Askari set for polymetallic field program alongside Namibian tin mine
Askari Metals is set to launch a phase one exploration campaign at the company's prospective EPL 7626 area, one of three exploration licences within the company's Namibian polymetallic Uis project.
The licence is contiguous with and about 4 kilometres northeast along strike from Andrada Mining's operating Uis tin mine, which hosts a JORC-compliant estimated mineral resource of 77.51 million tonnes averaging 0.79 per cent lithium oxide, 0.15 per cent tin and 82 parts per million tantalum.
Askari's planned field work includes mapping, rock chip sampling and tenement-wide soil geochemical sampling.
The proposed work will be undertaken by Askari's African exploration crew under the guidance of the company's chief exploration and project manager, Clifford Fitzhenry.
Fitzhenry, a geologist with 21 years' experience, joined Askari two years ago in a then-new role of chief exploration and project manager in Africa. His appointment was a key part of Askari's exploration strategy to accelerate its drilling and development program at its flagship Uis lithium project.
Askari says soil sampling is the company's preferred means of conducting low-cost, effective exploration for buried lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites in the EPL 7626 licence area.
An LCT pegmatite target is a specific type of granitic pegmatites, which have geological and geochemical characteristics that help exploration companies identify lithium-caesium-tantalum-style pegmatites. The pegmatites may also include tin, niobium and rubidium.
Following the soil geochemistry, the company can follow up and refine its priority targets with trench sampling.
A previous in-house remote sensing study across EPL 7626 identified zones with spectral tin-tantalite signatures characteristic of mica schists, which were also mapped on another of Askari's nearby licence area, EPL 7345.
The company believes mica schists in this second licence area continue northeast beneath Andrada's Uis tin mine and into the EPL 7626 area, most likely beneath cover.
Askari based the remote sensing study on Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite imagery, which can differentiate rock types, map regolith units, and identify surface mineralogy.
The company is now setting up for a licence-wide soil sampling program on an initial 200 metre by 200m sampling grid to pick up any geochemical anomalies associated with buried pegmatites.
The program will comprise about 54 square kilometres and will collect about 1407 samples.
The company will determine any next work from the results of the first phase soil geochemical program on EPL 7626 and will design a follow-up infill sampling program to further test any anomalies encountered.
Askari also expects to receive assay results from its first phase trenching program at EPL7345 over the next few months.
This means that further work on the greater Uis project will comprise a second phase of infill soil geochemical sampling, followed by first phase trenching program at EPL 7626, and then a first phase trenching program on a third licence area.
In other work, Askari is progressing its Ethiopian gold strategy and its Tanzanian uranium strategy and is currently reviewing some prospective projects for potential acquisition.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
ASX Runners of the Week: Eclipse, Bryah, Bastion & Codeifai
The market was back this week as the ASX pushed on towards all-time highs, despite a continued backdrop of tariff trade wars and economic tensions. United States markets also neared all-time highs, with the S&P500 just 3 per cent off its peak and technology and communications stocks seeing the week's biggest gains. The market this week witnessed an interesting mix of factors propelling companies up the leaderboard and onto the Bulls N' Bears ASX Runners of the Week list. One rare earths junior unveiled a mammoth increase to its mineral resource and a junior goldie got a boost from a boardroom revolt by a major shareholder. In addition, a new management team is readying to convert a foreign mineral resource to JORC-compliant status and a tech company kicked some funds into its kitty to drive growth in its software-as-a-service revenue. ECLIPSE METALS (ASX: EPM) up 360% (0.5c – 2.3c) This week's Bulls N' Bears ASX Runner of the Week is rare earths explorer Eclipse Metals, which blasted up the charts on Tuesday after unveiling a beefed-up mineral resource estimate for its Gronnedal rare earths deposit in Greenland. The resource now clocks in at a whopping 89 million tonnes at 6363 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), packing 567,600 tonnes TREO. That's a 70-fold leap forward with grades north of 0.63 per cent TREO, putting Gronnedal among the world's elite rare earth deposits, according to its management. The Gronnedal deposit lies within Eclipse's broader Ivigtût project, targeting the high-value critical minerals of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. Some samples have topped 2 per cent (20,000ppm) TREO. Market punters gobbled up the upgrade, with the company's share price soaring 360 per cent from a close of 0.5 cents last week to a high of 2.3c on Wednesday, on more than $4 million worth of paper changing hands. The updated resource area is restricted to a relatively small portion of rare earths-endowed carbonatite. A 2023 exploration program included trenching and shallow drilling, but was constrained to within 12m of surface. The company last year laid its hands on 23 drill core samples from six diamond holes hammered into the site in 1950. The holes were drilled to a maximum depth of about 200m by cryolite miner Kryolitselskabet Oresund to test for a potential iron ore deposit. Laboratory analysis from the core samples returned the impressive numbers, resulting in a gargantuan leap in the mineral resource. Sitting in geopolitically stable Greenland with deep-water access, Gronnedal sits on a sliver of a massive carbonatite complex, with mineralisation open in all directions expected to stretch well past 500m deep. Eclipse is gearing up to drill deeper and wider, chasing what could be a globally critical supply of rare earths. That could be particularly significant given the US is chasing new rare earth supplies and Trump's latest musings about snapping up Greenland for its critical mineral deposits. With clean energy demand surging and only six historic drill holes underpinning the resource, Eclipse's Gronnedal could be the kind of blockbuster that sends shareholders to the moon. BRYAH RESOURCES (ASX: BYH) up 240% (0.5c – 1.7c) Gold explorer Bryah Resources had a tremendous week to come in second on the ASX Runners list. The company stormed the bourse with a cheeky 240 per cent surge in its share price, thanks to a shareholder mutiny to send the boardroom brass walking and bring in new directors to get working on its shiny new Canadian gold project. The drama kicked off with a section 249D notice from heavyweight shareholder Yu Yonglu, who holds an 11.8 per cent stake or 102 million shares in the company. Yu launched a strike to oust directors Leslie Ingraham and Ian Stuart on Monday, proposing seasoned minerals veterans Nicholas Katris and Bishoy Habib steer the ship. Katris and Habib are the golden boys behind Trigg Minerals, an ASX antimony darling whose shares ran from 0.5c to 10.25c in under a year. Surprisingly, Bryah's share price leapt a massive 200 per cent at the start of the week, on an impressive 72.8M shares traded, to close at 1.5c by Tuesday afternoon. A massive 85.3M shares were traded on Wednesday, pushing the share price to a peak for the week of 1.7c and a tremendous 240 per cent gain over two days. Fuel was added to the fire in the form of Bryah's acquisition last month of the Golden Pike project in New Brunswick, Canada, which has a foreign resource of 214,800 tonnes at an impressive 9.6 grams per tonne (g/t) for 66,300 ounces gold. The project features some stonking historic bonanza intercepts, such as 13 metres at 43.07g/t and 10m grading a little over an ounce per tonne gold. The company says plenty of upside remains at the project with untested boulders assaying up to 244g/t gold. Golden Pike now looks like a priority target for a first drilling campaign. As gold prices continue to push all-time highs, Golden Pike looks ready for the shovel in a mining-friendly region with top-notch infrastructure, potentially positioning Bryah for a company-making discovery. Yu's boardroom coup appears to have been popular, with shareholders sipping champagne on the thought the two Trigg poster boys might soon be in their corner. BASTION MINERALS (ASX: BMO) Up 167% (0.15c to 0.4c) Bastion Minerals burst from the blocks as a late runner this morning to secure third place in this week's list. After closing at 0.15c on Thursday, the company's shares opened at 0.2c and sprinted to 0.4c on massive volumes, exceeding 200M shares traded by noon. Bastion has seen its daily share volumes swing wildly during the year, ranging from one share up to 55.7M shares traded in a day. Friday's volumes appear to surpass any previous frenzied trading levels in the stock. The company recently appointed a new leadership team to review all its existing projects. It also plans to acquire some early-stage Australian gold projects. All the new non-executive directors will assume hands-on roles in the absence of a management team and look to immediately kick goals for shareholders by focusing on projects with a traditional exploration earn-in model. Bastion previously reported on a non-JORC resource at its ICE copper-gold project within Canada's Yukon Territory. The resource stands at 4.56Mt grading 1.48 per cent copper and has significant gold credits, estimated at 0.15g/t to 0.85g/t. Late last month, the company said it anticipated receipt of a commissioned report for a JORC mineral resource estimate for ICE, which could have been a catalyst for today's price action. The company went into a trading halt mid-afternoon Friday, which will last until a response to an ASX price query and an announcement on the release date for the company's maiden JORC resource for the ICE project. CODEIF AI LIMITED (ASX: CDE) Up 120% (1c – 2.2c) Coming in fourth place for the week is brand solutions technology group Codeifai Ltd, which on Tuesday morning revealed news of a $570,000 share placement to professional and sophisticated investors. Like a footballer crumbling to the turf one hour after receiving a bone-jarring bump, the share price and trading volumes initially showed little response. A delayed reaction kicked in on Wednesday with volumes jumping to 7.5M shares traded for the day, accompanied by a 100 per cent surge in Codeifai's share price. The shares ran again on Thursday, driven by almost 6M traded shares, touching a weekly high of 2.2c a share for a tasty 120 per cent gain for the week. Codeifai recently pivoted to become a brand solutions specialist that develops and sells digital solutions using QR code technology through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings ConnectQR and ProtectCode. The company says its Connect QR with AI-generated QR codes can produce revenue 24/7 and its ProtectCode solution, integrated with its own cloud-based platform, provides unique QR codes for each product to ensure authenticity. It has already generated millions of codes. QR codes are used for payment gateways, and the beauty of its SaaS offering is its ability to generate 24/7 customer signups. Codeifai was also hit with a speeding ticket from the ASX constabulary late Thursday and went into a trading halt, pending its response to the price and volume surge. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
West Australian
3 days ago
- West Australian
Lindian puts the pedal down to develop Malawi rare earths project
Lindian Resources has made significant strides towards opening its flagship Kangankunde rare earths mine in Malawi. The company says it is running ahead of schedule, as it looks to swiftly bring the low-cost critical minerals project into production. Haul roads and a solar farm for the project are now underway and Lindian has filled five key positions to progress the site into its next development phase. The mammoth Kangankunde project is progressing at an accelerated pace, despite continuing rare earths price weakness. Fortunately for the development, the project's low-cost operations should make it profitable independent of price. The company says its main access road has been completed ahead of schedule and the haul roads for pit one and pit two are under construction. The process plant area has been fully cleared, with rebar foundations laid and the first major concrete poured. A custom solar farm to reduce diesel dependency is advancing, with foundations set and completion targeted in under a month. Concurrently, a site security compound with fencing and access controls is nearly finished to ensure robust operational security. Lindian still needs to sign some key contracts, including for design and construction, mining and power infrastructure. It has shortlisted three preferred tenderers for each. The company has also hired a seasoned site leadership team, under construction manager Daniel Britz. It includes a senior process engineer to optimise the gravity-magnetic flowsheet, a construction superintendent, a project planner and a QA/QC superintendent. The company says the appointees bring extensive expertise in African mining projects. The Kangankunde deposit has a world-class 261-million-tonne resource, going 2.19 per cent total rare earth oxide (TREO) and an ore reserve of 23Mt. The reserve grade comes in at an impressive 2.9 per cent TREO. Importantly, almost 20 per cent of that comprises the more lucrative magnet rare earths, neodymium and praseodymium. Kangankunde's economic fundamentals are compelling. With a minimal US$40 million (A$61.52M) pre-production capex and operating costs of just US$2.92 per kilogram TREO, it is placed in the lowest cost quartile globally. The project's 55 per cent TREO monazite concentrate meets stringent Western market requirements. The company says it still has a slew of financing proposals from which to choose, including from leading African and European commercial and investment banks, to fund construction. A US$50 million offtake and funding term sheet with Gerald Group and a US$30M loan from Ecobank Malawi are advancing towards a final investment decision. With a low-risk flowsheet, strong ESG alignment through sustainable power and local employment, Lindian looks well-positioned to establish Kangankunde as a cornerstone rare earths supplier for the oncoming electrification revolution. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
West Australian
28-05-2025
- West Australian
Lindian readies Kangankunde rare earths juggernaut with build, funding and offtake wheels turning
You don't see a lot of ASX juniors managing to simultaneously attract a global offtake partner, two funding suitors and a major contractor — all while already partway into site construction. But that's exactly where Lindian Resources finds itself as it barrels towards development of its massive Kangankunde rare earths project in project isn't just shaping up to be big — it's shaping up to be rare earth monazite concentrate clocks in at 55 per cent total rare earth oxides, with little to no deleterious elements, almost no uranium or thorium and low iron — giving it an almost freakish level of purity that opens doors most others can't unlock. That means access to high-paying Western buyers who simply can't — or won't — touch concentrates with high radioactivity or impurity purity, combined with scale, grade and simplicity, is putting Lindian firmly on the radar of end users, financiers and fund managers project boasts a whopping JORC-compliant resource of 261 million tonnes going 2.19 per cent TREO and an ore reserve of 23 million tonnes. That reserve grade comes in at an impressive 2.9 per cent TREO and importantly, almost 20 per cent of that is the more lucrative magnet rare earths used in electric motors, neodymium and praseodymium. All that is expected to bring about more than 15,000 tonnes a year of contained rare earths concentrate, of which 1,600 tonnes per annum will be sought-after neodymium and praseodymium. Two standout diamond drill holes — one going a crazy 920m at 2.6 per cent TREO and another stretching 910m at 2.9 per cent TREO — underscore the deposit's extraordinary vertical consistency and underline its almost non-existent stripping ratio of just company has already locked in a US$50 million offtake and funding term sheet with global commodities house Gerald Group, giving Gerald rights over all Stage 1 production and a partial look at Stage 2. And while that agreement remains in play, the board is also fielding multiple alternative offers — including a US$30 million senior secured loan from pan-African lender Ecobank and a Nordic-style bond package from a European investment bank. Several offtake prepayment proposals are also under says it will shortlist the preferred funding option in the coming weeks as it finalises its mining development agreement with the Malawian Government and heads towards a final investment decision. Stage 1 is scheduled for first production in 2026, with the aim of capturing early cashflow while the global NdPr magnet supply chain looks for diversification outside the numbers stack capex for the 45-year project – and that's just stage 1 - is estimated to be a miserly US$40 million, with opex of US$2.92/kg REO putting it in the lowest cost quartile globally. In fact, Lindian says it will still wash its face with about US$11m in EBITDA a year even at today's depressed rare earths prices, which are generally expected to head north as the market tightens. Notably, independent market research group Project Blue says it expects rare earths pricing to range between US$50kg and US$115kg. When using a scaled range of this pricing forecast, Lindian says the project will earn its pants off with a pre-tax NPV of US$794 million and an IRR of 99 per cent. The company has modeled an annual EBITDA in the first five years of US$57m a year and an average over the entire life of mine of US$83m a year – not bad for a project expected to cost around US$40m to build. And with drill intersections mineralised all the way down to about 1km it is perhaps no surprise that Lindian says the project has an intergenerational 45-year mine life. It's a textbook case of mining made simple too. The flowsheet is gravity and magnetic only — no flotation, no reagents, no waste dams. Ore is trucked just 2km from pit to ROM pad and processed into a saleable monazite concentrate — making for fast permitting, low environmental impact and minimal technical risk. One reason for the super low cost to produce is the almost non-existent stripping ratio at the project, which clocks in at just that simplicity has already started to show on the began in February with Portuguese infrastructure heavyweight Mota-Engil winning a US$1.3m contract to build the 5km site access road. That work is now ahead of schedule and under budget. Lindian has since completed clearing for the processing plant, product storage areas, ROM pad and security fencing. It's also refurbished the onsite admin centre and built a new community police than 70 per cent of site-based roles are already filled by local Malawians, with the company rolling out training programs to deepen workforce capacity ahead of production. New site leadership and technical appointments — including project director Daniel Britz and finance chief Teck Lim — have strengthened the execution most significantly, testwork is already underway with ANSTO — Australia's national nuclear and critical minerals laboratory — to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) product from Kangankunde concentrate using both acid bake and caustic cracking flowsheets. The goal is to lock in product specifications, enable certificates of analysis, and unlock binding offtake MREC route would allow Lindian to push further downstream and claim more value, while the concentrate's ultra-low Actinium-227 levels would avoid the radioactive penalty pricing or outright rejection that dogs many Chinese and African monazite an edge few other REE juniors can Lindian has now completed an optimised feasibility study — incorporating updated plant design, equipment quotes, mine scheduling and tailings options — and is finalising negotiations with three shortlisted EPC contractors. A D&C contract award is expected as soon as funding is locked company has also begun converting exploration tenements surrounding the main mining lease into full mining licences — paving the way for a Stage 2 expansion, which could triple output using the same gravity several clay-hosted rare earths hopefuls on the ASX chase lower-grade ionic mineralisation, Lindian's Kangankunde stands alone for its combination of grade, thickness and simplicity — and in a hard rock setting, no executive chairman Robert Martin says the interest from financiers and offtakers is a sign the market sees the difference Kangankunde brings. 'We're seeing the calibre of groups approaching us go up dramatically — not just in terms of financing offers, but also potential downstream partners. The project's purity, simplicity and economics are hard to ignore.' There's still work to do before Lindian joins the rare earths producers' club — but few juniors in recent years have made it to this point with the funding, construction, product and political wheels all moving in unison - Kangankunde just might. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
