Resources Top 5: The whole day through, Georgia's on the mine of Krakatoa investors

News.com.au

a day ago

Preparations are underway for Krakatoa's maiden drilling at Zopkhito in Georgia
A VTEM survey has outlined three new trends at the Kempfield project in NSW
Eclipse Metals has completed an oversubscribed placement at market price for funds of $2m
Your standout small cap resources stocks for Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA)
Krakatoa Resources is making moves toward its maiden drilling at the Zopkhito antimony-gold project in Georgia, which serves as a trading gateway between Europe and Asia.
With exploration and drilling preparations in full swing, the company, which has an exclusive option to acquire up to 80% of the project, also made a positive move on the ASX with shares as much as 70% higher to 1.7c with more than 76m changing hands before closing at 1.2c.
Local contractors have started heavy machinery access and camp repatriation work at Zopkhito following positive meetings with key stakeholders and this work will pave the way for exploration including multiple geophysical surveys and drilling.
Plans for the upcoming field season include testing the known high-grade antimony and gold veins, converting the foreign resource into a JORC classification and to test the extension of the mineralised system beyond the current limits.
The company plans to drill the key vein systems within the project, focused on targeting the areas where suitable drill access can be obtained, while allowing various veins to be investigated.
Two diamond drill rigs will be used to complete the drilling program, which is expected to start in early July.
The first rig will be a man-portable rig suitable for work on small platforms from surface with the second to be a rig designed for underground work that can drill at various azimuths and lower dips.
Krakatoa Resources' current drill plan comprises an initial 100 drill holes, located on 13 platforms for a total of 14,000 metres. This design, once complete, will encapsulate around 50% of the foreign mineral resource area.
However, it is envisaged that only 7000m will be achieved during the current drilling season, which is closer to 30-40% of the foreign mineral resource area.
Krakatoa's CEO Mark Major said, 'This is an exciting time for Krakatoa as we embark on the first ever drill program at Zopkhito.
'We have planned for a comprehensive drilling program, with the aim to verify and expand the existing foreign resource estimate, calculated from 27km of underground exploration drives and over 15,000 channel samples.
'This work, along with detailed geophysical surveys, will enable Krakatoa to complete a JORC standard mineral resource estimate for Zopkhito and undertake a preliminary economic assessment.'
Zopkhito has a non-JORC, foreign resource estimate of 225,000t at 11.6% antimony for a contained 26,000 tonnes and 7.1Mt at 3.7g/t gold for 815,119oz.
Multiple geophysical surveys will also be undertaken to assist with detecting extensions of the foreign resource estimate.
This will include a high-resolution drone magnetic survey over the project area which will assist with more effective subsurface drill targeting.
The company will also consider a sub-audio magnetics (SAM) survey, which could be highly beneficial in delineating structures and other geology that is detected by resistive anomalies in conductive terrains.
This work will begin once the camp is reestablished and road access is completed.
Zopkhito covers an area of ~1,779 hectares in the northern part of Racha region in Georgia, a country which borders Eastern Europe and Asia and has Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and Armenia as neighbours.
Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD)
Confident of growing the precious and base metals potential of the 142.8Moz silver equivalent Kempfield project in the Lachlan Fold Belt in NSW, Argent Minerals has revealed three new zones of mineralisation. Shares climbed 11.54% higher to 2.9c before pulling back to 2.7c.
A VTEM survey has outlined the Western, Central and Eastern trends, which are extensive, distinct anomalies prospective for gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc mineralisation.
These trends represent a large new exploration target area with the Western Trend stretching 2.2km in a north-south direction, the Central trend 4.1km in a northeast-southwest orientation and the Eastern trend a further 2.2km in a northeast-southwest strike.
Both the Western and Eastern trends remain entirely untested by the drill bit while the Central trend has only been investigated with shallow reverse circulation drilling.
'A high-level interpretation of the VTEM data review conducted by Core Geophysics has identified multiple new drill targets, including several that were previously unknown to Argent," Argent Minerals managing director Pedro Kastellorizos said
'Significantly, three extensive EM trends have been delineated, two of which remain completely untested.
'These trends extend well beyond the current boundaries of the known Kempfield deposit, indicating strong potential for the discovery of additional mineralised zones both at depth and along strike.
'The results highlight the substantial exploration upside at the Kempfield Project, as we continue to expand the mineralised footprint well beyond the established deposit.'
Apart from revealing the new prospective trends across Kempfield, Argent's interpretation of the VTEM survey data also offered insights into the Kempfield northwest zone's geology.
Preliminary modelling of the data indicates the source of mineralisation in the NW Zone is likely at greater depths than previously thought.
The company also identified an elevated electromagnetic response along the western margin of the Kempfield deposit, which may point to a deeper footwall position relative to known mineralisation.
Kempfield has a resource estimate of 63.7Mt at 69.75g/t silver equivalent for 142.8Moz, containing 65.8Moz silver, 125,192oz gold, 207,402t lead and 420,373t zinc.
Eclipse Metals (ASX:EPM)
Eclipse Metals was up 26.7% to a daily high of 1.9c after completing an oversubscribed placement at market price for funds of $2m to advance the 89Mt Grønnedal rare earth project in Greenland. It later settled up 6.7% at 1.6c.
Firm commitments have been received for the placement conducted at no discount to the last traded price of 1.5c with the placement cornerstoned by an existing shareholder with a $500,000 commitment, reflecting continued confidence in Eclipse's long-term strategy and the potential of its Greenland assets.
The oversubscribed placement to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors was strongly supported and Eclipse scaled back applications.
Proceeds will advance work at the Ivigtût and Grønnedal projects and support the evaluation of historical drill core and definition of new drill targets as Eclipse seeks to enhance its strategic role in the global rare earth supply chain.
Specific use of the funds is:
Exploration and resource expansion drilling at the Grønnedal REE prospect
Environmental baseline and remediation planning at the historical Ivigtût pit
Assessment and mineralogical analysis of historical drill core to enhance geological understanding; and
General working capital and costs associated with the placement.
The placement follows the recent announcement of an 89Mt mineral resource estimate at the Grønnedal REE deposit in southwest Greenland.
Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG)
As it steps up efforts to become a key domestic supplier of critical minerals in the US, Trigg Minerals has confirmed multiple zones of massive stibnite mineralisation at the Antimony Canyon Project in Utah.
Initial field mapping confirmed several zones of massive stibnite at Emma and Mammoth deposits, further highlighting the project's potential as one of the highest grade and significant antimony projects in the US.
With more than 30 historical mines on-site in Utah, including the high-grade Nevada and Stebinite mines, Antimony Canyon shapes as one of the most promising undeveloped antimony assets in the US.
'We are pleased to commence this maiden phase of exploration at the Antimony Canyon Project,' Trigg Minerals managing director Andre Booyzen said.
'The confirmation of high-grade, massive stibnite zones at the Emma and Mammoth targets marks a significant milestone.
'It not only validates historical data but also strengthens our confidence in the project's potential to become a major domestic source of antimony.
'Our team is now focused on detailed mapping and systematic sampling to better define the extent and grade of mineralisation.
'We remain committed to advancing Antimony Canyon in support of the growing global demand for critical minerals essential to national security and the energy transition.'
TMG was initially up 12.9% on the previous close to 10.5c before easing lower to 8.1c with more than 70m changing hands.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ)
Another making a strong start to trading was Cazaly Resources, which was up as much as 37.5% to 2.2c before closing slightly higher at 1.6c after being granted approvals for drilling at the Goongarrie gold project north of Kalgoorlie.
First target will be the Duke of York prospect after a heritage survey was completed and program of work approvals were received for reverse circulation (RC) and aircore drilling from the WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
Initial RC drilling, which will start after site preparation work, will follow-up anomalous drill intercepts including 8m at 10.7g/t gold, 13m at 3.5g/t, 3m at 6.3g/t and 4m at 2.7g/t.
Strike extents and plunge directions of gold mineralisation will also be tested at the Star of Goongarrie prospect.
Following the completion of RC drilling an initial phase of aircore drilling will be undertaken to assess the broader gold mineralised trend.
This drilling is designed to identify new gold prospects over five strike kilometres of the BTZ and includes poorly tested areas between Goongarrie Lady and Jenny's Reward gold mines, and the northern extension of the BTZ north of Jenny's Reward.