Matt Birney

Azumah Resources has outlined several new gold exploration targets from geophysical interpretations of a comprehensive VTEM survey at its emerging Wa East gold camp in northwest Ghana. The company says the 3km long Eve target has all the hallmarks of the Julie system nearby, which holds 834,000 gold ounces. The new target coincides with strongly anomalous gold geochemistry in surface sampling, but has not yet been drill tested.

Lithium Australia has announced consistent grades of lithium in three diamond drill holes completed at its emerging Sadisdorf project in eastern Germany. Results include 78.51m @ 0.51% lithium oxide from 78.49m and 68.76m @ 0.51% lithium oxide from 211.49m down-hole in the same hole. Other results of 19.74m @ 0.65% tin from 83.42m down-hole and 15.97m grading 0.5% tungsten were also recorded from the polymetallic deposit.

Hammer Metals’ diamond drilling has returned a near surface intercept of 14m @ 5.93g/t gold and 2.19% copper including 5.5m @14.5g/t gold and 6.87% copper at the Jubilee prospect within its Mt Frosty JV near Mt Isa in Queensland. Fresh sulphide mineralisation samples from the drilling will be used for preliminary metallurgical studies to determine copper, gold and cobalt recoveries with results expected soon.

ASX listed BlackEarth Minerals has made an exceptional near-surface intercept of 81.8 metres grading 6.1% total graphitic carbon at the Haja prospect in southern Madagascar that raises the likelihood of a resource upgrade. Further assays from the 26 hole program are expected to be received soon and the company expects to release a maiden JORC-compliant resource estimate for Haja soon.

Reedy Lagoon has received some very encouraging results from a subsurface 3D geophysical survey at its Clayton Valley project in Nevada, USA. The survey shows an intriguing, 200m thick, conductive mass, starting from about 250m vertical depth, which the company says could represent multiple lithium-rich brine aquifers. The project is directly adjacent to Albemarle’s Silver Peak mine, which is North America’s only producing lithium brine operation.

Drilling at Calidus Resources flagship Warrawoona gold project near Marble Bar in the east Pilbara has returned absolute surface gold hits including 8m @ 3.9g/t gold from 0m at the St George Shear prospect. St George has similar geology and gold mineralisation to the highest‐grade lodes across the Klondyke Main Shear and the company is carrying out infill drilling now.

Geopacific Resources has increased its effective interest in the promising Woodlark Island gold project in PNG to 93%. The company recently achieved its second tranche milestone with project JV partner Kula Gold Limited, of which Geopacific owns an 85% stake. On site, the company is continuing its extensive soil sampling program, which has outlined multiple targets and a DFS is also well underway.

ASX listed Pharmaust is preparing to carry out phase II clinical trials on dogs for its anti-cancer drug Monepantel, expected to kick off in quarter 4. Data from the canine phase II trial will be combined with lab tests to confirm Monepantel’s effectiveness at killing selected human tumour cells to form the basis for clinical trials in humans.

Hammer Metals is on a roll in QLD after the small cap explorer identified a second high grade copper zone with significant gold values at its new Judith prospect, part of the company’s emerging Perentie project, near Mount Isa in Queensland. Surface rock chip assay results up went to 25% copper and 7.23g/t gold at Judith and were located only 800m north of the Paddy B prospect.

Volt Resources has signed a cooperation agreement with HAIDA Graphite, one of China’s largest graphite companies. The agreement could lead to a future deal on the supply and purchase of graphite product from the Bunyu project in southern Tanzania. The company has also lodged an amended prospectus for its USD$40m note issue in Tanzania that includes the recent Stage 1 Feasibility Study results and a binding offtake agreement.

Australian Potash has announced it has successfully transferred brine from a pre-concentration pond into a salt harvesting pond at its Lake Wells sulphate of potash project, located near Laverton in W.A. The company will produce 250kg of refined trade samples for delivery to its MoU off-take partners during the 4th quarter of 2018. The ongoing test work will feed into the company’s DFS.

ASX listed Tyranna Resources is acquiring a cobalt and base metals project at the historic Goodsprings mining district near Las Vegas in southern Nevada that contains multiple copper, zinc, lead, gold and cobalt mines. The company plans to apply modern exploration and mining techniques to the project, where mines historically produced about 20 tonnes of ore with reported grades of between 6% and 29% cobalt in the 1920s.

ASX junior explorer Emu NL is planning to search for silver mineralisation at the Vidalita prospect in northern Chile after drilling indicated it is similar to other deposits in the Maricunga Belt that have large gold resources and significant silver credits. Follow-up drilling will also target the large zones of low grade base metal mineralisation – particularly zinc – that was outlined in the previous campaign.

Artemis Resources has completed its 70% earn-in on the Munni Munni JV tenements, located 40km south of Karratha in the Pilbara region of W.A. Whilst the area contains Australia’s largest palladium occurrence, the JV partners are initially targeting the under-explored gold potential of the area. A geological review by Artemis has identified the prospectivity for structurally-hosted, hydrothermal and/or detrital-conglomerate gold mineralisation within the JV tenements.

Greenland Minerals has executed an MoU with major shareholder, Chinese global rare earths player Shenghe, to develop the flagship Kvanefjeld project in Greenland. The agreement covers off-take, sales and marketing of rare earth products and strategic project progression going forward. The partners have agreed to flexibility in off-take arrangements for the project’s output, being either rare earths in chemical concentrate or rare earths in mineral concentrate.

DroneShield’s entire suite of anti-drone products has been placed on the GSA Schedule, allowing US Government agencies to purchase its drone combating products at pre-negotiated prices and purchase terms without going through a competitive process. Its products have also been placed in the GSA advantage catalogue which allows authorised Governmental employees to purchase them online.

Ironbark Zinc has received a study indicating that there is valuable “germanium” present in the lead minerals at its Citronen project in Greenland and that the metal is likely to be part of the planned lead concentrate. The study by the University of W.A indicated that germanium is associated with the pyrite and the company is planning to carry out further test work to determine if the grades are payable.

Vonex’s registered cloud based PBX users has risen 28% year-on-year to 24,000 users at the end of July 2018 up from 18,700 in 2017, derived mainly from Channel Partner sales. The company has started a trial marketing campaign in south-eastern Queensland to gather information ahead of a launch across major Australian capital cities in October 2018.

The latest drilling results from Azumah Resources’ Wa East prospect in north western Ghana have confirmed the overall prospectivity of the region and will most likely have positive implications for future increases in mineral resources and ore reserves at the broader Wa gold project. Results up to 2.44m @ 7.12g/t gold from 106m and 20m @ 1.44g/t gold from 121m in the same hole, have extended mineralisation by 80m.

ASX listed Northern Minerals has brought its Browns Range pilot plant project in W.A.’s Kimberley region to mechanical completion and has produced about 100 tonnes of xenotime concentrate for commissioning into the hydrometallurgical plant. The company can now start production of export quality rare earth carbonate, making it the only significant dysprosium and terbium producer outside of China.

Calima Energy has raised $25m through an oversubscribed two tranche private placement of 462.97 million shares priced at 5.4c each to fund its upcoming drilling campaign in the revered Montney oil and gas play in Canada. The placement was corner-stoned by Australian boutique fund manager Tribeca Investment Partners, who has also agreed to arrange a project development finance facility of up to $40m.

Research house EverBlu Capital has set a price target of 17c a share for aspiring copper producer Hot Chili, based on its 80% ownership of the flagship Productora copper project in Chile. EverBlu says the $30m company could be worth as much as AUD$511m if Hot Chili could process a higher-grade ore blend, by incorporating 10% of its annual sulphide ore feed from small satellite copper mine deposits currently being developed by the company.

Terrain Minerals has outlined a number of new gold exploration targets on its Wild-viper exploration licence that completely surrounds its Great Western gold project, north of Leonora in W.A. The company will shortly commence reconnaissance geological mapping and soil sampling programs over the areas of interest. Terrain also said this week that drilling results from its RC drill program at the Red Mulga exploration play near Geraldton are imminent.

Artemis Resources’ JV partner Novo Resources has shown that a highly prospective gold-bearing conglomerate unit strikes for at least 1.2km at the Purdy’s Reward project near Karratha. Recent field work has located fault structures and a distinctive mafic marker horizon that control the distribution of gold. The JV partners are presently diamond drilling at Purdy’s Reward and preparing to take bulk samples of the deposit.

Strike Energy’s Jaws-1 horizontal coal seam gas well in the Cooper Basin of South Australia, is currently flowing water at a rate of about 1,100 barrels per day and rising with the electric submersible pumps operating near their lowest setting. This indicates significant reservoir inflow from the targeted Vu Upper coal seam and the company will continue to ramp up water production until sustained operations are achieved.

Infinity Lithium has started a scoping study that will look into the potential for the company to economically produce lithium hydroxide alongside its San Jose lithium mine in western Spain. The study is due to be released in September and could result in the company progressing its ongoing feasibility study towards producing a higher value lithium hydroxide battery chemical product rather than lithium carbonate.

Myanmar Metals has commenced a 15,000 metre resource development drilling campaign at its Bawdwin polymetallic mine in central Myanmar. The program is expected to grow the project’s mineral resource estimates and define a large ore reserve, underpinning a feasibility study due for release in late 2019. The drilling will also allow a more thorough evaluation of the mine’s copper-cobalt-nickel potential and help delineate extensions of the existing lodes.

Babylon Pump and Power has secured a $1.5m asset finance facility from National Australia Bank to support its contract to supply power generation to BHP’s Mining Area C surplus water pipeline project. The facility and $4.5m raised through a convertible loan issue gives the company cash reserves to grow its asset fleet and pursue larger contracts.

Blackstone Minerals has discovered new cobalt and gold mineralisation at its Erebor prospect, located less than a kilometre from the company’s flagship, Little Gem project area in British Columbia, Canada. It is the first new find of cobalt in the district since the 1930’s. The company is also awaiting results from a geophysical survey and assays from regional soil, rock chip and stream sediment sampling programs.

Neometals will demerge its valuable Barrambie project and associated non-lithium technology assets into a new ASX listed entity, allowing the parent company to focus on its advanced lithium business. The new company will oversee the initial development of the massive Barrambie titanium-vanadium project and create a direct shipping operation of magnetic concentrates out of W.A.

ASX listed Australian Potash has appointed former WesTrac Managing Director and well known Perth businessman Jim Walker as its Non-Executive Chairman to help develop marketing and financing relationships. Former Executive Chairman Matt Shackleton has been appointed the company’s Managing Director. Australian Potash expects to release a definitive feasibility study for its Lake Wells potash project in 2019.

Hammer Metals’ consulting geologist Ziggy Lubieniecki has discovered four new copper-gold prospects in Queensland’s Mount Isa region that have returned some amazing rock chip assays of up to 36% copper and 6.8 grams per tonne gold. 56 of the 100 rock chip assays from the Spiros and Paddy B prospects returned copper values of more than 1% copper.