Resources Top 5: If Victorian gold drilling was a cycling race, Stavely would be wearing the yellow jersey today

News.com.au

7 days ago

Stavely excites with Victorian gold hit
Unico Silver hits 90m at 144g/t silver equivalent from 10m in Argentina
Ballard Mining soars on golden ASX debut
Your standout small cap resources stocks for Monday, July 14, 2025.
Stavely Minerals (ASX:SVY)
Intersecting a broad zone of high-grade gold at the Fairview South prospect of its namesake copper-gold project in western Victoria has given Stavely Minerals a daily leader's jersey among ASX resources small caps, soaring 64.3% to 2.3c before trimming gains to close at 1.8c.
A single reverse circulation drill hole, SFSRC001, intersected 40m at 1.96g/t Au from surface, including 17m at 4.18g/t from 9m down-hole. Within this was 9m at 7.15g/t from 9m down-hole and 1m at 49.2g/t from 10m.
This greatly enhances Fairview South and with assay results awaited for seven RC holes at Fairview North, SVY considers that both prospects form part of a large, +10km long structure.
The primary objective of the drilling was to confirm the orientation and dip of the well-developed gold mineralisation in preparation for a more comprehensive program to extend the known gold mineralisation.
'We are pleased to report the first set of assays from our recent re-focus on the outstanding gold potential across the Stavely project,' Stavely Minerals chair and MD Chris Cairns said.
'We are very pleased to have such a strong gold result from our first RC drill-hole at Fairview South. The gold mineralisation at Fairview South would appear to have a close, and possibly genetic, relationship with logged intermediate and felsic intrusive phases.
'We are very encouraged by the potential for scale in this style of gold mineralisation.'
The company is also encouraged by results from reconnaissance mapping and float rock-chip sampling south of the RC drill hole at Fairview South, which extended the prospect up to 600m further.
Rock-chip assays of gossanous float material returned up to 25.60g/t Au as well as 8.79g/t, 4.49g/t, 1.78g/t and 1.13g/t Au.
'Further, the strong gold results from the float rock-chip sampling also demonstrate the potential for high gold grades further to the south. Both gold anomalism and trace element geochemistry from this float rock-chip sampling suggest that the mineralisation is likely to extend at least 400-600m further south,' Cairns said.
'Our forward program, to be completed in August, will include a comprehensive soil auger sampling program that will inform the drill-hole planning for an RC drilling program to follow immediately on the interpretation of the soil auger results.'
Unico Silver (ASX:USL)
A breakthrough by Unico Silver at La Negra prospect within the Joaquin gold and silver project in Santa Cruz, Argentina, has seen the company reach a five-year high of 42.5c, a 28.79% increase, with shares more than double the 20c close on May 15, 2025.
The break comes from a step-out hole that returned 90m at 144g/t silver equivalent from 10m in the southeast extension of La Negra.
Hole JDD017-25 expands the mineralised footprint well beyond the 2013 foreign estimate and reinforces the potential to convert and grow high-confidence, pit-constrained, free-milling silver ounces under the company's PLUS 1501 strategy.
Within the 90m intersection at 1.3g/t gold and 40g/t silver were 4m at 718g/t AgEq (8.7g/t Au, 20g/t Ag) from 23m and 6m at 559g/t AgEq (6.5g/t Au, 35g/t Ag) from 38m.
This hole was 25m west and down-dip of historical hole RD0037 (13m at 167g/t AgEq) showing that mineralisation is expanding at depth. It also ended in mineralisation.
Mineralisation remains open to the south and at depth, with drilling now confirming >2 km of strike along the La Negra structure.
'This is an exceptional result and a defining moment for the Joaquin project. Hole JDD017-25 confirms the presence of shallow, broad, high-grade oxide mineralisation more than 1km southeast of the historical foreign estimate at La Negra,' managing director Todd Williams said.
'These results validate our geological model and demonstrate that the La Negra system is larger than previously interpreted, with mineralisation remaining open in all directions.
'With drilling successfully completed and over 4,000 metres of assay results pending, we are well positioned to deliver a robust, high-confidence JORC mineral resource for Joaquin in Q3.
'This discovery will underpin the company's PLUS 150 strategy to define more than 150 million ounces of pit-constrained, free-milling silver equivalent across the Joaquin and Cerro Leon districts.'
Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG)
An exploration target of between 96,000 and 234,000 tonnes of metal has been established for the Antimony Canyon project in Utah.
If drilling delivers the goods, Trigg Minerals could establish the project as one of America's largest and highest-grade undeveloped antimony systems.
A review of historical data and validation resulted in a conceptual target of 12.8 to 15.6 million tonnes at 0.75% to 1.5% antimony. At its intra-day peak, Trigg shares increased 13.16% to 8.6c.
'The definition of an exploration target for the Antimony Canyon Project represents a significant milestone for Trigg,' MD Andre Booyzen said.
'It reinforces the potential of this district-scale system to host a substantial antimony inventory at a time when secure, domestic sources of this critical mineral are of increasing strategic importance.
'The lateral persistence of mineralisation and the presence of more than 30 historical workings provide compelling evidence of scale within the Antimony Canyon project area.
'Trigg remains focused on advancing the project through systematic exploration and technical reporting under the SEC S-K 1300 standard, with a view to contributing to the resilience of critical mineral supply chains.'
Ballard Mining (ASX:BM1)
Ballard Mining has recorded a ripping first day of trade, with the Delta Lithium (ASX:DLI) progeny delivering on its promise by closing 48% above its 25c IPO price.
The gold explorer is uniquely advanced for a new float, having adopted the 1.1 million ounce Mt Ida gold project near Kalgoorlie in the split from the MinRes and Hancock Prospecting backed lithium developer.
It's a happy separation, if we can extend this horribly mixed metaphor further. Delta will hold ~46% of the company with its big investors retaining a stake after the spinout, including Idemitsu.
There are some other interesting insto names on the Top 20 list, including Rusty Delroy's Nero Resource Fund, the Precision Opportunities Fund, and Develop Global (ASX:DVP) and former Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) head honcho Bill Beament.
Ballard, which raised $30m in its IPO, is set to begin a massive 130,000m drill drive post listing, including ~80,000m at the Baldock deposit.
Named after St Kilda legend Darrel, the deposit contains an expansive 930,000oz at 4.1g/t.
Green Critical Minerals (ASX:GCM)
With first revenue in sight in 2026, Green Critical Minerals (ASX:GCM) is advancing commercialisation of its Very High Density (VHD) graphite technology for thermal management and shares moved up 21.74% to 2.8c, a four-year high, on volume of more than 119m.
The tech has applications from global electronics, semiconductor and microchip manufacturers, to data centre operators and thermal solution providers.
It can be used in any industry where thermal management is vital, with sample testing being expanded to customers in aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical and industrial sectors through machining and distribution partners in North America and Europe.
GCM's product distribution strategy is progressing with several new sales channels in development, including online retailers and machine shop networks, along with existing collaboration deals such as with Australia's leading data centre provider GreenSquareDC2.
Discussions are ongoing with data centre operators in North America, Europe and Asia, focused on the evaluation and integration of VHD graphite into advanced computing infrastructure, including isomoulded graphite heat sink profiles.