Matt Birney

Zinc polymetallic explorer Adriatic Metals has every reason to be pleased with its latest assay results from the waste dump around an historic adit at the Jurasevac prospect at the company’s Vareš Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Vareš project comprises an old open cut zinc/lead/barite and silver mine at Veovaca and Rupice and an advanced proximal deposit exhibiting high grades of base and precious metals.

King River Copper has provided an unexpected windfall for its investors by converting some of its exploration tax losses into a $306,000 tax credit that will be passed on individually to its shareholders under the Government’s “Exploration Development Incentive.” The credit is made possible by an innovative tax scheme introduced in 2014-15 to help greenfield explorers find Australia’s next big mineral deposit

Metalicity Limited will seek to extract fair value from its giant Admiral Bay zinc project in the Kimberley of W.A by vending all its zinc assets into a new company, Kimberley Mining Limited, to be listed on Canada’s TSX Venture exchange. The deal is worth up to CAD$32.5m for Metalicity and will advance its Admiral Bay project, whilst leaving the company cashed up to pursue its battery metals projects.

Strike Energy is a step closer to discovering whether its Jaws-1 well will be a game-changer for the gas-starved east coast market, with Halliburton’s fracture stimulation equipment on its way to site. The pioneering Jaws-1 well was successfully completed earlier this month and could possibly be within weeks after a seven-stage fracture stimulation program.

ASX-listed biotech PharmAust, has successfully reformulated its promising anti-cancer drug “Monepantel”. Perth-based PharmAust says the new form of Monepantel, which now takes the form of dry tablets, improves the drug’s taste and meets dosage requirements, paving the way for trials in dogs expected to take place by the end of the year ahead of human clinical trials.

Venus Metals has stitched up options with both the plaintiff and the plainted at the historical Younami gold mine, 250km west of Leonora. The transactions will cost less than A$6m in a mix of cash and shares and will guarantee that Venus emerges the victor in a legal dispute that it is not actually a party to. Hundreds of thousands of ounces were left in the ground when the mine was closed in 1997.

In a sure sign of its future strategy, underwater drone specialist Aquabotix will co-locate its American operations with the US military in Virginia in a bid to secure lucrative defence industry contracts. Aquabotix says the co-location with the Joint Munitions Command’s Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Program strengthens its links with the US department of defence.

Myanmar Metals has announced an alliance with Chinese owned Perilya Limited to accelerate the development of its Bawdwin polymetallic deposit in Myanmar. The deal with Perilya and another with major shareholder Mark Creasy raised A$19.1m, which fully funds the Bawdwin option, granting Myanmar 51% project ownership. The company will raise up to A$35m for the project.

Reedy Lagoon has announced it has staked 112 new claims in the prospective Clayton Valley in southern Nevada, 10km from North America’s only producing lithium brine operation at Silver Peak. The company believes the new tenement package has potential to trap lithium brines within its salty underground aquifers, based on the region’s underlying geology.

Draig Resources has announced further high grade gold drill results from drill programs at its Tribune lode discovery, adjacent to the historical Bellevue mine near Leinster. Down-hole electromagnetic surveys have identified new ore shoot positions at depth with best results of 4.4m @ 13.5g/t from 305.5m down-hole and 9.5m @ 5.0g/t from 324.5m down-hole. A maiden mineral resource estimate is underway.

Southern Gold keeps finding more high-grade gold left behind by previous operators of the Kochang mine in South Korea that was abandoned in 1975 when the gold price was just US$140 an ounce. A significant program to sample the underground vein systems at Kochang has found long strike lengths of mineralisation and returned assays at more than two ounces to the tonne.

BlackEarth Minerals’ resource drilling program in Madagascar has produced another series of impressive drill hits, adding to evidence of a large, high-grade graphite system at its Maniry project. Among the best of the new results was 26m @7.8% total graphitic carbon, including 10m @ 10.45% TGC. BlackEarth is on track for a maiden JORC estimate in July, just six months after listing on the ASX.

Lithium Australia’s subsidiary, VSPC, is making progress towards commercialising its patented lithium-ion battery cathode materials. Manufacturing of lithium ion battery coin cells and electrochemical testing will commence shortly at its laboratory in Queensland. The market for cathode materials is predicted to double to approximately 400,000 tonnes p/a by 2025, with a value exceeding USD$10b.

Infinity Lithium has strengthened its development prospects for the San Jose lithium project in Spain, reporting that over half its mineral resources are now classified at an “indicated” status. Improved geotechnical results also show that steeper wall angles can be developed, decreasing the open pit footprint, lowering stripping ratios and potentially improving project economics.

ASX-listed battery technology player Ultracharge, has undergone a massive step change, inking a deal to manufacture and supply lithium-ion batteries to a leading Israeli electric scooter manufacturer. Ultracharge will use its unique, inner battery parts technology to produce batteries that are more powerful than those generally available in the market.

ASX-listed resume verification provider CVCheck says it continues to outperform expectations in the fourth fiscal quarter due to a lift in demand for its services in New Zealand. The Perth-based integrated screening and verification company says revenues have also been assisted by strong corporate demand in both territories and a recent flood of working with children verification requests.

On the back of impressive strikes at its Mt Lofty Joint Venture in the mineral-rich region between Cloncurry and Mt Isa in northwest Queensland, Hammer Metals has approved a second drilling program to start next month. The Stage 2 program is expected to provide information for preliminary metallurgical studies and a mineral resource estimation.

Altech Chemicals has paid $5.1 million to secure a major industrial site in the southern Malaysian state of Johor for construction of its high purity alumina plant. The site is within the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex, just a few kms from Singapore and is part of a global hub for manufacturers of semiconductors and sapphire glass products who are big buyers of HPA.

Northern Minerals has reported that the construction of its pilot processing plant for the Browns Range heavy rare earths project in the Kimberley of W.A. is on track for completion by the 30th June 2018. The company will also recommence exploratory drilling at the project, focussing on the Wolverine and Gambit structural corridors close to the mine, including several recently identified greenfields regional targets.

Sky & Space Global has hit a key milestone in its journey into the lucrative South American telco market, with the ASX-listed company successfully testing of its nano-satellite based communications network with major regional telco company Globalsat Group. Sky and Space Global says it is finalising a deal with Globalsat that will potentially see bandwidth from the network used across South America.

Myanmar Metals has updated its mineral resource estimate for the Bawdwin polymetallic deposit in central Myanmar. The new resource is 82 million tonnes grading 4.7% lead, 2.4% zinc, 0.2% copper and 119g/t silver. The company will use the resource estimate to complete an updated scoping study for the project. Myanmar recently reported it will exercise its USD$14m option over the Bawdwin project to secure its 85% stake.

Lithium Australia has announced a new discovery of lithium mineralisation, in spodumene bearing pegmatites at the Medcalf prospect, within its prospective looking Lake Johnston project, 460km east of Perth in W.A. Rock chip samples up to 7.15% lithium oxide were returned from a series of outcrops, covering an area of 250m wide over 500m of strike. The company is now planning follow-up mapping, sampling and soils programs.

ASX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals’ proposed medical marijuana facility in Malta looks set to go ahead after landmark laws legalising medicinal cannabis were passed by the Southern European nation’s Parliament. MGC is now on the verge of official approval for its 4,000 square metre facility that it aims to use to launch into the rapidly expanding EU medical marijuana market.

DroneShield’s suite of drone-combatting products have been given the green light by an independent US laboratory to protect US airports from potentially lethal aerial threats posed by incoming aerial drones. The company says its drone detection systems were deemed compatible with US aviation and airport communication and navigation systems by leading North American radiofrequency testing facility, 360RF.

St George has announced a new intersection of massive nickel sulphides at its Mt Alexander project, near Leonora in W.A. The 6.25 metre drilling intercept from 67.2m down-hole contained an impressive higher grade zone of 3.34m @ 5.5% nickel and 1.7% copper using XRF analyses. The result, which extends the known mineralisation, successfully targeted an off-hole electromagnetic anomaly that was not detected at surface.

Auroch Minerals has announced that it has generated 17 interesting looking base metal and gold exploration targets by reinterpreting old geophysics data at its Bonaventura project on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide. Three priority, high grade zinc targets will undergo surface geophysics ahead of the drilling programs with the new targets broadly coinciding with recent high-grade surface sampling.

ASX-listed Connected IO is set to roll out its wireless, modem-like devices in Australia and New Zealand as part of a deal with Internet of things distributor M2M Connectivity. The inaugural shipment paves the way for local product trials ahead of a potential roll out in the two countries leveraging M2M’s existing relationships in the telecommunications and electronics industries.

New geophysical work by Auroch Minerals has identified potential base metal horizons striking over tens of kms at its new Arden project in South Australia. The encouraging results have prompted Auroch to fly a high resolution aeromagnetic survey to sharpen target definition ahead of a maiden drill program in the September quarter. Samples taken from old workings went 7% zinc and 10% copper.

BlackEarth has reported very encouraging graphite assays from its maiden drill program at the Maniry project in Madagascar. Results up to 36.7m @ 8.8% total graphitic carbon from the Razafy prospect attest to the high grade nature of the ore deposit. The program outlined continuous graphitic lenses 900 metres long and up to 50m thick from surface. Testing is underway to determine the quality of the product.

Southern Gold’s decision to swoop on a number of abandoned gold mines in South Korea in 2016 is paying off handsomely, with grab samples from historically blasted rock at the old Kochang mine returning up to 17.4 g/t gold. Southern’s partner in the project estimates that the broken rock could be processed for as little as $US60/tonne and yield a profit of around $US750/ounce.

Middle Island Resources is about to lock in an option agreement over the sale of its Reo gold project in West Africa on significantly improved terms that will give it an immediate 8% stake in a Canadian gold explorer worth A$675k and A$200k in cash. If the option is exercised, Middle Island will bank a further A$200k in cash that no doubt will come in handy for the company's exploration activities in W.A

Emu NL has announced the discovery of a new gold target at its Jotahues project, within the strongly mineralised Maricunga precious metal belt in Chile. A recent soil geochemical sampling program at the Peon 4 prospect showed a 600m wide and 1.2km long anomalous zone of coincident gold, silver, copper, mercury and lead assays, which can be typical fingerprints for an epithermal gold system.