Matt Birney

Northern Minerals says that ore sorting tests of stockpiled ore at its Browns Range rare earths mine has the potential to double the mineral grade to about 2% total rare earth oxide. The test work used sensors to sort the rare earth mineralisation from waste rock based on its bulk density and magnetic properties and the company says it could set up ore sorting infrastructure for just $4m.

Coziron Resources’ assays of historic auger drilling at the Croydon Top Camp gold project in the Pilbara have returned a maximum result of 25g/t gold compared to the historic 8g/t gold originally produced. Upgraded levels of “pathfinder elements” for lode-style gold mineralisation were also encountered with results from the re-assaying of 182 auger pulps across the project to be used to help discern new drill targets.

Altech Chemicals is closing in on securing the balance of funds it requires for its high purity alumina project with due diligence on the proposed mezzanine debt facility expected to be completed by the end of November. Stage 1 construction of its HPA plant in Malaysia, which is already funded, will run in parallel to finance close.

Artemis Resources has revealed an impressive 55% increase in copper and zinc resources at its Whundo mine near Karratha in WA. The new estimate of 2.67 million tonnes grading 1.14% copper and 1.12% zinc includes a near surface oxide resource of 383,000 tonnes grading 1.78% copper. The resource update is timely, as prices for copper and zinc have doubled over the last 10 years since the mine was mothballed.

PharmAust has appointed Westar Capital chairman Neville Bassett as a non-executive director, replacing Dr Wayne Best who is retiring. Dr Best will remain as chairman of the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Epichem. Pharmaust is poised to start clinical trials for its Monepantel anti-cancer drug on canine subjects soon.

Recently listed Vonex is poised to start beta testing of its innovative Oper8tor APP that can seamlessly link voice calls and messages across multiple platforms and devices around the world. The company will seek to commercialise the technology via the teleconferencing service provision industry with Beta testing to involve up to 5,000 controlled users ahead of a planned launch of the ground breaking technology in 2019.

Blackstone Minerals has confirmed a significant new discovery of high grade cobalt and gold mineralisation at its Erebor prospect in British Columbia, Canada. It is the first new find of cobalt in the district since the 1930s with rock chip samples going up to 2.3% cobalt and just over an ounce to the tonne gold, with some highly anomalous copper and nickel results thrown in for good measure.

BlackEarth Minerals has identified new high grade target zones at its Maniry graphite project in southern Madagascar with rock chip sampling returned jaw dropping grades of up to 48% total graphitic carbon. These zones are located in the underexplored northwest corner of the project and will be tested during the trenching program that is due to start this month.

Bellevue Gold’s drilling program at the Viago lode at the Bellevue gold project in WA’s Goldfields region continues to return high grade hits including an intersection of 3m @ 85.9g/t gold from 597m down-hole which contains a 0.5m section going a whopping 445g/t gold. Step out drilling will be carried out to define the limits of the Viago lode, which remains open in all directions.

Delecta Limited has reported high grade samples going up to 7.1% cobalt and 12.4% copper from its new Highline project in southern Nevada, USA. The project is surrounded by 4 historical cobalt mines in the Goodsprings district and initial geological mapping has outlined the potential for multiple lodes of mineralisation adjacent to the Highline mine workings. Highly anomalous zinc and lead assays were also returned from the Pocahontas claim.

Affinity Energy & Health has signed an MoU with Skin Elements to investigate the use of its algae based products and cannabis oils in Skin Elements’ range of natural skin care products. Commercial terms and financial arrangements will be negotiated at an appropriate time as product development initiatives progress.

Middle Island Resources has reported some solid assay results from an infill and extensional resource development drill program at its Wirraminna gold deposit near Sandstone in WA. Best results include 6m @ 6.62g/t from 84m down-hole and 14m @ 1.82g/t from 82m down-hole. The new results will be used to update the company’s existing mineral resource estimate of 550,000 tonnes grading 1.32g/t gold for 23,000 ounces.

Upstart ASX listed satellite communications company Sky and Space Global has been setting a breakneck pace and has recently signed binding MOU’s with five large telcos around the globe. The news comes after the Perth listed company recently locked down a $500,000 European R&D grant to boost its coffers as the miniature satellite technology company enters a critical period of its relatively young life.

Australian Potash is farming out 70% of its Lake Wells gold project near Laverton, WA, to St Barbara under a $7m joint venture agreement to focus on its sulphate of potash project in the same area. St Barbara will pay the company an initial $1.25m in cash and spend at least $1.75m in exploration during the first 12 months of the deal.

Northern Minerals has made the leap from explorer to producer after turning out its first rare earth carbonate at the Browns Range project in the Kimberley region of WA. Both the beneficiation and hydrometallurgical circuits are now load commissioned for steady state production. The company is also hunting for additional resources of heavy rare earth mineralisation at Browns Range with a focus on the exciting Dazzler-Iceman discoveries.

Classic Minerals latest drill program near Southern Cross has delivered in spades with a spectacular 10m drill intersection going nearly an ounce to the tonne gold from just 28m deep at the rapidly advancing Kat Gap prospect. The new Kat Gap drill results included a 2m section grading a whopping 116.1g/t gold from 31m and the Lady Lila prospect also delivered 6m @ 9.57g/t gold from 26m down-hole.

King River Copper has completed a scoping study that demonstrates the potential for its Windsor project in Western Australia’s East Kimberley region. Windsor is potentially the only major fluorite deposit in Australia and according to King River’s latest scoping study, it is capable of producing positive cashflows .The company is now proceeding with a pre-feasibility study that will allow it to report ore reserves and an economic analysis.

Delecta Limited has purchased the high grade Highline cobalt-copper project from a private vendor in the emerging Goodsprings mining district, 50km southwest of Las Vegas in southern Nevada, USA. The historical mine produced cobalt up to an eye-watering 12.45% and an average copper grade of 35%. The claim area has been sitting idle for nearly a century and has seen pretty much no modern exploration.

Australian Potash could enjoy better freight costs at its Lake Wells potash project thanks to a government funded upgrade of up to 100km of the Great Central Road to the east of the town of Laverton. The company will work with the Shire of Laverton to consider the feasibility of sealing the Lake Wells access road, which would give the project a 300km all-weather bitumen sealed road to the Leonora rail-head.

Babylon Pump & Power has secured a $670,000 contract to supply and install power generation and dewatering pumping equipment for BHP for an initial six month period. Works are scheduled to begin immediately with commissioning scheduled for November 2018. The company is optimistic that the contract will continue on a rolling basis at the end of the initial term.

Spectrum Metals has paid $200,000 to buy the historical First Hit gold mine, located 50km west of Menzies in the Goldfields region of WA. The mine was last worked in 2002 and the company has defined numerous walk-up drill targets for delineating more high grade mineralisation. Spectrum will raise $600,000 to underwrite exploration of its WA gold assets, by issuing shares to sophisticated investors at 0.4c per share.

Tyranna Resources has discovered wide graphite mineralisation at sought after grades at the Yeltana prospect located only 125km from the port of Whyalla in South Australia. Results up to 21.05m @ 9.28% total graphitic carbon from 171.75m down-hole points to the deposit potentially having some scale. The company is planning to undertake mineralogical analyses of core samples for graphite flake size to assess the economic potential of the product.

ASX listed Kairos Minerals’ ongoing exploration at its Croydon project in the Pilbara region of WA has extended the strike length of the gold bearing conglomerate to over 4km after discovering visible gold in stream sediment pan samples. Further exploration being carried out includes additional stream sediment sampling, metal detecting, detailed mapping and stratigraphic RC and diamond drilling.

Calima Energy is poised to benefit from Shell’s decision to proceed with its massive CAD$40bn Canadian LNG project in British Columbia that will source gas from the Montney oil and gas formation to produce an initial 14 million tonnes of LNG per annum. Calima is planning to start drilling one vertical well in the Montney to provide data and two horizontal wells that will be placed on extended production testing before the end of this year.

BlackEarth Minerals’ final assays from drilling at the Haja deposit in southern Madagascar continue to demonstrate very thick and consistent zones of graphite mineralisation. A maiden resource estimate is due to be released next month after the company hit a 90m intersection grading 5.7%TGC. BlackEarth is in the final stages of planning a trenching program expected to start later this month.

St George Mining has reported that recent down hole electromagnetic surveying at the Investigators prospect has outlined several strong, new off-hole conductors that it considers highly prospective for defining massive nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation. The new conductors are located down-plunge of a previously intersected mineralised ultramafic rock sequence and may indicate the potential for a significant extension to the narrow, but high-grade mineralisation previously located at Investigators.

Coolgardie Minerals has reported that the initial grade control drilling program conducted from surface at its Geko gold mine near Bullabulling, returned a number of significant intersections grading above 4g/t gold that have extended the high grade supergene oxide mineralisation beyond the limits of the current pit design. The company will produce its first gold ore later this month, to be delivered to Northern Star’s South Kalgoorlie plant for toll treatment.

ASX listed Blackstone Minerals’ phase two IP survey has identified new large-scale cobalt targets at its Little Gem project in British Columbia that are bigger and stronger than the anomalies found during the first phase. The new targets, which are more than 1km long, are associated with the previously producing “Jewel” gold-silver-copper mine located 1.1km northeast of Little Gem.

Nzuri Copper has extended its copper mineralisation to over 270m of strike and a vertical depth of 150m, after the latest drilling at its Monwezi 2 prospect in the DRC. Best results of up to 7.1m @ 0.82% copper from 73.9m down-hole were returned. Nzuri also generated an Exploration Target for Monwezi 2 ranging between 1.0 - 2.5 million tonnes grading between 0.8 - 1.5% copper.

Tyranna Resources’ stream sampling has identified two encouraging cobalt-copper-zinc anomalies at its newly acquired Goodsprings cobalt and base metals project in Nevada. The company will carry out a geophysics program later this month before drilling up to five holes at the Whale trend to confirm the oreshoot, intersect potential mineralisation and drill through the postulated east-west fault.

Lithium Australia has entered an agreement with a private exploration company to acquire 3 tenements at the Youanmi lithium project, located near Sandstone in the Murchison of Western Australia. Lithium-bearing pegmatites strike over almost 3km across the tenements up to widths of 200m where mapped. Rock chip sampling at the project has shown lepidolite-rich pegmatites with up to 4.2% lithium oxide and likely tantalum credits.

Canadian listed conglomerate gold specialist Novo Resources has completed an $8m acquisition of a prospective looking gold project in the Egina region, located south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The company believes the tenements are prospective for conglomerate, alluvial and shear-hosted gold mineralisation. The transaction comes gift-wrapped with two granted mining licences surrounding the historical Womerina alluvial gold workings.