Matt Birney

Newly listed telco Vonex, has formed a marketing and partnership agreement with Canadian global communications software solutions provider CounterPath to jointly market a combined telco product offering to existing and potential customers. Vonex will also sell selected Counterpath products under its own brand.

TNG Limited has received in-principle approval for a landmark Native Title Mining Agreement covering its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project located 230km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Once the agreement is executed, the company will have a clear runway to finalise financing and site-based construction activities. With the vanadium markets hotting up TNG appears to be in the right business at the right time.

Bellevue Gold has announced a high grade mineral resource of 1.9 million tonnes grading 8.2g/t gold for 500,000 ounces at its namesake project, near Leinster in the Goldfields of W.A. The resources lie adjacent to existing underground workings from surface to a depth of 450m. The company says this is an interim resource that still has significant scope to increase with more drilling.

ASX listed Southern Gold’s partner Bluebird Merchant Ventures has delivered a positive report regarding the economics of re-opening the old Gubong gold mine in South Korea. The project could start gold production by late 2019. Pre-construction work has started that will lead to the completion of a full feasibility study for the processing plant and commencement of mining.

Volt Resources says it will generate an EBITDA of $126m from the small scale Stage 1 development of its Bunyu graphite project in Tanzania. Feasibility results have outlined a pre-tax NPV of around $25m on the back of a 21.0% IRR for the development. The company will produce an average of 23,700 tonnes of graphite annually from three open pits, over an initial 7 year mine life.

Reedy Lagoon shareholders will be eyeing recent developments in the feted lithium brine project region of south-western Nevada in the US, after a neighbour announced anomalous lithium and boron results in shallow aquifers only a short distance north of the company’s Columbus Salt Marsh project. The discovery is only 20km from Global Geoscience’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project that boasts 460 million tonnes.

Phylogica has successfully delivered the Cre enzyme used in biological research into lung, liver and kidney cells during in vivo experiments, proving the ability of its original cell penetrating peptide to deliver intracellular drug cargos. The company is now preparing to test its current lead CPP that is about twice as effective as the original CPP in the same animal model.

Calidus Resources is enjoying success with its resource drill out program at the Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara. Assay results from the high grade Copenhagen prospect have extended the mineralisation down plunge, returning results of up to 10m @ 5.38g/t gold from 63m. Drilling at Klondyke East has defined gold mineralisation over 600m of strike, returning 12m @ 2.15g/t gold and 8m @ 1.92g/t from surface.

Middle Island Resources has confirmed grade increases of between 155% and 213% from ore sorting test work at its Two Mile Hill underground gold deposit near Sandstone. The ore sorting results are a precursor to an updated mineral resource estimate which is expected this year. The sorting process uses a combination of colour and X-ray sensors to increase the ore grade by rejecting more than 50% of the waste.

Babylon Pump & Power’s strategy of adding broader maintenance works to its suite of pump rental services has led to it securing another $1m worth of contracts with work to start immediately. The company said customer engagement continues to be encouraging with a growing pipeline of diesel engine maintenance, pumping solutions and power generation work.

In vivo experiments have shown that Phylogica’s cell penetrating peptide vaccine can trigger the immune system in mice to create defensive CD8+ T-cells at much higher levels than the current best in class product, CPP TAT. The CD8+ T-cells were also able to recognise and kill the target cells which expressed the triggering antigen with a high degree of efficiency.

Northern Minerals processing plant for the Browns Range heavy rare earths project in the Kimberley region was officially opened last week. The company will now commence commercial production of heavy rare earth carbonate for export. The project is 100% owned by the Northern Minerals who has a dominant tenement position in the Browns Range region that still has significant exploration upside potential.

Peppermint Innovation has signed a partnership agreement with leading Philippines non-bank remittance payout provider, Direct Agent 5 that provides a windo of opportunity into the Filipino remittance market that is worth more than USD$1bn. Peppermint will tap Direct Agent 5’s extensive network in the Philippines, which covers more than 1000 locations, to payout remittances for its customers.

Altech Chemicals has reported that German engineering contractor SMS group has completed site works ahead of construction of its large HPA plant in Johor State, in southern Malaysia. When fully operational, the plant will produce up to 4,500 tonnes of HPA annually, with the product being used in high tech applications such as LED lighting, separators in lithium-ion batteries and advanced mobile phone technology.

CVCheck has posted record revenues of $3.4m for the fourth quarter of the 2018 financial year, up 25% from the previous corresponding quarter, whilst full year revenues were up 20% to $12.5m. This was due to 36% growth in the corporate and SME segments and a surge in New Zealand Children’s Worker Safety Checks.

Venus Metals has reached an agreement under which lithium company Lepidico can earn up to 80% of the lithium rights at the Youanmi project by completing a full Feasibility Study leading to a Decision to Mine. Venus will receive $170,000 in cash and Lepidico shares for a 12 month exploration option and a further $350,000 in cash and scrip on signing a joint venture deal.

Spectrum Rare Earths has reported success from its first underground diamond drill hole at the Washington gold project in northern California. Visible gold with base metal sulphides were identified from drill core intersecting the prized Dean vein, with assays pending. The short drilling campaign is part of a wider due diligence process at the decommissioned mine, where the company has secured a 3-month exclusive option.

Artemis Resources’ has hit a number of exciting multi-mineral drill intersections including 6.5m @ 23.44g/t gold, 2.32% cobalt and 10.35% copper from 47m down-hole at its Carlow Castle project in the Pilbara, W.A. The infill drilling campaign is designed to increase resource definition and has been expanded to further test the project, which remains open along strike and at depth.

Having locked away its iron ore resource in the Pilbara, Coziron Resources has now shifted gear to focus on the systematic exploration of its impressive W.A. gold and vanadium projects. The company intends to concentrate on its large Buddadoo vanadium project in the Midwest and it will also look to prove up the highly prospective Croyden Top-Camp gold project, an advanced exploration play in the western Pilbara.

Blackham Resources has estimated a free milling mineral resource of 33.6Mt @ 0.57g/t, for 620,000oz of contained gold, within the tailings at its Wiluna Project in W.A. Work is underway to potentially enhance gold recovery along with confirming potential mining and processing options that may be integrated into Blackham’s future operations.

King River Copper has announced outstanding results from hydrometallurgical test work completed on its flagship Speewah vanadium/titanium deposit, south of Kununurra in W.A. The company reported that it had managed to produce the coveted grade of 99.51% pure vanadium pentoxide. The test work is examining a new direct leaching-precipitation method to make premium vanadium, titanium and iron products from the Speewah deposit ores.

Classic Minerals has produced more high grade drilling results from exploration at its Kat Gap and Lady Magdalene gold prospects, near Southern Cross in W.A. A new zone of gold hosted in granite was outlined at Kat Gap and returned results up to 8m @ 7.14g/t gold from 82m down-hole and it is open along strike. The company also reported a result of 0.23% lithium oxide from pegmatite sampling.

Coolgardie Minerals has reported strong investor support for its IPO that closed last week after the company easily raised in excess of the $4m it needed to get its flagship Geko gold project underway near Bullabulling in the Goldfields. The company will now further explore the project and look to create an early cashflow from it by investigating what toll treating options might be available.

Move over RCF and Orion Mine Finance, there’s a new kid on the block with $100m to plough into mining investments. Ibaera Capital is applying a new paradigm to its private equity offering, combining the $100m it has available with its top-notch team of geologists to turn undervalued exploration plays into bonafide mines. Its first investment is into ASX listed Azumah Resources’ Wa Project in Ghana.

DroneShield will help create a new version of Intelligent Security Integration’s flagship Rapid Scout HQ vehicle that could be the first non-military vehicle with a suite of counter-drone multisensory detect and defeat solutions. Rapid Scout HQ vehicles and their associated Rapid Scout surveillance sensors are designed for use where traditional CCTV has limited or no coverage.

St George Mining has successfully drill targeted high grade nickel-copper sulphide ores at the Investigators prospect, 100km west of Leonora in the northern Goldfields region of Western Australia. A 7.55m intersection of disseminated and massive sulphide mineralisation was intersected after a strong off-hole EM conductor suggested it was there. Preliminary XRF assays average an exceptional 8% nickel and 7% copper in the massive sulphides.

Ironbark Zinc has chartered the world’s largest icebreaking ship to demonstrate its proposed logistical solution and validate the shipping route for its giant Citronen zinc project in Greenland. It has also received an encouraging level of interest from a broad range of potential investors and is arranging site visits as part of the due diligence process.

Tyranna Resources has been steadily increasing its equity in the Western Gawler Craton JV with partner WPG Resources who owns the nearby Challenger gold mine. The parties are now in discussions about toll treating ore from their Jumbuck project at Challenger, creating a possible fast track to production for the junior explorer Tyranna. Drilling will commence at the Campfire Bore prospect soon ahead of a feasibility study.

Western Australia’s proposed Lithium Valley concept that could see Western Australia grab a larger share of the $213bn lithium-based battery value chain is under threat from the Federal Government’s proposed moves to limit R&D funding. Limiting the annual R&D rebates to $4m could make Australia noncompetitive with other parts of the world, according to Lithium Australia.

BlackEarth Minerals has reported consistently high grade assays and wide ore thicknesses from a resource definition drilling program at its Razafy graphite prospect in southern Madagascar. Results of up to 42m @ 7.1% total graphitic carbon from 4m down-hole, included 7m @ 10.7% TGC from just 18m. Geological data and results are being collated ahead of a maiden resource estimate due in August.

Venus Metals has announced exceptional upgrades from preliminary metallurgical test work on vanadium ore samples taken from its Youanmi project in the Murchison region of W.A. Results show that vanadium pentoxide grades effectively double from about 0.7% in-situ to 1.4% with simple crushing and magnetic separation of ore composites into concentrates. The company reports that ongoing test work is underway to increase recoveries of vanadium, titanium and iron.

ASX listed security surveillance company Spectur has started to receive sales orders for its unique thermal, solar powered security cameras. The company said this week that it had received its first thermal camera order from an international logistics company based in Victoria. Significant interest has also been flooding in from other Tier 1 companies and Spectur has now started commercial manufacturing of the cameras.