en.Wedoany.com Reported - Multiple Australian resource companies have made progress in the critical minerals sector, covering lithium, gold, silver, gallium, niobium, and rare earths, with projects located in Australia, the Americas, and Argentina.

Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) announced that South Korea's POSCO will build and operate a direct lithium extraction (DLE) demonstration plant at its Green River lithium project in Utah, USA. POSCO will cover the design, construction, and operation costs, and will pay Anson a facilitation fee of A$7.2 million. The demonstration plant aims to validate POSCO's proprietary DLE technology, paving the way for future commercial local production. POSCO Holdings stated that it believes the partnership with Anson will help strengthen the North American lithium supply chain. Over the past 12 months, demand from electric vehicles, AI infrastructure, and grid-scale energy storage has driven a rebound in lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide prices, while geopolitical tensions have prompted POSCO to secure long-term supply in the U.S. battery supply chain. Anson Executive Chairman and CEO Bruce Richardson said that reaching a final agreement with POSCO is a transformative step for the Green River project, moving from a non-binding memorandum of understanding to a fully executed agreement, highlighting POSCO's technical confidence in its assets.

Piche Resources (ASX:PR2) saw its share price rise after receiving final assay results from its first reverse circulation drilling program at the Cerro Chacón gold project in Argentina. The program completed 53 holes across three targets—Chacón Grid, La Javiela, and Toro Hosco—totaling 5,911 meters. Assays confirmed the presence of a low-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver system spanning approximately 10 square kilometers (2.5 km by 4 km). The highest intercepts included 1 meter at 2.75 g/t gold and 1 meter at 456.67 g/t silver. Piche said it is evaluating deeper drilling to target high-grade gold zones. The results align with surface rock chip sampling, which recorded peak grades of 15.77 g/t gold and 761 g/t silver in Toro Hosco rock chips. Next steps include soil sampling, rock sampling, and ground reconnaissance to extend the corridor and fill geochemical gaps. Other targets within the tenement area are also under review.

Nimy Resources (ASX:NIM) received a strategic boost for its Mons gallium project in Western Australia, with approximately A$550,000 in funding allocated to Nimy and Curtin University to build local gallium processing capabilities and reduce reliance on China for this military-grade metal. The MRIWA-supported Curtin project will shift from resource definition to metallurgy, testing whether Western Australian gallium ore can be beneficiated, extracted, and refined locally. Gallium is used in semiconductors, solar panels, smartphones, and advanced radar systems and missile guidance. Local processing could reduce transport costs, shorten supply chains, and avoid trade bans. Nimy stated that the Mons project holds the first JORC Indicated Resource: 7.23 million tonnes at 102 g/t gallium oxide at a 70 g/t cut-off, and 64.3 million tonnes at 42 g/t at a 20 g/t cut-off. A scoping study is underway. Managing Director Luke Hampson said the collaboration with Curtin University aims to establish Australia's first gallium processing capability to support global technology supply chains, reduce dependence on non-Western producers, and position Western Australia as a global leader in critical minerals innovation. The funding connects the gallium resource at Mons Block 3 with downstream processing, while the broader tenement package remains prospective for copper, lithium, nickel, gold, rare earths, and platinum group elements. Groundwork in the second half of the year will focus on gold exploration in parallel with advancing Block 3 gallium.

St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) saw its share price rise intraday after making progress in producing commercial-grade niobium and rare earth products at its Araxá project in Brazil. Initial open-circuit flotation tests on 5 tonnes of near-surface saprolite yielded: a Nb2O5 concentrate grade of 39.6% at a flotation recovery of 54.3%, and a grade of 40.2% at a recovery of 46.0%. The tests, conducted by Brazilian scientific body CIT-SENAI, also produced a rare earth concentrate stream from niobium flotation tailings with a total rare earth oxide (TREO) grade of 15.7%, consistent with the dual niobium and rare earth processing flowsheet developed for Araxá. Executive Chairman John Prineas said the initial flotation results were encouraging, with the high-grade niobium concentrate recovery and grade consistent with niobium mining operations using Araxá-type pyrochlore mineralization, while the open-circuit beneficiation tests demonstrated the potential to recover a rare earth concentrate from niobium flotation tailings. The tests were conducted on five tonnes of near-surface material, likely representing the ore type mined in the early years of Araxá operations, providing reliable results for development studies. Closed-circuit and locked-cycle flotation tests are underway to optimize recovery and grade, and further rare earth purification through processing will also be evaluated. Mineralogical characterization and beneficiation tests are being conducted at SGS Lakefield in Brazil and Canada. CIT-SENAI will conduct a niobium flotation pilot plant study next month, with St George's large-scale pilot plant expected to be operational by the end of the fourth quarter of 2026.

Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) completed a substantial A$8 million capital raising (at a 20% discount), with the placement heavily oversubscribed and supported by institutional and sophisticated investors, with Jupiter Asset Management increasing its stake to 9.9%. The funds will accelerate gold and copper exploration at its Madura and Pilbara projects in Western Australia. Executive Director Matthew Greentree said the raising provides the company with the capital needed to advance its exploration portfolio, and the company has assembled an experienced leadership and technical team, led by Chairman Simon Lill and supported by respected exploration executive Julian Hanna, whose involvement is critical to developing the exploration strategy and advancing the significant opportunities in the Madura province. The immediate priority is to commence the first drilling at the Cassowary IOCG target and advance a series of high-priority copper-gold and gold targets in the Pilbara.

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