Resources Top 5: Visible gold at Enmore has Koonenberry riding higher still

News.com.au

24-04-2025

It's five for five for Koonenberry with more visible gold in Enmore drilling
Drilling is set to start next week in the quest for copper at the Pearl project in Arizona
True North Copper on the way back with northwest Queensland focus
Your standout small cap resources stocks for Thursday, April 24, 2025.
Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB)
Appreciating gold's price in excess of US$3300/oz and a string of highly impressive results from the Enmore project in northeast NSW, Koonenberry Gold investors have sent the price up to 7.5c, a 15.4% increase on the previous close.
Reflecting the strong newsflow, since April 9 the share price has risen from 3.9c with strong daily volumes and the market cap stands at around $66m.
The latest news from Enmore has seen multiple zones of visible gold intersected in the fifth diamond drill hole, making it five for five with gold also spotted in the four previous diamond holes.
Enmore covers around 302km2 in the New England Fold Belt, a prospective region hosting the 1.7Moz gold-antimony Hillgrove mine, the 8Moz Ravenswood gold mine, the 7.7Moz and 0.36Mt copper Mt Morgan mine and the 2.5Moz Cracow gold mine.
Despite its clear prospectivity and total endowment of +35Moz gold, the NEFB remains underexplored, particularly on the NSW side.
Initial results from the first two holes in this program returned:
170m at 1.75g/t gold from 77m, including 18.3m at 9.95g/t from 172.9m; and
172.9m at 2.07g/t gold from 171m, including 25m at 5.23g/t from 195m and 5m at 11.09g/t from 213m.
Koonenberry is awaiting results from the third and fourth holes and is drilling the sixth hole.
The company said the latest results provided further evidence of the potential to host broad intervals of relatively shallow gold mineralisation as well as high-grade gold zones at depth.
Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88)
It has been a bumpy ride for copper in 2025, including during a turbulent April amid global trade uncertainty (tariffs clouding the air of course).
The changing fortunes of the US dollar have also contributed to fluctuations with recent gains. A softer dollar makes commodities cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
From around US$5.32/lb on March 26, the red metal dropped to just above US$4 on April 8 but has since climbed steadily to reach US$4.97 on April 23, a 3-week high, and at the time of writing was about US$4.81.
Golden Mile Resources is set to benefit from improved copper prices, encouraging market fundamentals for the electrification metal and US policies to stimulate domestic mining of critical minerals along with value-adding.
The company has been as much as 37.5% higher to 1.1c after securing all exploration permits required to begin drilling next week at the Pearl copper project in Arizona with a maiden RC drilling program of 14-16 holes for up to 1800m.
This will mark the first-ever drilling campaign by Golden Mile at the project with initial targets being the Odyssey and Ford prospects, both of which include historical mine workings that operated between 1915 and 1942 and are known to have produced high-grade copper.
At Odyssey, the drill program will target an 800m zone of the mineralised structure which hosts three quartz veins with polymetallic mineralisation dipping between 60 and 80 degrees to the west.
At Ford, drilling will target below the historical mine which was established down to about 60m.
'We are delighted to have secured all necessary permits, enabling us to advance to the maiden drilling program at the Odyssey and Ford prospects,' G88 managing director Damon Dormer said.
The extended time taken to obtain approvals meant the original drilling contractor was unavailable but the company quickly pivoted, securing local contractor Resource Specialities to carry out site and drill pad preparation.
This work is nearing completion and will enable Harris Drilling and Associates to mobilise on Monday, April 28, with drilling expected to begin shortly after.
'While the permitting process took longer than expected, our exploration manager has been pivotal in securing the final approvals and is currently in-country to directly oversee the execution of the program,' Dormer said.
'The Pearl copper project represents a compelling opportunity for Golden Mile, and we are excited to begin unlocking its potential through this historic first drilling campaign.'
True North Copper (ASX:TNC)
On the way back in the copper space after resuming trading on the ASX in January 2025 is True North Copper, which has been up to 33.33% higher to 26c on the back of a positive quarterly report.
After completing a recapitalisation that included a $50.9m conditional placement and a $2.54m share purchase plan, the company was reinstated on January 14 and has since implemented a revised business strategy.
This included a pause in mining and a focus on expanding the mineral inventory at the Mt Oxide and the Cloncurry copper projects in copper-rich northwest Queensland.
The Cloncurry operations were placed on care and maintenance and the company is focused on growing the mineral inventory at both projects with a significant exploration budget for 2025 approved by the board.
An induced polarisation geophysical survey at the Great Australia Mine (GAM) at Cloncurry identified several, additional, highly prospective targets within the extensive GAM system, from which an extensive drill program was developed.
An RC drill program began at GAM in late March and is expected to yield nearly 15,000m of drilling across TNC's Cloncurry and Mt Oxide projects.
GAM's drill-ready targets on existing mining leases include geophysical targets that are near-pit discovery opportunities to expand the current mine life and optimise the mine plan.
The drill program at GAM is expected to be completed in April before moving to Mt Oxide.
Another development outlined in the quarterly was the appointment of Paul Cronin as non-executive chairman following the resignation of Ian McAleese.
Cronin joins the existing board, which also features Bevan Jones as managing director, Paul Frederiks as director, CFO and company secretary, and Tim Dudley as non-executive director.
Graphite is a critical mineral due to its key use in battery anodes and Renascor Resources is advancing plans to produce the metal at the Siviour graphite mine and associated processing plant in South Australia.
An important step in this strategy has been completed with the electrical distribution network serving the project and plant upgrade d.
Upgrades include the installation of a new 33 kilovolt (kV) transformer and circuit breakers at SA Power Network's Cleve substation about 25km from the proposed mine – the upstream portion of the Battery Anode Material (BAM) project.
Additional work includes augmentation of the overhead powerline network to increase the system capacity to 33kV, installation of new voltage regulators and a new connection point for Siviour.
These upgrades are expected to permit Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU) to meet the majority of its planned Siviour phase one mine electricity requirements.
'The completion by SA Power Networks of the upgrades to the electricity distribution network is an important milestone in advancing the BAM project,' managing director David Christensen said.
'The grid connection will not only result in cost savings in power generation, but Siviour will also benefit from a lower carbon footprint, reduced maintenance costs and increased efficiency and productivity.'
RNU's shovel-ready Siviour project has Australia's second-largest graphite resource of 123.6Mt at 6.9% total graphitic carbon for 8.65Mt of contained graphite and the largest reserve outside Africa at 61.8Mt at 7% TGC, or 4.3Mt contained graphite.
It has a post-tax net present value of $1.5 billion and is expected to be one of the world's lowest cost projects with costs of US$405/t of graphite concentrate in the first 10 years.
Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR)
Lithium developer Pursuit Minerals has delivered a positive March quarterly report that has seen shares increase by up to 23.7% to a daily high of 4.7c. It closed at 4.3c – up 13.2%.
During the quarter, Pursuit continued to advance engineering and geological workstreams, permitting approval processes and stakeholder engagement activities at its flagship Rio Grande Sur Lithium Project in the Salta province of Argentina.
The company also continues to evaluate value adding acquisitions and review its asset portfolio for value creating opportunities.
At Rio Grande Sur, Pursuit commissioned its 250tpa lithium carbonate pilot plant in Salta and initial production from synthetic brine has started, validating the process and marking the transition to near-term revenue generation.
The company is advancing a three-stage production strategy, beginning with pilot output and targeting 15,250tpa of lithium carbonate. This phased approach allows early cashflow, de-risked scale up and capital efficient growth aligned with market demand.
Feasibility studies incorporating the new resource and staged development plan remain on track for release in the current half while the company continues active discussions with offtake partners and received multiple product sample requests in the quarter.
The December 2024 JORC update, boosting the Rio Grande Sur resource to 1.1Mt LCE at 505.8mg/L Li with 591,900t in the indicated category, is central to feasibility planning and pond network design.
The resource update enhances the commercial viability of phased development.
In response to unsolicited interest and buoyant gold prices, Pursuit is elevating strategic options for its Commando and Warrior gold projects in WA. The review aligns with Pursuit's focus on unlocking value from underutilised assets while prioritising capital allocation toward value generation.