Locksley launches dual drilling campaign near US rare earths giant
The company today confirmed it has kicked off drilling at its rare earths and antimony-rich Mojave project in California, just as momentum continues to build around the White House's critical minerals agenda.
With claims abutting MP Materials' rare earth powerhouse at Mountain Pass and early sample grades up to 46 per cent antimony and 12.1 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO), Locksley might have fired the starter's pistol on one of the most strategic drilling campaigns in America this year.
The program is targeting two separate systems in a single swing, one for rare earths and one for antimony - and both have the potential to plug directly into federally backed initiatives for sovereign supply chain development. The first holes will test the company's El Campo prospect for rare earths over a defined 860-metre strike, while follow-up holes will hone in on the historic Desert antimony mine that's returning up to 1022 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and monster antimony grades at surface.
Importantly, all approvals are already in place and drilling is fully funded, following a $1.47 million placement to institutional and sophisticated investors.
Locksley is advancing a twin assault on two of the US's most strategically important but under-developed metals, rare earths and antimony.
It's a fair bet that not many Australians have heard of the dusty El Campo prospect in the far reaches of California's Mojave Desert, but it's a name that might just be about to find its way onto a very high-powered radar in Washington DC.
That's because ASX-listed Locksley Resources is sitting on ground that could position it smack bang in the middle of America's race to rewire its critical mineral supply chain away from China.
Locksley is advancing a twin assault on two of the US's most strategically important but under-developed metals, rare earths and antimony. Both are now recognised as critical to US defence and industrial applications, both have zero current domestic mine production and both are found in high grades at Locksley's wholly owned Mojave project in California.
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West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Albanese prepares to walk into 94-seat majority after Labor's landslide win as Parliament resumes
Anthony Albanese has called for discipline from his team as Parliament returns, promising to deliver on election commitments that will 'make a real, practical difference to people's lives.' The Prime Minister urged his expanded party room to stay focused for the next three-year term so it can go on to repeat the 94-seat majority they gained in Labor's thumping victory at the May election. He and Opposition Leader Sussan Ley sought to enliven their colleagues and strike a fresh tone in meetings in Canberra on Monday ahead of the first sitting of the 48th Parliament. While Mr Albanese was focused on his majority, Ms Ley's party room pep talk needed extra energy following opinion polls that showed the Coalition fell further than their diabolical election primary under her predecessor Peter Dutton. Privately, Liberals were downbeat about the 29 per cent primary in the polls, although Ms Ley's backers said her 'likeability' rating, higher than the PM's in the Resolve survey, gave her something to work with in winning over voters. In a morale booster to a disenfranchised party room, the new Opposition Leader declared the Coalition wouldn't be walked over or deterred in the face of Labor's super-sized majority against their historical low of 43 seats. Ms Ley vowed in her first address she would support 'constructive policies' but warned Labor her team would fight 'every step of the way' against them if they weren't in the national interest. 'We won't be judged by the headlines of the day, what we will be judged by is what we offer the Australian people at the next election, and Australians deserve the strongest possible opposition,' she said. 'Mr Albanese is giving interviews and he's suggesting that we should just get out of the way. Well, we won't be getting out of the way. 'It's going to be a big week, it's going to be a big fortnight, and we're taking the fight up to the government every single day, right across this country, every minute.' Despite the Canberra winter chill, Mr Albanese had a spring in his step as he walked to work yesterday from the nearby Lodge, accompanied by his son Nathan. The show of humility will contrast with his dominance of parliament that will become starkly clear when a wave of red takes over more than half the House of Representative seats on Tuesday. He lauded the hard work of each individual to get there but cautioned that everyone needed to continue to pull together. 'If we maintain that sense of discipline, sense of purpose, clear idea about why we are here — to represent people in our electorate, but also represent the national interest in promoting the Labor values of fairness, of aspiration and opportunity for all — there is no reason why every single one of you can't just be returned to the next Parliament but can't be added to as well,' he said. Mr Albanese said his government was determined to implement a 'positive agenda'. 'Part of that is standing up for Australia's national interests, progressive patriotism,' he said. Although Ms Ley has a less unwieldy party room in terms of size, she has a tougher job than the Prime Minister to keep the Coalition from fracturing. Nationals veteran Barnaby Joyce told breakfast television the Opposition should be looking for 'binary issues' to pick fights over — including the net-zero emissions commitment. 'If you try and work on nuances and ameliorations and sort of views of a different issue, that's not good,' he told Sunrise. 'And that's why such issues such as net zero, I say, look, find a point of division.' Labor's agenda will be bigger than publicly flagged when official business kicks off on Wednesday after formalities on Tuesday, with ministers putting forward 14 bills for approval in caucus. Top of the agenda will be a 20 per cent cut to student debt, tougher action against childcare providers, and laws to protect penalty rates. Mr Albanese promised the cut to university and vocational debts in his first pre-election headland speech in November and the policy was popular among younger voters. The Coalition is yet to decide its position but several shadow ministers believe given the clear mandate — and conscious of the need to win back younger people — it should wave the bill through. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said there was a 'sense of urgency' to passing the childcare reforms after shocking allegations of abuse across centres in Melbourne, but admitted with a short parliamentary timeline it would be a challenge. 'The Prime Minister has made clear he would like legislation through this fortnight, and that will be one of my jobs to try to do that,' she told ABC. 'We only have two (full) sitting days — not many. On Wednesday and Thursday, and not much of that is Government business time.' There's also a raft of first speeches, with the planned timetable pushing through 19 of the 32 new lower house members this week and the rest next week, taking up at least 16 hours of debating time. The Senate has 10 first speeches to get through, mostly scheduled for next week. Other legislation on the agenda includes rule changes for Defence Housing to allow the agency to help house American submariners based in WA during the roll out of AUKUS, a bid to make ASIO's compulsory questioning powers permanent instead of sunsetting in early September, changes to the new aged care system before its delayed start in November, and the easing of tariffs on UAE products to implement the free trade deal struck earlier this year.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
The Liberals are down and opportunity is knocking
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. FEDERAL POLITICS The headline reads ' Voters desert Coalition as Labor builds on win ' (The Age, 21/7). While I see this as good news, I would implore the government to develop some courage and take advantage of this situation where it can get something done. Cases in point: banning TV gambling ads, providing a more socially equitable tax system, and taking global warming seriously. There are many other issues. Now is the time for the Labor government to grasp their collective courage and act on some of those issues. Louis Roller, Carlton Who are the Liberals? On the international stage our prime minister appears a bit daggy. But at least he's our dag. And somehow he's been able to pull together a team who can effectively communicate that they have the best interests of ordinary Australians at heart. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party is no longer the liberal party. Who are they? The Conservatives? Reform? One Nation? As Shane Wright points out, opposing everything all the time is not going to work. Can they demonstrate some constructiveness during the upcoming parliamentary session and productivity summit? A big test awaits. Allan Dowsett, Preston Voters look to female leadership We always knew Susan Ley would have a difficult time as federal opposition leader due to the vast loss of Liberal seats. We need to ask why support for the PM has not increased much and the Coalition's has dropped. Voters were looking for decisive action and a leader with a vision for the country. Ley has gone some way in this, speaking of consensus, remaining calm in difficult times thereby increasing her likeability. Most female independent MPs kept their seats at the last election or lost narrowly. Clearly we need more women in parliament and in leadership with their tendency to moderate, to bring together differing opinions and usually not to play power games. Yet the Liberals are still in the dark ages by opposing quotas. Jan Marshall, Brighton The problem with the Nationals With the 48th parliament about to commence, it would be a welcome event if the Nationals do finally break away from their Coalition partner after decades of holding the whole country back on environmental progress. Based on very narrow and generally undeclared interests, their drive to do away with a net zero policy of any kind is anathema for the 21st century and an insult to the youth of this country and the world generally. Having the Nationals fully exposed and undiluted by partnership with the Liberal Party will allow the broader voting public to see the self-interest and lack of public interest that their policy entails. Thinking outside of the square is fundamental to solving a problem but of course it is first necessary to acknowledge that there is a problem. Robert Brown, Camberwell A new path Does Barnaby Joyce (' Joyce urges Coalition to ditch net zero ', 21/7) not understand what happened at the federal election just those few months ago? He wants the Coalition to dump net zero when the majority of Australians who voted for Labor, teals, Greens (and for almost anyone other than the Coalition) obviously want net zero pursued as a policy objective. Further he wants the Coalition to find points of division ignoring another clear learning from the election. The majority of Australians want politicians of all persuasions to work collegiately seeking outcomes that improve the lot of ordinary Australians. Partisan politics of the ilk we're witnessing in the US isn't what Australians want and won't improve the Coalition's chances of recovering the political capital they have squandered over the past decade. David Brophy, Beaumaris THE FORUM No more regrets Your correspondent's regret about their solar panel installation and declining feed-in tariffs ('Solar panel regret', Letters, 20/7) is a valid concern. As someone who has studied electricity, its industry and associated engineering and economics for 57 years, I can assure them that even though it feels like theft, it is true that solar energy during daytime in much of Australia is at best worthless and sometimes costly to export due to the shortage of energy storage in the power system. The feed-in tariff will only be restored when sufficient battery capacity has been installed in homes and the grid to fully absorb the surplus daytime energy. That's why governments are subsidising battery storage. Your insulting 1.5¢ feed-in tariff is better than most offers. You could get more value from your solar by installing a battery, moving what consumption you can to daylight hours and by changing retailer to access wholesale electricity pricing. Ross Gawler, Malvern
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Closing Bell: Hangover sets in as ASX slides from record highs; resources offer bright spot
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ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS Today's worst performing small cap stocks: Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap HLX Helix Resources 0.001 -50% 589143 $6,728,387 GGE Grand Gulf Energy 0.002 -33% 2873646 $8,461,275 CCO The Calmer Co Int 0.003 -25% 1105000 $12,045,413 SHP South Harz Potash 0.003 -25% 800000 $5,132,248 CRR Critical Resources 0.004 -20% 453898 $13,850,427 MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.004 -20% 191616 $9,917,991 PIL Peppermint Inv Ltd 0.002 -20% 3050857 $5,752,724 RGL Riversgold 0.004 -20% 5452678 $8,418,563 ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.004 -20% 561454 $27,111,136 VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.004 -20% 4637281 $23,424,247 REE Rarex Limited 0.022 -19% 6840356 $24,844,429 RDG Res Dev Group Ltd 0.009 -18% 1574238 $32,459,439 NHE Nobleheliumlimited 0.033 -18% 3177284 $23,981,000 CKA Cokal Ltd 0.029 -17% 1683328 $37,763,214 AON Apollo Minerals Ltd 0.005 -17% 2141200 $5,570,741 AUK Aumake Limited 0.0025 -17% 2055000 $9,070,076 MSG Mcs Services Limited 0.005 -17% 122300 $1,188,598 PRM Prominence Energy 0.0025 -17% 208662 $1,459,411 SLZ Sultan Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 28000 $1,388,819 AJX Alexium Int Group 0.006 -14% 87872 $11,105,001 HHR Hartshead Resources 0.006 -14% 783825 $19,660,775 NAE New Age Exploration 0.003 -14% 5125000 $9,470,690 RKB Rokeby Resources Ltd 0.012 -14% 1492694 $22,888,056 SPX Spenda Limited 0.006 -14% 2788069 $32,306,508 TMS Tennant Minerals Ltd 0.006 -14% 256748 $7,461,233 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Loyal Metals (ASX:LLM) has joined forces with highly regarded Terra Search geologist Dr Simon Beams to unlock the potential of its Highway Reward copper-gold mine in north Queensland. Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) is accelerating exploration at the 1.24Moz gold RPM deposit, part of its larger 9.9Moz Estelle gold and critical minerals project in Alaska. Drilling at Caprice Resources' (ASX:CRS) Island gold project in WA's Murchison region has returned its best intercept to date at the Vadrian's deposit of 11m grading 17.3g/t from 170m. Broken Hill Mines (ASX:BHM) has debuted on the ASX after a rebrand and consolidation, hitting the ground running with drilling programs at Pinnacles West, targeting silver, lead and zinc. Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) is acquiring Aurumin (ASX:AUN) to create a large-scale, multi-million ounce greater Sandstone project in WA. Stream sediment sampling on Peregrine Gold's (ASX:PGD) E52/3850 tenement has revealed a large-scale Channel Iron Deposit discovery just 2km from BHP's Western Ridge asset, close to the town of Newman. RareX (ASX:REE) has raised $2 million through a placement at 2.2c per share to fund exploration across its Mt Mansbridge, Cummins Range and Mrima Hill critical minerals projects. Trading Halts At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Broken Hill Mines and Peregrine Gold are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
