The company bought the tenement through a binding term agreement with private company Consolidate Lithium Trading.

According to an announcement released to the ASX today, the project area is considered “highly prospective for hard rock lithium-tin-tantalum mineralisation”.

The site sits adjacent to tenements held by Core Lithium and Lithium Plus, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese electric vehicle and battery producer CATL.

The oldest exploration at the site includes small scale mining during the 1930s to 1950s, with later work including exploration for other minerals but not lithium.

According to Askari, government-mandated exploration was conducted in 2002 around the border of Barrow Creek.

Looking ahead, the company said it was expecting assays from samples taken during due diligence work at the new site.

“Field reconnaissance recently undertaken by the company has resulted in the collection of several samples, with assay results expected in the next two to three weeks,” Executive Director Gino D’Anna said.

“Of immediate priority, the company is planning to complete a hyperspectral remote sensing survey designed to identify high priority exploration targets across the tenement area.”

Mr D’Anna also commented on the company’s oversubscribed placement, saying the company was “well-funded to move its projects forward aggressively”.

Askari shares closed lower by 7.79 per cent at 36 cents per share. The company has a $10.6 million market cap.

The capital raise also includes the proposed issue of 109 million new shares to new and existing professional and sophisticated investors to raise $325,731 for which AO1 has received firm commitments.

The money raised through the release of the new shares will be used to fund AO1’s eastern coast expansion, support marketing initiatives and provide the business with ongoing working capital.

Further details of the entitlement offer are expected to be lodged on Monday, January 7.

The maximum number of new shares to be issued is 646 million shares based on the undiluted share capital of AssetOwl and according to the end of trade yesterday.

Shares will otherwise be offered to shareholders who have expressed interest and who are on AO1’s register on the record date, anticipated to be on or around Thursday, February 10.

The rights Issue is anticipated to be open for acceptance from Tuesday, 15 February until 8 pm AEDT on Thursday, March, 24 2022.

A substantial shareholder in AO1 through the overlapping of management is Tribis. The related parties have agreed to take up their entitlements under the offer amounting to $159,479.

This transaction is subject to shareholder approval and will be decided upon in a meeting scheduled to be held in March.

Sequoia Corporate Finance acted as Lead Manager for the Placement.

“Our strategy has allowed us to move forward with our plan to achieve penetration of the residential property management market Australia-wide, from our home market of Western Australia to the east coast markets of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, with our Pirsee real estate inspection platform,” Executive Officer, Geoff Goldsmith said.

The price hike of the December quarter shows the highest calendar year growth rate since 2007.

Research from CoreLogic showed the national index recorded its highest annual growth rate since January 2007 in November at 9.44 per cent despite the quarterly rate easing since its peak in March at 3.2 per cent.

“For more than 18 months we’ve seen demand for detached housing continue unabated as more renters work from home, either on a permanent or now hybrid working arrangement, which drives demand for more spacious living conditions,” Research Director Tim Lawless said.

“In addition to this trend, investors, while still active in the market, have been dwarfed by an over-representation of owner-occupiers entering the market, upgrading or buying holiday homes that aren’t being added to the rental pool.”

Looking regionally, where rent margins have been higher than the city, last quarter showed a 2.5 per cent rise for rural spaces alongside a 1.6 per cent rise in capital city rents.

The overall rural rent has therefore risen 12.1 per cent over the past year, taking the 10 year period regional house rent average to 33.2 per cent. More than 8 per cent higher than capital city rates.

The rent of a unit between the regions and the capital city sees a 27 per cent difference, with the rural rent has increased 41.4 per cent in the past decade.

Mr Lawless said the increase in regional population in Victoria and New South Wales since the beginning of the pandemic has affected the rental supply market.

“While demand has risen we generally haven’t seen much of a supply response. Australia’s rental market is mostly reliant on private sector investors to provide rental housing,” he said.

All capital cities saw a rise over the last quarter for both units and houses.

Brisbane had the strongest quarterly increase in house rental with a 2.7 per cent increase and an annual growth rate of 10.6 per cent.

Darwin’s house rent increased 0.6 per cent over the quarter, however, its growth in rent during the first six months of 2021 resulted in the highest annual house growth figures of any capital city at 15 per cent.

Melbourne, maybe the most COVID-19 affected city in Australia according to CoreLogic saw a unit rental increase of 1.6 per cent, the highest in the country.

“Brisbane’s rental market for houses has shown strength throughout the pandemic as demand outweighed supply, while Melbourne’s unit market has been weak through most of the pandemic to date due to low demand against relatively high vacancy rates,” Mr Lawless said.

COVID-19 restrictions and boarder closures hugely disrupted the rental market, as tourism and hospitality workers who have a proportionately higher percentage of renters have decreased.

Sydney and Melbourne have the lowest yields of any capital city at 2.42 per cent and 2.74 per cent respectively while Darwin has the highest at 6.05 per cent, followed by Perth at 4.37 per cent.

“Arguably the regions have less elasticity in rental markets, meaning, when demand rises, supply is less responsive than capital cities where investors are generally more active,” Mr Lawless concluded.

Woodside previously announced it would be placing business decisions in Myanmar under review following the State of Emergency declaration in February 2021 and deteriorating human rights conditions.

According to today’s announcement, Woodside will now start the process of formally exiting Blocks AD-1 and AD-8, the A-6 Joint Venture and the A-6 production sharing contract (PSC) held with the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

As a consequence of withdrawal from Blocks A-6 and AD-1, the non-cash expenses are expected to impact the 2021 net profit after tax by roughly US$138 million (A$194.8 million).

This amount is on top of the US71 million (A$100 million) exploration and evaluation expense for Block AD-7 disclosed in WPL’s fourth-quarter report from January 20 2022.

For the purposes of calculating the dividend, these costs will be excluded from the underlying NPAT.

“Woodside has been a responsible foreign investor in Myanmar since 2013 with our conduct guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other relevant international standards,” CEO Meg O’Neill said.

“Given the ongoing situation in Myanmar, we can no longer contemplate Woodside’s participation in the development of the A-6 gas resources, nor other future activities in-country.”

Woodside Petroleum shares have risen 2.94 per cent to $24.84 a share at 2:23 pm AEDT.

The West Island zone in the Murchison region of Western Australia is part of a wider seven kilometre long anomalous gold corridor within MGV’s Cue joint venture with Evolution Mining.

Diamond drilling has identified multiple new northwest-trending lodes, oblique to the favourable dolerite host unit at West Island, each with strike lengths of over 200m and open in all directions.

Best results found 4.26 metres at 41.5 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold from 160.74 metres including 0.41 metres at 400.2 g/t of gold from 160.74 metres.

Additional air-core drilling was performed at West Island on Lake Austin and has extended the mineralised dolerite envelope, and mineralisation along the dolerite remains open in both directions.

Significant aircore gold intercepts may indicate that the zones in dolerite are likely to extend roughly 1.6 kilometres in strike.

Aircore results found 34 metres at 0.64 g/t of gold from 124 metres, 10 metres at 1.43 g/t of gold from 78 metres and 12 metres at 0.93 g/t of gold from 78 metres.

Evolution joined the project as an earn-in manager from January 1 for MGV’s 100 per cent owned tenement. This will free up Musgrave staff to accelerate activity on the company’s 100 per cent tenure assets.

“The gold system at the Cue JV with Evolution continues to deliver strong results with diamond drilling confirming the potential for multiple high-grade basement gold lodes within the dolerite sill at West Island,” Musgrave Managing Director Rob Waugh said.

“Evolution increasing the exploration budget in H2 2022 (to a minimum total of $8 million for the full year) and electing to act as earn-in manager from 1 January 2022 is a positive move and an indication of the upside potential of the joint venture ground.”

Musgrave Minerals shares were down 1.69 per cent at 29 cents at 12:30pm AEDT.

According to JLL Research, $2.7 billion in neighbourhood retail centres traded in 2021, trading at an 81 per cent increase over the previous year and an increase of 45 per cent and 64 per cent above the five and ten-year norms, respectively.

“The recent spike in COVID-19 case numbers is likely to re-introduce many of the trends evident over the last two years during periods of restricted movement, resulting in an increase in spending on grocery and Large Format Retail (LFR),” JLL Retail Research Senior Director Andrew Quillfeldt said.

“Although there is some economic uncertainty in 2022, consumer confidence remains positive and the household sector is in a good position to be supportive of retail spending across all categories.”

JLL’s Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher sold Coolum Park Shopping Centre in Queensland for $32.5 million in an off-market deal.

Aside from this transaction, the JLL team led by Dylan McEvoy has exchanged contracts for the sale of Market Plaza Chipping Norton in New South Wales, after a formal on-market expression of interest campaign. The centre was sold to a private investor for $37.4 million, representing a 4.75 per cent yield.

“The convenience and LRF sectors continue to attract the strongest investor interest and highest conviction given the sectors outperformance over the past 24 months,” JLL Senior Director Nick Willis said.

“The investor interest is broad; ranging from private high-net worth investors, global pension and sovereign funds and the A-REIT’s all looking to increase scale in what is a highly fragmented market.

“Supply of investment product remains a key issue for this part of the retail market, with demand drastically outweighing available supply. This imbalance will continue to drive yield compression and potential for further M&A and strategic partnerships in 2022.”

The agreement is a key step in First Graphene’s strategy to help the cement and concreteindustries, which are responsible for up to eight per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, to achieve a 25 per cent emissions reduction by 2030.

The global cement segment is exploring methods to produce types of cement with a lower clinker factor to produce greener types of cement.

Under current production methods, for every tonne of clinker produced, between 0.8 and 0.9 tonnes of CO2 is emitted.

Low doses of PureGRAPH-enhanced cement additives used to the final grinding phase of cement production allow for up to 20 per cent reduced clinker factor cement output while preserving or increasing cement performance.

The companies have entered a five-year collaboration agreement to facilitate the exchange of knowledge through research and development work.

Each party will contribute scientific and industry knowledge at their own expense, with First Graphene providing access to its PureGRAPH product range, formulation and dispersion process technologies, and laboratory trials, and Fosroc handling additive raw material supplies and formulations, mixing and dispersion, and laboratory trials.

There are no other material terms of the agreement or an assessment of economic impact at this stage.

“The agreement with Fosroc is a significant further step for First Graphene as we implement our go-to-market plan to become the world’s leading supplier of graphene-enhanced cement and concrete solutions,” Managing Director Michael Bell said.

“Fosroc has significant penetration into multiple global markets that will be highly beneficial in helping expand our reach and educating the market on the significant benefits, including emission reductions, that graphene-enhanced products provide.”

First Graphene shares were trading grey at 22 cents a share at 3:27 pm AEDT.

The aim of this drilling program was to extend the mineralisation at the Antler Deposit at depth and complete additional, relatively shallow drilling to improve the understanding of the mineralisation that is expected to be developed early in the mine schedule.

Assays have been received for two of the deepest holes and are as follows, 17.9 metres at 1.8 per cent of copper, 8.9 per cent zinc, 0.7 per cent lead, 32.3 grams per tonne of silver and 0.42g/t of gold from 918.6 metres.

As well as 2.8 metres at 3.1 per cent copper, 7.8 per cent zinc, 0.1 per cent lead. 13.3g/t silver and 0.05 gold from 951.9 metres.

Results from the intersected holes have demonstrated thick, very high-grade mineralisation in the main shoot that extended over at least 100 metres of a strike at the deepest levels drilled to date.

“We have had a great start to 2022, with deep drilling at Antler continuing to deliver outstanding results. Intersecting more than 21 metres of very high-grade mineralisation in each of two of the deepest holes drilled to date shows that the Main Shoot extends over a considerable strike extent at depth,” New World’s Managing Director Mike Haynes said.

There are still three diamond drill rigs active at Antler with the purpose of further expanding the resource estimate, however, assays remain pending for 16 of the holes.

Two of the three rigs are currently drilling at depth under the main and south shoots, while the third rig has commenced drilling from a recently constructed drilling pad to begin testing for the southern extension of the Antley deposit.

New World Resources was trading up 3.57 per cent for 8.7 cents a share at 12:15 am AEDT.

The timber building will be erected during 2023 within the Bishops See Heritage precinct, on the corner of Spring Street.

The 10 storey building will be delivered by Brookfield Properties on behalf of joint owners Brookfield Asset and Hawaiian.

As far as sustainability goes, the building will aim for a 5.5 Star NABERS rating, a 6 Star Green Star rating and an IWBI WELL Gold Core rating.

“We welcome the City of Perth’s decision to grant approval for our new building which embodies the very best thinking in sustainable design,” Brookfield Properties Regional Director, Development & Property Nicholas Ozich said.

The sustainability methods already in place include using construction methods with lower embodied carbon output than typical methods, more efficiency with less waste and the reduction of construction period through off-site fabrication.

The building was designed by the Donaldson Boshard Architecture Studio and was designed to “seamlessly integrate the gardens and built environment”.

“The building is literally made out of trees, the natural materiality of the timber structure helps to nestle it into the garden and the articulation of the facade elements brings a human scale, extending the workplace experience into the garden itself,” Donaldson Boshard Director, Grant Boshard said.

The building will have a total gross floor area of 9800 square metres and includes a rooftop terrace with views of Kings Park and the Swan River.

An 11″ 10kpsi Blow-out Preventor (BOP) was also installed as a requirement before any drilling commences.

Drilling has since recommenced at Alameda 1, where the well has been drilled to 2622mMD. Drilling at the next target ‘N’ may start at roughly 3000mMd.

There hasn’t been enough time drilling the present section to provide a precise prediction of when this depth will be reached, according to MAY, but if early signs of pace of penetration continue, it might happen next week.

In addition, the deepest and largest primary structure is Alameda and has been proposed to start at roughly 3600mMd.

The Alameda-1 well is expected to be completed by the end of February, according to the amended schedule. The rig will subsequently be moved to the next well location to begin drilling the Zapato-1 well.

The Block 9 site within which lies Alameda, spans over 2344 squares kilometres onshore on the north coast of Cuba, 140 kilometres east of Havana in a proven hydrocarbon system along trend with the multi-billion barrel Varadero oil field.

Prior assessments located 19 structural prospects and leads which have been prioritised to arrive at the two locations that have been selected for the current drilling programs, Alameda and Zapato.

“It’s good to be back on the ground in Cuba meeting with the team in person again after such a lengthy absence due to COVID related travel complications,” Executive Chairman Andrew Purcell said.

“We’re now into the 8-1/2” hole section so it’s just all drilling from here in order to test the primary structures of this first well, which we look forward to occurring as soon as possible”.

Melbana shares have traded grey at 2.2 cents a share at 13:35 pm AEDT.

Nil Desperandum is part of the Greater Duchess project near Mount Isa, one of the company’s two copper-gold projects, along with Strelley Gold which has assets in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Drilling results at the Nil Desperandum deposit included 24m at 6.5 per cent copper and 0.7 grams per tonne gold from 251m and 9m at 10.3 per cent copper and 1.2 g/t gold from 264m.

The announcement late last month sent Carnaby shares soaring 62.4 per cent in a day.

The first drilling at the Lady Fanny prospect within Greater Duchess occurred during the quarter, outlining a broad, shallow high-grade copper-gold deposit. Assays from Lady Fanny were received subsequent to the December quarter, however the promising results ensure more exploration along the north of the strike will soon follow.

Additionally, new tenement applications within Greater Duchess have been lodged. The new target is the southern continuation of a strong structural corridor south of Nil Desperandum and has increased land holdings by 638 square kilometres to 1022 square kilometres.

In the Pilbara in the three months to December 31, Carnaby received assays for multiple prospects and conducted soil sampling at Big Hill lithium deposit. First pass drill testing of the Big Hill lithium and gold anomalies have been planned for March once heritage clearances have been complete and personnel become available.

The Strelley Gold project saw results from 12 out of 25 reverse circulation holes as the Christmas period slowed down the processing of the remaining 13. The results received showed encouraging gold mineralisation at the Alcazar, Stockade and Bastion prospects.

At the end of December, Carnaby held $5.8 million in cash, including $360,000 in restricted cash.

Carnaby has also started receiving proceeds from the sale of the Lainejaur project in Sweden for total consideration of $1.5 million. The first payment of $750,000 was received in late December.

During the last quarter, Carnaby received $560,000 due to the exercise of unlisted shares options by directors.

Carnaby shares were down 3.4 per cent at $1.69 at 1.30pm AEDT.

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ginninderry and Community Housing Canberra (CHC) to explore the initiative.

Ginninderry is a joint venture with the ACT Government Suburban Land Agency (SLA) and Riverview Development

The MoU will allow NHFIC, the SLA, Riverview, and CHC to collaborate in the following six months to establish a BtRtB proof of concept model for at-risk and vulnerable women.

During the next six months, the bodies will review and identify potential sites in Ginninderry, ACT and explore an appropriate funding model to support the initiative.

Should the pilot proceed construction could commence later in 2022.

“Through this housing initiative we aim to provide women with low-but-secure employment incomes, often with little or no deposit, with access to a safe, secure and affordable home with a built-in pathway to home ownership,”  Community Housing Canberra CEO Andrew Hannan said.

As an example, under BtRtB, a woman living in rented accommodation would pay an affordable rent to a community housing provider (at 74.9 per cent of market rent) during a ten-year renting tenure. During that period, the woman might benefit from a savings plan that was designed on her behalf and could be supported by NHFIC’s lower financing costs paired with the CHP’s operational efficiency.

At the conclusion of the time, the woman has the option of purchasing the home, adjusting for her portion of any capital growth and benefiting from the 10-year savings plan.

“This initiative is a fantastic opportunity and supports the ACT Government’s commitment to putting housing first for those that need it in our community,” Minister for Housing and Suburban Development Yvette Berry said.

She said she is ‘excited’ for the opportunities that the partnerships will bring for the community housing sector.

The study found quartz sulphide vein style mineralisation at depth, with significant copper intersections.

Diamond drilling has continued to test mineralised zones for potential underground mining scenarios at the Bowdens Silver Deposit, with a focus on the Northwest Zone, Aegean Zone and Bundarra Zone.

The Bundarra zone, where this campaign was focused, contained a series of base metals, including zinc and lead dominant sulphide lenses below the current silver–zinc-lead resource

Results included 2.4 metres at 1520 grams per tonne (g/t) of silver equivalent at 269g/t silver, 15.80 per cent zinc, 10.33 per cent lead, 0.78 per cent copper and 0.42g/t gold.

This hole intersection includes one metre at 2282g/t silver equivalent at 398g/t silver, 22.90 per cent zinc, 16.80 per cent lead, 1.06 per cent copper and 0.82g/t gold from 298 metres.

Drilling will continue into the first half of 2022 with four drill rigs operational to deliver maiden underground mineral resource estimation as part of the initial scoping study of underground mining scenarios.

The Aegean to Northwest Zone is dominated by high-grade silver vein systems of substantial widths, while the Bundarra Zone is dominated by wide zones of high-grade zinc and lead mineralised lenses, associated with gold and silver.

Silver Mines have risen 3.57 per cent and were trading at 21.8 cents a share at 12:43 pm AEDT.

The Jupiter mines are located next to the company’s Mt Morgans processing plant.

Dacian recently put down the first of three planned deep exploration drill holes aimed at testing for mineralisation beneath the Doublejay open pit.

The first hole returned a stunning intersection of 202.6 metres grading 1.1 grams per tonne gold from 479 metres. It included 34.8 metres at 2.2 g/t from 585 metres, 19.8 metres at 1.6 g/t from 641.3 metres and 20.6 metres at 1.5 g/t from 560.6 metres.

The company said the “outstanding” drill hit extends mineralisation to a depth of about 400 metres below the base of the Doublejay open pit design.

It also points to wide mineralisation across the Jupiter complex syenite pipes emplaced over a strike extent of about two kilometres with mineralisation open at depth, according to Dacian.

Another assay from the diamond hole came in at 2.8 metres at 11.6 g/t from 428.2m.

“The first hole completed below Doublejay as part of our Jupiter expansion program has confirmed the presence of bulk mineralisation within the Doublejay syenite,” Managing Director Leigh Junk said.

DGN shares were down 1.22 per cent at 20.3 cents at 11:35 am AEDT.

According to RMIT Deputy Dean of Research & Innovation Andrew R Timming, the food supply chain has been vulnerable to coronavirus, especially the Omicron variant.

“As it spreads across Australia like a wildfire, an already strained system has been pushed to a breaking point,” he said.

The food sector across the country is feeling the pinch, with national employer association Ai Group reporting that businesses in food and logistics are suffering from 10-50 per cent of their workers are sick or in isolation.

Migrants have traditionally played a huge role, from picking produce to transporting it across the country, according to Mr Timming.

“With the abrupt closure of our borders in 2020, that supply has been cut off,” he said.

“This, coupled with the strict rules surrounding isolation and quarantine, has created the perfect storm we are experiencing today. There are plenty of low wage jobs to go around and not nearly enough people willing or able to fill them.”

The Ai Group recommended giving considerations to the temporary granting of work rights to all visa holders currently in Australia.

“[This would] allow them to work in the areas of acute need such as in areas for which work right extensions have already been given to international students,” Ai Group Cheif executive Innes Willox said.

Mr Timming said one potential solution to future shocks lies in the automation of tasks.

“Already we have the technology to deploy self-driving trucks that can transport goods across the country with zero COVID-19 risk,” he said.

“More importantly, the lesson in the current supply chain crisis is that we should be looking towards more sustainable, locally sourced food. I grow my own vegetables in my backyard, so I am largely unaffected by the empty shelves at the supermarket.”

RMIT Associate Professor in Sustainability and Urban Planning Andrew Butt said long food supply chains that rely on interstate and international supply are the cause of the crumble.

“This is why good metropolitan planning and peri-urban planning needs to recognise the importance of having local food systems within metropolitan regions,” Mr Butt said.

“We are going to be vulnerable to other shocks in the future and the most obvious one is living under climate change.”

“We are losing a great resource if we’re not thinking about land water reuse around our cities. That’s what we should be planning for.”

According to Monday’s Interim Guidance from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, “critical food and grocery production, manufacturing, logistics and distribution facilities” all fall under isolation exemptions.

More broadly, food distribution workers without symptoms, who work in non-public facing jobs and that have been a close contact can still go to work in an attempt to reduce the worker shortage’s effect on food supply.

Other industries that are free to leave for work include emergency service workers.

According to reports from Guardian, nurses in New South Wales who are asymptomatic and COVID positive have been called into work due to the dire lack of workers.

“It’s like everyone has given up. I’m absolutely devastated. It’s a circus … positive nurses working with healthy staff and non-Covid patients,” said a nurse.

The ICQ board has scheduled a scheme meeting on January 31 and recommends shareholders vote in favour of the bid in the absence of a superior proposal.

In the event the Scheme Implementation Deed is terminated for any reason, Carsomereserves its right to make a takeover offer for iCar at an offer price not higher than A$0.53 per iCar Share in accordance with the Corporations Act

During November last year, iCar secured US$12 million (A$16.5 million) funding from Carsome, to cover expenses associated with the acquisition.

In the original non-binding indicative proposal from July last year, the share purchase price was proposed at $0.55 in cash per share.

Carsome is a private company based in Singapore and operates an integrated automotive eCommerce platform across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

iCar Asia shares have dropped 0.96 per cent and were trading at 51.5 cents at 1340 AEDT.

Two holes were drilled at depth, down-plunge and to the south of the main resource to test for extensions along the interpreted primary mineralisation trends.

Both holes (MFED090 and MFED094) intersected massive and disseminated nickel sulphides at the basal komatiite – ootwall contact.

Hole MFED090 intersected 4.67 metres at 2.31 per cent nickel from 434.33 metres and hole MFED094 intersected 0.71 metres at 3.29 nickel from 728.85 metres.

The most recent drilling reportedly demonstrates that mineralisation along the Camelwood resource’s southern boundary remains open, and that extension to the south is the most promising zone for additional drilling and resource expansion.

Another three diamond holes were drilled as shallow infill in the northern extremity of the resource outline.

The current drilling has extended the mineralisation zone a further 80 to 100 metres beyond the existing resource.

In addition,

New down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys were conducted on holes MFED090, MFED091, MFED092, MFED093 and MFED094.

According to the plate models, considerable mineralisation may exist beyond the southern boundary and beyond the drilled boundaries of the Camelwood resource shell.

“This zone to the south and below the Camelwood resource is completely open and undrilled and will be the focus of our upcoming drill program in early 2022,” CEO Steve Lynn said.

“Our aim is to drill in the most prospective locations to grow the already substantial Camelwood resource beyond the existing estimate of 2 million tonnes at 2 per cent nickel.”

Cannon Resource shares were trading in the grey at 45 cents a share.

In late-November last year, the company secured an option to acquire two lithium tenements in Argentina’s “Lithium Triangle” — Rita and Rita I — which together comprise the Carachi Pampa Lithium Project.

The acquisitions would be made through the purchase of Carolina Lithium, which currently holds the right to acquire the tenements, and — according to the announcement released earlier this week — gives Xantippe the option to acquire a third tenement, La Sophia.

La Sophia covers 3000 hectares within the Lithium Triangle, where the company stands to acquire a total package of more than 9000 hectares.

Xanttipe has also partnered with Arecco Ingeniera, a privately-owned Argentinian energy and infrastructure company, as the consultants for the project. While initial plans for a drilling program are in place, further details will be released in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere in South America, Xanttipe has submitted a formal request to the Bolivian Government, via its in-country partner Energy Zero Carbon (EZC), to explore and develop green energy opportunities in Bolivia.

The Bolivian third of the Lithium Triangle hosts an estimated 21 million tonnes of lithium resources, including the world’s largest lithium deposit, the Solar de Uyuni salt flat.

“We have started preliminary discussions with Government, I confirm that a letter from EZC, at the request of the Ministry, has been delivered in hand to President of Bolivia: Su Excelencia Presidente Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia Sr. Luis Arce Catacora,” EZC’s Guzman Fernandez said.

He also said EZC’s local team works closely with the Ministry of Energy, which controls the exploration and development of lithium and clean energy in the country.

Xanttipe Resources shares were down 4.55 per cent to 1.1 cents a share at 1:37 pm AEDT.

“Job vacancies continue to reach new record highs through the pandemic. The number of job vacancies in November was around 74 per cent higher than it was before the start of the pandemic,” ABS Head of Labour Statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

“These figures continue to show the high demand for workers from businesses emerging from lockdowns, together with ongoing labour shortages, particularly in lower-paying industries.”

Mr Jarvis said arts and recreation were particularly pronounced, with 271 per cent more vacancies than in February last year and accommodation and food services were 211 per cent higher in the same period.

Even the administration and support services sector that saw the smallest change by industry had a 28 per cent increase in job vacancies.

“Job vacancies were also elevated in all states and territories, ranging between Western Australia, where job vacancies were 120 per cent higher than before the pandemic, and 49 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory,” Mr Jarvis said.

According to the ABS, the 19 per cent increase over the quarter coincided with the easing of lockdown and restrictions in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.

“The percentage of businesses reporting at least one vacancy rose from 20 per cent in August 2021 to 21 per cent in November 2021,” Mr Jarvis said.

“This was only slightly below May 2021 (22 per cent) and much higher than February 2020 (11 per cent). Many businesses continued to report difficulties in filling their vacancies.”

The two-year, non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlines the delivery of 1.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of Fines iron product and 0.5 Mtpa of Lump iron product to Jianlong, China’s second-largest privately-owned iron and steel producer.

Jianlong was ranked at number eight and number five, respectively, in global and Chinese crude steel production and, last year, commissioned China’s first hydrogen-fueled iron production line, which uses hydrogen rather than coking coal.

According to today’s announcement, Genmin and Jianlong are aiming to sign a formal deal by June 30, 2023, at which point the price of Genmin’s iron ore product will be based on the Platts Iron Ore Index, or another agreed index.

That said, any such agreement will require the necessary approvals from government authorities, as well as the commencement of mining operations at Baniaka.

“Whilst the initial project execution plan for Baniaka is to mine and export iron ore, we look forward to potentially exploring future commercial possibilities with Jianlong to decarbonise the steel making value chain by utilising on-site hydrogen iron making,” CEO Joe Ariti said.

“Baniaka ore processing and supporting infrastructure is planned to be powered from the nearby Grand Poubara hydroelectric plant by renewable energy, which is a key component to produce green hydrogen.”

Genmin now has three offtake MoU’s in place for Baniaka. They include the one with Jianlong, plus one with China Minmetals Corporation and another with Changzhou Dongfang Special Steel, and collectively represent 16 Mtpa of iron ore products.

Shares in Genmin are up 10.42 per cent to $0.26 as of 2:44 pm AEDT.