ASX Resources Quarterly Wrap: These QLD stocks are under the radar but not standing still
Greenvale doubles down on uranium exploration at the Oasis project and QEM tops up its bank with a ~$2m placement
QMines wraps up drilling at Develin Creek while True North Copper kicks off roughly 15,000m of exploration drilling
Queensland's copper sector, with more than 150 years of history, has been drawing attention following the closure of Glencore's Mount Isa Mines' underground copper operation.
The closure will result in the loss of 500 direct jobs and end Glencore's use of the smelter for its own ore, reducing its interest in operating it for third-party miners.
Attention is now shifting to junior copper explorers and near-term producers in the region that could help fill an exacerbating supply gap.
Meanwhile, Australia's top coal-producing state is looking to diversify by increasing its push into other resources, targeting faster project approvals and rapid development.
Here are some ASX players in Queensland chipping away at their respective projects, carrying out exploration programs and getting on with drilling.
Red Metal (ASX:RDM)
Red Metal reckons it has a very uncommon rare earth discovery in North West Queensland on its hands at Sybella, and one which could be a source of the particularly prized elements of neodymium and praseodymium.
Work there through the quarter showed positive bottle roll pH optimisation on the discovery's Kary zone and optimum economic rare earth oxide leach extractions were achieved at a pH range which highlighted key leach parameters for pending tests.
Research also put a spotlight on the scope for iron impurity removal within the heap, and nine large diamond core holes were drilled to prepare for the upcoming testwork.
At its Gulf and Three Ways copper-gold project, $400,000 in collaborative drilling grant applications were awarded by the Queensland government for drill tests.
Drilling is already underway on a conductive magnetic target at Three Ways and is then set to turn towards a standout gravity target identified at Gulf.
And the rig is set to soon rip for RDM on the other side of the country, with Hemi-style gold targets also defined for first drill tests at its Pardoo gold project in Western Australia.
Greenvale Energy (ASX:GRV)
Greenvale Energy remained focused on its exploration efforts across its uranium landholding in the Northern Territory as well as progressing planning and work efforts its maiden drilling campaign at the Oasis uranium asset in Queensland.
Previous exploration has validated high-grade uranium potential at Oasis, setting the stage for drilling of multiple well-defined targets.
During the June quarter, the company mobilised exploration teams to the project site and carried out reconnaissance mapping as well as scintillometer surveys to confirm the presence of biotite-rich schists and altered granitic rocks.
These findings supported the potential to discover additional mineralised zones with rock chip samples dispatched for assay.
QMines (ASX:QML)
QMines completed 27 holes for almost 6000m of drilling over the Develin Creek copper-zinc project through the quarter, with two rigs still digging into the high-grade Sulphide City deposit as QML looks to build up a multi-asset production base in Central Queensland.
High-grade hits came in to the tune of 2.63% copper, 4.2% zinc and 36.9g/t silver from 13 holes, boding well for further upgrades on a Develin Creek resource now standing at a 70%-indicated 4.2Mt at 1.07% Cu, 1.16% Zn, 0.15g/t Au & 6.0g/t Ag.
QML also capped off acquisition of the Mount Mackenzie gold project and promptly upgraded the resource there to now stand at 3.3Mt at 1.4g/t Au and 8.4g/t Ag.
The company meanwhile finished off composite bulk concentrate testwork on integrating the Develin Creek ore with that from its Mount Chalmers project, a high-grade historic mine, which now serves as the centre of QMines' growing resource base in the Sunshine State.
True North Copper (ASX:TNC)
It was all 'drill, baby, drill' for True North this quarter after the company kicked off roughly 15,000m of exploration drilling at its Cloncurry and Mt Oxide projects in Northwest Queensland.
The drill bit certainly didn't disappoint as the explorer uncovered a bounty of success at both projects.
At Cloncurry's Great Australia Mine, drilling illuminated new zones of significant copper, cobalt and gold mineralisation. Drill hits at Great Australia Mine included 14m at 0.81% copper, 0.12 g/t gold and 749ppm cobalt from 68m, and 12m at 0.65% copper, 0.16% gold and 137ppm cobalt from 142m.
Meanwhile at Mt Oxide's Aquila, True North was able to flaunt a new high-grade copper, cobalt and silver discovery. Intersections here included 145m at 0.75% copper, 0.12% cobalt and 2.9 g/t silver from 28m, and 30m at 2.45% copper, 0.02% cobalt and 6.2 g/t silver from 20m.
And there's still more to test at Cloncurry after the company identified multiple high-priority drill targets at the Wallace North and Salebury targets. True North's projects sit southwest of the multi-billion-dollar market capped Evolution Mining's (ASX:EVN) Ernest Henry mine.
Assays from the remaining drill holes at Mt Oxide are still pending at the time of writing.
QEM (ASX:QEM)
QEM saw a change of the guard this quarter with the appointment of Robert Cooper as managing director and chief executive.
Cooper was appointed in early July, a move that was signalled in May earlier this year.
Replacing Gavin Loyden, Cooper brings with him more than 30 years of global mining experience in senior executive leadership and non-executive board roles in the resources and battery materials sectors.
QEM also topped up its bank in this period with a $2.05 million placement to support progress at its Julia Creek vanadium and energy project, the company's flagship play east of Mt Isa.
Julia Creek possesses one of the single largest undeveloped vanadium and oil shale deposits, with a 2,870Mt resource at 0.31% V205. Currently, 461Mt at 0.28% V2O5 of the resource sits in the indicated category.
The project also hosts an in-situ 6.3 million barrels of oil equivalent resource. Interest in vanadium as a battery metal has buoyed over the past decade as an alternative to the widely adopted lithium-ion batteries around the world.
Vanadium redox flow batteries were pioneered by Australian chemical engineer Maria Skyllas-Kazacos in the 1980s at the University of New South Wales.
'We remain committed to developing and to positioning QEM as a long-term supplier of vanadium electrolyte for vanadium flow batteries, to support the global energy transition for many decades to come,' Cooper said at the end of June.
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