Locksley launches dual drilling campaign near US rare earths giant
The company today confirmed it has kicked off drilling at its rare earths and antimony-rich Mojave project in California, just as momentum continues to build around the White House's critical minerals agenda.
With claims abutting MP Materials' rare earth powerhouse at Mountain Pass and early sample grades up to 46 per cent antimony and 12.1 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO), Locksley might have fired the starter's pistol on one of the most strategic drilling campaigns in America this year.
The program is targeting two separate systems in a single swing, one for rare earths and one for antimony - and both have the potential to plug directly into federally backed initiatives for sovereign supply chain development. The first holes will test the company's El Campo prospect for rare earths over a defined 860-metre strike, while follow-up holes will hone in on the historic Desert antimony mine that's returning up to 1022 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and monster antimony grades at surface.
Importantly, all approvals are already in place and drilling is fully funded, following a $1.47 million placement to institutional and sophisticated investors.
Locksley is advancing a twin assault on two of the US's most strategically important but under-developed metals, rare earths and antimony.
It's a fair bet that not many Australians have heard of the dusty El Campo prospect in the far reaches of California's Mojave Desert, but it's a name that might just be about to find its way onto a very high-powered radar in Washington DC.
That's because ASX-listed Locksley Resources is sitting on ground that could position it smack bang in the middle of America's race to rewire its critical mineral supply chain away from China.
Locksley is advancing a twin assault on two of the US's most strategically important but under-developed metals, rare earths and antimony. Both are now recognised as critical to US defence and industrial applications, both have zero current domestic mine production and both are found in high grades at Locksley's wholly owned Mojave project in California.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AU Financial Review
20 minutes ago
- AU Financial Review
White's prolonged shadow makes WiseTech succession an inside job
Welcome to the big leagues Zubin Appoo, a 44-year-old tech executive from Sydney's Hollywood Hills district, who's made one of the biggest career leaps ever seen on the ASX. At the start of the year, Appoo was running the United Church's online marketplace Find a Carer – a website that connects older Australians or those with disabilities, with just $155,000 in issued capital and a few dozen staff (tops).
Perth Now
20 minutes ago
- Perth Now
‘They're gutless': Pauline's net zero play
One Nation senator Pauline Hanson is seizing on division in the Coalition to push through an urgency motion calling for Australia to abandon its net zero target. Senator Hanson, a long-time climate change denier, will introduce the motion on Monday following Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce's private members bill calling for the same thing. Aware of the divide in the Coalition, Senator Hanson said her motion would out opposition 'cowards'. 'They're gutless, you know, they're cowards,' she told Sky News when asked about the prospect of Coalition senators not backing her motion. 'Because a lot of these people on the floor of parliament have no understanding, cannot debate you about climate change. 'They don't even know anything about it. 'They're making decisions and voting on it.' One Nation senator Pauline Hanson says her net zero urgency motion will expose 'cowards' in the Coalition. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'Scam' She went on to say Australians have 'been hoodwinked'. 'It's a scam going on and if we head down this path, what will happen to Australians?' Senator Hanson said. 'You will be restricted where you travel, where you go, what you eat, and it will be based on your carbon emissions.' Australia's renewables targets do not impose restrictions on freedom of movement or diets. Earlier, Mr Joyce asked Australia's big-city residents if they are 'prepared to hurt the poor' by pursuing a carbon neutral future. Mr Joyce, who was banished to the backbench after the Coalition's brief post-election break-up, kicked off the second sitting week of the new parliament by introducing his Repeal Net Zero Bill. Unless Sussan Ley drastically changes course in rebuilding the Coalition as a moderate opposition, the private member's bill will not get far. But as a former Nationals leader, Mr Joyce holds clout within the party and his split from more green-minded Liberal Party colleagues has grown into somewhat of a backbench rebellion. Nationals heavyweight Barnaby Joyce has asked Australia's big-city residents if they are 'prepared to hurt the poor'. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Joyce said on Monday there needed to be more give and take between city-living Australians and their rural and regional counterparts, saying there 'are certain things' the regions could do but do not 'because we're trying to be reasonable'. 'There's absolutely no reason that Mascot Airport can't work 24/7,' he told reporters, flanked by fellow Coalition rebels and disgruntled community members. 'But we understand that people don't want planes flying over themselves in the middle of the night … but we don't want transmission lines over our head either. 'We don't want wind towers either, so there's got to be a form of good pro quo.' Mr Joyce said the question 'affluent suburbs' needed to be asked was: 'Are you prepared to hurt the poor?' 'Are you prepared to hurt them and I don't think if you really explain the issue that people do want to hurt them,' he said. 'You don't feel virtuous if you're hurting people.' Former Nationals leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack are calling for Australia's net-zero target to be abandoned. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Joyce's Bill proposes to abandon Australia's carbon-neutral target by 2050. The target is in line with goals set by other developed economies, but the task has been complicated by rapid energy demands from emerging economies and global disruptions driven by increased conflicts, such as Russia's war in Ukraine. Among Mr Joyce's supporters gathered outside Parliament House was fellow former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, another hefty voice in the party. Liberal MP Garth Hamilton also joined him, making him the only member of the senior Coalition partner to do so.
Sky News AU
31 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Communications Minister once hailed YouTube as a place for kids — now she appears ready to ban it
Communications Minister Anika Wells once fawned over YouTube as a way to entertain her young children — now she appears ready to ban it as a legal furore erupts in the tech world. Minister wells is considering banning children under 16 from YouTube, but just a few years ago she praised the video sharing platform as a means for a young parent to navigate the "parliament hustle". "How do I handle the parliament hustle? Sturdy baby gates and The Wiggles on YouTube," she wrote in December, 2022, at a time she was sports minister. Minister Wells appeared to confirm for the first time publicly that she would formally adopt a push from eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant to prohibit children from creating accounts on YouTube. 'The eSafety Commissioner made it clear in her advice to the Minister that the law relates to children under the age of 16 having their own social media accounts,' Minister Wells told 'eSafety's recommendation does not prevent children from watching videos like The Wiggles on YouTube Kids or on their parent's account.' Under this scenario, kids would still be able to access YouTube logged out, which means they would not be protected by Google's sophisticated parental controls. YouTube has argued this move would make the internet less safe, a clear contradiction with the original intent of the Act. A formal decision is expected as early as Thursday this week but the government has been criticised for confusion around the rollout of these new laws. And it isn't just parents confused by Labor's flip-flopping on the social media ban. The rushed implementation of the laws and the lack of industry clarity has infuriated multiple platforms involved in negotiations, leading to tense and highly complex legal discussions behind closed doors. TikTok is understood to have made a legal threat on constitutional grounds over the ban. TikTok denies this but in a submission to the government, the Chinese owned platform alleged the laws would be fundamentally unworkable and anti-competitive in nature, if YouTube was exempt. Labor appears to have listened to these warnings and could announce a major change to the child ban policy as early as next week. After learning Labor was preparing to U-turn on a pledge to exempt YouTube, Google also called in the lawyers. The video sharing platform argued the child ban breaches the implied constitutional protections Australians have to engage in political speech. In March, TikTok wrote a scathing submission to the government which focused almost entirely on lobbying for YouTube to also be banned. TikTok's submission alleged the laws were "unsupportable" and "anti-competitive" in nature, and accused Labor of reverse engineering legislation. "Excluding any major platform by name from the minimum age obligation on educative grounds is unsupportable without evidence," the submission said. "What is clear is that the Government has begun its analysis from the starting position that YouTube must be exempt and then attempted, half-heartedly, to reverse-engineer defensible supporting evidence. "Handing one major social media platform a sweetheart deal of this nature - while subjecting every other platform in Australia to stringent compliance obligations - would be illogical, anti-competitive, and short-sighted." TikTok also warned that an exemption for YouTube raised anti-competition legal issues which, it argued, had already been highlighted by the ACCC. 'That Google or any rational economic actor in its position would seek to lobby Government for favourable treatment is comprehensible. That the Government would accede to it, against the warnings of its own competition watchdog, is not,' the submission said. In a forward to the submission TikTok warned the government the laws "would not work" if YouTube was exempt. "For the reasons set out in this submission, we have grave concerns that the Rules, if implemented in their current form, would not work," TikTok said. "We are particularly concerned that carving out any major platform by name - in this case, YouTube - from the minimum age obligation would result in a law that is illogical, anti-competitive, and short-sighted." eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant was accused earlier this month of misleading Australians after her push to have children banned from the platform was not supported in her own research. It was revealed that even Ms Inman Grant's office used YouTube to educate children as part of her own publishing strategy, specifically targeting the demographic. In late 2022, while Ms Inman Grant was in charge of the body, a series of videos called 'eSafety Mighty Heroes' including characters such as Dusty the frilled neck lizard, River the sugar glider, Billie the bilby, and Wanda the echidna was released on the same day - content clearly published with the intent to educate children.
