23-05-2025
Resources Top 5: Locksley sets stage for antimony, rare earths exploration at Mojave
Locksley Resources is starting field work at its Mojave antimony and rare earths project in California
G50 Corp has been drilling at its Golconda project to follow up on gallium, precious metal hits
Heavy Rare Earths had widespread and high-grade uranium-scandium-REE samples at its Radio Hill project
Your standout resources stocks for Friday, May 23, 2025
Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY)
Locksley Resources rose to the top of the charts today with a 42.42% gain after announcing that it had mobilised its exploration team to its Mojave antimony and rare earths project in California.
It follows on the company appointing experienced geologist and geophysicist Allister Caird in mid-May 2025 to lead its critical minerals strategy.
Field work to be carried out by the team includes confirmation and pegging of drill collar locations, follow-up outcrop mapping and rock chip sampling across antimony, REE, polymetallic, and copper prospects, and additional surface geochemistry and further structural mapping.
Subject to permitting approvals by the US Bureau of Land Management, the company then expects to start reverse circulation drilling in the September 2025 quarter.
This will consist of six planned holes at the El Campo prospect and three holes at the Desert antimony mine, a historical commercial-scale producer.
Mojave is immediately adjacent to MP Materials' high-grade Mountain Pass mine and processing facility – the only active rare earths processor in the US that produces 15% of the global REE supply.
The project is prospective for valuable magnet REEs such as neodymium and praseodymium, as well as antimony with rock chips having returned grades of up to 17%.
G50 Corp (ASX:G50)
(Up on no news)
While G50 has no announcements out today, it had kicked off a Phase 2 RC drilling program at its Golconda project in mid-March 2025 and the share activity might be on expectations that results will be available soon.
This drilling was aimed at following-up on a high-grade gallium discovery to determine both depth and strike extent while collecting samples for ongoing mineralogy and metallurgical testwork.
Gallium is highly valued for its use in semiconductors, transistors, LEDs, computer chips and defence applications.
The drill program was also intended to follow up on high-grade precious metal intersections from 2023 such as 25.9m grading 157g/t silver and 0.7g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 61m and 18.3m at 122g/t silver from 117m.
Additionally, holes will test new precious metals and strategic minerals targets to the northwest and southeast of the existing known mineralisation.
G50 has also engaged SGS Canada to start initial mineralogy and metallurgical testwork for the high-grade gallium halo at Golconda.
Heavy Rare Earths (ASX:HRE)
(Up on no news)
HRE is up some 20% (at the time of writing) on no new news but the rally likely ties back to earlier widespread and high-grade uranium-scandium-REE findings at the Radio Hill asset in South Australia.
Up to 9,068 ppm uranium oxide, 936 ppm scandium oxide and 18,899ppm TREO was received from reconnaissance rock sampling, with the new results building on earlier reported high-grade rock assays.
Although Radium Hill was Australia's first major uranium mine, the by-product scandium and rare earth opportunity has never been fully evaluated.
HRE says the scandium grades compare favourably with leading Australian scandium resources such as West Cobar Metals' 12Mt Newmont deposit, containing 158ppm scandium oxide, and Rio Tinto's 35.6Mt Burra, comprising 621ppm scandium oxide.
With no major exploration since 1961, HRE is building a modern geological model of Radium Hill's uranium-scandium-REE system to guide drilling in the second half of the year.
Fieldwork is planned to follow up these anomalous zones as a matter of priority.
Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG)
(Up on no news)
TMG shares have continued to rise from May 21 when the company announced it was hiring antimony downstream expert Wiehann Kleynhans to spearhead downstream and smelting processes at the recently acquired Antimony Canyon project.
Kleynhans – a vastly experienced geologist, resource and commodity analyst and dealmaker with deep knowledge of the antimony sector – was head of business development at Strategic & Precious Metals Processing in Sohar, Oman between 2021 to 2024.
During this time, he was instrumental in driving expansion and growth of international sourcing and supply chains for raw antimony as a member of the executive management team.
This included playing his part in the development of the largest antimony smelter outside China and Russia.
As the company's vice president, US downstream operations, Kleynhans will develop a strategy for North America, which will include options for downstream processing, forming partnerships with key industry and government players in North America as well as identifying and negotiating possible offtake agreements with international antimony traders.
He will also assist the company with obtaining US government funding for exploration and development while assisting with due diligence on future antimony projects.
Antimony Canyon is the largest and highest-grade antimony project in the US with a non-JORC resource estimate of 12.7Mt at 0.79% antimony, or 100,300t of contained antimony.
It includes several historical producing mines such as Emma, Mammoth and Nevada.
Aurumin (ASX:AUN)
Early this week, Aurumin reached an agreement with Newcam Minerals to advance its non-core Johnson Range and Mt Dimer gold projects towards production.
Under the joint venture, Newcam will pay more than $4m in staged expenditure to earn a 50% interest in the gold rights for the two projects.
Aurumin also has the option to be free carried to net profit with its share of joint venture costs during the free-carry period being g paid back out of net profits.
Johnson is 200km north of Southern Cross and includes the Gwendolyn deposit – a near-term development opportunity with a current inferred resource of 64,700oz gold at 2.51g/t gold on a granted mining lease.
Newcam is also acquiring the non-gold mineral rights of the Sandstone tenure for $1m, which will be a welcome cash injection for Aurumin.
Central Sandstone currently has a resource of 886,000oz gold as well as iron ore opportunities.
