Australian shares traded flat on Wednesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 at 8,920.8 at 3.29 pm AEST. Seven of the 11 sectors were lower, following weakness on Wall Street. Brent crude moved closer to US$100 a barrel as fighting between the US and Iran escalated, raising concerns about further disruption to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
In small cap company news,
Neurizon secures NIH funding for ALS access program
Neurizon Therapeutics (ASX:NUZ) says the US National Institutes of Health has awarded a multimillion-dollar, multiyear grant to fund an Expanded Access Program for its lead ALS treatment, NUZ-001. The program is expected to provide up to 200 people with ALS who are not eligible for clinical trials access to NUZ-001 for up to 96 weeks. The program is fully funded through the NIH award, with enrolment targeted to begin by the first quarter of 2027.
Oceana Metals starts maiden rare earths drilling at Serra Negra
Oceana Metals (ASX:OCN) has commenced its maiden 20,000-metre diamond drilling program at the Serra Negra Rare Earths Project in Brazil. Two rigs are initially targeting a 1.5-kilometre by 1.5-kilometre central corridor, where re-assayed historical drilling returned results including 50 metres at 4 per cent total rare earth oxides and 22 metres at 4.7 per cent. The program is designed to support a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate.
Bass Oil confirms new oil discovery at Bunian
Bass Oil (ASX:BAS) has confirmed a new oil discovery in the M sand at its Bunian 6 well in Indonesia. The zone flowed at around 2,400 barrels of oil per day during a short clean-up flow, with no water recovered. Production testing across the well’s three oil zones is now underway, with Bunian 6 expected to lift field production from around 250 barrels per day to at least 750 barrels per day on a 100 per cent basis.
PolarX reports high-grade copper at Caribou Dome
PolarX (ASX:PXX) has reported high-grade copper and silver results from drilling at its Caribou Dome deposit in Alaska. Results included 24.8 metres at 9.8 per cent copper and 14.5 grams per tonne silver from 2.4 metres, as well as 22.6 metres at 8.1 per cent copper and 13.5 grams per tonne silver. Drilling has also extended known copper mineralisation by around 170 metres below the current resource, with a further 1,700 metres of drilling planned this season.
Patriot secures five-year access agreement at Tassa
Patriot Resources (ASX:PAT) has signed a five-year land access agreement with the Tassa Community in Peru, covering surface exploration activities including drilling across the area overlapping its Tassa Silver-Gold Project. Together with an existing agreement with the Pachamayo Community, the deal provides coverage across the entire 100 per cent-owned project. Surface exploration at the high-grade silver deposit is expected to begin shortly.
