survey to aid in drill hole targeting.
Dateline is finalising the design of a dedicated rare earths drilling program and will subsequently factor in additional evidence collected from the geochemistry and geophysics program.
In June 2024, the company announced that Colosseum has a JORC-2012 compliant mineral resource of 27.1Mt at 1.26g/t Au for 1.1Moz.
The existence of a viable gold system at Colosseum provides a strong foundation to pursue REE exploration with greater confidence.