Latest Heap Leaching News

Norwest Minerals has completed oxide column leach testing at its Bulgera gold project, recording extraction rates of 80% for highly weathered material and 78% for moderately weathered material. The company is now targeting completion of its delayed Scoping Study in November after raising A$1.89 million for development work.

Bannerman Energy has cleared the two gates that mattered most for Etango: funding and Final Investment Decision. The Namibia uranium project now enters full-scale construction, with first production targeted for 2028 and construction cash largely in place.

Unico Silver ended September with A$100.2 million in cash after completing a A$60 million placement, securing critical land for Joaquin and expanding its exploration footprint. The trade-off is a later maiden PFS, now scheduled for January 2027 as the company incorporates more drilling and metallurgical work.

Cobalt Blue has moved closer to a commercial pathway for its Kwinana refinery with a non-binding cobalt metal offtake term sheet, while studies across its project portfolio gather pace. The September quarter also left the company with A$2.852 million in cash, equivalent to 2.24 quarters of estimated funding at the reported burn rate.

Challenger Gold has reset its Hualilan strategy around a larger integrated mine after ending the Casposo toll-milling campaign, while new debt funding extends the project’s runway. The company is targeting early 2029 production, but only A$25.8 million was held in cash at quarter-end and part of the proposed financing remains conditional.

Marmota has completed more than 32,000 metres of Stage 3 RC drilling at its Greenewood and Mainwood gold zones, reporting high-grade extensions to the north, south and at depth. The results will feed into the company’s Gawler Gold scoping study, while a 39-hole uranium program awaits native title clearances.

Black Bear Minerals has completed its first Shafter check-assay program, with re-tested historic intervals generally returning higher silver grades and previously overlooked gold mineralisation. The company is targeting a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate in the fourth quarter while preparing underground drilling and carrying A$7.819 million in cash.

Sun Silver’s latest quarter produced broad silver-gold-antimony intercepts beyond the current Maverick resource, alongside metallurgical recoveries above 84% and a new Nevada water permit. The results strengthen the technical case for further study, but the company remains an explorer with about 2.6 quarters of funding at its current spending rate.

Alliance Nickel has approved a second phase of vat-leach testing at NiWest after preliminary results supported continued evaluation of an alternative processing route. The potential prize is a major reduction in water infrastructure, but the company still has to prove the metallurgy, groundwater supply and economics.

OzAurum Resources has recorded 95% gold recovery in an independent heap leach column test on paleochannel material at Mulgabbie North. The result strengthens the case for a lower-capital processing route, but fresh rock testing remains the crucial next test because it contains most of the project’s resource ounces.

Saturn Metals has secured the key mining lease for its 2.83Moz Apollo Hill project, lodged its environmental review and kept its definitive feasibility study on track for the December quarter. The company ended September with $110.7 million in cash, although a further $39.79 million placement tranche remains subject to FIRB approval.

SQX Resources has completed a fully underwritten $2.47 million entitlement offer, leaving it with $2.40 million in cash to advance exploration across its US gold portfolio. Red Bird resource work is progressing while Williams assays are expected in the December quarter.